ELLENSBURG, Wa. (Feb. 24) -- Despite a season-high 28 points from forward Gus Balogh, 17th-ranked Seattle Pacific University saw its women's basketball winning streak snapped at 10 games by Central Washington, 71-62, in a Pacific West Conference game Saturday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

The loss prevented the Falcons (16-4, 21-4) from clinching the PacWest title, their first since 1998. They need one win in their final two games to claim an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II tournament next month.

Central Washington (13-7, 18-7) came from nine points down at halftime to revive its postseason hopes and achieve a season sweep of SPU.

Kerie Pruett scored all 12 of her points in the second half and Rose Shaw led Central with 26 points and 14 rebounds. The Wildcats scored the first 12 points after halftime and never relinquished the lead thereafter. Another 12-5 burst--which included three Pruett 3-pointers--pushed the lead to 60-49 with 5 minutes, 46 seconds remaining.

Despite shooting only 35 percent from the floor they outscored Seattle Pacific 17-4 at the foul line and forced 22 turnovers to 14 of their own.

The win streak had been the longest since SPU won 12 straight to open the 1997-98 season.

Balogh (Sr., 5-11, Szombathely, Hungary) and Brianne Prescott (Jr., 5-7, San Jose, Ca.) fueled a late first-half run which put SPU ahead by nine points at the break. Down by three, the Falcons outscored the Wildcats 18-6 in the final 8 minutes. Prescott connected on a pair of treys plus an 18-footer while Balogh scored six points, including a rebound layup just before the buzzer.

Balogh finished 12 of 23 from the field while Prescott had 14 points, a dozen of them coming from 3-pointers. Stephanie Urrutia (So., 5-9, Sunnyside, Wa.) had seven rebounds, seven assists and four blocked shots. The Falcons return to Brougham Pavilion for their final two regular season games, Thursday versus Humboldt State and Saturday versus Western Oregon.

SEATTLE PACIFIC --
Prescott 14, Urrutia 4, Holme 3, Balogh 28, Guppy 1, Beard 4, Daniel 0, Lukkes 4, Gustafson 4.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON --
Willis 4, Kautzky 8, Dixon 12, Sargent 5, Shaw 26, Pruett 12, Walker 3, LiaBraaten 1, Ellis 0, Niemi 0.

Halftime--SPU 37, CWU 28.