ELLENSBURG, Wash. – It was a career night for Hunter Beirne …
 
… but another frustrating one for Seattle Pacific.
 
Beirne recorded her first-ever 30-point game, finishing with exactly that many, and the Falcons hung right with Central Washington through the midpoint of the fourth quarter before the Wildcats pulled away for an 88-65 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory.
 
Thursday's outcome in Nicholson Pavilion still left SPU (6-13, 0-6 GNAC) still searching for its first conference victory. Until the clock ticked below the 6:00 mark, it was very much within reach, thanks in large part to Beirne.
 
The fifth-year point guard hit 14 of 23 from the field and had five assists that factored into another 12 points.
 
However, Central Washington (11-4, 4-2 GNAC) had multiple weapons, and all of them came through. Asher Cai had 23 points, Sunny Huerta added 22, and Annalee Coronado came off the bench for 18, with 13 of those during the fourth quarter to help the Wildcats break it open.
 
 

"I'm proud of how we fought. We played a good game – it just doesn't look that way on the scoreboard," interim head coach Karen Byers said. "We kind of ran out of gas. We didn't hit the shots we needed, and they couldn't miss – they were feeling it."
 
Last Saturday at home against Western Oregon, Beirne tied her career high with 28 points and had two tries in the final few seconds to get to 30.
 
On Thursday, she had a 15-footer from the right of the lane that bounced off the rim, then fell through with 52 seconds left that made it 30.
 
"Hunter was getting downhill and doing her thing and hitting some 3s," Byers said. "It was great to have her put up a bunch of points tonight. We kind of went away from that (later on) because then they started doubling and coming off the screen and kind of figured us out. So she started hitting Emi (Bishop) in the post on the roll."
 
The Falcons started slow. Beirne hit the first basket of the game, then Central ran off 15 straight points for a double-digit lead by the midpoint of the first quarter.
 
SPU started to climb back in, cutting that deficit all the way down to two points on three occasions during the second quarter, the last time at 27-25. The Wildcats twice stretched it back out to nine and took a 39-32 lead into halftime.
 
Down 44-36 early in the third, the Falcons went on a 7-0 run to get within one. Bishop started it with a traditional three-point play, Lolo Weatherspoon had a wide-open lay-in on an inbounds assist from Beirne, then Beirne went for a driving lay-in to make it 44-43 with 5:08 left in the quarter.
 
The teams traded baskets to make it 46-45. The Wildcats then finished the quarter on a 14-5 run to take a 60-50 lead into the final 10 minutes.
 
Still just a nine-point difference at 66-57 with six minutes remaining, Central Washington effectively sealed the deal with an 8-0 burst to produce a 17-point lead at 74-57.
 
"We didn't start out great, but we got it down to one and we got them scared," Byers said. "We really made some adjustments to start attacking downhill and use our ball screen well to get it back down to one. Then we had a couple mental lapses and they went on a run. And they're such good 3-point shooters."

BY THE NUMBERS
-- Hunter Beirne's 30 included the 700th point of her career. She now has 715.
-- The last 30-point game for Seattle Pacific was 31 by Olivia Mayer last Feb. 3 at home against Northwest Nazarene.
-- Junior center Emilia Bishop had 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting plus a season-high seven rebounds for SPU. Senior wing Lolo Weatherspoon chipped in 10 points.
-- The Falcons shot 39.7 percent from the field (29 of 73).
-- But that was no match for Central Washington, which hit 53.1 percent (34 of 64, including 12 of 16 to fuel a 28-point fourth quarter). The Wildcats shot 52.6 percent (10 of 19) from 3-point range. Asher Cai (8 of 16), Sunny Huerta (9 of 15) and Annalee Coronado (7 of 9), hit a combined 60 percent overall (24 of 40), with 70 percent (7 of 10) from downtown.
-- Sophomore guard Layne Kearns hit her first free throw of the night to extend her streak to 20 in a row. But her next try bounced off the rim. She is still 35 of 40 for the season (.875).
-- SPU continued its recent trend of taking care of the ball, committing just 14 turnovers. That's the fifth time in the last seven games with fewer than 15. However, the Wildcats converted those into 27 points.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons head to Idaho for Saturday's game in Nampa against Northwest Nazarene. Tip-off is at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time. The Nighthawks knocked off No. 6-ranked Montana State Billings on Thursday, 75-69.
 

 NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025
Nicholson Arena / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Central Washington 88, Seattle Pacific 65
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (6-13, 0-6 GNAC)
Beirne 14-23 0-0 30, Weatherspoon 5-14 0-0 10, Kearns 2-10 1-2 6, Leasure 1-5 0-0 3, Rubino 1-7 0-0 2, Bishop 5-9 1-5 11, Turley 1-3 0-0 3, Ohta 0-1 0-0 0, Mertes 0-1 0-0 0.  Totals 29-73 2-7 65.
 
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (11-4, 4-2 GNAC)
Cai 8-16 3-3 23, Huerta 9-15 3-3 22, Blodgett 3-6 0-0 7, Smith 2-4 0-0 6, Sims 3-8 0-1 6, Coronado 7-9 2-3 18, Marsh 1-3 0-0 2, DeMott 0-1 2-2 2, Finch 1-2 0-0 2, Shaw 0-0 0-0 0.   Totals 34-64 10-12 88.
 
Seattle Pacific                       7           25           18           15           -- 65
Central Washington           17           22           21           28           -- 88
 
3-point goals – SPU 5-17 (Beirne 2-5,Weatherspoon 0-2, Kearns 1-4, Leasure 1-3, Turley 1-2, Mertes 0-1), CWU 10-19 (Cai 4-6, Huerta 1-1, Blodgett 1-3. Smith 2-4, Coronado 2-3, Marsh 0-2).  Fouled out – SPU: Rubino.  Rebounds – SPU 37 (Rubino 7, Bishop 7), CWU 40 (Cai 9).  Assists – SPU 11 (Beirne 5), CWU 18 (Cai 7).  Turnovers (points allowed) – SPU 14 (27), CWU 15 (11).  Total fouls – SPU 18, CWU 15.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 458.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene
Saturday, 4:15 p.m. PST
Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho

 
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