The Seattle University women’s basketball team nearly came from behind twice against the Pacific Tigers, but the home team held off the visitors as Pacific earned a 71-65 victory Saturday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Down by 17 points early in the second half, went on a 23-10 run over a span of 10:45 in the second half, with two free throws by Breanna Salley () cutting the Pacific lead to one at 64-63 with three minutes remaining in regulation. Amber Simmons answered with a traditional three-point play and, after two more free throws from Salley, Simmons pulled down an offensive rebound and converted on a put-back with 1:12 left to give the Tigers a cushion.
Salley led all players with 28 points and five rebounds, hitting 10-of-18 shots from the field and 6-of-9 attempts from the free throw line. Freshman Elle Kerfoot (, B.C.) was the only other SeattleU player to score in double figures, hitting 3-of-3 shots from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to score ten points. Tatiana Heck (, ) hit 3-of-5 shots from the field in scoring eight points, while Cassidy Murillo () made two three-pointers in scoring six points along with three rebounds and three assists.
Pacific (4-5) scored the first eight points of the game and jumped out to a 14-3 lead before Seattle University made its first comeback, as the Redhawks went on a 10-3 run over a three-minute span to come within two at 24-22 with 5:57 left in the first half. The Tigers responded, finishing the half by outscoring SeattleU, 18-5, to take a 42-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Simmons finished with a double-double, scoring 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field and pulling down 14 rebounds. Janae Young also reached double figures in scoring, finishing with 11 points to go with six rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Point guard Amy VanHollebeke dished out seven assists, while Karen Dawkins came off the bench and contributed eight points and six rebounds.
Pacific won the rebounding battle, 43-31, and shot 58.1 percent from the field in the first half before cooling off in the second half and finishing at 44.8 percent field goal shooting. It was the reverse for , with a cold first half before hitting 54.5 percent of its field goal attempts after halftime to end the game at 44.9 percent field goal shooting. Pacific hit 9-of-15 shots from the free throw line, while SeattleU finished 16-of-26 from the charity stripe.
(4-6) spends a few days celebrating the holiday season before preparing to host Sunday, Dec. 28, beginning at 5 p.m. at the . Both live stats and a live audio broadcast for that game will be available on GoSeattleU.com.