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SEATTLE – The simplest of shots complicated Seattle Pacific's upset bid.

Daesha Henderson poured in 26 points for NCAA Division II Seattle Pacific on Thursday, but it was not enough to turn back Division I foe Washington, which won 69-61 in a women's basketball exhibition game at Edmundson Pavilion.

The Falcons shot a stellar 45-percent from 3-point range (9-of-20) and a respectable 43-percent from the field overall (23-of-54). But numerous missed layups, some after precise passes and others on put-back attempts, kept SPU from answering the Huskies' many runs.

“We did show some good things, but we just have to finish it. Obviously when you see yourself missing layups, those are things you can control,” said SPU coach Julie van Beek. “I tell the kids all the time that layups are killer shots, they kill you or they kill the other team. We got killed by their layups and we got killed by our missed layups.”

The Huskies defeated SPU for the seventh time in 10 all-time meetings. The Falcons won the previous game, a 75-67 decision on Nov. 6, 2007 at Edmundson Pavilion.

UW compiled 28 points in the paint, most of them on layups, to offset its 3-for-9 effort beyond the 3-point arc. The Huskies' trio of Laura McLellan, Sami Whitcomb and Sara Mosiman combined for 47 points.

McLellan hit 8-of-10 shots from the field for 18 points. Whitcomb finished with 15 and Mosiman had 14.

UW sophomore Kristi Kingma, whose father was a standout guard at SPU from 1979-83, had nine points and led her team's 38-36 rebounding edge with nine boards. Gregg Kingma ranks among the Falcon men's all-time top-10 scorers with 1,295 career points.

Henderson led all scorers, converting 9 of her 16 shots from the field, including 5-of-6 accuracy from 3-point range. The senior guard also contributed six steals, five assists and three rebounds.

“Daesha's amazing. She did so many things. She handled pressure, she played defense, she got rebounds and she had some great opportunities to score,” van Beek said. “She's just a great all-around player. She plays with so much heart and so much emotion. We have to make sure we are following her, we don't want her to have to carry us all the time.”

Henderson is willing to be the standard-bearer for her teammates.

“I just really feel like it's my role to be the leader and I know I need to come out confident and aggressive and kind of set the tone for our team, both on defense and offense. So that's what I tried to do.”

Henderson was a first-team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-star in 2009 and garnered preseason All-America accolades entering the current campaign. She promises to improve upon last season's 11-point scoring average.

“I'm definitely looking to be more of a scorer this year with graduating Kelsey Burns and Kelsey Hill. Those were two good, big scorers for us, so I'm looking to step up in that category.”

No other Falcons finished in double-figures Thursday. Megan Hoisington tallied eight points while McKayla Gorman, Nyesha Sims and Caitlyn Rohrbach each had five.

The Falcons are ranked 16th in the preseason Division II poll, coming off a 23-5 season in 2009 during which they were GNAC co-champions. Three starters return from that squad that advanced to the West Regional championship game.

SPU jumped out to an early 9-4 lead following back-to-back layups by Henderson.

UW responded with 14 unanswered points, including four apiece from Kingma and McLellan. That surge gave the Huskies an 18-9 advantage midway through the first half.

SPU steadily chipped away at the deficit and went ahead briefly, at 27-26, on a layup by Caitlyn Rohrbach four minutes before halftime. That was the Falcons' final lead of the night.

The Huskies closed the half with a 13-2 run to claim a 39-29 lead at intermission.

UW extended the margin to as many as 15 points in the second half, at 61-46.

“We tried to come out strong in the second half and had we made a couple of those layups to start off the second half it would have changed things,” van Beek said. “They made some great runs and that's what good teams do is they capitalize on other people's mistakes. Between giving up offensive rebounds and missed layups, that's when they made that big run again.”

The Falcons narrowed the gap to eight points by game's end as their last 15 points came on 3-pointers. Three of those treys, including the final basket of the game, came from Henderson.

The SPU women return to action next Friday, Nov. 13 with a home exhibition game against George Fox. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons start the regular season at home with the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, Nov. 20-21 at Brougham Pavilion. They open Nov. 20 at 5 p.m. with Colorado Christian.


NCAA Women's Basketball (Exhibition)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Edmundson Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Washington 69, Seattle Pacific 61

SEATTLE PACIFIC
Hoisington 3-7 2-4 8, Reich 1-6 0-0 2, Harazin 1-3 0-0 3, Henderson 9-16 3-3 26, Maloney 1-4 0-2 3, Gorman 2-4 0-0 5, Sims 2-5 0-0 5, Murray 0-2 0-0 0, Benson 2-3 0-0 4 Rohrbach 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 23-54 6-11 61.

WASHINGTON
Rogers 1-3 1-2 3, Kingma 2-6 4-4 9, Morton 0-2 3-4 3, Whitcomb 6-17 2-3 15, Mosiman 7-12 0-0 14, McLellan 8-10 1-2 8, Rozier 2-4 1-2 5, Barlow 0-1 0-0 0, Argens 0-4 2-2 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 14-19 69.

Seattle Pacific........29 - 32 – 61
Washington............39 - 30 – 69

3-point goals – SPU 9-20 (Henderson 5-6, Gorman 1-2, Sims 1-3, Maloney 1-3, Harazin 1-3, Rohrbach 0-1, Murray 0-2), UW 3-9 (McLellan 1-1, Kingma 1-2, Whitcomb 1-6). Fouled out -- None. Rebounds – SPU 36 (Reich 8), UW 38 (Kingma 9). Assists – SPU 12 (Henderson 5), UW 14 (Whitcomb 5). Technical fouls -- None. Total fouls – SPU 18, UW 16. Att. -- 1,003.