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SPU
Women Clinch At Least Share of GNAC Title; Beaumont, Smith Reach
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SEATTLE (Feb. 26) It was a fitting end as Seattle Pacific (15-1 GNAC, 23-2) played in its final home game of the season, especially for four seniors in particular. With the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship on the line and national powers going head-to-head, the Falcons knocked off archrival Western Washington 76-61 in front of an electric crowd of more than 1100 fans on Saturday evening at Brougham Pavilion.
With the victory, their 27th straight at home, the fourth-ranked Falcons (15-1 GNAC, 23-2) clinched at least a share of the GNAC championship, their third straight league title. SPU needs just one more victory in its final two games to claim the outright championship. The Falcons are also on track to host the NCAA II West Region tournament for the third straight year, having held the region’s top ranking all season. SPU’s four graduating seniors were honored before the opening whistles but the juniors stole the show for the Falcons. Carli Smith (Jr., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian) had a monster game for the home team. Smith scored 13 points and set new career highs with 22 rebounds and seven assists. Smith’s rebound total was good enough for a share of second place all-time at SPU in single game rebounding. She also moved into eighth place on the schools single season rebounding list with 251. Fellow juniors Brittney Kroon (6-4, Wasilla, Ak.) and Mandy Wood (5-6. Port Angeles, Wa.) paced the SPU attack with 15 points apiece. Kroon also had six rebounds and swatted seven shots. In a back-and-forth game that was played at a high tempo for all 40 minutes, SPU came out on fire to capture the early momentum. The Falcons scored the first seven points of the game to put the visiting Vikings (14-3 GNAC, 22-4) on their heels early. Western called a quick timeout and responded with eight straight points, to capture their first and only lead of the game. 
Michelle Beaumont (Sr., 5-11, Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) put SPU back on top with a three pointer and, following a basket by WWU’s Krystal Robinson, SPU scored eight straight points to pull ahead 18-10. Beaumont finished with 11 points to push her career total to 1,000. The Falcons extended their lead to 12, but Western battled back to cut the deficit to seven at the half. Tina Donahue scored all eight of her first half points in the final 2:20 to keep the visitors within striking distance. Donahue finished with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in the loss. Jodi Gerald took over for the Vikings in the second half. She had 16 points and seven rebounds in the final 20 minutes alone, and finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with a team-high 13 rebounds. However , the Falcons had an answer for every hint of a Western run. Beaumont buried a trey and followed with a pull-up jumper to push SPU’s lead back to 12 to open the second half. The Vikings, however, came back with a pair of free throws by Donahue and a triple from Gerald. The Falcons fired back with eight unanswered points to pull ahead by 15 with 15:11 left in the game. The Vikings battled until the end, never letting the deficit to get larger than 18. But Seattle Pacific never wavered, hitting numerous clutch baskets to keep its lead in double figures throughout the rest of the game. Courtney Clapp scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half for Western. Clapp and Gerald combined for 29 of the team’s 33 second-half points. The Falcons recovered from a 36 percent shooting performance in the first half by hitting 52 percent of their shots in the second half. They finished at 44 percent for the game while holding the Vikings to just 31 percent. SPU outscored WWU 34-10 in the paint and out-rebounded the Vikes 45-40. Seattle Pacific finished undefeated at home during the regular season for the fourth straight season. Led by its departing senior class, SPU has gone 65-5 in conference play and 104-10 overall the past four seasons. During that span, the Falcons were almost unbeatable at home. SPU was 35-0 in conference games and 54-1 overall, its only loss coming in the West Region championship game. The Falcons finish the regular season with a pair of GNAC games on the road. The Falcons face Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. followed by Alaska Anchorage next Saturday at 8:05 p.m. WESTERN WASHINGTON (14-3, 22-4) Gerald,Jodi
7-13 2-3 22; Clapp,Courtney 5-15 5-8 15; Donahue,Tina 2-14 8-8 12;
Robinson,Krystal 2-8 2-2 6; Dressel,Stephanie 1-3 0-0 2;
McCarrell,Liz 1-1 0-0 2; Dykstra,Devin 1-3 0-0 2; White,Arielle
0-0 0-0 0; Hubbard,Samantha 0-2 0-0 0; Hartman,Elyse 0-1 0-0 0;
Burt,Angela 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-61 17-21 61. Western Washington............ 28 33 - 61 3-point goals-Western Washington 6-14 (Gerald,Jodi 6-9; Clapp,Courtney 0-1; Donahue,Tina 0-2; Hartman,Elyse 0-1; Burt,Angela 0-1), Seattle Pacific University 7-19 (Beaumont,Michelle 3-4; Wood,Mandy 3-7; Hermanson,Trisha 1-1; Taylor,Amy 0-6; Fielding,Autumn 0-1). Fouled out—Western Washington-None, Seattle Pacific University-None. Rebounds-Western Washington 40 (Gerald,Jodi 13), Seattle Pacific University 45 (Smith,Carli 22). Assists-Western Washington 12 (Hubbard,Samantha 4; Donahue,Tina 4), Seattle Pacific University 19 (Smith,Carli 7). Total fouls-Western Washington 18, Seattle Pacific University 18. A-1114 |
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