Box score, play-by-play

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the second straight game, the Seattle Pacific Falcons did enough things well to win it – only to be frozen out of the 'W' column by some cold second-half shooting.
                    
Katie Benson logged her third consecutive double-double, but Western Washington's Britt Harris scored all 13 of her points after halftime as the No. 8-ranked Vikings came from behind for a 61-44 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory on Thursday night in Carver Gymnasium.
                    
Junior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) had 18 points and 13 rebounds for SPU (10-5, 4-3 GNAC). Junior guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) added nine points.
 
The Falcons scored the first 10 points of the game and led for the entire first half, taking a 27-22 lead into the locker room at intermission.
                                
But they wound up with their lowest-scoring game of the season and hit just one of their final 19 shots after going up 38-35 with 12:54 to play.
 
“You win the boards on offense (15-10) and defense (29-28), you win at the free throw line (14 of 16 vs. 8 of 13), you get more shot attempts (61-60) – that's usually a recipe for success,” SPU coach Julie Heisey said. “But we shot 23 percent (14 of 61), and I think we missed 17 lay-ups.
 
“It's hard when you're depleted and not scoring just to continue to play defense,” added Heisey, whose team still kept Western 10 points below its 71.4 average. “We missed some shots, they went on a couple of runs and got those lay-ups in transition. We did a lot of things well, but our goal is to get the win, and we fell short. So we just have to keep building.”

Seattle Pacific, starting a challenging three-game road stretch, visits No. 10-ranked Simon Fraser on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Burnaby, B.C. The Clan (12-2, 5-1) routed second-place Montana State Billings on Thursday, 89-58, to regain the No. 2 spot in the conference standings behind Western Washington (12-2, 6-0).
 
The Vikings forged the game's first tie on Thursday at 31-31 with 15:19 to play. Seattle Pacific was back in front by that 38-35 margin  on a steal and driving lay-in by senior guard Michelle Teng (Bellevue, Wash. / Bellevue Christian HS) at the 12:54 mark.
 
But from there, the Vikings put together a 13-0 run to take a 48-38 lead with 7:46 to go. That was part of a 26-8 scoring surge the final 13 minutes, as they hit 11 of 20 during that time.
 
Western shot 54.8 percent during the second half (17 of 31) and wound up at 41.7 percent (25 of 60) for the game. SPU was just 5 of 33 after the break (15.2 percent), scoring just 17 points.
 
“It was kind of contagious – we missed a couple shots and just couldn't get ourselves out of it,” Callen said. “Katie did a great job of getting some second chances and converting, but it felt a little bit like maybe a lid was put on there.
 
“It was just one of those things that we have to persevere through,” Callen added. “A loss is a loss – it hurts and it was disappointing. But come Saturday, we have a huge game, so we have to learn from this one and carry on.”
 
With Benson leading the way, SPU out-rebounded the Vikings 44-38, the 14^th time in 15 games that the Falcons have owned the boards.
 
By going 14 of 16 at the free throw line on Thursday, Seattle Pacific now is shooting exactly 80 percent for the season. The Falcons came into the week ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II at 79.6 percent – just .001 behind national-leading Winona State of Minnesota and Belmont Abbey of North Carolina.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
(No. 8) Western Washington 61, Seattle Pacific 44
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (10-5, 4-3 GNAC)
Callen 2-9 4-4 9, Benson 6-19 6-6 18, Butler 2-7 0-0 4, Teng 1-5 0-0 2, Ohlsen 1-6 2-2 4, Bowen 0-5 1-2 1, Lasconia 1-3 0-0 3, Pflaumer 0-4 1-2 1, Grager 0-0 0-0 0, Stephens 1-3 0- 2. Totals 14-61 14-16 44.
 
WESTERN WASHINGTON (12-2, 6-0 GNAC)
Hill 2-4 0-0 4, Williams 3-5 1-4 7, Harris 6-7 1-3 13, Waltrip 4-10 09-0 11, Colard 1-10 0-0 2, Benner 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-1 0-0 0, Pounds 2-7 0-0 4, Bernsen 1-3 4-4 6, Hathaway 0-1 0-0 0, Donaldson 6-12 2-2 14. Totals 25-60 8-13 38.
 
Seattle Pacific                      27           17           -- 44
Western Washington          22           39           -- 61
 
3-point goals – SPU 2-10 (Callen 1-4, Benson 0-1, Teng 0-1, Ohlsen 0-1, Bowen 0-1, Lasconia 1-2), WWU 3-17 (Hill 0-1, Waltrip 3-6, Colard 0-6, Pounds 0-3, Donaldson 0-1). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – SPU 44 (Benson 13), WWU 38 (Williams 8). Assists – SPU 7 (Callen 2, Benson 2, Teng 2), WWU 21 (Williams 5). Turnovers – SPU 20, WWU 15. Total fouls – SPU 14, WWU 15. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 418.
 
Records – Seattle Pacific 10-5, 4-3 GNAC. Western Washington 12-2, 6-0 GNAC.
 
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, Saturday, 7:00 p.m.