SEATTLE – It wasn't a matter of the Seattle Pacific Falcons doubling up on Northwest Nazarene on Thursday night.
 
Rather, they double-doubled up on the Nighthawks.
 
Natalie Hoff pumped in a career-high 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Ashley Alter delivered 17 points and a career-high 14 boards as SPU finished the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game on a 20-7 scoring run to take a 58-45 victory in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Hoff's double-double was the fifth of her career, and Alter's was her third. Both are fifth-year players.

SPU had a whopping plus-21 advantage on the boards, 49-28. The Falcons came into the game out-rebounding their opponents by an average of 10.2 per game, the 10th-highest mark in all of NCAA Division II.

Seattle Pacific (7-4, 2-1 GNAC) had built a 38-28 lead early in the third quarter, only to see Northwest Nazarene (6-5, 2-1 GNAC) run off 10 straight points to climb into a 38-38 tie.
 
But beginning when Maya Hoff flung in a 3-pointer off the backboard to beat the third quarter buzzer, the Falcons steadily rebuilt the lead and regained control. Hoff's basket started a 10-0 burst that gave SPU a 48-38 advantage with 6:26 left in the game. It was never closer than eight after that.

"We knew this game was going to be a game of runs," head coach Mike Simonson said. "Even in the fourth quarter when we sat down at a timeout and reset ourselves for what we needed to do in the game, we said, 'We're in the lead; we're in control.' We said to focus on the idea of every possession, whether it was good or bad or ugly and look at it as to whether we had success on that possession.
 
"Our team did a great job with a positive mindset, all the way down to winning time."
 




While the game wasn't always pretty on the offensive end while dealing with NNU's swarming pressure defense that often extended into backcourt, the Falcons countered with a solid defensive performance of their own.
 
--They stopped the Nighthawks at almost 28 points below their 72.9 scoring average.
-- NNU was limited to just 33 percent overall shooting from the field (18 of 54) and 23 percent from 3-point range (4 of 17).
-- Seattle Pacific kept Northwest Nazarene off the board for a key span of 4 minutes, 7 seconds: the last 17 seconds of the third and the first 3:50 of the fourth on the way to turning a 38-38 tie into a 48-38 lead.

 

"We pride ourselves on defense, and they did some things that were tough to guard, as well," Simonson said. "I thought we did a really good job of adjusting. NNU is a really good shooting team. They were cold tonight, but they're going to hit shots, and the next time we play them, we're going to have to have another effort like that. We did a good job of making them uncomfortable and contesting shots."

The Falcons also forced 20 turnovers – 13 of which were steals – and converted those turnovers into 24 points.
 
"We're not a team that tries to force turnovers, But if we make a team uncomfortable, we can get some, and we got 20 tonight," Simonson said. "Those 45 points (allowed), we try to do that every game, but that's tough to do. And we did that even with 24 turnovers (of our own), so we had to be doing something right on the defensive end."
 
Seattle Pacific was down 17-12 late in the first quarter when it started a string of 12 straight points – three to end that period on an Alter free throw and a Natalie Hoff lay-in, then nine more to begin the second and move ahead for good at 24-17. All nine of those came from Alter: a steal and coast-to-coast lay-in, a 3-pointer from the left of the lane, a lay-in off a broken play, and another coast-to-coast after a steal.
 
It was an Alter trey, this one off a nifty feed from Natalie Hoff, that gave the Falcons their 10-point bulge at 38-28 midway through the third. The momentum swung back to NNU, which finally tied it on a free throw by Carri Knishka with 17.2 seconds left in the period.
 
Just when it seemed the game would be entering the fourth deadlocked at 38-38, Maya Hoff banked in her 3-point prayer of a shot, and the Falcons ultimately were on their way.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Of SPU's' 49 boards, 20 were at the offensive end., with five each by Ashley Alter and Hunter Beirne.
-- Beirne's total of eight boards was a career high. beating her previous best of seven.
-- Natalie Hoff's previous career scoring high was 18. She had that many two times, most recently last New Year's Day at Alaska Fairbanks. 
-- Hoff's 20 points included near-perfection at the free throw line, where she hit 10 of 11. She's now at 83.7 percent for the season (36 of 43).
-- Alter's previous career rebounding high was 10, which she achieved twice, most recently last Dec. 4 at home against NNU.
-- She also tied her career high with five steals on Thursday, to go along with two assists and one blocked shot.
-- Seattle Pacific halted a three-game losing streak to the Nighthawks.
-- While the Falcons forced Northwest Nazarene into frosty 33 percent shooting, the Nighthawks returned the favor, as SPU hit just 32.2 percent (19 of 59, with just 4 of 21 from downtown).
 
UP NEXT
SPU plays host to Central Washington on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The Wildcats (9-1, 3-0) routed Montana State Billings on the road on Thursday night, 70-44. That will be the first game of a doubleheader. The Falcon men face their counterparts from Central at 4:15 p.m.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 58, Northwest Nazarene 45
 
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (6-5, 2-1 GNAC)
Eubanks 4-11 2-4 10, K. Cark 1-6 0-0 3, E. C;arl 1-5 0-0 2, Castledine 3-5 2-2 9, Knishka 4-10 1-3 11, Pinson 3-9 0-0 6, Waid 1-3 0-0 2, Davis 1-4 0-0 2, Starr 0-1 0-0 0, Friend 0-0 0-0 0, Bohner 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 18-54 5-9 45.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (7-4, 2-1 GNAC)
N. Hoff 5-14 10-11 20, M. Hoff 2-5 2-3 7, Beirne 3-8 1-3 8, Eddy 0-7 1-2 1, Alter 7-16 1-2 17, De Virgilio 0-3 0-0 0, Weatherspoon 2-6 1-1 5, Berry 0-0 0-0 0, Marlow 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-59 16-22 58.
 
Northwest Nazarene          17             4           17            7           -- 45
Seattle Pacific                     15           14           12           17           -- 58
 
3-point goals – NNU 4-17 (Eubanks 0-2, K. Clark 1-3, E. Clark 0-2, Castledine 1-2, Kniska 2-5, Pinso 0-2, Starr 0-1), SPU 4-21 (N. Hoff 0-2, M. Hoff 1-3, Beirne 1-2, Eddy 0-6, Alter 2-4, De Virgilio 0-2, Weatherspoon 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – NNU 28 (Eubanks 6), SPU 49 (Alter 14, N. Hoff 12). Assists – NNU 7 (E. Clark 2), SPU 9 (Beirne 3). Turnovers – NNU 20, SPU 24. Total fouls – NNU 19, SPU 14. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 191.
 
Next game
Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.