WOMEN’S BASKETBALL:

For the first time in four years, the Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team qualified for the four-day Great Northwest Athletic Conference post-season basketball tournament. They played in the first round of the tournament against the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Wednesday, March 2. 

In their first-round game against Alaska Fairbanks, the Falcons won by a score of 78-48. After competing in 17 games this season that ended in close calls for the Falcons, SPU made certain to dominate the scoreboard right out of the gate. The Falcons finished the first half ahead by 19 points after achieving a fast lead, three minutes into the first quarter. 

The top scorers of the game were senior guard and forward Ashley Alter and sophomore forward Beth Pettingill, each of them collecting 14 points. The enjoyment of their big win was short-lived, however, as the Falcons played against one of the top six teams in the conference in the quarter-finals.

The Falcons lost their final game of the season against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, 57-50. With the never-ending pressure and attacking defense of the Seawolves, they established quick dominance over the Falcons. They took a six-point lead and continued to widen that gap by 19 points throughout the game. 

The Falcons’ upperclassmen gave one final effort to shrink the gap in the fourth quarter. Due to back-to-back three-pointers from senior point guard Bayley Brennan, the Falcons managed to drop the point difference below 10 points in the final quarter.

The lead scorer of the game was senior forward Natalie Hoff with a total of 14 points. Brennan and senior guard Kaprice Boston followed behind with nine and 10 points respectively.

Although their senior season may not have ended as either would have hoped, Hoff and Alter have both been named as honorable mentions on the Post-Season All-Conference Basketball Team. Both Hoff and Alter have maintained positions among the Falcons’ leading scorers for the 2021-2022 season. Hoff accumulated a season total of 318 points, and Alter amassed 207 points.

The team ended the season with an overall record of 12-18 and a conference record of 7-11. 

MEN’S BASKETBALL:

The Falcons men’s basketball team had a similar tournament experience when they also lost against the University of Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, March 3. This was game five of the All-GNAC men’s tournament. The final score was 88-75.

Although the Seawolves scored the first few points in the game, the Falcons caught up quickly and tied the score within just three minutes of the tip-off. The Falcons gained the lead due to two free throws from senior guard Divant’e Moffitt, and they held onto this lead throughout the first half, ending the second quarter 41-37.

The Falcons held their lead for most of the second half. However, the Seawolves never fell more than 10 points behind the Falcons. The Seawolves gained the lead after tying the game 60-60 with only 10 minutes remaining in the game. The rest of the game was spent trading off rallies, but the Falcons never managed to take back the lead.

The lead scorers for the game were Moffitt with 26 points and senior guard Harry Cavell with 11 points. Moffit has spent the entirety of the 2021-2022 season as the Falcons’ leading scorer, collecting a season total of 521 points. He has increased his career total to 1,460 points and is now ranked as the eighth-highest scorer in SPU men’s basketball history. 

Despite this loss, the Falcons are not without cause for celebration. Moffitt has been named as a member of the All-Conference 1st-Team for the second time in his career since the winter of 2020. Cavell and junior forward Shaw Anderson, the team’s second-leading scorer, were both named honorable mentions.

The men’s basketball team ended their 2021-2022 season with an overall record of 14-13 and a conference record of 7-8. 

ROWING:

The Falcon rowers began their spring season on Saturday, Mar. 5, on the waters of American Lake in Lakewood, Washington. SPU won two of their seven races, placing in third place twice in the first and second sessions of the varsity eights. They also came in second place three times in the third session of the varsity eights and both sessions of the varsity fours. 

The team roster for the spring season consists of 17 returning rowers and 16 novices. Among these debuting novices of the 2022 spring season are freshman coxswains Lucy Sandahl and Sarah Mach. 

Sandahl led her second varsity eight crew to a victory in the first session with a time of 8:15.3 against the Seattle University Redhawks, beating their time of 8:13.3 by exactly two seconds. This is the Falcons’ first win of the season. 

Mach led her crew to claim the Falcons’ second victory with a time of 8:34.1 in the first session of the second varsity four. Mach’s crew finished with a near-13-second lead over the Redhawks’ time of 8:46.8 and the University of Puget Sound’s time of 9:31.1.

The Falcons’ next rowing regatta will be on March 26 against the current defending champions Central Oklahoma University on the waters of the Oklahoma River.