NAMPA, Idaho – The Seattle Pacific Falcons had a shot to tie the game.
 
Northwest Nazarene's defense never let them take it.
 
Down by three with 10.1 seconds left, SPU returned from a timeout looking for the equalizer. But the Nighthawks didn't even allow so much as a desperation attempt until after the buzzer sounded, thereby securing a 57-54 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory on Thursday night inside the Johnson Sports Center.
 
Schuyler Berry and Malia Mastora both came off the bench to put in 10 points apiece for Seattle Pacific (11-16, 7-10 GNAC), which remained in seventh place in the standings heading to Central Washington on Saturday for the final game of the regular season.
 
Northwest Nazarene (17-8, 11-6 GNAC) appeared ready to pull away, going on an 11-4 run to take a 46-33 lead with 2:08 left in the third quarter.
 
SPU came storming back. Relying on the defense that has kept them in so many games this winter, the Falcons ran off 11 straight points while keeping the Nighthawks off the scoreboard for a span of 4 minutes 4 seconds bridging the third and fourth periods and climbing back within two at 46-44 and 9:15 still remaining on the clock.
 
"We were getting good shots throughout the game, and it felt like our shot selection was good," head coach Mike Simonson said. "If we could start getting some stops on defense along with our good shot selection, we could get back in the game.
 
"Our defense got back to where it (normally) is, and we held them to 22 points in the second half. We had a lot of small runs and we got back in the game."
 
 

A 3-pointer by Mastora – her third of the night – cut the margin down to just one at 53-52 with 4:44 to go. NNU pushed it back out to five on back-to-back baskets by Teagan Thurman, making it 57-52 at the 3:21 mark.
 
The Nighthawks didn't score again. A lay-in by Beth Pettingill brought the Falcons within 57-54 at 2:07. Each team then turned it over twice, and defensive pressure by Pettingill forced another Northwest Nazarene turnover with 10.1 seconds showing.
 
Coming out of their 60-second timeout, the ball worked its way from Abril Rexach Roure to Berry (who recovered it after it was knocked away) to Bayley Brennan way beyond the 3-point arc just toward the right side. But before she could let it fly under pressure from Lydia Nieto, the clock reached 0.0.
 
"We tried to get a 3 for Bayley. She's a really good 3-point shooter and she has hit a lot of big shots," Simonson said. "We tried to execute a play, but our execution was just a little bit off, and we couldn't get a shot off. Kudos to NNU for doing a good job defensively in the last few seconds."
 
Northwest Nazarene led for almost the entirety of the first half, once by as many as 13 points at 31-18. Seattle Pacific used a 9-4 surge to get it back down to a single-digit margin by halftime, 35-27.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- With Schuyler Berry and Malia Mastora leading the way, the Falcons got 40 of their 54 points from their reserves. "Our bench was great tonight. They were shooting at a very high percentage (14 of 24 for 58.3 percent, including a perfect 5 of 5 for Berry), and we needed that," coach Mike Simonson said. "I'm proud of all those players who came off the bench tonight. They gave us a huge spark."
-- Of Mastora's 10 points (which pushed her past 100 for her career, now 108), six came from downtown, as she was 3 of 5 behind the arc. "She has been an elite shooter her whole career, and I knew she was going to start hitting some (3's)," Simonson said. "It was really nice to see her do that tonight."
 

-- Beth Pettingill had nine points, moving her past 200 for her career. She now has 207.
-- For the game, SPU shot 37.5 percent (18 of 48), and Northwest Nazarene hit 42.2 percent (19 of 45).
-- Hanging onto the ball was a challenge for both teams. The Falcons had 24 turnovers, leading to 21 Nighthawks points. But they forced NNU into 26 turnovers, netting 17 points. That was the most turnovers by an opponent since Corban had 21 in the season opener.
-- This was the 13th time Seattle Pacific has kept an opponent below 60 points.
 
UP NEXT
SPU winds up the regular season on Saturday at Central Washington, tipping off at 4:00 p.m. inside Nicholson Pavilion. The Falcons downed the Wildcats in the season opener back in December, 69-65.