FAIRBANKS, Alaska – She stands just 5-foot-7. But Layne Kearns played a whole lot bigger than that just when Seattle Pacific needed it most on Thursday night.
 
The sophomore went sky-high for an offensive rebound and subsequently hit pair of free throws to make it two-possession lead, then drained two more free throws – all in the final 20 seconds – to clinch it  as the Falcons beat Alaska Fairbanks in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 73-67.
 
Kearns finished with 17 points and five rebounds. She was one of four players in double figures for SPU (8-20, 2-13 GNAC), which picked up its first conference road win of the season.

 

  Lolo Weatherspoon poured in 21 points (10 during the fourth quarter), Hunter Beirne added 20, and Madison Rubino went for a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds. It was her second double-double in the past two weeks.
 
The back-and-forth contest inside the Patty Center was never separated by three points through most of the fourth period until SPU closed it out with a 10-3 run.
 
 

"We struggled at the beginning, but then we were really smart down in the fourth," coach Karen Byers said. "We weren't really guarding as well as we would have liked, and they kept getting transition 3s on us. I challenge us and said our defense has to be more energetic and we needed to start working hard on that – and they rose to the occasion."
 
SPU and Fairbanks traded the lead 14 times, including three times during the fourth quarter. The game was tied seven times, once during the fourth.
 
"A road win was good, and it was a win that was close," Byers said. "We executed really well and so that was another good learning point that hey, we can win close games and we can execute down the line when the clock gets low."
 
Down 64-63 with the clock inside three minutes to go, Rubino buried a jumper on the right side of the foul line after taking a pass from Beirne to put the Falcons in front, 65-64. Then with the ball out of bounds under their own basket and Kearns inbounding, Weatherspoon broke wide open down the lane, Kearns found her, and Weatherspoon laid it in for 67-64 at the 1:49 mark.
 
The Nanooks (6-17, 1-14 GNAC) had their chances as Seattle Pacific turned it over twice, but missed both times. The Falcons regained possession with 1:08 to play.
 
 

Their shot clock was down. A Fairbanks foul reset the shot clock to 20 with 42.4 to play. A 3-point try from the right corner by Grace Turley bounced off the rim, and that when Kearns leaped for the ball, grabbed, took it out of traffic toward the left side and was fouled with 18.9 seconds remaining. She hit both free throws to make it a two-possession edge at 69-64.
 
"I don't know how she jumped that high in the air," Byers said. "She looked like she was three feet above everyone else. She just grabbed that ball and tucked it in her armpit and she was phenomenal."
 
UAF's Emily Freeman, who shoots almost exclusively from 3-point range (all six of her shots on Thursday and 132 of her 138 for the season have been from downtown) nailed one to bring the Nanooks within 69-67 at 13.3 seconds.
 
Weatherspoon was sent to the foul line with 12.3 seconds left and both of her shots went in – but only after rolling around the rim on both attempts – to make it 71-67. Destiny Reimers got a good look at a 3-pointer from the top of the key for UAF, but it bounced off the rim, and the loose ball landed in Rubino's hands. She got it to Kearns, who subsequently hit two more free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining to clinch it.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- SPU's biggest lead of the night was nine at 36-27 late in the second quarter. Fairbanks erased that by scoring the last five points of the second and first seven points of the third. The biggest lead for the Nanooks was five at 51-46 late in the third.

-- Madison Rubino's double-double was her second in the last two weeks, She had 11 points and 14 rebounds at Western Oregon on Feb. 6. She now has five double-doubles for her career, the first coming last year while she was with Cal Poly Humboldt.
-- With Lolo Weatherspoon scoring 21 points and Hunter Beirne scoring 20, it's the third time this season the Falcons have had two players with 20 in the same game. That includes both games against Fairbanks, as Emilia Bishop had 27 and Beirne 20 when the teams met in Seattle on Jan. 25.
-- Seattle Pacific has won the last seven games at Fairbanks, a streak which started during the 2017-18 season.
-- Weatherspoon, Beirne, Layne Kearns, and Madison Rubino accounted for all but four of the team's 73 points. Emilia Bishop and three and Haylie-Anne Ohta had one.
-- The Falcons shot 44.4 percent from the field, hitting 28 of 63. The limited Alaska Fairbanks to 36.6 percent (26 of 73).
-- Beirne dished six assists, and Rubino came up with three more blocked shots.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play their final road game of the season on Saturday, visiting No. 20 Alaska Anchorage at 6:15 p.m. PST. The Seawolves are coming off an 87-64 rout of No. 18 Montana State Billings on Thursday night.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025
The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Seattle Pacific 73, Alaska Fairbanks 67
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (8-20, 2-13 GNAC)
Weatherspoon 9-17 3-5 21, Rubino 5-9 0-0 11, Turley 0-4 0-0 0, Beirne 8-13 2-3 20, Kearns 5-13 4-4 17, Bishop 1-5 1-4 3, Leasure 0-1 0-0 0, Ohta 0-0 1-2 1, Lavigne 0-1 0-0 0, Mertes 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 28-63 11-18 73.
 
ALASKA FAIRBANKS (6-17 1-14 GNAC)
Brady 3-8 0-0 7, Freeman 3-6 3-6 9, Reimers 6-19 3-4 16, Pilot 2-6 0-0 5, Lomax 7-14 0-2 17, Martin 2-7 0-0 4, Van Dyke 1-7 2-2 5, Clark 2-6 0-0 4, Tiulana 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 26-73 5-8 67.
 
Seattle Pacific                     19           17           17           20           -- 73
Alaska Fairbanks                19           13           22           13           -- 67
 
3-point goals – SPU 6-17 (Weatherspoon 0-1, Rubino 1-2, Turley 0-3, Beirne 2-3, Kearns 3-8), UAF 10-30 (Brady 1-1, Freeman 3-6, Reimers 1-9, Pilot 1-2, Lomax 3-6, Martin 0-2, Van Dyke 1-4).  Fouled out – UAF: Pilot.  Rebounds – SPU 41 (Rubino 13), UAF 40 (Martin 9).  Assists – SPU 16 (Beirne 6), UAF (3 players with 3).  Turnovers (points allowed) – SPU 19 (17), UAF 16 (9).  Total fouls – SPU 11, UAF 17.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 214.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage
Saturday, 6:15 p.m. PST
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska


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