THE SCHEDULE:   Saturday, Jan. 8: Montana St. Billings at SPU, 2:00 p.m. 
                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650)/Seattle, Wash. 
                                Live Webcast        Live stats


        Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – Coming back from a break for Christmas, the Seattle Pacific Falcons were looking at a grueling stretch of four games in six days.

They not only survived it – they thrived in it, winning all four.

Now, tied for first place atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball standings, SPU returns to the court on Saturday, playing host to Montana State Billings at 2 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.

At 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the GNAC, the Falcons are riding a seven-game winning streak, having bounced back from two losses at the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge in early December to go undefeated since then. And they've won in every possible way: a buzzer-beater victory against Chico State (57-56 on Dec. 11), hanging on after a big lead slipped away at Simon Fraser (65-60 on Dec. 18), a 40-point blowout (81-41 against St. Edward's on Dec. 30) and a back-and-forth battle (71-67 against Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 3).

The Falcons hit the road next week, visiting Central Washington on Jan. 13, then heading to Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 15.





CLOSING IN ON 300 WINS
Seattle Pacific head coach Julie Heisey is inching ever closer to her 300th career victory. Heading into Saturday's game against Billings, she how has 294 on her ledger, with 132 of those at SPU. Heisey is 294-146 overall, and 132-27 at the helm of the Falcons.

RACKING UP THE AWARDS
Junior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore./Jefferson HS) is building quite a collection of honors this season. Sims was named the Most Valuable Player of last week's Falcons Invitational. It was her second MVP honor, having also won for the season-opening Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham Pavilion.

Sims also was named the GNAC Player of the Week for the first time in her career. During that stretch of four games in six days, she totaled 46 points, 25 rebounds and 14 assists. In addition to the Falcons Invite MVP, Sims hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:18 left against Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 3, as Seattle Pacific went on to beat the Seawolves, 71-67.

HOMECOMING IS COMING
By the time the Falcons return from next week's road games, it'll be time to get ready for Homecoming weekend on campus. The climax of that event is the basketball doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 22. The SPU women play host to Western Oregon at 1:30 p.m., followed by the men's game against Montana State Billings at 3:30 p.m.

More homecoming details, including the opportunity to pre-purchase basketball tickets, are available by clicking on this link.

FOLLOW IT LIVE
All Seattle Pacific home games and almost all GNAC road games will have live Webcast and live stats feeds available online. Fans can find the appropriate links by clicking on the Live Stats or Webcast icons at www.spufalcons.com. The only exceptions will be no live Webcast from the game at Western Washington on Feb. 2 (that contest will be carried live by Fox Sports Northwest television), and no live stats from the game at Saint Martin's on Feb. 19.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY?
Looming story lines from this week's games:

--Although the Falcons have dominated the Montana State Billings series for the past few years, winning 10 straight, it wasn't always that way. Prior to SPU's current streak, the Yellowjackets had a 14-7 series lead.
--Seattle Pacific has won 21 straight games in Brougham Pavilion. The last loss was in the 2009 NCAA West Regional championship game when Alaska Anchorage prevailed, 52-48.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
It's still a long way to the postseason. But the way head coach Julie Heisey sees it, SPU got an early taste of it last week, both in terms of a crammed schedule and Monday's game against nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage.

“It had a playoff-type atmosphere,” Heisey said of the 71-67 victory against the Seawolves. “It was a great game between two very good teams. We beat a good team, but we still have a lot of areas to improve on.”

One thing the Falcons proved they could do was stay energized through a tough stretch of games

“I think we made the most of an opportunity,” Heisey said. “Our kids did a super job of staying in shape over the break. We really tried to talk about these games as being a mirror image of a conference tournament. And for us to do well in a conference and region tournament, we have to use our depth.”

On Saturday, Montana State Billings will present a challenge with its height inside.

“Billings in the past has had some strong posts, and Kayla Ryan (at 6-foot-1) has always been good,” Heisey said. “Right now, they're playing a lot of minutes with two kids over 6-1 (Ryan and 6-2 Beata Bak), so that changes their game a lot. This is a team that has more depth than the teams they've had in the past.”

SCOUTING THE MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS (6-6, 2-2 GNAC)
All-time series: SPU leads, 17-14. Series streak: SPU won 10. Last time: SPU 62, MSUB 47 (Feb, 17, 2010 at Billings). Montana State Billings on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: SPU fans probably remember Shantell Marquis, the 5-foot-11 do-everything guard for Billings who missed most of last season with a major knee injury. Marquis is back from her medical redshirt year, and has started all 12 games, averaging 5.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and a team-high 2.5 steals. But Marquis is not Billings' only weapon. Beata Bak, a 6-2 senior forward from Poland, averages 16.1 points (No. 2 in the GNAC) and 5.8 rebounds; senior forward Kayla Ryan scores at an 11.1 clip and pulls down 8.4 rebounds per game (also No. 2 in the GNAC). Bak has led the Jackets in scoring seven times, and pumped in 25 in an 80-70 overtime loss at Western Washington on Dec. 4. Ryan had five straight games of double-digit rebounding. Junior guard Kalli Stanhope is deadly from 3-point range, hitting 50 percent (13 of 26).

HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC ranking) 
                                SPU                MSUB
Points                     67.6 (6)         65.2 (8)
Points allowed     58.7 (3)         60.3 (5)
Rebounds             40.7 (3)         37.1 (9)
Assists                 16.8 (1)         15.3 (4)
Steals                      9.9 (4)           9.6 (5)
Blocks                     1.8 (10)         4.5 (3)
Turnovers            17.1 (3)         17.0 (2)
FG percentage     .411 (3)         .378 (8)
3-pt percentage   .259 (9)        .302 (5)
FT percentage     .691 (7)         .746 (3)

PILING UP THE POINTS – FINALLY
Prior to last week's four-game schedule, the only SPU player averaging in double figures was Nyesha Sims, at 12.6 points per game. Sims is still right up there with a team-leading 12.2 average. But now, she has some company. Forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) has jumped into double digits with a 10.7 average. Center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS), thanks in part to a career-high 20 points in Seattle Pacific's 80-64 victory against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 1, is averaging 10.3.

Rohrbach has nearly doubled her 5.8 average of last season. And Reich now is well above her 7.8 average of a year ago.

REICH'S RESURGENCE
After Seattle Pacific's 74-69 loss to Grand Canyon on Dec. 3 at the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge in St. George Utah, Melissa Reich's shooting percentage was at .367.

Since then, she has raised it 101 points, moving it to .468 heading into this week's game against Montana State Billings. In the past week's four games, Reich shot a combined 18 of 32 (56.3 percent), including 7 of 9 in her 20-point performance against Alaska Fairbanks. She now ranks 10th in the GNAC for field goal shooting. 




MALONEY JOINS DOUBLE-DOUBLE CLUB
Senior guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS) does a lot of good things on the court that don't always show up in the box score. Last Saturday against Alaska Fairbanks, Maloney did a lot of things that did show up in the box score – 11 points and a career-high 10 assists, to be precise. That gave her the first double-double of her college career, and made her just the second Falcon this season to pull off that feat. (Junior guard Nyesha Sims has done it three times.)

Maloney's assist total was a career high, breaking her old mark of eight.

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME
Among the areas where SPU players have stepped up collectively is at the free throw line. The Falcons hit 62 of 81 during their four-game stretch in Brougham Pavilion (76.5 percent) and now are approaching the 70 percent mark for the season. At .691, Seattle Pacific is 54 points better than it was prior to those four games.

And, senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach – who drained a pair with 7.9 seconds left to seal Monday's 71-67 victory against Alaska Anchorage – now has made enough to qualify for a spot among the GNAC leaders. Rohrbach has hit 20 of 22 for the season, a .909 mark that ranks No. 2 in the conference. The only one ahead of her is Marie-Line Petit of Simon Fraser, who has hit 15 of 16 (.938).

Also finding the mark from the line for SPU (but not having made enough to qualify for the conference stats) are freshman Aubree Callen (12 of 14 for 85.7 percent), junior McKayla Gorman (10 of 13 for 76.9 percent), and junior Nyesha Sims (15 of 20 for 75 percent).

BESTS COME IN BUNCHES
During the course of four games in six days, all 14 Seattle Pacific players saw some action. And 12 of those set at least one career high, ranging from the first points (two) and rebounds (two) for freshman center Riley Butler (Kent, Wash./Kentlake HS) to the 20 points for Melissa Reich against Alaska Fairbanks.

Among the Falcon veterans, Nyesha Sims and sophomore guard Katie Thralls (Livermore, Calif.) each had two. Sims set new personal single-game standards for assists (five against Notre Dame de Namur; her old mark was four) and steals (four vs. St. Edwards; her previous best was three).

Thralls tallied eight points against Alaska Fairbanks, surpassing her old total of six, and grabbed three rebounds against St. Edward's, one better than her previous best.

Sophomore Michelle Teng (four points, two assists), senior Maddie Maloney (10 assists), sophomore Rachel Murray (13 points) and junior Joani Reimer (four rebounds) also posted career highs in those respective categories.

For the freshmen, forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) set new marks for points (17), rebounds (nine) and blocked shots (two), and Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) established bests in points (seven) and steals (one).

FUN WITH NUMBERS
--Junior guard Nyesha Sims ranks 12th in GNAC scoring (12.2) and seventh in rebounds (7.3).
--Senior guard Maddie Maloney is a GNAC top-10 performer in steals (tie for second at 2.5), assist/turnover ratio (third at 1.9) and assists (sixth at 3.2).
--Junior guard Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS) is tied for seventh in assist/turnover ratio at 1.5.
--Redshirt freshman forward Katie Benson is tied for seventh in 3-point accuracy at .375.
--As a team, SPU ranks 26th in all of NCAA Division II for assist/turnover ratio at 1.0.

Click on this link for a look at GNAC statistical leaders. Click on this link for a look at how the Falcns and the GNAC stack up nationally in NCAA Division II.

POLLING PLACE
On the heels of seven straight wins, including Monday night's 71-67 decision against then-No. 11 Alaska Anchorage, the Falcons have jumped six places in the most recent USA Today/ESPN top 25 coaches poll, which was released on Tuesday. Seattle Pacific received 221 points in the voting.

SPU was No. 8 in the preseason poll, moved as high as No. 5, then dropped out following losses to Grand Canyon and Dixie State on Dec. 3-4. The Falcons re-appeared at No. 23 in the Dec. 14 poll.

The West Region has six teams among this week's top 25. Alaska Anchorage fell just one place to No. 12 after Monday's loss to Seattle Pacific; Western Washington climbed five places to No. 18; Grand Canyon rose three to No. 16; Chico State stayed at No. 20, and Dixie State moved in at No. 25.

Delta State of Mississippi stayed No. 1 with 715 points, receiving 22 of the 29 first-place votes.

FALCONS REPLAY
--Nyesha Sims tallied 16 and handed out a career-best five assists, and sophomore Rachel Murray came off the bench for 12 points as Seattle Pacific went on a 19-0 scoring run that bridged the first and second halves, rolling to a 70-51 victory against Notre Dame de Namur last Wednesday in the first round of the Falcons Invitational in Brougham Pavilion.
--Sims had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, and redshirt freshman forward Katie Benson posted career highs of 17 points and nine rebounds, leading SPU to an 81-41 rout of St. Edward's in the final game of the Falcons Invitational last Thursday.
--Melissa Reich scored a career-high 20 points – the first 20-point performance by any Seattle Pacific player this season – and Maddie Maloney posted a double-double of 11 points and a career-high 10 assists – leading the Falcons to an 80-64 GNAC victory against Alaska Fairbanks in Brougham Pavilion on New Year's Day.
-- Sims scored 15 points, including a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:18 left in the game, and Caitlyn Rohrbach added 13, draining a pair of clinching free throws with 7.9 seconds left, as SPU knocked off 11th-ranked Alaska Anchorage in a GNAC showdown on Monday night, 71-67.

UP NEXT
The Falcons haven't played on the road since a 65-60 victory at Simon Fraser on Dec. 18. But the road is where they'll be next week. SPU visits Ellensburg on Thursday, Jan. 13, for a 7 p.m. game against Central Washington. Then on Saturday, Jan. 15, they're in Nampa, Idaho – where they won on a buzzer-beater last season – to take on Northwest Nazarene at 12:30 p.m. PST.

TICKET TALK
Tickets for SPU's home games can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 3rd Ave. W.) on match 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 Washington            3-0         10-1
Seattle Pacific                        3-0           9-2
Western Oregon                    3-0           5-6
Alaska Anchorage                 2-1         11-3
Northwest Nazarene             2-2           7-5
Montana State Billings          2-2           6-6
Saint Martin's                         1-2           7-5
Central Washington               0-3           5-5
Simon Fraser                         0-3           3-5
Alaska Fairbanks                   0-3           0-10