SEATTLE – Now that was some kind of Senior Day.
 
Ashley Alter went for a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Natalie Hoff poured in 16 points, as Seattle  Pacific closed the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball schedule with a 69-47 victory against Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday..
 
WIth that result in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcons (14-12, 9-9 GNAC) thus can head to Western Washington University in Bellingham for this coming week's GNAC Tournament on some winning momentum. They will tip off postseason competition on Thursday as the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 seed Alaska Anchorage at 7:30 p.m. in Carver Gymnasium.
 
 

"Not every team going into the tournament will come off a win, so that's a great thing to get the win," head coach Mike Simonson said. "As much as today didn't matter in the standings, it mattered a lot to us. We want momentum going into the conference tournament, with two fifth-year seniors who deserve to go out with a win and have a great game. We value it and we took it seriously."
 
Along with their combined 34 points and 15 boards, Hoff and Alter teamed up to shoot 48.3 percent from the floor in their final home game: 50 percent for Hoff (7 of 14) and 47 percent (8 of 17).
 
"Senior Day is a fun, exciting day, and it's a great celebration. But it can be very distracting, too," Simonson said. "I'm just really proud of our team to be focused and execute our game plan. And for our two seniors to have the quality games that they  did, that doesn't happen very often (on a Senior Day). I'm very proud of Nat and Ashley for being very efficient and having very good games in their last (home) games at Seattle Pacific."

 

After trading baskets with Fairbanks (4-21, 1-17 GNAC) in the early going, Seattle Pacific put together a 9-0 scoring run midway though the first quarter, turning an 8-6 deficit into a 15-8 advantage. They never trailed again.
 
The Falcons built their first double-digit lead of the day at 22-11 early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer from the right of the lane by Hailey Marlow, a play which Marlow started by stealing the ball, then getting onto the receiving end of a pass from Alter.
 
SPU stretched it to as many as 13 late in the quarter before taking a 34-25 advantage at halftime.
 
By the middle of the third quarter, it was back up double-digits for good on back-to-back lay-ins by Schuyler Berry, and a lay-in by Alter off a steal. That made it 43-29, and the Nanooks never got closer than 12 after that.
 
"We were solid. We held Fairbanks to one of their lower scores of the year, so we played solid defense. We shot the ball well – over 50 percent in the second half (16 of 31 for 51.6 percent), and we had just six turnovers in the second half.
 
"It gets us excited going into the conference tournament."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
--  Ashley Alter's double-double was her fourth of the season and seventh of her career.
--The Falcons finished the game with a 47.7 percent shooting mark (31 of 65). They were 55.7 percent from 2-point range (19 of 52), but 15.4 percent (2 of 13) from 3.
-- Fairbanks hit just 30.2 percent (16 of 53), and just 11.8 percent (2 of 17) downtown).
-- Natalie Hoff's four rebounds leave her just four away from 600 for her career.
-- SPU now has won 11 straight against Alaska Fairbanks, the last eight of those with coach Mike Simonson at the helm.
-- Seattle Pacific had a plus-22 advantage on the boards – its second-largest of the season – at 46-24. The only better one was plus-27 (53-26) against Lincoln of California on Dec. 8.
-- Of those 46 rebounds, 15 were at the offensive end, leading to a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points.
-- Redshirt sophomore point guard Hunter Beirne scored just one point, but grabbed four rebounds and handed out five assists, with only one turnover in almost 32 minutes.
-- The 48 points scored by the Nanooks marked the sixth time this season the Falcons have kept a team below 50.
-- Sam Tolliver led Fairbanks with 12 points. Leading scorer Emma McKenney (12.8 points per game) did not play.
 
UP NEXT
The GNAC Tournament begins on Thursday for Seattle Pacific when it takes on Alaska Anchorage in a first-round game at 7:30 p.m. at Western Washington. The winner will face No. 1 seed and host WWU in a semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The championship game, with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA West Regionals, is next Saturday at 7:30.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 69, Alaska Fairbanks 47
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (4-21, 1-17 GNAC)
Silva 2-5 0-0 4, Johnson 3-6 3-3 9, Reimers 2-7 0-0 4, Tolliver 2-16 7-8 12, Perez-Mendoza 1-6 1-4 3, Van Dyke 3-5 0-0 6, Wass 2-2 2-3 6, Tiuana 1-5 0-0 2, Pusich 0-1 0-0 0, Kreska 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 16-53 13-18 47.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-12, 9-9 GNAC)
N. Hoff 7-14 1-2 16, M. Hoff 6-9 0-0 12, Marlow 2-7 0-0 5, Beirne 0-8 1-2 1, Alter 8-17 2-2 18, Weatherspoon 1-1 0-0 2, Berry 6-7 0-0 12, Bishop 1-12 1-1 3.  Totals 31-65 5-7 69.
 
Alaska Fairbanks                  11           14           13             9           -- 47
Seattle Pacific                      17           17           19           16           -- 69
 
3-point goals – UAF 2-17 (Reimers 0-2, Tolliver 1-8, Van Dyke 0-21, Tiulana 1-5, Pusich 0-1), SPU 2-13 (N Hoff 1-3, M. Hoff 0-1, Marlow 1-4, Beirne 0-1, Alter 0-4).  Fouled out – None.  Rebounds – UAF 24 (Silva 6), SPU 46 (Alter 11).  Assists – UAF 5 (Perez-Mendoza 3), SPU 8 (Beirne 4).  Turnovers – UAF 13, SPU 15.  Total fouls – UAF 8, SPU 16.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 143.
 
 
Next game
GNAC Tournament
Seattle Pacific vs. Alaska Anchorage
Thursday, March 2      7:30 p.m.
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.