THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 25           Seattle Pacific at Concordia, 7:00 p.m.
                                             Cavalier Court / Portland, Ore.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats                      
 
Saturday, Feb. 27            Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 2:00 p.m.
                                             New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.        
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats              
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
               
SEATTLE – The final shots, passes, and rebounds of the women's basketball season are at hand for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
SPU concludes its 2015-16 schedule this week with an Oregon road trip. The Falcons visit Concordia in Portland on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., then head to Monmouth on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 for a game against Western Oregon.
 
These teams opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play against each other way back during the first week December in Brougham Pavilion. Seattle Pacific prevailed in both games, downing WOU, 79-58, then fending off a gritty effort from Concordia two nights later to win, 55-46.
 
The Falcons finished their home slate last week with a split, beating Alaska Fairbanks, 57-49, but falling to national co-No. 1 Alaska Anchorage, 70-47.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Free live Webcasts and live stats will be available for all GNAC games. Webcasts will be through Stretch Internet, the conference's official internet provider. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
POSTSEASON BUBBLE POPS
After the Falcons get back home from Monmouth, they'll pack away their gear. With a combination of outcomes last Thursday and Saturday, Seattle Pacific will not qualify for the GNAC Tournament.
 
That fate was sealed on Saturday night when SPU fell 70-47 against Alaska Anchorage; Northwest Nazarene beat Concordia, 91-69; and Central Washington topped Western Oregon, 61-46.
 
NNU and Central are both 9-9; the Falcons are 7-11, and the most they can finish with is nine wins if they sweep this week's road games. But if Northwest Nazarene were to lose both (to Central and Montana State Billings) and also finish with nine wins, it still would own the first tiebreaker against SPU by virtue of sweeping the season series.
 
If Central Washington were to lose both (to NNU and BIllings) and finish tied with SPU at nine wins apiece, both the Wildcats and Falcons would have split their season series, and both would be 1-5 against teams with a conference winning percentage of .750 or higher (Anchorage, Western Washington, and Montana State Billings).
 
The next tiebreaker is record against teams at .500 or better within the GNAC. On that one, Central would win out at 3-7 (one victory apiece against NNU, Western Washington, and Simon Fraser) record while Seattle Pacific would be just 2-8 (one win against Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser).





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This will be SPU's first game at Concordia since 1999.
-- The 46 points allowed in the Dec. 5 game against the Cavaliers is the second-lowest total given up by the Falcons in a game this season.
-- The only lower totals were 43 against Fresno Pacific on Nov. 13 and Montana State Billings on Feb. 4.
-- When allowing fewer than 50 points, Seattle Pacific is 5-0.
-- When an opponent scores in the 50s, (as WOU did on Dec. 3 in Seattle) SPU is 3-1.
-- The Falcons are 4-9 outside of Brougham Pavilion this season, including 3-8 in true road games.
-- SPU snapped a six-game road losing streak the last time it was out of town, winning on Feb. 13 at Simon Fraser in overtime, 61-56.
-- Sophomores Courtney Hollander (20 points-10 rebounds) and Jordan McPhee (11 points-12 rebounds) both double-doubled against Concordia in December – the only time this year the Falcons have had two double-doubles in one game.
-- McPhee's was the first – and so far only one – of her career.
-- Stacey Lukasiewicz' first and only career double-double was a 13-point, 12-rebound performance against Western Oregon on Dec. 3.
-- Seattle Pacific's 71 field goal attempts against Western Oregon and 31 free throw attempts against Concordia from the December games remain its season highs.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 20-2 against Western Oregon, including 4-1 against third-year coach Holli Howard-Carpenter. She is 2-0 vs. Concordia and 1-0 against first-year coach Sean Kelly.
                                                            
SCOUTING THE CONCORDIA CAVALIERS: 6-20, 4-14 GNAC (9^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 6-2. Current series streak: SPU won 6. Last time: SPU 55, CU 46 (Dec. 5, 2015 at Seattle). Cavaliers on the Web.
Cavaliers in a nutshell: A tough first year for Concordia in Division II brightened a bit last Thursday in Ellensburg when it knocked off GNAC Tournament-bound Central Washington, 61-59. Keesha Sarman, a 5-foot-6 freshman guard who is averaging just 6.4 points and hadn't led the team in scoring all season, pumped in a 15 and made it her first collegiate double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds. When the Cavaliers need points, 5-7 sophomore guard Sierra Dean usually answers the call, averaging a team-high 12.3. That includes a season-high 21 in last Saturday's 91-69 loss at Northwest Nazarene. Dean led Concordia with 15 in December's loss at SPU. She is the only Cav in double figures. Closest to Dean is 5-5 junior guard Briannah Smith at 7.3 points per game, as Concordia averages just 56.9. Bailey Cartwright, a 6-1 freshman forwards, tops the team on the boards at 5.2 per game. 
                                                                                
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 4-22, 3-15 GNAC (tie 10^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 37-4. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 79, WOU 58 (Dec. 3, 2015 at Seattle). Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon comes into the week having lost three straight. Points have been hard to come by for the Wolves, as they average just 52.5 per game and have scored 60 or more just four times. Setting the offensive pace is 5-10 sophomore guard Sydney Azorr, averaging 7.8 points per game. She is the only WOU player to start all 26 contests. Her 22-point performance last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene was the team's highest of the season. Emily Howey, a 6-3 senior center, averages 7.5 points and a team-leading 4.4 rebounds. She also is very accurate from the field, shooting 52.7 percent (79 of 150) to rank No. 4 in the GNAC. Another one who can go off for some points is 5-10 junior guard Jordan Mottershaw. She has six double-digit games. Kaylie Boschma, a 5-8 freshman guard, led the Wolves in scoring at SPU in December with 10 points, and led the team with 16 in last Saturday's 61-46 loss at Central Washington.
                                                                                                                                                                            
FALCON REPLAY                                
-- Courtney Hollander had 17 points and 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season, and SPU fended off a furious fourth-quarter comeback by Alaska Fairbanks to secure a 57-49 win last Thursday in Brougham Pavilion.
.-- Julia Haining scored a career-high 13points for Seattle Pacific, but Megan Mullings poured in 18 for Alaska Anchorage last Saturday night to lead the co-No. 1 Seawolves past the Falcons, 70-47.
 
WELCOME TO THE SPU TOP 10
With her two attempts (both of which she made) against Alaska Anchorage last Saturday, sophomore forward Courtney Hollander officially joined the top-10 list of successful free throw shooters.

 

Hollander (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden Christian HS) is now 83 of 101 for her career, an 82.2 percent success rate. That puts her at No. 3 on the list, behind Suzanna Ohlsen (260 of 298 for.872) and Aubree Callen (272 of 318 for .855), both of whom graduated last year. They are the only two Falcons to top .800 for their careers.
 
Making the top 10 requires a minimum of 100 attempts in at least two years in a Seattle Pacific uniform. Hollander shots Nos. 100 and 101 during the second quarter against UAA.
 
Fellow sophomore Jordan McPhee joined the SPU top 10 earlier this season. She is 103 of 131 for a .786 percentage that ranks ranks No. 8 coming into this week.
 
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
With this week's final two games, senior center Molly Grager will wrap up her career, and the Falcons will turn their attention ahead to spring and summer workouts in preparation for the 2016-17 season.

 

From the get-go, SPU will have two players able to join them whose 2015-16 seasons never got started. Point guard Madison Wright (Spokane, Wash. / Gonzaga Prep HS) and 6-foot-3 center Jane Grisley (Maple Ridge, B.C.) spent the year recovering from knee injuries. The 5-10 Wright, with one year of NCAA Division I experience at Southern Utah, will be a redshirt sophomore, while Grisley will be a redshirt freshman.
 
SPU also will welcome two talented newcomer guards in Hailee Bennett from Kalispell, Mont., and Madi Hingston from Keizer, Ore. Coach Julie Heisey says both can play either the point or the shooting guard positions.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Sophomore forward Courtney Hollander put another double-double into the book last Thursday with 17 points and 13 rebounds against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
That was Hollander's eighth double-double of the year. The last Falcon with at least that many in a season was eight by Katie Benson in 2013-14.
 
The Falcons now have 10 double-doubles for  the year. The last time they had a double-digit total was 14 in 2011-12.
 
2015-16 double-doubles:
Courtney Hollander (8 season / 8 career)
13 pts-13 reb vs. Fresno Pacific, Nov. 14
17 pts-13 reb at Point Loma, Nov. 24
20 pts-10 reb vs. Concordia, Dec. 5
11 pts-12 reb at Northwest Nazarene, Jan. 2
14 pts-12 reb at Alaska Fairbanks, Jan. 23
14 pts-10 reb vs. NW Nazarene, Jan. 28
16 pts-12 reb at Simon Fraser, Feb. 13
17 pts-13 reb vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Feb. 18.
 
Stacey Lukasiewicz (1 season / 1 career)
13 pts-12 reb vs. W. Oregon, Dec. 3.
 
Jordan McPhee (1 season / 1 career)
20 pts-10 reb vs. Concordia, Dec. 5.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 318 programs in Division II, SPU ranks …
54th in offensive rebounds (15.0)
54th in rebounding margin (+4.7)
58th in free throw shooting (.729)
 
Individually, Courtney Hollander ranks 71st in defensive rebounds at 6.0 per game.
                                                                                                                      
Click on this link to see how SPU stacks up nationally. Click on this link to see where GNAC teams and players rank within Division II.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th point            Erica Pagano (has 96)
200th rebound     Jordan McPhee (has 191)
300th point            Molly Grager (has 298)
                                                       
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK                                         
100th point            Lindsay Lee (has 107)
300th rebound     Courtney Hollander (has 311)
400th point            Courtney Hollander (has 411)
 
AROUND THE WEST

Alaska Anchorage comes into the week having clinched at least a tie for the GNAC title. The Seawolves (30-1, 17-1 GNAC) can wrap it up on Thursday night when they play host to Western Washington (19-7, 15-3). It was the Vikings who dealt UAA its only loss of the season, 71-62 in Bellingham on Dec. 5.

 
The Pacific West title situation could get some clarity on Tuesday when Academy of Art (22-6, 17-1) plays host to Cal Baptist (24-1, 16-1). Azusa Pacific (21-3, 16-1) remains in the regular-season title chase, as well.
 
In the California Collegiate Athletic Association, none of the three contending teams play each other during the final week of the regular season. Cal State East Bay (23-4, 17-2) currently sits on top, half a game ahead of UC San Diego (21-3, 16-2) and Cal State Dominguez Hills (18-8, 16-2).
  
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                                              GNAC                 Overall
Alaska Anchorage                   17-1         30-1
Western Washington                 15-3         19-7
Montana State Billings             14-4         18-8
Simon Fraser                       11-7         13-10
Central Washington                  9-9         16-10
Northwest Nazarene                  9-9         11-13
Alaska Fairbanks                    7-11        12-16
Seattle Pacific                     7-11        10-15
Concordia                           4-14         6-20
Saint Martin's                      3-15         5-20
Western Oregon                      3-15         4-22