Box Score

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SEATTLE – On a night when the Seattle Pacific Falcons hit "reset", they nearly pulled off an upset.
 
Jordan McPhee poured in a career-high 28 points before being forced to the sideline with an injured ankle, but Taylor Peacocke scored 19 for Western Washington on Saturday, including the tie-breaking free throw with 2.1 seconds left in overtime, as the Vikings got past SPU in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 70-67.
                                                                                                                       
Tia Briggs added 19 points for Western (11-5, 7-1 GNAC), sinking two free throws with seven-tenths of a second left to clinch the game in Brougham Pavilion.

 

"We fought so hard tonight," said junior guard Stacey Lukasiewicz (Centennial, Colo.), who contributed 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists. "That's the way this team can play every single game. We played some great defense that definitely kept us in it."
 
It was a far different-looking SPU team than the one that was blown out of Brougham by Simon Fraser on Thursday, 76-47: Same players, but a vastly superior effort against the arch-rival Vikings.

"We had a really good talk (after Thursday's game), got a lot out on the table as players, and just looked at the bigger picture and our goals," Lukasiewicz said. "We were able to restart and recharge as a team, together.
 
"We just decided to hit the reset button, basically."

 

Falcons coach Julie Heisey agreed.
 
"That was way more like it," she said. "John Wooden has at the top of his pyramid of success "competitive greatness."  You have to be in tough situations to see where your competitive greatness comes from. I thought in the second half tonight, we showed competitive greatness.
 
"We were so down on Thursday, we responded so well on Friday, and our defense tonight was amazing," Heisey added. "Hats off to Western – they hit some very hard shots."
 
BRING ON OVERTIME
Falcons sophomore guard McPhee (Normandy Park, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) got the last of her 28 points on a driving scoop shot through traffic with 32.8 seconds left in regulation to give SPU (6-8, 3-5 GNAC) a 60-58 lead. Briggs tied it for Western on a turn-around five-foot jumper straight in front of the hoop at the 6.7-second mark
 
Seattle Pacific had a chance to win it as McPhee drove under the hoop again for a try at a reverse lay-in with one second showing. The ball rolled off the rim, setting up the extra five minutes. It was on that play McPhee got hurt, putting her out of action for the night.

Western Washington got the first five points of OT for a 65-60 lead. Then, down 67-61, Seattle Pacific scored six in a row: two free throws by Lukasiewicz, two more from sophomore forward Courtney Hollander, and, with 46 seconds left, a lay-on by Molly Grager off a Lukasiewicz feed for a 67-67 tie.
 
SPU forced a turnover with 32 seconds left as junior forward Hannah Rodrigues picked up the loose ball. Coming out of a timeout at 13.6 seconds. Hollander, who finished with a career-high 21 points, got a good look. But her shot with nine seconds to go bounced off the rim and into the hands of Western's Rachel Albert.
 
Peacocke was streaking downcourt, and Albert launched the ball her way. Brianne Lasconia caught up with her, but the ensuing collision under the basket was ruled an intentional foul with 2.1 seconds to go. Peacocke hit just one of the two free throws for a 68-67 lead, and the Vikings also retained possession. Briggs was fouled and hit both free throws with seven-tenths of a second left to clinch it.
 
SPU hits the road this coming week, visiting No. 2-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
"I told them that the bottom line is, the past is the past," Heisey said. "Sometimes, you don't just win overnight, you have to take steps to win. Our response tonight was we showed the right steps. We rebounded (a 33-31 edge), we played great defense, we got a lot of second shots. Moments when things were going well we played well as a team. We had confidence that we can do the things we practiced."
 
Western, after closing the first half on a 13-0 run to take a 36-20 halftime lead, extended it to 17 at 42-25 early in the third quarter. But the Falcons put together a 17-0 scoring run to tie the game. The Vikings again went up by eight in the fourth quarter at 50-42, then got outscored 18-10 through the rest of regulation.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                              
Western Washington 70, Seattle Pacific 67 (OT)
 
WESTERN WASHINGTON (11-5, 7-1 GNAC)
Kiana Gandy 3-13 0-087, Tia Briggs 6-6 3-3 15, Kayla Bernsen 7-10 0-2 14, Taylor Peacocke 8-17 1-2 19, Aleisha Hathaway 3-5 1-1 9, Amanda Lance 0-0 1-2 2, Alyssa Evans 1-2 0-0 3, Rachel Albwert 1-1 0-0 2, Nikki Corbett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 6-10 70.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (6-9, 3-5 GNAC)
Molly Grager 2-8 0-0 4, Stacey Lukasiewicz 3-7 6-9 12, JordanMcPHee 10-20 5-6 28, Brianne Lasconia 1-5 0-0 2, Courtney Hollander 9-15 3-4 21, Jaylee Albert 0-1 0-0 0, Lindsay Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Rodrigues 0-3 0-0 0, Erica Pagano 0-0 0-0 0.Totals 25-59 14-19 67.
 
Western Washington         16           20           10           14           10           -- 70
Seattle Pacific                     10           10           22           18             7            -- 67
 
3-point goals – WWU 6-15 (Gandy 1-4, Peacocke 2-6, Hathaway 2-3, Evans 1-2), SPU 3-9 (McPhee 3-6, Lasconia 0-1, Albert 0-1, Rodrigues 0-1). Fouled out – WWU: Bernsen, Hathaway. Rebounds – WWU 31 (Bernsen 8), SPU 33 (McPhee 9). Assists – WWU 12 (Briggs 3, Peacocke 3), SPU 56 (Lukasiewicz 3). Turnovers – WWU 20, SPU 17. Total fouls – WWU 17, SPU 14. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 500.
 
Next game --        Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage
                                Thursday, Jan. 21     8:00 p.m. PST
                                Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska