ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons were hoping to take some momentum with them into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
 
The Central Washington Wildcats swiped it away from them.
 
After pulling within two points midway through the third quarter, SPU saw Central put together an 11-2 scoring run that finished off the third and extended into the fourth on the way to a 63-55 victory that wrapped up the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Nicholson Pavilion.
 
SPU (11-17, 7-11 GNAC) started the day in seventh place in the standings. However, with the conference using a points rating system to determine the seeding for this year's tournament (since all 10 schools did not play an equal amount of games), the Falcons won't officially know for sure until sometime on Sunday whom, when, and where they will play their first game..
 
The top six seeds earn a bye into Thursday's quarterfinals. The Nos. 7 through 10 seeds will be involved in play-in games on Wednesday (7 vs. 10, and 8 vs. 9).
 
"I wrote on the board our record now – it's 0-and-0, and we're fired up about that," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We know we can beat anyone in this conference. If there's a team no one wants to play, it's us, and we wear that with pride."
 
Natalie Hoff poured in 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, and also collected five rebounds on Saturday. But she was the only Falcon in double figures. Anna Eddy added nine points in a reserve role.
 
The lead changed hands 13 times, with 12 of those during the first half. SPU was up by as many as three, and took a 29-28 edge into the locker room at halftime.
 
 

"The first half of the game was going about how we hoped it would be – a grind-it-out defensive-offensive kind of game," Simonson said. "We were getting good shots, and the flow and tempo were exactly how we wanted it."
 
Both teams had the opportunity to take charge at the outset of the third quarter, but neither could find the hoop. The Falcons missed their first six shots, and the Wildcats (20-7, 13-5 GNAC) misfired on their first four.
 
It was Central that finally got on the board first on a lay-in by Valerie Huerta after 3 minutes and 4 seconds had elapsed, putting the Wildcats on top at 30-29. KIzzah Maltezo then buried a 3-pointer from the right of the lane to make it 33-29.
 
Seattle Pacific twice cut it down to two points, the last time at 37-35 on a lay-in by Beth Pettingill with 4:08 to go in the third.
 
But the Falcons tallied just two more points in the next 5½ minutes as Central Washington gradually forged farther in front. SPU stayed within range throughout most of the fourth quarter. Then, the Wildcats essentially clinched it with 1:25 left when Maltezo's driving lay-in gave them a 61-48 lead.
 
"Unfortunately, our offense sputtered at the beginning of the second half, and that really hurt us," Simonson said. "However, we showed good fight. It's just hard getting out of the hole against Central. A team like that, it's really hard to come back."
 
SPU's defense did keep Central's "Big Three" in check. Maltezo, who came in as the GNAC's leading scorer at 19.2 points per game, finished with 12. Kassidy Malcolm, the No. 2 conference scorer at 18.2, tallied just seven. Samantha Bowman, with her double-double average of 16.3 points and 15.7 rebounds, wound up with 15 and 10, respectively.
 
"I thought we guarded them very well throughout the whole game," Simonson said. "Central is easily the top offensive team in the conference. Their top three scorers, we held them below their average. That was part of our plan going into the game, and we had a tough, hard-nosed defensive effort today."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 

-- Senior point guard Abril Rexach Roure handed out five assists, pushing her past 600 for her career. She started the day with 599 and picked up No. 600 just 1:56 into the game when she found Natalie Hoff for a jumper from the foul line.
-- The Falcons had four more field goals, than Central Washington, hitting 25 of 61 for 41 percent. The Wildcats hit 21 of 54 (38.9 percent).
-- But Central had a decided edge at the free throw line, converting 13 of 17. SPU was just 2 of 4, as the Cats were called for just four fouls. The Falcons were whistled 12 times.

 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific will be the site of a GNAC Tournament women's play-in game at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday and two women's quarterfinals on Thursday at noon and 2:15 p.m. Saint Martin's will host a Wednesday play-in and two Thursday quarterfinals in the same time slots. Which teams play at which sites will be determined when the points rating standings are finalized sometime on Sunday.