LACEY, Wash. – The game was late …
 
… but worth the wait.
 
Anna Eddy poured in 15 points and was one of three Seattle Pacific players in double figures on Tuesday night as the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 63-43.
 
SPU (9-12, 5-6 GNAC) went on a 17-0 fourth-quarter scoring run in Marcus Pavilion to pull away after the Saints (10-9, 2-8 GNAC) had climbed within two points at 42-40.
 
Natalie Hoff added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Falcons, and Beth Pettingill came off the bench for 12 points and five boards.
 
The game was originally scheduled for Jan. 13, but was postponed due to health and safety protocols.
 
Then, set for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off on Tuesday, it was delayed for an hour. An overturned semitruck on southbound Interstate 5 near the Dupont exit snarled traffic all afternoon, with backups extending for approximately eight miles. That delayed the arrival of the officiating crew. At the rescheduled 6:30 tip-off time, two of the officials had arrived and the game began. The third was on the court very shortly thereafter.
 
"Going into today we were reminiscing on all the adversity we've had – illness, Covid, restarts, stops – that's the most adversity I've seen any basketball team have," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We actually talked about it pre-game: We embrace adversity, because we've seen it all. We handled it really amazing. We've been through way worse than being stuck in traffic."
 
SPU appeared ready to pull away at the outset of the fourth quarter when Eddy converted a lay-in off an assist from Abril Rexach Roure on the opening possession to take an 11-point lead, its largest of the night, at 42-31.
 




But the Saints answered with nine straight points – the last of which came on a deep 3-pointer from the left of the lane by freshman Rian Clear – in a span of just 2 minutes, 26 seconds to get within two at 42-40. That was the closest they'd been since the opening basket of the game, and the clock still showed 7:28 remaining.
 
The Falcons gradually regained control. Malia Mastora started it with a short turnaround shot straight in front of the hoop, and Pettingill scored the next five points on a trey from the top of the key and a lay-in off a feed from Rachel Berg to make it 49-40.
 
Then Mastora came up big. In control of the ball just five feet in front, she got off a shot over two Saint Martin's defenders. It went in, she was fouled, and converted the ensuing free throw to make it 52-40 at the 4:16 mark.
 
Eddy then added a 3-pointer from the right corner, and Kaprice Boston got an easy lay-in off a pass from Rexach Roure. Hoff finished the run with two free throws on a Saints technical foul with 2:22 to go.
 
 

"To have three players in double figures and another one knocking on the door of double figures, that's how we want to play," Simonson said. "That's how we draw it up and envision it. You think about our team, we have so many players who complement each other."
 
Seattle Pacific never trailed and were never tied after scoring the first six points of the game and forcing the Saints into turnovers on their first three possessions. An 11-6 lead at the end of the opening quarter grew to as many as nine late in the second before SPU took a 26-21 advantage into halftime.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
--The 43 points was the second-fewest allowed by the Falcons this season. The only lower total came in the opener on Nov. 12, a 63-38 victory against Corban University.
-- After struggling to find the hoop in last week's losses at Western Washington and Simon Fraser, Seattle Pacific hit 44 percent on Tuesday (22 of 50).
-- At the other end, the Falcons limited Saint Martin's to just 26.7 percent shooting (16 of 60), the lowest mark this winter by an SPU opponent. On many occasions Tuesday, they forced Saint Martin's deep into the shot clock. "We really try to guard for 40 minutes. But when you break it down, it starts in 30-second intervals for the entire game," coach Mike Simonson said.
-- Anna Eddy got her 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. She also had five rebounds, two assists, and one steal
-- Abril Rexach Roure handed out seven assists for SPU.
-- Claire Dingus led Saint Martin's with 14 points, but got just two of those after halftime. She had five rebounds, but SPU kept her off the offensive glass all night. Dingus had four straight double-doubles coming into the game, with rebound totals of 12, 11, 11, and 12..
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons continue their three-game week on Thursday when they play host to Western Oregon at 7:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. The Wolves also played a make-up game on Tuesday, falling at home to Alaska Anchorage, 73-65.


RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 9-12, 5-6 GNAC
Saint Martin's 10-9, 2-8 GNAC