SEATTLE – Five more field goals. Five more assists. One more steal. A dozen more points in the paint.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons had plenty of pluses on their side of the box score.
 
The biggest plus, however, belonged to Western Washington: When Thursday night's game was on the line, the Vikings got to the line.
 
Schuyler Berry came off the bench for 13 points, and Ashley Alter added 12 for SPU, but No. 6-ranked WWU buried 13 of 15 free throws during the fourth quarter to pull out a 58-53 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory in Brougham Pavilion. That extended Western's winning streak to 14.
 
"We did a lot of things well – and that's the tough thing that we did not win the game," Falcons head coach Mike Simonson said. "Obviously, the big difference was the free throw line. They got to the line in the second half (14 of 16, hitting 18 of 20 for the night) and that fueled all of their runs. And we didn't (just 2 of 5 in the second half, hitting 3 of 6 for the game)."

The Falcons hit 23 field goals (compared to WWU's 18), with 12 of those being assisted. Of the 53 points, 34 were scored in the paint; Western had 22. And, Seattle Pacific was just one rebound behind the visitors, 33-32 – against a team that on average out-rebounds opponents by nearly 14 per game, tops in all of NCAA Division II.
 
 

"We played tremendous defense against Western. They're a heck of an offensive team and I believe it was one of their lowest point totals of the season (The 58 tied the lowest that the Vikings had scored.) Kudos to our defensive effort.
 
"Offensively, we took care of the ball, and that was a huge thing to match Western in taking care of the basketball. We actually out-performed them there." (SPU had a season-low 11 turnovers and forced the Vikings into 16.)
 
Seattle Pacific led by as many as 10 points, building a 24-14 advantage early in the second quarter. But Western Washington climbed back in, going on an 8-0 run while keeping the Falcons scoreless for 4 minutes, 59 seconds. By halftime, SPU had built it back up to seven at 29-22, the last of which came on a 3-point buzzer beater by Hunter Beirne.
 
During the second half, the game was tied six times and the lead changed hands seven times.
 
The last of the ties came with 59 seconds left when Berry went for a lay-in on a nice pass from Alter, who had three assists to go along with her dozen points. Berry was fouled on the play and converted the free throw for a 53-53 deadlock.
 
But those were the final points for Seattle Pacific. Avery Dykstra put Western Washington back on top 55-53 on a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining. SPU called timeout and advanced the ball into front court. In a traffic jam under the hoop, Maddy Grandbois of the Vikings stole a pass and got it ahead to Dykstra, who was fouled and again hit both of her free throws, making it a two-possession lead at 57-53 with 15.2 left.
 
Chiara De Virgilio tried a 3-pointer from the left of the lane, but it bounced off the rim with five seconds left. Dykstra secured the rebound and was fouled again, this time with just 2.8 seconds to play. She hit just one of her two shots, but that was more than enough to secure it.
 
Dykstra finished with 17 points, nine of those (with seven from the line) during the fourth quarter.
 
"There were times when I felt that we were the aggressors, which was great," Simonson said. "And we're a good team. Western is one of the best teams in the entire country. We're showing that we're on that same trajectory. We have to continue getting better and staying together.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Until the fourth quarter, just eight fouls had been called, and the teams combined to shoot a mere six free throws: Western was 5 of 5, SPU was 1 of 1. In the fourth, there were 16 fouls and the 20 combined free throws.
-- Seattle Pacific was just the second team this seasonto build a double-digit lead on the Vikings when it went up 24-14 in the second quarter. The only other team to do that was Saint Martin's, which had a 22-12 advantage late in the first quarter last Thursday before Western came back to win, 81-65.
-- Sophomore center Schuyler Berry hit 6 of 9 from the field and also had a pair of blocked shots.
-- Redshirt sophomore guard Hunter Beirne, who stands all of 5 feet, 7 inches, had a career high two blocks. Coming in, she had four in her entire career.
-- Berine's first-half buzzer-beater was her third in the past two home games. She hit two on Dec. 31 against Central Washington: one to close out the half, one to finish the third quarter.
-- Point guard Chiara De Virgilio had one assist, giving her exactly 400 for her career.

UP NEXT
The Falcons conclude the first half of GNAC play on Saturday when Simon Fraser comes to Brougham Pavilion. Tip-off is at 4:15 p.m. The Red Leafs lost in overtime at Montana State Billings on Thursday night, 69-67.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKEBALL
Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
(No. 6) Western Washington 58, Seattle Pacific 53
 
WESTERN WASHINGTON (14-1, 8-0 GNAC)
Walling 5-5 1-1 12, Gimmaka 1-3 0-0 2, A. Dykstra 4-7 7-8 17, R. Dykstra 1-8 2-2 4, Oberg 2-6 2-2 7, Reilly 3-8 4-5 10, Grandbois 1-2 2-2 4, Peterson 1-2 0-0 2, Zaragoza 0-1 0-0 0, Fierke 0-2 0-0 0.  Totals 18-44 18-20 58.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (10-6, 5-3 GNAC)
N. Hoff 4-10 0-0 8, M. Hoff 1-2 0-0 2, Beirne 2-7 0-2 5, Eddy 3-13 1-1 7, Alter 5-10 1-2 12, Berry 6-9 1-1 13, Weatherspoon 0-2 0-0 0, De Virgilio 2-8 0-0 6, Marlow 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 23-61 3-6 53.
 
Western Washington        14           8             17           19           -- 58
Seattle Pacific                    16           14           12           12           -- 53
 
3-point goals – WWU 4-16 (Walling 1-1, A. Dykstra 2-5, R. Dykstra 0-2, Oberg 1-4, Grandbois 0-1, Peterson 0-1, Fierke 0-2), SPU 4-14 (Beirne 1-2, Eddy 0-4, Alter 1-3, De Virgilio 2-5).  Fouled out – None.  Rebounds – WWU 33 (Reilly 10), SPU 32 (N. Hoff 6).  Assists – WWU 7 (R. Dykstra 2, Grandbois 2, Peterson 2), SPU 12 (Alter 3).  Turnovers – WWU 16, SPU 11.  Total fouls – WWU 8, SPU 18.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 337.
 
 
Next game
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 4:15 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.