THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Dec. 1 Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
Live Webcast Live stats
Saturday, Dec. 3 Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – Seems as if the Seattle Pacific Falcons were just tipping off their women's basketball season, its because they were – just 20 days ago in the San Francisco Bay area.
Now – earlier than they ever have – they're ready to tip off the Great Northwest Athletic Conference portion of the schedule when they visit Simon Fraser on Thursday night in Burnaby, B.C.
That will be the first of two road games with which to begin GNAC play. The Falcons come back home on Friday morning, then make another trek up Interstate 5 on Saturday to take on arch-rival Western Washington that night at 7 in Bellingham.
Seattle Pacific rides into the start of their conference schedule on a high note, having won four straight after a season-opening loss to UC San Diego in San Francisco on Nov. 11.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and live Webcasts will be available for both of this week's games. Links can be found at the top of this story.
FALCONS TABBED FOR 2ND
Now that it's conference time, how is Seattle Pacific expected to do against its GNAC rivals?
According to the
preseason coaches poll, the Falcons, coming off a 13-5 third-place performance in 2010-11, are slotted for a second –place finish behind overwhelming favorite Alaska Anchorage. The Seawolves received nine of the 10 first-place votes and 108 points. The other first-place vote went to SPU, which wound up with 87 points.
UAA finished second the regular season behind Western Washington last year, but won the inaugural GNAC Tournament.
Northwest Nazarene is picked for third with 75 points, and defending champ Western is tabbed at No. 4 with 73.
A RECORD BY ONE DAY
Prior to this year, the soonest Seattle Pacific has begun GNAC play was in the 2004-05 season when they played host to Alaska Anchorage in Brougham Pavilion on Dec. 2. The Falcons blew out the Seawolves, 94-64.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--Since the GNAC's inaugural season in 2001-02, Seattle Pacific is 10-0 in conference openers.
--The Falcons' closest opening-night call in the GNAC was last Dec. 18 at Simon Fraser. SPU escaped with a 65-60 victory.
--SPU and Western Washington typically don't match up this early. The last time it happened was on Jan. 8, 2009 – ironically, a conference opener – when the Falcons rolled to an 85-68 triumph in Brougham Pavilion.
--Seattle Pacific's last victory against Western in Carver Gym was Jan. 17, 2008, an 86-44 romp that came smack in the middle of the Falcons' 29-0 start.
--SPU has won in Carver since then – but not against the Vikings. The Falcons swept Sonoma State and Chico State at the 2009 GNAC-CCAA Challenge in Bellingham.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
After a busy season-opening stretch of eight games – including five in a span of 12 days – coach
Julie Heisey and her team took three days off for the Thanksgiving holiday before returning to prepare for the GNAC openers.
One opponent the Falcons know plenty about is Simon Fraser scoring and rebounding star Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe.
“She's so talented, there's no way you're going to completely stop her,” Heisey said. “The biggest thing is you can't give them anything easy. She's going to get her points, and the rest of the team, you have to make them work hard for everything.”
Although Western Washington has several new players, Heisey was impressed with the Vikings when she saw them at the CCAA-GNAC Challenge in San Francisco.
“They have a couple junior college players coming in, and their returning players have all stepped up to the plate,” Heisey said. “We can't give them any open shots, because you know they're going to score. We have to play a complete game – we can't just try to outscore them.”
SIMON FRASER CLAN: 3-1, 0-0 GNAC
All-time series: Simon Fraser leads, 13-5.
Current series streak: SPU won 2.
Last time: SPU 71, Simon Fraser 45 (Feb. 22, 2011 at Seattle).
Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser won just seven games all of last season. The Clan are almost halfway to that total already, winning three of their four non-conference games leading up to the start of GNAC play. A big reason for that is the continued outstanding production of 6-foot-2 junior forward
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe. The defending scoring and rebound champion is averaging a double-double of 15.3 points (tied for sixth in the GNAC) and a whopping 16.3 rebounds (first by a long way; she had 22 last week against Colorado State-Pueblo). She is shooting 55.3 percent from the field. Simon Fraser also has made a big improvement defensively. After allowing more 70 points a game last season, opponents are scoring an average of just 56.5 so far this year – low enough to put the Clan atop the GNAC's list for defense.
WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 3-1, 0-0 GNAC
All-time series: WWU leads, 49-26.
Current series streak: SPU won 1.
Last time: SPU 71, WWU 63 (Feb. 24, 2011 at Seattle).
Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: A program the high caliber of Western doesn't rebuild – it merely reloads. That's the process the Vikings are in this season after graduating four starters from last year's team that was on the brink of running the GNAC table until the Falcons led for all but a few moments during the regular-season finale in Brougham Pavilion. Western's lone returning starter is 5-6 junior guard
Corinn Waltrip, and she's setting the scoring pace for the Vikings so far at 12.0 points per game.
Trishi Williams, a 5-9 junior guard who transferred from Columbia Basin College in Pasco, is capable of filling up the hoop as well, leading the GNAC in field goal shooting at a sizzling 75 percent (15 of 20).
Erika Ramstead, a 6-0 junior forward, leads the way on the boards at 7.5 per game, which ranks No. 8 in the conference.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC rankings)
SPU UPS WWU
Points 66.6 (6) 59.8 (8) 79.8 (2)
Points allowed 58.0 (2) 56.5 (1) 64.8 (8)
Rebounds 38.8 (7) 35.8 (10) 46.0 (2)
Assists 16.0 (3) 13.3 (7) 19.8 (2)
Steals 8.6 (7) 6.3 (10) 8.0 (9)
Blocks 2.0 (9) 2.8 (T5) 4.0 (1)
Fewest turnovers 19.8 (8) 18.8 (3) 21.3 (9)
FG percent .440 (3) .401 (5) .454 (2)
3-point percent .380 (2) .301 (7) .347(4)
FT percent .763 (2) .698 (7) .721 (5)
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Katie Benson pumped in 15 points and was one of four SPU players in double figures last Tuesday as the Falcons
downed Puget Sound in a non-conference contest in Brougham Pavilion, 71-60.
LAST TRY FOR SENIORS IN BELLINGHAM
Seattle Pacific seniors
McKayla Gorman (Parker, Colo.),
Jordan Harazin (Colfax, Wash./Colfax HS),
Joani Reimer (Lynden, Wash./Lynden Christian HS) and
Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) have beaten every GNAC team in their respective houses except for Western Washington. This will be their fourth and final try to take down the Vikings in Carver Gym. The closest they came was 10 points in last year's 67-57 decision.
QUIETLY SETTING CAREER HIGHS
It's not the kind of thing that often gets a headline, but SPU senior guard
McKayla Gorman set a pair of career highs in last Tuesday's 71-60 victory against Puget Sound in Brougham Pavilion. Gorman pulled down six rebounds – all in the first half, breaking her old mark of five that she set on Dec. 31, 2009 at Azusa Pacific. Gorman also finished with seven assists, tying her career best in that department. She previously had that many on Nov. 20, 2010 against UC San Diego.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Katie Benson has Seattle Pacific's lone double-double so far this season, putting up 12 points and 11 rebounds on Nov. 18 in a 70-59 victory against Cal State East Bay on the first night of the Sodexo Tip-off Classic. That gives Benson two double-doubles for her career.
The only other Falcon on this year's roster with double-doubles is senior guard
Nyesha Sims. She has five, all of them from last season.
SHARP SHOOTERS FROM EVERYWHERE
The Falcons finished last season with a 41.9 percent shooting mark from the floor, and started off a bit cold this year by
shooting less than 40 percent in two of their first three games. But they have warmed up considerably since then, and now are up to 44.0 percent after hitting 58.6 percent against Harding and 47.2 against Puget Sound. Seattle Pacific has three players among the GNAC's top 12 shooters: junior forward
Rachel Murray (Eglington, New South Wales, Australia) is No. 3 at .636 (21 of 33), sophomore guard
Betsy Kingma (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) is No. 11 at .484 (15 of 31), and sophomore forward
Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) is tied for No. 12 at .467 (28 of 60).
SPU is hitting .381 from behind the 3-point, line, way up from last year's .298, and just one point behind GNAC-leading Alaska Anchorage's mark of .381. The Falcons have four among the GNAC's top 10: Murray tied for first at .545 (6 of 11), Kingma third at .467(7 of 15),
Nyesha Sims sixth at .444 (4 of 9), and sophomore guard
Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) 10
th at .385 (5 of 13).
Click on
this link for a look at complete GNAC statistics.
CHARITY BEGINS AT THE LINE
That solid shooting is happening at the free throw line, as well. The Falcons are hitting a crisp .763 (58 of 76), right on the heels of Central Washington's pace-setting .766 (49 of 64).
Rachel Murray has hit all but one of her foul shots so far this season (13 of 14), and her .929 percentage ranks third in the conference.
Jordan Harazin is fifth at .833 (10 of 12).
Even more telling is how SPU's current mark compares to last season – it's 131 points higher. After five games in 2010-11, the Falcons were at just .632 (60 of 95) from the line.
NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU CALL DIVERSITY
Although six of Seattle Pacific's 12 active players are from the state of Washington, the most recent starting lineup had just one Evergreen State native, that being sophomore forward
Katie Benson from Snohomish. Of the other four, one was from Oregon (
Nyesha Sims of Portland), one from Idaho (
Aubree Callen of Jerome), one from Colorado (
McKayla Gorman of Parker), and one all the way from Australia (
Rachel Murray of Eglington, New South Wales).
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.
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 a look at news, notes, schedule and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
The Falcons play in the last of their three preseason tournaments next week on their home court when the welcome
Sonoma State,
Chico State and GNAC rival
Western Washington to Brougham Pavilion on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9-10. Seattle Pacific plays the 7 p.m. game both days, facing Sonoma on Friday and Chico on Saturday. Western has both 5 p.m. games against the opposite opponent of the Falcons.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Season
Seattle Pacific 0-0 4-1
Simon Fraser 0-0 3-1
Western Washington 0-0 3-1
Alaska Anchorage 0-0 4-2
Northwest Nazarene 0-0 4-2
Central Washington 0-0 2-1
Montana State Billings 0-0 3-2
Saint Martin's 0-0 3-4
Alaska Fairbanks 0-0 3-5
Western Oregon 0-0 0-6
