LACEY, Wash. – Rachel Berg kept knocking them in from downtown all night long.
 
But her biggest shots came at the free throw line in the last seconds of the game.
 
Berg hit four straight free throws inside the final minute to cap a career-high 28-point performance, Kaprice Boston notched her first career double-double, and Seattle Pacific fended off Saint Martin's for a 70-64 women's basketball victory in Marcus Pavilion on Friday night.
 
"I think I was just ready to shoot, and I found the corner, and it was open," Berg said. "I just thought to be confident and hit it."

 



It was the third time this year that Berg, a junior guard from nearby Bellevue, has notched a new scoring high. Prior to this season, she had never even hit for double-digits in a college game. Her first one came at home against Saint Martin's on Jan. 16 when she had 10 in a 61-50 victory. She topped that with 13 in a 72-63 home win against Lewis-Clark State on Jan. 23. 
 
Then there was Friday night, when Berg buried 8 of 11 from the field, including 7 of 9 from behind the 3-point arc, and was 5 of 6 at the foul line.
 
"Her 28 points, hitting down open 3s – you need to do that against a zone, and Rachel did a good job knocking those down tonight," head coach Mike Simonson said.
 
 

Boston logged 10 points and 10 rebounds, the latter of which was a career high. The senior guard from Everett, just north of Seattle, has started each of this winter's nine games after missing all but two games last year with an injury.
 
Except for three early ties at 2-2, 4-4,and 6-6, Seattle Pacific (5-4) led from start to finish. And although Saint Martin's (3-4) got as close as two points at 56-54 with 6:24 left in the game, the Falcons never yielded the lead.
 
That was a comforting salve after Thursday night when a 16-point margin vanished in the final 12 minutes and ended with a 55-54 loss to the Saints.
 
"We've been calling ourselves the comeback queens. We've done very well coming back from the first game on back-to-backs," Simonson said. (The Falcons have dropped all four of the first games, but have won all four of the second games.)
 
"Our response (tonight) was the perfect response," he added. "The word I described in the locker room is poise. What I'm really pleased about is we were in the exact same situation as last night, up about 10 points going into the fourth quarter. We had steady, consistent offense to finish it out."
 
ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER HOT START
As was the case on Thursday, the Falcons had their shooting eyes wide open during the first quarter. They hit 10 of 18 from the field, and Berg had three of those makes, two from long range.
 
Up 22-16 after one, the Falcons stretched their advantage to as many as 13 at 38-25 late in the second quarter. They took a 41-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
A three-point play by Boston at the outset of the third quarter stretched it to 12 at 44-32. The Saints got as close at five at 44-39, then SPU pushed it back out to a dozen at 56-44 going into the fourth.
 
It was during a four-minute Falcon dry spell at the start of the final 10 minutes when Saint Martin's got within two. Seattle Pacific then put seven straight on the board, capped by Berg's final 3-pointer of the night, to make it 63-54 with 2:18 to go.
 
Still, the Saints were still within striking range. The margin was 65-58 when Berg hit a pair of free throws with 37.5 seconds remaining. Saint Martin's climbed back within four at 68-64 at the 23-second mark, then Berg buried two more from the line with 21.1 left for the final margin.
 
"I really believe in myself at the line, so I knew I could hit those," she said. "So far, I have a good percentage on the line, so I was confident."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Rachel Berg had her career high way before halftime, surpassing her previous mark of 13 when she nailed – what else? – a 3-pointer with 4:37 left in the second quarter, putting her at 15 points for the night at that juncture.
 

-- Senior point guard Abril Rexach Roure dished 11 assists. That was three more than her previous best at SPU and just two shy of her all-time high of 13, set in 2019 during her sophomore season at Eastern Wyoming. The last Falcon with double-digit assists in a game was Jaylee Albert with 10 on Jan. 12, 2019 against Central Washington. One of Rexach Roure's on Thursday was no-look, behind-the-back to Ashley Alter for an easy lay-in midway through the third quarter.
-- Seattle Pacific dominated the boards, 45-31. Along with Kaprice Boston's 10, junior forward Natalie Hoff had nine. "Those rebounds were what secured the victory. We made them miss, we got the rebounds, and that's a key because we know we're a great rebounding team," coach Mike Simonson said.
-- Hoff was just one shy of a double-double, as she pumped in 14 points.
-- Claire Dingus led the Saints with 21 points, but was limited to just four rebounds. She had only five boards on Thursday for nine in the two-game series. She came in averaging 11.6 per game.
-- The Falcons shot 41 percent for the game (24 of 58), and were at 45 percent (9 of 20) from down.
-- For the second straight night, SPU kept Saint Martin's below 40 percent accuracy. The Saints wound up at 35.3 (24 of 68). On Thursday, they hit 33 percent (17 of 51).
-- The teams wound up splitting their four games, each winning once at home and once on the other's court.
 
UP NEXT
SPU plays just one game next week, hosting Northwest University of Kirkland on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Friday, Feb. 5, 2021
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 70, Saint  Martin's 64
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (5-4)
Berg 8-11 5-6 28, Rexach Roure 3-8 1-2 7, Brundidge 1-4 0-0 2, Boston 4-7 1-1 10, Alter 1-12 0-0 2, Pettingill 0-0 0-0 0, Hoff 4-8 6-8 14, Burgess 2-5 0-2 4, Mastora 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 24-58 13-19 70.
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (3-4)
DeDonatis 5-16 2-2 14, Sutterlict 1-11 0-0 3, Dingus 8-15 3-7 21, Morris 3-9 0-0 7, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Reed 1-1 0-0 2, Vivola 4-11 2-2 12, Clear 1-3 1-1 3,Budiman 1-1 0-0 2, Wrede 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-68 8-12 64.
 
Seattle Pacific     22           19           15           14           -- 70
Saint Martin's      16           16           12           20           -- 64
 
3-point goals – SPU 9-20 (Berg 7-9, Rexach Roure 0-3, Boston 1-4, Alter 0-2, Mastora 1-2), STM 8-27 (DeDonatis 2-7, Sutterlict 1-6, Dingus 2-4, Morris 1-2, Vivola 2-7, Clear 0-1). Fouled out – STM: Vivola.. Rebounds – SPU 45 (Boston 10),STM 31 (Clear 6). Assists – SPU 17 (Rexach Roure 11), STM 11 (Morris 4). Turnovers – SPU 19, STM 13. Total fouls – SPU 14, STM 21. Technical fouls – None.
 
 
Next game
Northwest University at Seattle Pacific
Wednesday, Feb. 10     6:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.