Box score, play-by-play

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – A defensive tweak – and no more losing streak.

Caitlyn Rohrbach had a double career high of 14 points and nine rebounds on Friday night, Katie Benson also scored a career high 14 and Seattle Pacific used an 18-0 first-half run to get back on the women's basketball winning track with a 64-49 victory against Sonoma State in the first round of the CCAA-GNAC Challenge on Sonoma's home court.

The Falcons (3-2) halted a two-game skid. They'll square off against 17th-ranked Chico State on Saturday afternoon at 5 in a rematch of last season's NCAA West Regional championship game. In Friday's tourney opener, the Wildcats knocked off No. 14 Western Washington in overtime, 65-62.

Senior forward Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) passed her previous career high of 12 points which she set at Chico State on Dec. 13, 2008. Her rebound total was one better than she had in the season opener on Nov. 19 against San Francisco State.

Freshman forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) finished one point better than her previous best of 13, set last Friday in a 74-69 loss to Grand Canyon in the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge in St. George, Utah.

The Falcons were down 17-8 with 11:17 remaining in the first half after Sonoma State (3-3) went on a 14-1 scoring surge.

But SPU responded by putting the next 18 points on the board to take a 26-17 lead. Rohrbach and Benson contributed five points apiece. Benson, senior guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS) and junior guard McKayla Gorman (Parker, Colo.) each helped out with a 3-pointer.

“We were able to score, then I called timeout, and we changed defenses,” Falcons head coach Julie van Beek Heisey said. “That's when we went to a trapping defense. They couldn't score when we were in a zone. They went several possessions in a row (without a point), and we got a couple of steals.”

To be precise, Seattle Pacific kept the Seawolves off the board for a span of 6 minutes, 41 seconds as Sonoma missed six shots and committed five turnovers.

Sonoma State closed within 32-27 by halftime, and got within one at 36-35 with 16:27 left in the game. But Seattle Pacific responded with a 17-6 scoring spree to open a 55-41 lead with 8:23 left and kept the margin in double digits the rest of the way.

A quick timeout by Heisey barely a minute into the second half ultimately helped send the Falcons on their way.

“Our goal to start the second half was to try to go three minutes without letting them score or giving up an offensive rebound,” she said. “We came out and let them score right away and our defense wasn't very good. That's why I called timeout – I wanted to get their attention that if we want to win, we have to go get it and earn it.”

The Falcons then some solid shooting (11 of 19) through the next 10 minutes to build their commanding lead, and wound up at 41.1 percent for the game (23 of 56). Their defense limited Chico State to just 33 percent (18 of 54), and kept sharp shooter Aly Conway (who came in at 60.6 percent, hitting 20 of 33) to just 2 of 7 from the floor.

SPU furthered own cause by committing just 12 turnovers, their lowest mark of the season. (The previous low was 13 last Friday against Grand Canyon).

“To have just 12 was really good because we're on the road and we played a lot of people,” Heisey said. “I'm really happy with that. I think that if we have (no more than) 16, that's good, so to have just 12 is great.”

Junior guard Nyesha Sims chipped in 11 points for the Falcons, getting eight of those during the second half. Maloney finished with nine points, four steals and three assists.

“It was definitely a team victory,” Heisey said. “Melissa (Reich) took a charge in the first half, and that was a little rallying point. Caitlyn had a great all-around effort – she played really fierce. And Nyesha came out in the second half and played really well and gave us a little spark.”

The Falcons will be facing an undefeated (7-0) Chico State team on Saturday after the Wildcats handed Western Washington (5-1) its first loss of the season. Chico did it without spark plug guard and leading scorer Natasha Smith, who was averaging a team-high 14.6 points per game before suffering a season-ending knee injury on Dec. 3 against Humboldt State.

“Chico has some good freshmen and some good returners, and is really solid,” Heisey said.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
CCAA-GNAC Challenge
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Wolves' Den/Rohnert Park, Calif.

Seattle Pacific 64, Sonoma State 49

SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-2)
Benson,Katie 4-11 4-6 14; Rohrbach,Caitlyn 5-10 4-6 14; Sims,Nyesha 5-9 0-0
11; Maloney,Maddie 4-8 0-0 9; Reich,Melissa 1-2 2-5 4; Murray,Rachel 2-7 0-0
4; Gorman,McKayla 1-4 0-0 3; Reimer,Joani 1-1 0-0 2; Callen,Aubree 0-3 2-2
2; Harazin,Jordan 0-1 1-2 1; Thralls,Katie 0-0 0-0 0; Teng,Michelle 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 23-56 13-21 64. 

SONOMA STATE (3-3)
Bisordi, Jaclyn 7-17 0-0 17; Henington, Aly 3-6 2-2 9; Conway, Aly 2-7 3-4
7; Fahey, Kristina 2-4 0-0 5; Vigil, Taylor 1-6 1-2 3; Rentschler, Roxanne
1-9 1-1 3; McMiller, Jodee 1-1 0-0 3; Rowland, Amrallina 1-2 0-0 2; Wagner,
Kelsey 0-1 0-0 0; Day, Elizabeth 0-1 0-0 0; Yates, Baylee 0-0 0-0 0; Kelley,
Vanessa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 7-9 49. 

Seattle Pacific.................. 32 32 - 64
Sonoma State.................. 27 22 - 49 

3-point goals--Seattle Pacific 5-18 (Benson,Katie 2-5; Gorman,McKayla 1-3;
Maloney,Maddie 1-2; Sims,Nyesha 1-2; Callen,Aubree 0-2; Harazin,Jordan 0-1;
Murray,Rachel 0-1; Rohrbach,Caitlyn 0-2), Sonoma State 6-19 (Bisordi, Jaclyn
3-7; McMillen, Jodee 1-1; Fahey, Kristina 1-2; Henington, Aly 1-2; Rowland,
Amrallina 0-1; Rentschler, Roxanne 0-4; Vigil, Taylor 0-2). Fouled
out--Seattle Pacific-None, Sonoma State-None. Rebounds--Seattle Pacific 38
(Rohrbach,Caitlyn 9), Sonoma State 35 (Conway, Aly 10). Assists--Seattle
Pacific 12 (Maloney,Maddie 3), Sonoma State 10 (Rentschler, Roxanne 3).
Total fouls--Seattle Pacific 10, Sonoma State 17. Technical fouls--Seattle
Pacific-None, Sonoma State-None. A-214.