THE SCHEDULE: Saturday, Feb. 13: Western Oregon at SPU, 2 p.m.
WOU 9-14, 4-5 GNAC (T4th), SPU 17-3, 8-1 GNAC (2nd)
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast and live stats on this link.
Weekly release, with complete stats and opponent starters (PDF)
SEATTLE -- For the first time since the start of conference play, the Seattle Pacific Falcons get a break on the calendar -- but not on the women's basketball schedule.
Coming off a road trip last Thursday and a come-from-behind victory last Saturday, SPU starts this week with a bye, then returns to action on Saturday afternoon in Brougham Pavilion against always-dangerous Western Oregon. The 2 p.m. game between the Falcons and Wolves will be their second meeting of the season. The Falcons tipped off their Great Northwest Athletic Conference docket on Jan. 9 in Monmouth, Ore., scoring an 85-72 victory.
SPU did its part to stay in the conference title race last week, overcoming tough challenges in both games to win at Central Washington last Thursday, 60-43, and then come from behind to beat Northwest Nazarene last Saturday in Brougham Pavilion, 63-62.
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The Falcons are back on the road next Wednesday at Montana State Billings, then have their second showdown against Western Washington on Saturday, Feb. 20, in a game that has serious implications for the GNAC title.
KONVERTING KICKS FOR HAITI
The Seattle Pacific Student Athlete Advisory Committee is partnering with other GNAC schools in Konverting Kicks, a program to collect gently used shoes and send them to Haiti to be distributed to those in need. Shoes can be brought to any home event through Feb. 19 and placed in the marked bins in the gym foyer.
THINK PINK
Seattle Pacific is getting ready for its annual Pink Zone game in support of the fight against breast cancer. Pink Zone night is set for Saturday, Feb. 20, when top rival and current GNAC leader Western Washington comes to Brougham Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Seattle Pacific coach Julie van Beek is looking forward to the bye prior to getting back at it against Western Oregon.
“It's the second week of February and the season is getting long. So it's nice to have a day off,” van Beek said. “We have seven games left and we have a chance in practice to focus on the little things, even though we've improved a lot.”
Western Oregon will come to town with one of the GNAC's best players in senior forward Katie Torland. And this Wolves team has proved it can play with anyone, having knocked off Northwest Nazarene in the conference opener on Jan. 7.
“They're a very well-coached team, and I think they're better than their record,” van Beek said. “They've played a good schedule. I've watched them play against good teams, and they play very hard.”
Torland is one of the reasons for that.
“She's one of the toughest players to guard in the conference,” van Beek said. “She can post very well, she brings the ball up the floor, and she can shoot the 3. And she's a good shooter -- she doesn't just jack it up.”
SCOUTING WESTERN OREGON (9-14, 4-5 GNAC)
All-time series: SPU leads, 25-2. Current series streak: SPU won 25. Last time: SPU 85, Western Oregon 72 (Jan. 9, 2010 at Monmouth, Ore). Western Oregon on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon made it clear right from the GNAC tip-off that it is a team to take seriously, as the Wolves downed Northwest Nazarene, 67-61. WOU has gone through some ups and downs since then, having just snapped a three-game losing streak last Saturday with a 69-58 victory at home against Central Washington. But already, the Wolves have more conference and overall victories than they racked up last season (8-19, 3-13 GNAC). Senior forward Katie Torland continues to be the offensive spark plug for Western Oregon, averaging 16.7 points to rank third in the conference, and is the only Wolves player to average in double figures. Torland is coming off a season-high 29 points in last Saturday's win against Central. She had 16 in the first game against the Falcons, but was limited to 5-of-13 shooting. Torland also ranks No. 7 in the GNAC with 6.9 rebounds per game. This continues to be the series in which SPU has enjoyed the most success, not having lost to the Wolves since 1981-82 -- the first two games the teams played.
MOST RECENT SPU STARTERS
Feb. 6 vs. Northwest Nazarene, W 63-62
Totals vs. Northwest Nazarene/Season averages or totals
FG is previous game/season percentage
Player Pts. Reb. Ast. Stl. Blk. FG
F Megan Hoisington 17/10.5 15/8.4 1/1.7 0/29 6/32 5-16/.402
C Melissa Reich 8/6.6 7/6.3 2/1.5 1/27 3/15 1-5/.495
G Jordan Harazin 5/6.5 1/3.0 2/2.8 0/20 0/0 2-11/.413
G Daesha Henderson 8/12.5 2/3.7 2/2.7 2/56 0/7 1-8/.442
G Maddie Maloney 4/5.4 10/2.8 2/3.2 0/35 0/6 1-3/.327
SEATTLE PACIFIC 63/68.4 50/41.7 11/17.9 3/244 9/79 18-59/.418
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC ranking in parentheses)
Points SPU 68.4 (4) WOU 62.8 (8)
Points allowed SPU 55.0 (2) WOU 62.0 (5)
Rebounds SPU 41.7 (1) WOU 34.4 (9)
Assists SPU 17.9 (2) WOU 11.2 (8)
Steals SPU 12.2 (2) WOU 9.3 (5)
Blocks SPU 4.0 (2) WOU 1.6 (8)
Turnovers SPU 20.4 (7) WOU 20.5 (8)
FG pct. SPU .418 (4) WOU .375 (8)
3-point pct. SPU .318 (7) WOU .330 (5)
FT pct. SPU .668 (9) WOU .768 (4)
POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific remained 19th in this week's USA Today/ESPN Division II coaches poll, which was released on Feb. 9. The Falcons were in a tie for 19th with Western Washington last week, but now has that spot all alone as the Vikings are now No. 20. SPU received 201 points. Western got 193, and Alaska Anchorage, which moved up one spot to No. 17, collected 247.
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire is still No. 1, receiving 23 of the 27 first-place votes and 667 points -- exactly the numbers it had a week ago. West Region rival UC San Diego (19-1) climbed one spot to No. 7.
In the West Region rankings, which were released last Wednesday, Seattle Pacific remained No. 3 behind UC San Diego and Western Washington. The regional rankings ultimately determine the qualifiers for the NCAA tournament. The next rankings are out Wednesday, Feb. 10.
FALCON REPLAY
-- Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS) pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, and teammate Megan Hoisington tied her career high with 17 points, had a career-best six bloocks, and pulled down 15 boards as Seattle Pacific overcame an early 11-point deficit and hung on for a 63-62 victory against Northwest Nazarene last Saturday in Brougham Pavilion.
It was the second time this year Seattle Pacific and NNU went down to the wire. The Falcons won 63-61 on a buzzer-beater by Daesha Henderson on Jan. 16 in Nampa, Idaho.
SPU went the first 4½ minutes of the game without a point, not getting onto the board until Hoisington found senior guard Daesha Henderson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) for 10-footer in the lane with 15:26 left in the first half. The Falcons eventually built an 11-point lead during the second half, then fought off a late Northwest Nazarene rally.
-- Henderson scored 17 points, including five during a 13-0 second-half run that put SPU clearly in command, and the Falcons went on to a 60-43 victory against Central Washington last Thursday night in Ellensburg. The senior guard had her fourth 17-point outing of the season. She also matched her career high with seven rebounds and handed out two assists.
Senior forward Megan Hoisington (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS) added 13 points and seven boards for SPU, and senior forward Sydney Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) came off the bench for 10 points.
The Falcons were down 13-10 in the first half, but then scored the next 10 points -- the first seven of those by Henderson -- to go ahead for good. Sophomore guard Jordan Harazin capped the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, making it 20-13 before It was still a seven-point margin at 28-21 with 15:55 left in the game when SPU went on its game-breaking 13-0 run.
MAKING THE GRADE
Junior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach has been named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team for the second straight year, and senior guard Daesha Henderson has earned a spot on the team for the first time.
Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) was a third-team selection in the West Region last season, and moved up to the second team this time. She carries a 3.94 grade-point average in psychology.
The 6-foot Rohrbach is a key player off the bench for the 19th-ranked Falcons, averaging 5.2 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18.7 minutes per game. She has set a career high this season assists (five at Azusa Pacific on Dec. 31) and tied her rebounding career high with seven against Concordia-Portland on Dec. 12.
Henderson gained a spot on the West Region first team. She has a 3.49 GPA as a biology major. While this is her first CoSIDA selection, Henderson has been named to the last to Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic teams.
The 5-8 Henderson leads Seattle Pacific in scoring at 12.5 points per game. She also sets the Falcons' pace in steals with 2.8 per game, ranking No. 32 in all of NCAA Division II in that category.
TOUGH BREAK
Senior forward Sydney Benson saw her season come to an unexpected early end when she suffered a major knee injury during practice on Friday, Feb. 5. Benson was injured during a rebounding drill, tearing both the MCL and the ACL in her left knee. The 6-foot-2 Benson had developed into an impact player off the bench for coach Julie van Beek.
Prior to her injury, Benson had played in all 19 games for the Falcons, averaging 8.7 points and 4.1 rebounds. She was coming off a career-high 22 points against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 30, just two days after she hit a career-high three shots from 3-point range against Alaska Anchorage, helping SPU win both games. Those performances earned Benson a share of the GNAC Player of the Week honor.
RALLY TIME
Prior to last Saturday against Northwest Nazarene, SPU had trailed at halftime twice and was tied at halftime once -- and lost all three games. But after being down 36-29 to the Crusaders, the Falcons started the second half on a 14-5 run to go ahead for good on the way to a 63-62 victory.
5-10, AND STANDING TALL
It's certainly no surprise to see frontcourt players Melissa Reich or Megan Hoisington put double-digit rebounding totals into the book. In fact, senior forward Hoisington and junior center Reich have combined for eight such performances this season. But now, add 5-foot-10 guard Maddie Maloney to that list. Maloney grabbed a career-high 10 last Saturday against Northwest Nazarene -- four more than she'd ever had as a Falcon.
THAT'S MY BASKETBALL
It was easy to see that Megan Hoisington was enjoying herself in the traffic under the hoop against Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 6. Not only did she grab 15 rebounds, coming within one of her career high, she blocked six shots -- which was a career high. In fact, Hoisington now has moved into a tie for the GNAC lead in blocked shots with 1.6 per game, although her total of 32 is one behind Western Washington's Krystal Robinson. The Viking senior won the GNAC blocked shots title in 2007. SPU's last champion in that category was Brittney Kroon, who led the way for three straight years -- 2004, 2005 and 2006.
STELLAR STEALER
Senior guard Daesha Henderson added seven more steals to her career collection last week, giving her an even 207 for her career. She recently became just the ninth player in GNAC history to reach the 200-steal mark, and now is all the way up to No. 6 on the conference list. She needs 18 more to join the SPU all-time top five. The No. 5 spot on the Falcon list currently belongs to Becky Wiersrma (1986-90) with 225.
PUT A LID ON IT
In this week's national statistical rankings, released on Feb. 9, SPU remains the 10th-toughest team to shoot against in all of NCAA Division II, allowing its opponents a success rate of just 33.8 percent. Last week, Seattle Pacific limited Central Washington to just 28.8 percent from the floor, and kept Northwest Nazarene to 35.8 percent.
The team that has shot the best against Seattle Pacific this winter? That would be Western Oregon, Saturday's opponent in Brougham. The Wolves hit 43.1 percent (22 of 51) in Monmouth on Jan. 9.
ON THE HONOR ROLL
-- Senior forward Megan Hoisington, who tied her career scoring high and set a career high for blocked shots to help Seattle Pacific beat Northwest Nazarene last Saturday, has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for Feb. 3-6. Hoisington pumped in 17 points in the come-from-behind 63-62 victory against the Crusaders in Brougham Pavilion. That matched her total from a 74-62 victory against Humboldt State in November. She also had six blocked shots against the Crusaders, beating her previous total of five that she set just last month. In addition, Hoisington grabbed 15 rebounds against NNU, one shy of her career best. Hoisington finished the week with 30 points (she had 13 in a 60-43 win at Central Washington), 22 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
-- While this is Hoisington's first Player of the Week award, she already has been named to three all-tournament teams this winter. She picked up those honors in the season-opening Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at SPU in November, in the GNAC-Pac West Classic in early December at Nampa, Idaho, and in the GNAC-CCAA Challenge in late December at Bellingham.
-- Senior forward Sydney Benson became the first Seattle Pacific player this season to be honored as a GNAC Athlete of the Week. Benson earned the Feb. 1 award for her performance at home against the Alaska schools on Jan. 28-30. She hit a career-high three shots from 3-point territory in a 57-42 win against Anchorage on Jan. 28, then broke loose for a career-high 22 points to lead SPU's 86-44 victory against Fairbanks on Jan. 30, coming off the bench both times.
-- Senior guard Daesha Henderson and junior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) were part of the all-tournament team at the GNAC-CCAA Challenge on Dec. 20-21 at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
-- Henderson was named the Most Valuable Player of SPU's Sodexo Tip-Off Classic. Reich joined Henderson and Hoisington on the Sodexo all-tournament team.
-- Henderson is an honorable mention pick on the Women's Division II Bulletin Preseason All-American list.
FUN WITH NUMBERS
-- In the latest set of GNAC statistics, Seattle Pacific has switched spots on the boards and in the passing lanes. The Falcons have climbed into the conference lead for rebounding, averaging 41.7 per game and moving past Alaska Anchorage into the top spot. The Seawolves are averaging 41.3 In the assists category, SPU is now N. 2 at 17.9 per game. Moving into No. 1 is Western Washington at 18.0.
--The Falcons are still the second-best shot-blocking team in the GNAC at 4.0 per game. They also remain No. 2 in steals at 12.2.
-- SPU remains fourth on offense in the conference at 68.4 points per game. On the defensive end, the Falcons dropped their average points allowed once again over the course of the week -- it's down to 55.0 -- and climbed to No. 2 in that category behind Alaska Anchorage (52.8).
-- Daesha Henderson climbed to No. 2 in GNAC steals at 2.8 per game. She's also up a notch in scoring, now 11th at 12.5 points. Henderson is 10th in assists at 2.7 and tied for sixth in 3-pointers made at 1.8 per game (35 total).
-- Megan Hoisington is fifth in overall rebounding in the GNAC at 8.4 per game, including second in defensive rebounding (5.7).
-- Before her injury, Sydney Benson had climbed to No. 2 in conference field goal shooting at .515 (68 of 132).
-- Maddie Maloney is tied for fourth in assists (3.2), tied for second in assist/turnover ratio (1.8) and is ninth in steals (1.8).
-- Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) is ninth in GNAC assists (2.8), ninth in 3-point shooting (.387) and tied for seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.3).
Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC statistics.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Seattle Pacific is in the top 20 for Division II in three statistical categories. In addition to its aforementioned field goal defense (No. 10 at .338), the Falcons rank No. 19 in assists per game (17.9) and No. 18 in fewest points allowed on average (55.0). SPU also is No. 24 in steals at 12.2 per game.
-- Daesha Henderson is 32nd in D-2 at 2.8 steals per game. She climbed seven spots this week.
-- Megan Hoisington is No. 54 in blocks at 1.6
-- Maddie Maloney is No. 43 in assist/turnover ratio at 1.8.
Click on this link for a look at SPU's national statistical rankings. Click on this link to see how GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
UP NEXT
The Falcons have a rare Wednesday game next week when they hit the road to play at Montana State Billings on Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. PST. SPU beat the Yellowjackets last month in Brougham, 68-52. Then on Saturday, Feb. 20, it's the rematch against Western Washington, this one on SPU's home floor at 7 p.m.
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 time for all home games.
Adult ticket prices are $8 for reserved seats at center court, $7 for reserved seats at the foul lines, and $6 for general admission. General admission for youths, students and senior citizens is $3. SPU students, faculty and staff who present a valid current ID card are admitted free to all regular-season home events.
Organized groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates. Group ticket prices are $3 for adults and $1 for youths, and apply to all group members. Any individuals attending the event who are not members of the group, including parents and siblings, can purchase regular-priced tickets in advance, but do not qualify for the group rate. Group tickets must be ordered and paid for at least 72 hours in advance of the event by calling the Athletics Office at (206) 281-2085.
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news and notes from around the GNAC.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Overall
Western Washington 10-0 19-2
Seattle Pacific 8-1 17-3
Alaska Anchorage 6-2 16-3
Northwest Nazarene 4-5 14-6
Western Oregon 4-5 9-14
Montana State Billings 3-5 10-9
Central Washington 3-6 6-13
Saint Martin's 2-7 8-12
Alaska Fairbanks 0-9 1-19
