Box score, play-by-play
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SEATTLE – Comebacks are a great thing – unless the other team has the last one.
 
On Saturday afternoon, Montana State Billings had the last one.
 
Bobbi Knudsen hit a free throw with 3.4 seconds left in overtime for the last of her 18 points, and the Yellowjackets hung on to beat Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 63-62.
 
The Falcons (12-5, 6-3 GNAC) were down by 16 points early in the second half in Brougham Pavilion, but rallied to gain a four-point lead at 57-53 before Billings (13-7, 5-4 GNAC) tied it at 57-57 to force the extra five minutes.
 
Senior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) tied her career high with 26 points, and made it a double-double – her seventh of the season – with 14 rebounds. Sophomore forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) added 11 points.
 
“Momentum is everything, and being able to build on that momentum,” SPU head coach Julie Heisey said. “In the second half, we came back, but the longer we're at 55-53 (the first Falcons lead since a 9-0 burst to start the game), then the other team has hope. There's a point where you can only play that intense defense over and over so many times without scoring.”
 
Indeed, after a Benson lay-up with 7:19 to make it 55-53, the Falcons got 10 consecutive stops on defense – six straight missed shots and four turnovers for Billings – but were able to add just two points of their own, making it 57-53 on a Sims free throw with 3:42 left.
 
That was Seattle Pacific's last point of regulation, and the Yellowjackets got a jumper from Knudsen and a lay-up by Janiel Olson, the latter with 1:18 remaining, to knot it at 57-57.
 
“The disappointing thing is between unforced turnovers at key times and missed lay-ups, all those things take away our momentum,” Heisey said. “Billings is too good of a team with too good of shooters to make repeated mistakes without them capitalizing on it.”
 
The Yellowjackets took the initial lead of OT on a 3-pointer from the left side by Quinn Peoples. SPU responded with five straight points, all by Benson: a free throw, a lay-up to tie it at 60-60, and two more free throws to make it 62-60 with 1:07 left.
 
Kayleen Goggins tied it for Montana State Billings on a lay-up at the 47-second mark. The Falcons turned it over under the basket with 20.3 seconds remaining, and the Yellowjackets, after calling timeout with 9.6 seconds left, wound up on the free throw line when Knudsen was fouled with 3.4 showing.
 
Knudsen hit her first, but missed her second. Seattle Pacific called timeout and inbounded on the sideline in backcourt. Senior guard McKayla Gorman (Parker, Colo.) got off a 3-pointer, but it fell short off the right side of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
 
The Yellowjackets used a 20-0 first-half scoring run to turn an early 11-4 deficit into a 24-11 lead as the Falcons missed 14 straight shots. Billings was up 39-25 at halftime and had a 48-32 lead early in the second half before SPU came surging back.
 
A 3-pointer from the left corner by sophomore guard Aubree Callen lifted the Falcons into a 53-53 tie with 8:01 showing, part of a 25-5 run to turn that 48-32 deficit into the 57-53 lead. That included five shots from 3-point range: Callen's equalizer, two by Sims, and one each from Gorman and senior guard Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS).
 
Seattle Pacific is on the road next week, visiting Saint Martin's on Thursday night at 7, then going to Western Oregon next Saturday afternoon at 2. 
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Montana State Billings 63, Seattle Pacific 62 (OT)
                      
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (13-7, 5-4 GNAC)
Peoples 1-7 0-0 3, Goggins 2-4 2-4 6, Knudsen 7-24 3-4 18, Olson 5-13 1-2 11, Stanhope 3-6 0-0 9, Tolman 3-5 1-1 8, DePuydt 1-1 0-0 3, Grimsrud 1-2 2-2 5, Emerson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 9-13 63.k
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-5, 6-3 GNAC)
Murray 3-6 1-1 7, Benson 2-11 7-8 11, Harazin 1-5 1-2 4, Callen 2-6 0-0 5, Sims 10-16 3-5 26, Gorman 1-5 0-0 3, Teng 0-1 0-0 0, Ohlsen 2-7 0-0 4, Kingman 1-5 0-0 2, Reimer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-63 12-16 62.
 
Montana State Billings       39           18           6              -- 63
Seattle Pacific                      25           32           5              -- 62
 
3-point goals – MSUB 8-20 (Peoples 1-5, Knudsen 1-6, Stanhope 3-5, Tolman 1-2, DePuydt 1-1, Grimsrud 1-1), SPU 6-22 (Benson 0-2, Harazin 1-1, Callen 1-5, Sims 3-5, Gorman 1-4). Fouled out – MSUB: Olson. Rebounds – MSUB 36 (Olson 12), SPU 46 (Sims 14). Assists – MSUB 13 (Olson 4), SPU 11 (Harazin 4). Turnovers – MSUB 15, SPU 20. Total fouls – MSUB 13, SPU 14. Technical fouls – None.  A – 197.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 12-5, 6-3 GNAC. Montana State Billings 13-7, 5-4 GNAC.
 
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, Thursday, Jan. 26, 7:00 p.m.