CCAA-GNAC CHALLENGE SCHEDULE:
                Friday, Dec. 10: SPU at Sonoma State, 7 p.m. 
                The Wolves' Den/Rohnert Park, Calif. 
                Live Webcast        Live stats 

                Saturday, Dec. 11: SPU vs. Chico State, 5 p.m. 
                The Wolves' Den/Rohnert Park, Calif. 
                Live Webcast        Live stats 


       Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
       CCAA-GNAC Challenge tournament Web page

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons don't like to let losses linger. So their focus will be entirely about getting back on the winning track this weekend in the CCAA-GNAC Challenge at Sonoma State University.

The Falcons (2-2), who find themselves on a rare two-game losing streak, tip off against the host Seawolves on Friday at 7 p.m. Then on Saturday at 5 p.m., it's a showdown against Chico State in what will be a rematch of last season's NCAA Division II West Region championship game that was won by the Falcons, 76-68.

The tournament, which also will feature Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Western Washington, is a replica of sorts of last year's gathering in Bellingham, featuring the same four teams. Seattle Pacific won both games in 2009, defeating Sonoma, 59-51, and Chico, 63-44.

After sweeping through their first two games of the season in the Sodexo Classic on their homecourt Nov. 19 and 20, the Falcons ran into a pair of tough challenges last weekend in St. George, Utah, at the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge. Grand Canyon came from behind on Friday to beat Seattle Pacific, 74-69, and Dixie State fended off the Falcons on Saturday, 76-66.

The start of GNAC play is next up for the Falcons when they go north to Burnaby, B.C. next Saturday, Dec. 18, to face defending Canadian national champion Simon Fraser at 5:15 p.m.

FORMER SPU COACH WINS 500TH
Gordy Presnell, who turned Seattle Pacific into a national women's basketball power during 18 years at the coaching helm, notched his 500th career victory this past Sunday when his Boise State team defeated Seattle University in Seattle, 66-57. Presnell's lifetime record is now 500-188, including 396-127 from 1987-88 through 2004-05 at SPU. He is 104-62 at Boise State (including 6-3 this season) and has never endured a losing season in 23 years on the bench.

Presnell has taken 15 teams to postseason play. Of those, 13 were at Seattle Pacific, with three trips to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. He has 15 conference Coach of the Year awards and was named D-2 national Coach of the Year twice.





FOLLOW IT LIVE
All Seattle Pacific home games, all home and road conference games, and many of the road non-conference games (including both games this weekend) will have live Webcast and live stats feeds available online. Fans will be able to find the links at the beginning of each week by clicking on the Live Stats or Webcast icons at www.spufalcons.com.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
While disappointed with last week's results in Utah, Seattle Pacific coach Julie van Beek Heisey looks at it as a chance for her team to get better.

“Obviously, we're going to find out what we're made of,” Heisey said. “Even though we did a lot of great things (last week), we came up empty-handed. The biggest thing is we have to make every possession count. We can control that.

“At the same time,” she continued, “the season is long and we play hard games because we want to grow.”

Two of those hard games are looming this weekend with Somona State and Chico State.

“Chico obviously finished last season strong, and they have a lot of their key players back,” Heisey said. “We look at it as another NCAA regional game and an opportunity to play a team that should be back in regionals. Sonoma is really good. They seem to have a really balanced scoring attack. They have a good inside-outside attack with both of their posts and their guards, and they have a mixture of being able to score off penetration and also score inside. And they have three pretty good 3-point shooters.”

SCOUTING THE SONOMA STATE SEAWOLVES (3-2)
All-time series: SPU leads, 8-3. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 59, Sonoma State 51 (Dec. 19, 2009 at Bellingham, Wash). Sonoma State on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Sonoma won its first two games out of the gate, beating 2010 NCAA qualifier Hawaii Pacific by seven and edging Pac West member Academy of Art by two. But the Seawolves have dropped their first three CCAA contests, including a 52-41 loss to Chico State last Saturday. Aly Hennington lead the Seawolves in scoring at 12.6 points per game, and Jaclyn Bisordi is close behind at 11.4. Aly Conway is the CCAA's No. 2 shooter at 60.6 percent (20of 33). The three players who scored in double figures against SPU last year have all departed. Sonoma has scored and allowed exactly the same number of points: 307. It is a tough team to rebound against, allowing just 32.6 boards per game, tops in the CCAA.The Seawolves will be eager to make a good showing, as this is their home debut after playing their first five games on the road.

SCOUTING THE CHICO STATE WILDCATS (6-0)
All-time series: SPU leads, 11-4. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 76, Chico State 68 (March 15, 2010 at Seattle). Chico State on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: The Wildcats – just as they did last year in Bellingham before losing both games – come into this tournament with a perfect record, now at 6-0. That mark includes victories against 2010 NCAA qualifiers Hawaii Pacific (64-46) and Humboldt State (64-62). Chico can and does spread the offense around, as four different players have set the scoring pace in the first six games, with Natasha Smith going off for 28 against Cal State Stanislaus on Nov. 27 to help boost her team-leading 14.6 average. Pauline Ferrall chips in 10.3 points per game, and Kristin Marquardt leads on the boards at 6.8 per contest. Melissa Richardson, the forward who led Chico in scoring in both games against SPU last season (14 and 15, respectively), has graduated.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC or CCAA ranking) 
                                  SPU             SONOMA             CHICO
Points                       64.0 (8)         61.4 (9)             69.2 (T5)
Points allowed       64.5 (7)         61.4 (7)             57.2 (4)
Rebounds                40.5 (6)         38.0 (3)             42.0 (1)
Assists                     12.8 (7)         15.8 (1)             13.0 (7)
Steals                       10.5 (3)            6.8 (10)             9.3 (3)
Blocks                        2.3 (T8)          2.4 (8)               2.8 (T4)
Turnovers               18.8 (T6)        23.6 (11)           21.3 (8)
FG percentage      .377 (7)           .419 (5)             .415(6)
3-pt percentage   .213 (10)         .362 (4)             .337 (T6)
FT percentage      .635 (10)         .667 (T6)           .777 (1)

RIGHTING THE SHIP
The Falcons have endured several two-game skids over the years, most recently in 2008-09. But they've always found a way to get things turned around quickly. The last time SPU came up short in three straight games was 1995-96, when it happened twice.

ANOTHER TOURNAMENT, ANOTHER HONOR FOR REICH
Senior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) was named to the all-tournament team in last weekend's Pacific West-GNAC Challenge in St. George, Utah. Reich led Seattle Pacific with 14 points and also had six rebounds in Saturday's 76-66 loss to Dixie State. The previous day against Grand Canyon, she grabbed 11 rebounds and tallied nine points in a 74-69 loss to the Antelopes.

It was Reich's second all-tournament honor of the season. She also made the elite five-player squad when SPU swept both of its games at the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham Pavilion on Nov. 19 and 20.

GIMME THAT REBOUND, SAYS SIMS
For the longest time, it seemed as if Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) couldn't break her career high of five rebounds in a game. Matter of fact, she had five in eight different games last season before coming up with outings of eight and nine during the NCAA West Regionals.

Last Friday against Grand Canyon, the junior guard left that latter number in the dust, pulling down 12 boards against the Antelopes. She had her mark of nine by the end of the first half, then collected her 10th early in the second half.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL
In addition to her solid work on the boards that day, Sims also led Seattle Pacific in scoring with 16 points. That was the first double-double of her career, and the first for any Falcons player this season.

FINDING THE HANDLE
SPU did a much better job of taking care of the basketball during its two games in Utah last weekend. They came into the tournament averaging 22 turnovers per game, but committed just 13 – a season low – against Grand Canyon on Friday. They also kept it to fewer than 20 on Saturday against Dixie State, finishing with 18.

The 13 against Grand Canyon matched the Falcons' low mark of last season.

FOR QUIET EFFECTIVENESS, IT'S MALONEY
She didn't make the all-tournament team in Utah, but it wasn't for lack of quality performances by senior guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS). She had back-to-back double-figure scoring games of 13 points against Grand Canyon and 11 against Dixie State, came up with four steals in each, and had a combined nine rebounds and five assists.

She also drew the praise of SPU coach Julie van Beek Heisey for her overall defensive work.

“She just changed the game. When she was on different key players, she was able to take them out of what they wanted to do,” Heisey said.

TWO IN BENSON'S BOOK
On Friday against Grand Canyon, the shots were going in for redshirt freshman forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS). She hit 5 of 10 from the floor, including 2 of 4 from downtown, for a career-high 13 points.

Different story on Saturday against Dixie State. The shots weren't falling (just 2 of 6 for four points), but she was getting the job done in traffic around the hoop by collecting eight rebounds, which gave her a career high in that department.

POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific fell out of the top 25 in this week's USA Today/ESPN Division II coaches poll – but not by much. In the poll that was released on Tuesday, the Falcons top the list of “others receiving votes) with 129 points. That's just four points behind No. 25 California University of Pennsylvania. SPU was No. 5 in last week's poll prior to losing to Grand Canyon and Dixie State in the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference rivals Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington both moved up. The Seawolves climbed three spots to No. 12, and Western jumped six places to No. 14.

Delta State of Mississippi remained a solid No. 1 with 21 of 29 first-place votes and 711 points.

Chico State, Seattle Pacific's opponent this Saturday in the CCAA-GNAC Challenge in California, moved up four places to No. 17. Grand Canyon moved into the poll this week, settling at No. 21, giving the West Region four teams among the top 25.

FALCONS REPLAY
--Nyesha Sims scored 16 points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds, and freshman Katie Benson added a career-high 13 points, but Grand Canyon rallied past Seattle Pacific in the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge, 74-69. The Falcons, who were hit with their first loss of the season, had a 65-56 lead with 5:56 to play in Burns Arena at Dixie State University before the Antelopes got hot, finishing the game on an 18-4 scorig run and keeping SPU off the scoreboard for the final 2 minutes, 42 seconds.

--Melissa Reich scored 14 points and was one of three SPU players in double figures, but the Falcons were kept off the board for the final 2:52 of the game and dropped a 76-66 decision at Dixie State in the finale of the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge last Saturday. The Falcons, down 16-4 early, went on a 23-7 scoring run to take a 27-23 lead with 6:26 remaining in the first half. Dixie State (7-0) then put together an 11-3 surge, going in front 34-30, and never trailed again.

UP NEXT
Having been selected as the preseason favorites to win the GNAC championship, the Falcons will put that ranking to the test on Saturday, Dec. 18, when they visit newcomer Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., for the first time in conference play. Tip-off is at 5:15 p.m. SPU and the Clan have met 16 times over the years, but have not played each other since 2000. Simon Fraser owns a 13-3 advantage in the series. It is Seattle Pacific's only game of the week and its final game prior to Christmas. The Falcons return to action on Dec. 29 at home against Notre Dame de Namur in the Falcons Invitational. That will be the first of four games in six days – all at home – for Seattle Pacific.

TICKET TALK
Tickets for SPU's home games can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 3rd Ave. W.) on game day. Ticket windows open one hour prior to the listed start times.

Reserved seats are $8 for center court and $7 for the foul lines. General admission tickets are priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates by calling (206) 281-2085 at least 72 hours in advance.

SPU students who show their school identification will be admitted free to all home games.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, schedules, news and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.


GNAC STANDINGS 
                                                    GNAC         Overall
Western Oregon                         2-0              3-4
Western Washington                1-0               5-0
Alaska Anchorage                     1-0               6-2
Saint Martin's                              1-0              6-2
Montana State Billings              1-1              3-4
Seattle Pacific                             0-0              2-2
Northwest Nazarene                 0-1              3-3
Simon Fraser                              0-1             3-3
Alaska Fairbanks                       0-1              0-6
Central Washington                  0-2              3-2