LACEY, Wash. – It took nearly  3½ months for the Seattle Pacific Falcons to snare a women's basketball victory on the road.
 
And it took all 40 minutes on Thursday night to seal the deal.
 
Olivia Mayer pumped in 24 points, Layne Kearns added 11, and SPU, thanks in large part to a 14-2 fourth-quarter scoring run, beat Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Marcus Pavilion, 62-55.
 
The Falcons (9-13, 6-6 GNAC), who now have won three straight, had just one out-of-town victory this season, a 58-53 decision against Cal State Dominguez on a neutral court (in Bellingham) back on Nov. 11. But on an opponent's own court, they were 0-9 coming into Lacey.
 
"It's our first true road win, and a three-game winning streak in conference play is a really big deal," head coach Mike Simonson said, "especially coming into the second half of the conference schedule. You want to play your best basketball going into the conference tournament. So I'm very proud of this win, because it's not easy to win here."
 




Combined with other results around the conference on Thursday, the Falcons are now part of a two-way tie for fourth place with Central Washington. Northwest Nazarene and Simon Fraser, which had been tied with Seattle Pacific and CWU at the start of the evening, are a game back at 5-7, as Simon lost at Central, 70-65, and NNU fell to Western Washington in overtime, 91-84.
 
 

"Like I said earlier, you've got to get your first win, then you've got to get a close win, and come-from-behind win, and then you've got to win on the road," Simonson said. "Now we know we can do it. The monkey is off our back, and Western Oregon will be a big one for us on Saturday. It's going to come up really fast, so we need to regroup and get ready for that game."
 
SPU was down by 13 points at 29-16 with 2:44 left in the second quarter. But a 7-1 scoring run to finish the half, which Lolo Weatherspoon started with a traditional three-point play and Mayer capped with a lay-in, sliced it to 30-23.
 
"We shaved it down to single digits, and that made us feel a little bit better," Simonson said. "We made a couple of small adjustments at halftime. But people just stepped up and made some big plays in the second half. We hit some big 3s, we made some big cuts for layups, and down the stretch, we made some free throws."
 
 

The Falcons kept chipping away during the third quarter. They finally climbed into a 38-38 tie on a 3-pointer from the right of the lane by Hailey Marlow, then went up 40-38 when Kearns gained control of the ball in backcourt and took it all the way to the other end for a lay-in.
 
The lead changed hands five more times after that. Saint Martin's (5-13, 3-8 GNAC) edged back in front, 45-44, on a pair of free throws by Keeli-Jade Smith with 7:18 left in the game.
 
SPU then went back in front to stay with an 8-0 scoring run: That started with an unusual four-point play. Marlow was fouled hard under the Saints hoop and went to the floor. She walked off under her own power (and later returned to the game), but the foul was ruled an intentional. Mayer hit one of the two ensuing free throws for a 45-45 tie, and SPU retained possession. Kearns buried a trey off an assist from Mayer.
 
 

The next four points were all from Schuyler Berry at the free throw line – and the last two of those were after she grabbed an offensive rebound and went back up for a shot. All of that made it a three-possession game at 52-45 with 4:12 to go.
 
The lead grew to as many as 11 points at 58-47 at the 1:36 mark. Saint Martin's made a 7-0 charge, getting within 58-54 at 35.9 seconds. Seattle Pacific got its final four points at the free throw line – three by Mayer, one by Haylie Ohta – to clinch it.
 
"It was a battle. Saint Martin's is scrappy, they really rebound well, and they're feisty," Simonson said. "We really just fought hard. One of our gold-standard goals is to hold a team to 55, and we did. The second half was really SPU basketball: We shared the ball, it was balanced scoring, and the defense was really good.
 
"They had 14 points in the fourth quarter, but some of those were kind of in crunch time when they got to the line a little bit and hit some big 3s down the stretch But I was really pleased with our fourth-quarter defense," Simonson added. "That to me was the change in the game."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Olivia Mayer came within one rebound of another double-double, finishing with nine. Layne Kearns grabbed six.
-- The Falcons went to the free throw line 20 times during the fourth quarter, and hit 15. Saint Martin's went just six times during that period, and hit five.
-- For the game, SPU was 20 of 29; the Saints were 16 of 22.
--The Falcons topped 40 percent shooting for the third straight game, finishing at 40.4 percent (19 of 47). Saint Martin's was at just 30.5 percent (18 of 59).
-- Seattle Pacific is now 7-2 when keeping an opponent below 60 points.
-- The Falcons kept Saint Martin's to 55 points last month in Seattle, but fell just short, 55-52.
-- This was the second straight game SPU overcame a double-digit deficit to win. Last Saturday, it was down 63-49 to Northwest Nazarene at the outset of the fourth quarter before coming back for a 73-71 victory.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons visit Western Oregon on Monmouth on Saturday. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m. SPU is going for a season series sweep, having defeated Western Oregon on Jan. 11 in Seattle, 57-52. The Wolves lost to No. 14-ranked Montana State Billings on Thursday, 67-60.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 62, Saint Martin's 55
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-13, 6-6 GNAC)
Weatherspoon 1-4 1-1 3, Mayer 8-15 7-9 24, Berry 1-6 5-6 7, Ohta 1-5 2-4 5, Beirne 4-8 1-2 9, Kearns 3-6 4-7 11, Marlow 1-3 0-0 3, Leasure 0-0 0-0 0, Bishop 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 19-47 20-29 62.
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (5-13, 3-8 GNAC)
S. Smith 4-6 4-6 12, Lamet 2-3 1-2 6, K. Smith 2-11 5-6 9, Galbraith 0-11 2-4 21, Brown 1-4 0-0 2, K. Rios 5-11 5-5 16, Morris 3-8 0-0 6, Reed 0-1 0-0 0, J. Rios 0-0 0-0 0, Koki 0-2 0-0 0, Currius 0-1 0-0 0, Sopak 1-1 1-1 3.  Totals 18-59 16-22 55.
 
Seattle Pacific       9           14           19           20           -- 62
Saint Martin's      12           18           11           14           -- 55
 
3-point goals – SPU 4-16 (Weatherspoon 0-1, Mayer 1-4, Ohta 1-4, Beirne 0-3, Kearns 1-1, Marlow 1-3), STM 3-21 (K. Smith 0-4, Galbraith 0-4, Brown 0-1, K. Rios 2-5, Morris 0-3, Reed 0-1, Koki 0-1, Currius 0-1, Sopak 1-1).  Fouled out – STM: Brown, K. Rios.  Rebounds – SPU 34 (Mayer 9), STM 41 (Lamete 11, S. Smith 10).  Assists – SPU 6 (Kearns 2), STM 4 (Galbraith 2).  Turnovers (points allowed) – SPU 17 (17), STM 15 (9).  Total fouls – SPU 20, STM 28.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 140.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon
Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 

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