Seattle Pacific University Athletics

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Turnaround just took on a who-o-o-le different meaning for the Seattle Pacific women's basketball team.
 
Down by as many as 10 points in the first quarter and still behind by eight at halftime, SPU came out with a third-quarter blitz that produced a 22-0 scoring run, and kept it going the rest of the night on the way to a 63-35 non-conference rout of Dominican.
 
"It took us a long time to get going. But once we did, the real SPU team came alive," said head coach Mike Simonson, whose squad limited the Penguins to just nine second-half points. "If you look at the stat sheet, you'd think we had some crazy adjustments (at halftime). But we just talked about our mentality and how it needs to be aggressive in our defensive system and our offensive system."
 
Sophomore guard Anna Eddy pumped in a team-high 15 points inside the Conlan Center for the Falcons (5-3), who now have a two-game winning streak for the second time this season.
 
 

But the Penguins had no answer at all for SPU sophomore center Schuyler Berry. She came up with a career-high six blocked shots to go along with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, five rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
 
"I felt like Sky had a lot of blocks. But to see six on the stat sheet … I don't know the last time somebody had six blocked shots – that's a lot," Simonson said. "And she did a great job of not fouling. (The last Falcon with six in a game was Megan Hoisington had six blocks on Feb. 6, 2010 against Northwest Nazarene.)
 
Yet, for the first half of Monday's game, nobody saw any of that coming. The Falcons suffered through some miserable shooting from the field, hitting just 8 of 30 (4 of 15 in each of the first two quarters) and 0 of 7 from 3-point range. Dominican (3-7) scored the first six points of the game, and had a pair of 10-point advantages at 12-2 and 14-4.
 
Twice during the second quarter, Seattle Pacific appeared to be climbing back into it. Buckets by Eddy and Berry trimmed the margin to 15-12, only to see the Penguins immediately push it back out to nine at 21-12 on back-to-back 3-pointers.
 
Later in the quarter, Eddy and Berry again came up with consecutive buckets, narrowing the gap to 23-18. Again, the response was a Dominican trey, this time by Brittney Cedeno with 14 seconds left, providing a 26-18 advantage at halftime.
 
 

"I don't know what I thought was going to happen (in the second half)," Simonson said. "Every game you go into as a coach, you have a view of how you hope it will go. I did not expect us to be so cold for shooting (in the first half). But I did not expect a second half like that.
 
"That's how the man upstairs draws up a lot of different things," Simonson added with a bit of a laugh
 
SETTING THE SECOND-HALF TONE
Eddy got the Falcons started in the third quarter with a lay-up on their first possession. Keyonee Neal, who led the Penguins with eight points in the first half, hit one of her two free throws the next time downcourt, returning it to a seven-point margin at 27-20 at the 9:10 mark.
 
Then, for the next 7 minutes, 39 seconds …
 
… it was all SPU.
 
"Kudos to our leaders on the team – Ashley (Alter) and Hunter (Beirne) were really fired up at halftime," Simonson said. "They really ignited our team to come out for the second half."
 
 

Added Beirne, "We needed to reset and get back to our identity. Ash and I are really competitive. You never want to start off like that, and we came out (of halftime) and looked at each other and said, 'We're going to get this game.' We really wanted to set that tone for going into the second half.."

A jump shot by Alter got it started. A 3-pointer by Eddy off an assist from Hunter Beirne put the Falcons in front 28-27 with 7:29 left in the third – their first lead of the night, 28-27 – and, as it turned out, the only lead change of the night.
 
By quarter's end, SPU had outscored Dominican, 26-2 for a 44-28 lead, with the Penguins managing just two free throws. They missed all 12 of their shots (five from downtown) and got just one rebound.
 
The Falcons, on the heels of that 8-of-30 mark from the floor during the first half, drained 10 of 11, including all three from behind the arc, were 3 of 3 at the line, and hauled down 13 rebounds. Of the seven players who saw court time, six scored
 
Barely more than two minutes into the fourth quarter, the lead was up to 20 at 48-28, and the outcome was no longer in doubt.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons shot 18 of 27 in the second half (66.7 percent), winding up at 45.6 percent (26 of 57 for the game.
-- Dominican, after its 10 of 23 first-half shooting (43.5 percent) was just 3 of 25 in the second half (12.0 percent) and finished at 27.1 percent for the game (13 of 48).
-- Schuyler Berry's previous career high for blocked shots was four in a GNAC Tournament quarterfinal game last March 3.
 

-- Ashley Alter was 4 of 7, pulled down six rebounds, and handed out four assists after halftime. She had nine boards for the game, just one shy of her career high and totaled 12 points. Her five field goals for the night gave her exactly 300 for her career.
-- The last time Seattle Pacific kept a team below 40 points was in a 63-38 victory against Corban on Nov. 12, 2021. The last Division II team that didn't reach the 40-point mark against SPU was Humboldt State on Nov. 12, 2016 when the Falcons won, 67-36. In fact, that was their second straight sub-40 defensive effort, One night earlier, they beat Fresno Pacific, 90-39.
 
UP NEXT
SPU visits Holy Names on Wednesday in Oakland. Tip-off is at 1:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Monday, Dec. 12, 2022
Conlan Center / San Rafael, Calif.
 
Seattle Pacific 63, Dominican 35
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (5-3)
N. Hoff 1-7 2-2 4, Berry 4-7 3-4 11, De Virgilion 3-6 0-0 9, Beirne 1-3 0-0 2, Alter 5-15 2-2 12, Eddy 7-9 0-0 15, M. Hoff 2-4 0-0 4, Weatherspoon 3-4 0-0 6, Bishop 0-0 0-0 0, Jacklin 0-2 0-0 0, Yung 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 7-8 63..
 
DOMINICAN (3-7)
Faasolo 1-4 0-0 2, Charlton 1-6 1-2 3, Neal 5-16 3-4 13, Cedeno 3-7 0-0 7, San Juan 1-3 0-0 3, Salise 1-4 0-0 3, Brady 0-0 1-2 1, Flores 0-1 0-0 0, Barnes 1-3 0-0 3, Duley 0-2 0-0 0, Youngblood 0-1 0-2 0, Sarasus 0-0 0-0 0, Eustaquio 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-48 5-10 35
 
Seattle Pacific       8           10           26           19           -- 63
Dominican            14           12              2            7           -- 35
 
3-point goals – SPU 4-14 (De Virgilion 3-5, Beirne 0-1, Alter 0-3, Eddy 1-2, M. Hoff 0-1, Jacklin 0-2), Dominican 4-17 (Charlton 0-3, Neal 0-2, Cedeno 1-3, San Juan 1-3, Salise 1-3, Flores 0-1, Barnes 1-2).  Fouled out – None.  Rebounds – SPU 44 (Alter 9), Dominican 24 (Faasolo 5).  Assists – SPU 17 (Alter 5), Dominican 9 Faasolo 2, San Juan 2)..  Turnovers – SPU SPU 17, Dominican 18.  Total fouls – SPU 14, Dominican 8.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 49.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Holy Names
Wednesday, Dec. 14     1:00 p.m.
Tobin Gymnasium / Oakland, Calif.