SEATTLE -- They've put in hours on end working on their games in the Seattle Pacific gym.

On Saturday night in that same gym, seniors Daesha Henderson and Megan Hoisington reaped perhaps their biggest reward for all of those hours -- in a span of 2½ minutes.

The win helped the Falcons (20-3, 11-1 GNAC) leapfrog past Western (20-4, 11-2 GNAC) with four games left. It also helped them turn the tables after the Vikings scored a 54-40 victory against SPU in Bellingham on Jan. 23. The Falcons have won seven straight games since then.

“Daesha and Megan played like they were four-year seniors,” Falcons coach Julie van Beek said. “Every time they took a shot, I felt super-confident.

“They've spent a lot of time shooting in our gym for moments like this.”

Senior guard Henderson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) was coming off a rare scoreless night in Wednesday's 62-47 win at Montana State Billings, though as usual, she did plenty of other things in that game (four rebounds, three assists and one steal). On Saturday, she pulled down seven rebounds, handed out six assists and had four steals to go along with those 19 points in 33 minutes of action.

“Scoring is just one aspect of the game,” Henderson said. “I just think about being an all-around complete player. But I knew tonight I would have to score.”

Senior forward Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS) wound up with 14 points. She also collected five boards, came up with a career-high six steals and had two assists. She got five of those points, two of her rebounds and one of her steals during the last 6:44 of the game while playing with four fouls.

“Daesha and Megan and Caitlyn Rohrbach led our team by being fearless tonight,” van Beek said.

Rohrbach, who finished with 11 points, said she had no jitters as she stepped up for the two free throws.

“It definitely is mental. That's one of the areas I've been working on this year,” she said, adding that when the ball left her hand, “I knew they were going in.”

FAST START, TIGHT FINISH
After breaking to an 8-0 lead and eventually expanding it to 37-25 late in the first half, the Falcons found themselves behind for the first time all night, 55-54, on two free throws by Western Washington's Amanda Dunbar with 8:57 left. Dunbar finished with a game-high 31 points.

From there, the lead changed hands five more times. Henderson's trey from 23 feet away on the right side to put Seattle Pacific back in front for good, 63-61, with 2:12 left.

Hoisington made it four-point edge at 65-61 when she stole the ball in backcourt, got it to sophomore guard Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS), then broke downcourt and caught a return pass from Harazin for a lay-up with 1:32 remaining.

Henderson hit the back end of a double-bonus to make it 66-61 at 1:03. A Willow Cabe lay-in brought the Vikings within three at 56 seconds to go. Each team missed a shot, and the ball was back in Henderson's hands when she was fouled with 20.3 seconds left. She hit both to make it 68-63. Ashley Fenimore's lay-up again made it a three-point game with 13 seconds to go.

Rohrbach was fouled in backcourt and hit her two free throws to make it 70-65. Out of timeouts, Western worked the ball to Cabe for a lay-in with 1.7 seconds left, then tied up the ensuing inbounds pass to regain possession on the jump ball arrow with three-tenths of a second showing.

Dunbar, who drained five shots from 3-point range in the game, got one off from the right corner that would have counted as the equalizer had it gone in, but it bounced off the rim.

“The most aggressive team is the team that usually wins -- that's what we challenged them with during a timeout,” van Beek said. “We put ourselves in position to win and we needed to fight hard until the end. The kids played with poise and made some big shots at the end.”

Added Henderson, “We've really worked this year on keeping our composure. It was our home court (where the Falcons are now 11-0 this season) and we wanted it bad. We played our game. Up there, we let them control the tempo and dictate to us. We came out tonight and set the tone and played pretty steady.”

The Falcons hit 43.4 percent from the floor (23 of 53) and limited Western Washington to just 39.3 percent (24 of 61). The Vikings came in as the GNAC's top-shooting team (48.8 percent).

Seattle Pacific visits Saint Martin's on Thursday night at 7, then plays its regular-season home finale next Saturday at 7 p.m. against Central Washington.


NCAA Women's Basketball
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

(No. 18) Seattle Pacific 70, (No. 21) Western Washington 67

WESTERN WASHINGTON (20-4, 11-2 GNAC)
Dunbar 10-23 6-6 31; Cabe 4-11 6-6 14; Summers 4-12 0-0 8; Waltrip 2-2 0-0 6; Fenimore 3-9 0-0 6; Hefflin 1-1 0-0 2; Ramstead 0-1 0-0 0; Robinson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-61 12-12 67.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (20-3, 11-1 GNAC)
Henderson 6-16 5-7 19; Hoisington 6-13 0-0 14; Rohrbach 3-4 4-4 11; Harazin 2-7 4-4 9; Maloney 2-6 0-0 6; Murray 2-3 1-2 5; Reich 1-1 2-4 4; Sims 1-3 0-0 2;
Thralls 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 16-21 70.
Western Washington............   32   35  -   67
Seattle Pacific........................   39   31  -   70
3-point goals--Western Washington 7-23 (Dunbar 5-14; Waltrip2-2; Fenimore 0-5; Ramstead 0-1; Cabe 0-1), Seattle Pacific 8-20 (Henderson 2-6; Hoisington 2-4; Maloney 2-5; Harazin 1-3; Rohrbach 1-1; Sims 0-1). Fouled out--Western Washington-None, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--Western Washington 36 (Summers 15), Seattle Pacific 34 (Henderson 7). Assists--Western Washington 15 (Fenimore 6), Seattle Pacific 15(Henderson 6). Total fouls--Western Washington 21, Seattle Pacific14. Technical fouls--Western Washington-None, Seattle Pacific-None. A-567.