MONMOUTH, Ore. – Overtime ended just in time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Natalie Hoff scored six of her 10 points during the extra session, and Malia Mastora finished off a career night on the boards by rebounding a last-second Western Oregon miss, hanging on tight while the final tenths ticked off the clock as SPU pulled out a 61-59 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory on Monday night.
 
The Falcons (11-15, 7-9 GNAC) saw a 53-40 lead slip away in the final five minutes of regulation time as WOU (8-15, 4-12 GNAC) went on a 13-0 scoring run to force an additional five minutes.
 
This was the fifth overtime of the season for SPU and the second of those that went into the win column.
 
"We talked about how we've been in plenty of overtime games this year," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We felt we had more experience than Western Oregon in overtime games, and Ashley Alter huddled the team and was really motivating them and firing them up during that intermission before overtime."
 
SPU snapped a three-game losing streak and remains seventh in the standings as the regular season heads into its final week.
 
 

Hoff scored the first basket of OT on a putback lay-in, and Seattle Pacific stayed in front the rest of the way, albeit never by much.
 
Twice, the Falcons edged ahead by three, both times on baskets by Hoff: a turnaround five-footer from straight in front to make it 57-54, and then a 13-footer from just inside the foul line for a 59-56 lead. Both time, Western Oregon (8-15, 4-12 GNAC) got back within one.
 
"Natalie wanted the ball. She wanted to score, and she made a lot of tough shots," Simonson said. "Then our defense held true."
 
Up 59-58, Kaprice Boston hit one of her free throws with exactly 30 seconds left for a two-point edge. Princy Paaluhi-Caulk countered with one of her two at the line to cut it back to one at 60-59 with 20.4 seconds to go.
 
 Anna Eddy drained one of two free throws to give the Falcons a 61-59 lead with 16.3 seconds left. The second one missed, the Wolves rebounded and called timeout with 15.3 seconds to go, advancing the ball into front court.
 
Tresai McCarver, whose two free throws with six-tenths of a second left in regulation tied the game at 53-53, missed a lay-up with 8.8 seconds remaining on the OT clock. In a battle for the ball, possession stayed with the Wolves.
 
On the ensuing inbounds play, Cassandra White got off a short jump shot. It came down off the rim where Mastora and another Western Oregon player were waiting. Mastora grabbed it first, but as they battled for control, the buzzer sounded.
 
Sophomore guard Mastora, whose previous high was six rebounds, wound up with eight.

Including that last one.
 
"That was a huge rebound at the end of the game," Simonson said. "Malia's playing time has steadily increased because she is showing that she's a scrappy, hard-nosed player both on the offensive end and the defensive end."
 
 

Bayley Brennan and Beth Pettingill each added 10 points off the bench for the Falcons. Brennan got five of hers just before halftime to bring SPU within 24-21 after it went nearly six minutes without a point while Western Oregon ran off 10 in a row
 
After a frigid first half during which they shot just 20 percent from the field (6 of 30), the Falcons warmed up considerably, hitting 50 percent (16 of 32) through the second half and overtime, including 9 of 15 during the third quarter.


 

"We were getting great shots in the first half," Simonson said. "When we met at halftime, it felt like the style was exactly how we wanted it. We were getting good shots, controlling the boards, controlling the turnovers, and I felt like we were going to get some good shots in the second half. Almost everything we got in the second half came out of the flow of our offense."
 
Monday's game was the make-up of one that was originally scheduled for Jan. 15 in Monmouth, but was postponed for Covid protocol reasons.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- SPU swept the season series from Western Oregon. On Feb. 10 in Seattle, the Falcons pulled away for a 67-54 victory.
-- As was the case in that game, Seattle Pacific got statistical contributions from everyone. Of the 10 players who saw action, nine of them scored, all of them had at least one rebound, and eight of the 10 had at least one assist.
-- Even in playing an extra five minutes, the Falcons kept WOU below 60 points. In 26 games, they've kept 12 opponents below 60 and two others right at 60.
-- SPU wound up at 35.5 percent shooting for the game (22 of 62) and limited Western Oregon to 32.8 percent (20 of 61).
 
UP NEXT
The regular season concludes with two more road games for Seattle Pacific. The first of those is on Thursday at Northwest Nazarene, tipping off at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.