SEATTLE – Ashley Alter wasn't necessarily looking for the ball.
 
But once it flew into her hands, with the clock running down in overtime, she definitely was looking for the shot.
 
Alter hit a buzzer-beater from the foul line on Thursday night, lifting the Seattle Pacific Falcons to a 66-64 victory against Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game in Brougham Pavilion.
 
"It was tipped out by the other team, and I tried to grab it as fast as I could and just put it up," senior guard / forward Alter said, adding that she had no hesitation whatsoever to take the shot. "Honestly, it was just automatic. I just thought, I've gotta put it up before time went down and the buzzer sounded.
 
"I practice that every day in practice, and it felt good, so I let it fly."
 
Alter's basket was actually a second-chance opportunity and accounted for the last two of her team-high 18 points.
 




With the game tied at 64-64, Simon Fraser's Emma Kramer missed a driving lay-in shot that bounced hard off the backboard with 23 seconds left. Natalie Hoff of the Falcons tipped the ball out to Alter, who secured it and then called timeout with 21.8 seconds remaining.
 
SPU (7-7, 3-1 GNAC) advanced the ball to front court, and Hoff inbounded from the left side to Abril Rexach Roure. She hung out near midcourt, dribbling down the clock, then drove it forward. Kaprice Boston, who tallied a career-high 17 points, broke wide open near the basket, and Rexch Roure found her with the pass.
 
Boston was immediately sandwiched between two Simon Fraser players when she went up for the shot. No foul was called, and the shot fell way short. The ball was about to go out of bounds when Simon Fraser's Gemma Cutler reached for it and flung it back in.
 
It came on one bounce out to Alter, standing right on the foul line toward the right side. She fired, and it nestled straight into the net. The buzzer sounded, and while there was no question that the shot was good, the officials did review the video to determine how much time should still be on the clock.

They added seven-tenths of a second. But inbounding the ball in backcourt, Simon Fraser didn't even have time for a desperation heave before the clock officially expired.
 
 

"Our biggest goal was to get a shot off with one or two or three seconds left; maybe we can get an offensive tip potentially. But we wanted the last shot of the game," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We wanted to get the ball to Kaprice. She'd had a lot of good finishes, and we thought if she got the ball near the basket, she would get a good shot. So we drew up something for her to get a good shot."
 
Boston got the shot, didn't get the whistle, but the play wasn't over yet – nor was the game, thanks to Alter.
 
"That mid-range shot, that's like a lay-up for her," Simonson said. "When it left her hands, I think we all knew it was good."
 
THIRD-QUARTER COMEBACK
After putting the first seven points of the game onto the board, the Falcons found themselves back on their heels against Simon Fraser (5-7, 1-2 GNAC). The Canadian visitors went on a 26-8 scoring run to take an 11-point lead at 26-15 late in the second quarter.
 
It was still a double-digit margin at 34-24 with 6:56 left in the third quarter as SPU had managed just three points and hit just one of its seven shots after halftime.
 
But the game then took a turn in the Falcons' favor, as Rexach Roure, Hailey Marlow, Boston, and Hoff all put points on the board. It was a lay-in by Hoff off an assist by Marlow that lifted them into a 34-34 tie before Georgia Swant beat the third-quarter buzzer with a lay-in to give Simon Fraser a 36-34 lead entering the fourth.
 
Defensively, SPU limited Simon to just 3 of 20 shooting from the field. 0 of 7 from downtown, and just eight points on the board during the third.
 
""That eight-point quarter really catapulted us going into the fourth and gave us a lot of confidence," Simonson said. "Our defense held true, and it finally broke open our offense."
 
 

Seattle Pacific scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter, with Boston starting the run with a driving lay-in and finishing it on a 3-pointer, for a 43-36 advantage.
 
From there, the lead changed hands three more times, and the game was tied twice. A lay-in by Boston with 18.7 seconds left knotted it at 54-54. Simon Fraser had a chance at a game-winner, but Claudia Hart's jumper with two seconds left missed.
 
Simon scored right off the opening tip to begin overtime, then added a pair of free throws next time downcourt to go up 58-54. Back-to-back jumpers by Hoff and Alter eventually gave Seattle Pacific a 63-60 lead with 2:27 remaining. The visitors got the next four points, the last two of those on a pair of Hart free throws with 1:52 left, for a 64-63 edge.
 
But they would score no more. Hoff tied it at 64-64 by hitting the second of two free throws with 47.7 seconds to go. Then came Kramer's missed and Alter's rebound to set up the final sequence.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Along with Ashley Alter's 18 points and Kaprice Boston's 17, Natalie Hoff also added 17.
-- Hoff's total pushed her past 500 for her career. She came needing 16, and now has 501 total.
-- After shooting just 31.2 percent (10 of 32) in the first half, SPU shot 54.3 percent (19 of 35) through the second half and overtime. It's final percentage was 43.3 (29 of 67).
-- Hoff and Alter each grabbed nine rebounds.
-- Abril Rexach Roure dished eight assists, the most she has ever handed out in a Falcons uniform. Her career high is nine during her freshman year at Eastern Wyoming College in 2018. She now has moved past 600 for her career (607).
 
UP NEXT
With Saturday's home game against Western Washington postponed due to health and safety protocols in the Vikings program, SPU is slated to return to action next Thursday, Jan. 13 at Saint Martin's, with a 5:15 p.m. tip-off.


RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 7-7, 3-1 GNAC
Simon Fraser 5-7, 1-2 GNAC