Box Score
        Box score, play-by-play
 
SEATTLE – Suzanna Ohlsen started it with a steal and a coast-to-coast bucket. Stacey Lukasiewicz finished it with a buzzer-beating lay-in.
 
Even then, the Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't have the halftime lead in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game against Saint Martin's
                    
 But they had the momentum – and they never lost it.
 
Katie Benson poured in 24 points, Ohlsen and fellow junior Betsy Kingma tallied 17 apiece, and SPU overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to beat Saint Martin's in Brougham Pavilion on Saturday night, 78-68.
 




Seattle Pacific (13-4, 6-3 GNAC) finished the first half of conference play by extending its winning streak to five games and handing the Saints (11-7, 5-4 GNAC) their third straight loss. Saint Martin's came into the week as part of a four-way tie for first place.
 
The Falcons, who started the week tied for fifth, are now deadlocked with Simon Fraser for third. SPU and the Clan will play on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Burnaby, B.C.
 
"We're finding ways to come together in crucial situations," head coach Julie Heisey said. "We've won our last four games without a starter (sophomore center Maddey Pflaumer, out with an injury). We've had adversity in every game. We had 12 assists in the second half tonight, and that shows that we played together. We got to the free throw line, and we won the points in the paint."
 
Down 28-14 with 8:22 left in the first half, the Falcons got within 33-29 by halftime.
 
Seattle Pacific got a defensive stop on the opening possession of the second half and converted that into a lay-in by senior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS). Junior guard Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS), then stole the ball from the Saints' Angela Gelhar, went all the way to the other end for a lay-up to tie it at 33-33. She was fouled by Gelhar on the shot, and polished off the three-point play for a 34-33 lead with 19:18 left.
 
Saint Martin's went on top once more at 35-34 on a 20-footer from the right corner by Liz Mills. But the Falcons ran off four points in a row – a deep 2-point jumper from the left corner by Kingma (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS), and a back-door lay-in by Benson, both of which were assisted by Ohlsen.
 
That produced a 38-35 advantage, and the Falcons stayed in front the rest of the way, extending the lead to 18 points at 68-50 with 5:36 left. Saint Martin's never got closer than eight.
                                                    
"With two or three minutes left in the first half, something clicked for us," Ohlsen said. "We started going after it. … Everything just kind of came together at that point, and we never really stopped. We went into halftime with all the momentum in our favor, and that was really big."
 
As much as they struggled to hit shots in the first half, the Falcons seemingly couldn't miss during the second half. On the way to building a 54-40 lead with 11:45 remaining, they hit six in a row. The last two of those were 3-pointers: first by Kingma, then by Ohlsen, the latter swishing through at the shot clock buzzer.
                                                                                                                                             
SPU hit 68.2 percent through the final 20 minutes (15 of 22), by far its best half of the season. What's more, the Falcons did it against the GNAC's best defensive team. They finished at 47.2 percent (27 of 57), their third-best percentage of the season. Benson was 9 of 18, and Kingma was 6 of 8, with 5 of 7 from downtown.

Coming into the night, Saint Martin's was limiting its opponents to 35.3 percent shooting, and allowing just 60.2 points per game.
 
"The first half, we were making a lot of mistakes offensively and we were missing a lot of open shots – we were trying too hard," Heisey said. "The second half, we talked about having to be fundamental on defense and do the little things, and offensively, we had to play as a team and attack the basket."
 
Krista Stabler came off the bench to score 21 points for the Saints. Chelsea Haskey added 15.
 
While the Falcons missed 11 shots in a row early in the game, Saint Martin's ran off 14 straight points to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 16-5 lead.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 78, Saint Martin's 68
 
SAINT MARTIN'S (11-7, 5-4 GNAC)
Chelsea Haskey 5-11 3-5 15, Megan Wieman 0-2 2-4 2, Jori Skorpik 1-1 0-0 2, Jordyn Richarson 0-1 0-0 0, Angela Gelhar 1-8 0-0 2, Krista Stabler 6-12 8-8 21, Sami Jo Robinson 1-2 0-0 2, MacKenzie Taylor 2-4 2-3 6, Liz Mills 2-11 0-0 4, Ciara Pedroni 2-2 0-0 4, Brooke Paulson 2-8 5-6 10. Totals 22-62 20-26 68.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-4, 6-3 GNAC)
Hannah Rodrigues 2-6 1-1 5, Katie Bewnson 9-18 6-9 24, Molly Grager 0-1 1-2 1, Suzanna Ohlsen 5-12 5-5 17, Betsy Kingma 6-8 0-0 17, Stacey Lukasiewicz 2-2 0-0 4, Rachel Shim 0-1 0-0 0, Brianne Lasconia 2-6 4-5 8, Riley Butler 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 27-57 18-22 78.
 
Saint Martin's       33           35           -- 68
Seattle Pacific      29           49           -- 78
 
3-point goals – StM 4-18 (Haskey 2-4, Wiedeman 0-1, Richardson 0-1, Gelhar 0-5, Stabler 1-3, Mills 0-1, Paulson 1-3), SPU 7-17 (Rodrigues 0-2, Benson 0-1, Ohlsen 2-4, Kingma 5-7, Shim 0-1, Lasconia 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – StM 39 (Haskey 7), SPU 37 (Benson 6, Grager 6). Assists – StM 13 (Taylor 4), SPU 18 (Ohlsen 7). Turnovers – StM 8, SPU 8. Total fouls – StM 17, SPU 23. Technical fouls – None. A – 189.
 
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, Thursday, Jan. 30 (West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.), 7:30 p.m.