SEATTLE – Maybe it wasn't the most conventional quintet combination …
 
… but at the end of the day, it was a winning one.
 
Layne Kearns poured in a career-high 18 points, getting 11 of those during a monstrous fourth-quarter comeback on Saturday as Seattle Pacific pulled out a 64-54 women's basketball victory against Colorado Christian on the final day of the SPU Thanksgiving Tournament.
 
Grace Leasure added 10 points and Lolo Weatherspoon chipped in eight as SPU (2-8) went on a 25-4 scoring run – including a stretch of 14 straight points – through the final nine minutes of the game in Brougham Pavilion.
 
 

"I challenged them during one of our timeouts," head coach Karen Byers said. "We had stopped rebounding; we would get one shot and they'd get the rebound and go back. I said, 'We've got to step up and decide to play differently and dig deep.' And they really rose to the occasion."
 
The combination of 5-foot-7 guard, Kearns, 6-foot wing Leasure, 5-10 wing Weatherspoon, 5-7 point guard Hunter Beirne, and 5-9 guard Grace Turley played the entire fourth quarter except for a seven-second spurt when Kearns had to sub out to deal with a shoulder wrap that had come undone.
 
They combined for 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting (3 of 7 from downtown), 12 rebounds, five assists, four steals, one blocked shot – and no turnovers. They also limited CCU to just six points.
 
"Colorado Christian did such a good job of defending and guarding our posts that I had to make a change," Byers said. "They forced me to make a change, and it worked out. I put Grace Turley in because a great defender and can handle the ball well and handle pressure. Then I just kept in the ones who were having good games already."
 
Early in the fourth quarter, things were not looking good for Seattle Pacific, down by 11 at 50-39 with 9:17 left.
 




The margin was nine at 52-43 inside the eight-minute mark when the offensive onslaught really got going.
 
Sophomore guard Kearns started it with a coast-to-coast driving lay-in. Turley finished off a fast break with a lay-in, and Leasure converted a second chance into a turnaround banker to cut the deficit to 52-49 and forcing Colorado Christian (1-6) to tall timeout with 6:13 remaining.
 
 

Kearns tied it at 52-52 on one of her favorite shots – a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner – at the 5:28 mark. Weatherspoon then broke under the hoop all by herself and Beirne got it right to her for the lay-in and a 54-52 lead at 4:45. Beirne then found Kearns in the left corner, and Kearns drilled in another trey, making it 57-52, capping the 14-point outburst.
 
"She's calm, she's collected, and she can hit them when we need her to hit them," Byers said of Kearns. "Her leadership and composure are beyond her years."
 
Colorado Christian finally got back onto the scoreboard on a lay-in by Hayley Luther with 4:03 left. But that was it. The Falcons shut them out the rest of the way and tacked on seven more points of their own.
 
"There was a time when I looked at the clock and we about 3½ minutes left, and I thought, 'These five look really good. Can they make it; can we not run out of steam?'" Byers said. "We went to the line a couple times and that allowed them to get a little breather."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Layne Kearns' previous career high was 16 points this past Feb. 10 at Western Oregon.
-- The Falcons finished at 38.8 percent shooting (26 of 67), thanks to that 55.6 percent mark (10 of 18) in the fourth quarter.
-- Colorado Christian finished at 36.8 percent (26 of 67).
-- SPU had the rebound edge for the fifth time in nine games, 41-36. As she did on Friday, senior center Schuyler Berry led the way with seven..
-- Berry also had three of the team's five blocked shots.
-- The Falcons picked up 36 of their 64 points in the paint. Tacked onto the 32 from Friday's game against Metro State, that gave them 68 paint points for the weekend.
-- The reserves came through yet again, this time with 26 points (led by Grace Leasure's 10) and 12 rebounds (Leasure and Lolo Weatherspoon had four each). In the past three games, that group has delivered 77 points.

UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific begins its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule this coming week with a visit to Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., on Thursday at 5:15 p.m., followed by a trip to Western Washington in Bellingham next Saturday at 7:00 p.m.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
SPU Thanksgiving Tournament
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 64, Colorado Christian 54
 
COLORADO CHRISTIAN (1-5)
Jones 6-11 0-0 12, E. Grosdidier 1-5 2-2 4, Bowlin 4-11 3-3 11, Perez 4-13 0-0 10, Phipps 4-10 2-2 13, Kendall 0-1 0-0 0, J. Grosdidier 1-4 0-0 2, Luther 1-2 0-0 2, Wheeler 0-0 0-0 0, Guest 0-0 0-0 0.   Totals 21-57 7-7 54.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (2-7)
Rubino 2-8 0-0 4, Berry 2-3 1-1 5, Ohta 3-6 0-1 7, Beirne 1-89 2-2 4, Kearns 7-12 0-0 18, Leasure 4-10 2-2 10, Bishop 3-4 0-0 6, Weatherspooon 3-10 2-2 8, Turley 1-6 0-0 2, Mertens 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 26-67 7-8 64.
 
Colorado Christian              10           16           22             6           -- 54
Seattle Pacific                     18             9           10           27           -- 64
 
3-point goals – CCU 5-20 (Jones 0-1, E. Grosdidier 0-3, Bowlin 0-3, Perez 2-7, Phipps 3-6), SPU 5-26 (Ohta 1-3, Beirne 0-4, Kearns 4-8, Leasure 0-5, Weatherspoon 0-2, Turley 0-4).  Fouled out – None. Rebounds – CCU 35 (Jones 8), SPU 41 (Beirne 6).  Assists – CCU 13 (E. Grosdidier 4), SPU 14 (Beirne 4).  Turnovers (points allowed) – CCU 19 (16), SPU 16 (16).  Total fouls – CCU 11, SPU 12.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 211.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser
Thursday, Dec.5     5:15 p.m.
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.