SEATTLE – The last-gasp shot flew toward the rim from deep in the left corner. It was in time. It had the distance. It had the arc
 
But when it bounced high off the rim at the buzzer, the Seattle Pacific Falcons had by far their biggest win of the season.
 
Olivia Mayer poured in 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting, Hunter Beirne added 13, Schuyler Berry chipped in 12, and SPU, after an early 17-point lead gradually melted away, pulled out a 62-59 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory against Alaska Anchorage.
 
The outcome on Saturday afternoon in Brougham Pavilion gave the Falcons (3-5, 2-0 GNAC) a sweep of their first weekend of conference play.
 
 

"'I'm so excited for this team – it was a great win to put in our back pocket," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We want to make the conference tournament, we want to go to the NCAA Tournament, and you have to beat teams like this to do that. And you have to be able to do it when some things don't go your way. Today, some things didn't go our way, but we still persevered and got the win."
 
BACK AND FORTH IN THE FOURTH
The last-second dramatics came after the teams had gone punch-counterpunch during a tension-filled fourth quarter.
 
With the Falcons holding what became their final lead of 62-59, Alaska Anchorage got the ball back after forcing a shot clock violation with 8.5 seconds to play. The Seawolves called timeout, advanced the ball, and inbounded from left front court.
 
Kya Pearson lobbed it high across the court. Berry leaped, deflected it, and secured it. The clock had run down to 6.7, but was reset to 7.5. SPU inbounded to Beirne, one of the team's best free throw shooters on the assumption that Anchorage would try to foul.
 
Instead, as Beirne was dribbling in backcourt to wind down the clock, the Seawolves went for the ball instead of the foul. They knocked it loose, Pearson grabbed it deep in the left corner and let fly, hoping to tie it and to force overtime.
 
"That ball was in the air for what felt like an eternity," Simonson said "It looked good coming off (Pearson's) hands. But it missed, and we walked away with a big GNAC win."
 
The Seawolves went in front for the first time since the opening moments of the game, 54-52, on a 3-pointer by Elaina Mack with 4:53 to go, the second of her three makes from long distance during that period.
 
Mayer immediately answered with a shot from the right side of the foul line to tie it up, and Berry then converted a reverse lay-up on a putback, pushing the Falcons ahead again, 56-54 with 4:03 left.
 
 

Mack hit her final trey, this one from way out on the left side for a 57-56 UAA lead at 3:50. The Falcons responded with six straight points – a lay-in by Beirne off a feed from Mayer, a lay-up by Mayer off an assist from Hailey Marlow, and a Beirne lay-in with a nifty pass from Berry for a 62-57 advantage with 1:52 on the clock.
 
Those would be the final points for the Falcons. The Seawolves got two more on free throws from Jazzpher Evans at 1:21 to go.
 
"They started to climb back in prior to halftime, and we said, 'Let's get back to who we are: play tough defense, share the ball, good shots, good ball movement," Simonson said. "The third quarter, we came out and did that.
 
"But good teams are going to turn up the heat a little bit," he continued. "In the fourth quarter that one shooter (Mack) hit those big 3's. But what I love is I said to them before the game, 'There's going to be runs in this game. How will we respond?' And we responded with toughness."
 
UAA was coming off an 83-68 loss at Montana State Billings on Thursday, followed by the long trip to Seattle. SPU jumped way ahead early, going on a 16-0 first-quarter run to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 20-5 lead. Not only did the Falcons keep the Seawolves off the scoreboard with seven consecutive stops, they kept them off the backboards during that first 10 minutes with a 12-2 rebounding advantage.
 
Back-to-back lay-ins by Emilia Bishop at the outset of the second quarter extended SPU's lead to 17 points at 26-9.
 
 

Sooner or later, Anchorage was going to make it a run, and it was sooner, scoring the next 10 points to get within 26-19. The margin got as narrow as two at 28-26 before SPU rang up five straight points and eventually went into halftime with a 33-29 edge. It back up to nine at 48-39 entering the fourth, thank in part to back-to-back traditional three-point plays from Berry.

BY THE NUMBERS
--Overall, the Falcons had their best shooting performance of the season, hitting 46.9 percent (23 of 49). They weren't falling from downtown (just 2 of 17), but they were from mid-range and underneath (21 of 32 for 65.6 percent).
-- At the other end, Seattle Pacific limited Alaska Anchorage (2-5, 0-2 GNAC) to just 38.5 percent (20 of 52).
--It was the second straight win against UAA for the Falcons. They scored a 69-65 victory in the first round of last season's GNAC Tournament.
--Olivia Mayer's five rebounds gave her exactly 500 for her career.
--Schuyler Berry's seven boards push her past too. She now has 203.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have just one game next week, hosting George Fox in a non-conference contest on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 2:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 62, Alaska Anchorage 59
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (2-5, 0-2 GNAC)
Alexander 1-1 0-0 2, Robertson 3-4 4-4 10, Rabouin 6-12 3-5 17, Mack 4-9 0-0 12, Evans 2-7 3-8 7, Walsh 0-0 0-0 2,Gamble 2-5 2-2 6, Hollingshead 1-2 0-0 2, Pearson 0-8 0-0 0, Ross 1-4 0-0 3.  Totals 20-52 12-19 59.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-5, 2-0 GNAC)
Marlow 1-5 1-2 3, Beirne 5-10 2-2 13, Mayer 10-18 2-3 23, Berry 4-4 4-5 12, Leasure 0-2 1-1 1, Ohta 0-3 0-0 0. Bishop 2-3 2-2 6, Kearns 1-3 2-2 4, Carlisle 0-1 0-0 0.  Totals 23-49 14-18 62.
 
Alaska Anchorage                  9        20        10        20        -- 59
Seattle Pacific                       22        11        15        14        -- 62
 
3-point goals – UAA 7-20 (Rabouin 2-7, Mack 4-8, Pearson 0-4, Ross 1-1), SPU 2-17 (Marlow 0-2, Beirne 1-5, Mayer 1-5, Leasure 0-2, Ohta 0-2, Kearns 0-1).  Fouled out – UAA: Alexander, Evans. SPU: Marlow.  Rebounds – UAA 24 (Pearson 4), SPU 36 (Beirne 7, Berry 7).  Assists – UAA 11 (Gamble 4), SPU 10 (Marlow 4).  Turnovers (points allowed) – UAA 14 (15), SPU 23 (22). Total fouls – UAA 21, SPU 22.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 204.
 
 
Next game
George Fox at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Dec. 9     2:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.