Box score, play-by-play
       PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – If the Seattle Pacific Falcons keep this up, opponents won't know where to put the defensive focus this winter.

Redshirt freshman Katie Benson scored 15 points and was one of four Falcons to hit for double figures on Thursday in a 97-48 exhibition rout of George Fox University in Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons are ranked No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN preseason Division II poll; George Fox is No. 8 in the D-3 version of that poll.

Senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) added 14 points, senior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) had 13, and junior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) tallied 11.





SPU had five players in double figures in last week's 67-61 exhibition loss at the University of Portland. In the two exhibitions combined, the No. 8-ranked Falcons have had seven different players hit for 10 or more points. But this time, they shot much better: 55.9 percent (33 of 59) compared to last Thursday's 43 percent.

“Our kids are doing a good job with their shooting. But the biggest thing is shot selection,” SPU coach Julie van Beek Heisey said. “You can tell we were working the ball – we had 25 assists off of 33 made field goals. Our team always does well when we work together.”

Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) made an impressive Seattle Pacific home debut. She never saw a minute last year after suffering a season-ending knee injury during the early days of practice. On Thursday, she hit 4 of 7, including 3 of 4 from 3-point territory, and drained all four free throws.

“I like shooting outside, and it was open for me today,” said the 6-foot-1 Benson, who also grabbed five rebounds and blocked five shots. “That's not technically all of my game – I'm a post player, and I should be more inside. But I was just open on the 3, and my teammates found me.”

She wasn't the only Falcon open from downtown. SPU hit 12 of 24 from behind the arc.

“That's outstanding. We just were making the extra pass and catching in a rhythm,” Heisey said.

Seattle Pacific scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed, building a 49-23 lead by halftime and enlarging it to as many as 52 in the final minutes.





George Fox, an NCAA Division III power that won the national title in 2009 and went to that division's Elite Eight last season, was missing three of its top players to injury. That included returning scoring leader Keisha Gordon (13.9 points per game last season) and returning rebound leader Hannah Munger (8.2 boards per game).

But the Falcons clearly were more focused on their own game.

“Our kids showed a lot of discipline in doing what we wanted to do,” Heisey said. “The things we've been working on all week have been about having better pressure defense and doing a better job of boxing out, and really, we were just wanting to execute. And I was really happy that we only had five turnovers in the first 16 minutes of the first half.”

Seattle Pacific's defense limited the Bruins to just 34.6 percent shooting (18 of 52). The Falcons also won the battle of the boards, 41-20. Sims and junior guard McKayla Gorman joined Benson with five rebounds apiece.

SPU also won the battle of the boards, 41-20. Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish) and Sims had five each, as did junior guard McKayla Gorman (Parker, Colo.).

Of the Falcons' 25 assists, freshman guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) had five. All 14 players got into the game, all of them scored, and nine got into the assist column.

Arianna Mohsenian led the Bruins with 13 points, and Hayley Cusick added 11.

With the two exhibitions now in the books, Seattle Pacific plays its official season opener next weekend in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham. The Falcons play San Francisco State at 5 p.m. next Friday and UC San Diego next Saturday, also at 5. The eight-team tournament will feature four men's teams and four women's teams, with games at 1,3, 5 and 7 p.m. The SPU men will be in both 7 p.m. contests.

“We just have to keep up our intensity and just go for it,” Benson said.

Added Heisey, “We're playing a lot of hard teams, but I think that's good. We have 10 returners, and I think we need to go against teams that are seasoned.”


NCAA WOMEN'S EXHIBITON BASKETBALL
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

Seattle Pacific 97, George Fox 48

GEORGE FOX (0-0)
Mohsenian, Arianna 5-11 0-0 13; Cusick, Hayley 4-8 0-0 11; Morse, Katie 2-4
0-0 6; Myers, Carrie 2-10 2-2 6; Arnoldy, Megan 2-5 0-1 4; Parker, Kylee 1-4
0-0 3; Wolfe, McKenzie 1-5 1-2 3; Ketelsen, Jordin 1-2 0-0 2; Gorman,
McKenzie 0-1 0-0 0; Towne, Carly 0-1 0-0 0; Khaw, Kelsey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals
18-52 3-5 48.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-0)
Benson,Katie 4-7 4-4 15; Reich,Melissa 6-6 2-3 14; Rohrbach,Caitlyn 5-8 2-2
13; Sims,Nyesha 5-8 1-1 11; Teng,Michelle 2-3 3-3 8; Harazin,Jordan 3-6 0-0
8; Reimer,Joani 2-2 2-2 6; Maloney,Maddie 1-4 2-2 5; Callen,Aubree 1-3 1-2
4; Kingma,Betsy 1-2 0-0 3; Murray,Rachel 1-4 0-0 3; Gorman, McKayla 1-3 0-0
3; Thralls,Katie 0-1 2-2 2; Butler,Riley 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 33-59 19-21 97.
George Fox..................... 23 25 - 48
Seattle Pacific............... 49 48 - 97
3-point goals--George Fox 9-19 (Mohsenian, Arianna 3-7; Cusick, Hayley 3-3;
Morse, Katie 2-4; Parker, Kylee 1-1; Towne, Carly 0-1; Arnoldy, Megan 0-1;
Myers, Carrie 0-2), Seattle Pacific 12-24 (Benson,Katie 3-4; Harazin,Jordan
2-2; Kingma,Betsy 1-2; Callen,Aubree 1-3; Maloney,Maddie 1-3;
Rohrbach,Caitlyn 1-1; Teng,Michelle 1-2; Murray,Rachel 1-2; Gorman, McKayla
1-3; Thralls,Katie 0-1; Sims,Nyesha 0-1). Fouled out--George Fox-None,
Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--George Fox 20 (Cusick, Hayley 6), Seattle
Pacific 41 (Gorman, McKayla 5; Sims,Nyesha 5; Benson,Katie 5).
Assists--George Fox 14 (Parker, Kylee 4), Seattle Pacific 25 (Callen,Aubree
5). Total fouls--George Fox 17, Seattle Pacific 15. Technical fouls--George
Fox-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-223.

Next game – San Francisco State at Seattle Pacific, Friday, Nov. 19, Brougham Pavilion, 5 p.m.