THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 21     Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                      Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.      
                                      Live Webcast        Live stats       
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – The opponent is a tough one, but the women's basketball schedule is a bit of an easier one for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Coming off back-to-back homecourt victories against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, the Falcons have just one game on this week's docket. That game is on Saturday afternoon in Brougham Pavilion when Montana State Billings, still very much in the thick of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference race, comes to town.
 
It will bring SPU to halftime on the conference schedule.
 
SPU is back in second place in the conference standings, all alone at 6-2 after turning aside Central, 97-79, and NNU, 72-58, last week in Brougham. Those two victories, plus Western Washington's 75-55 loss to first-place Alaska Anchorage last Saturday night, helped the Falcons climb one rung on the GNAC ladder.
 
Seattle Pacific returns to the road next week, visiting Saint Martin's on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., and Western Oregon on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 2 p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and live Webcasts will be available for this week's game. Links can be found at the top of this story.
 
SAVE THOSE SOCKS
The Falcons will be conducting a sock drive for their Feb. 2 home game against Alaska Anchorage. The drive is in conjunction with Tent City 3, which will arrive on campus Jan. 21 for a two-month stay. Fans are encouraged to bring new or gently used pairs of socks. A bin will be available in the gym lobby.
 
This is the first of two drives associated with Tent City. A blanket drive is set for Saturday, Feb. 11 when the men play host to Central Washington at 7 p.m.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--SPU certainly will be out for some redemption against Montana State Billings. The Yellowjackets swept last year's games, 59-50 in Seattle and 54-51 in Billings. The result in Brougham halted a seven-game Falcons win streak.
--This is by far the tightest series of any against GNAC opponents. Seattle Pacific has a 17-16 lead.
--Depending on Thursday's results, the Falcons could be squaring off against the GNAC's leading scorer for the second straight game. Billings' Bobbi Knudsen comes in with a 16.8 average. Last Saturday, Megan Hingston of Northwest Nazarene came in atop the GNAC scoring stats at 17.3 points per game, but SPU limited her to just six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
--Since the advent of the GNAC, the Falcons have a 17-2 record during single-game bye weeks.
--For the first time this season, the Falcons have three players averaging in double-figure scoring (Katie Benson 16.4, Nyesha Sims 10.7, and Rachel Murray 10.1). The last time Seattle Pacific had three averaging double digits was 2008-09 (Kelsey Burns 12.3, Daesha Henderson 11.0, and Kelsey Hill 10.3).
--At 9-1, SPU has the second-best homecourt record in the conference. The only team better is Simon Fraser (5-0).
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Think the SPU players are happy to have a bye week? They are. But head coach Julie Heisey is even happier.
 
“This is good timing. There's time to go back and really re-focus on things we know we need to improve on,” she said. “We have a chance to get a lot of shots up in practice this week, and it gave us the luxury to have Monday off so our kids have a little chance to rest.”
 
Heisey and the Falcons will put that extra practice time to optimum use because Montana State Billings will present challenges on multiple fronts come Saturday afternoon.
 
“They have a very, very good team even though they have a ton of freshmen,” Heisey said. “Bobbi Knudsen (a sophomore) is an outstanding player – she's fast, athletic, can shoot the 3, drive, great passer – she does it all for them. Quinn Peoples (a 5-11 freshman forward) posts really hard and big, and she can shoot the 3 from 23 feet out. And Billings is just smart – they look for the pass.
 
“It's a big week for us,” Heisey added. “But it's a great week to focus more on ourselves and get ready for just one game.”
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 12-7, 4-4 GNAC (5^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 17-16. Current series streak: MSUB won 2. Last time: MSUB 54, SPU 51 (Feb. 5, 2011 at Billings). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: After a streaky start to the season – three straight victories, then four straight losses, including their first two GNAC games – Montana State Billings has settled into nice groove, winning nine of its last 12. The Jackets are coming off a 65-59 homecourt loss to Central Washington last Saturday after building a 21-4 first-half lead. Sophomore guard Bobbi Knudsen leads Billings – and currently leads the conference – with her 16.8 scoring average. Even though she has put up more shots than anyone in the conference (287), Knudsen also looks for the open teammate, averaging 3.8 assists (No. 5 in the GNAC). Janiel Olson, a 5-foot-10 freshman forward, ranks No. 6 in GNAC rebounding at 8.5 per game. The Yellowjackets are one of the best ball-handling teams in all of NCAA D-2, averaging just 13.9 turnovers per game.
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC / NWC rankings)
                                                SPU                        MSUB
Points                                     75.0 (2)                  66.8 (6)
Points allowed                     62.2 (5)                  58.8 (2)
Rebounds                             42.7 (3)                  39.5 (2)
Assists                                  18.2 (2)                  13.7 (6)
Blocks                                      3.1 (3)                    1.7 (9)
Steals                                       6.9 (10)                  9.9 (3)
Fewest turnovers                17.5 (4)                  13.9 (1)
FG percent                            .451 (3)                  .376 (8)
3-point percent                    .365 (3)                  .323 (5)
FT percent                            .782 (1)                  .710 (T5)
 
Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC statistics.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
--Nyesha Sims matched her season high with 22 points, and Katie Benson posted her second career double-double as Seattle Pacific Falcons pulled away in the second half to beat Central Washington last Thursday night in Brougham Pavilion, 97-79.
--Katie Benson scored 17 points and had three of SPU's 11 blocked shots, and Nyesha Sims posted her sixth double-double of the season as the Falcons beat Northwest Nazarene last Saturday, 72-58.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Senior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) is now better than she ever has been in terms of double-doubles. Sims put 12 points and 10 rebounds into the book last Thursday against Central Washington for her sixth double-double of the season. That's one more than she had all of last year and gives her 11 for her career.
 
Sophomore forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) got back into the double-double business last week, as well. Benson went for 16 points and 11 rebounds – the latter of which tied her career high – in the 97-79 victory against Central. That was the second of her career.
 
HEADING INTO GNAC HALFTIME
If the Falcons beat Montana State Billings on Saturday, they will be 7-2 in GNAC play, one game better than their midpoint mark last season. That 2010-11 conference record halfway through included homecourt losses to the Yellowjackets and to Saint Martin's, and a road loss at Alaska Anchorage.
 
At 12-4 overall, this year's Seattle Pacific team is dead even with last year's after 16 games. So a victory on Saturday also would mean a one-game improvement in the overall mark.
 
LEADING SCORERS, BEWARE OF BROUGHAM
If Montana State Billings' Bobbi Knudsen is still atop the GNAC scoring race at tip-off time on Saturday (at 16.8, she's half a point ahead of Alaska Fairbanks' Nicole Bozek), it will be the third time this season that the Falcons have hosted the conference scoring leader in Brougham Pavilion. The first two times, SPU's defense definitely had the better of it.
 
On Dec. 29, Western Oregon's Rylee Peterson came in averaging 17.3 points per game. She was limited to 13 – all in the second half – on 6-of-17 shooting after an 0-for-9 start. Then last Saturday, Northwest Nazarene's Megan Hingston brought a GNAC-best 17.1 average to Seattle. The Falcons stopped her at six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
 
CALL IN THE SWAT TEAM
SPU came into last Saturday's game against Northwest Nazarene on the bottom half of the conference's blocked shots list, ranked No. 7 at 2.6 per game. Then, the Falcons went out and quadrupled that total, recording 11 blocks in their 72-58 victory. That was easily a season high (the previous best was seven on Dec. 19 against Pacific Lutheran) and was just two short of the team record (13, set first in 2004 and matched in 2005).

Factoring into Saturday's total, senior center Joani Reimer (Ferndale, Wash./Lynden Christian HS) had a career-high of three, and Katie Benson tied her career high with three. A total of five other players had one block apiece. All of that helped Seattle Pacific improve its per-game average to 3.1 and move up to No. 3 in the GNAC.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
In the latest NCAA Division II national stats released on Jan. 17, Seattle Pacific continues to rank among Division II's best teams in numerous categories. The Falcons are No. 8 in assists per game (18.2), No. 9 in free throw percentage (.782), No. 10 in rebounding margin (+10.4) and No. 10 in fewest fouls committed (13.8 per game) They also rank No. 14 in field goal shooting (.451), and No. 22 in 3-point shooting (.365).
 
Jordan Harazin is a top-10er in assist/turnover ratio. Harazin averages 2.43 assists for every one turnover, ranking No. 9. Harazin was No. 12 at 2.29 last week, but boosted her average with seven assists and no turnovers against Central Washington.
 
POLLING PLACE
So who will host the NCAA West Regionals this year? That a long way from being decided, but right now, UC San Diego is firmly ensconced on the inside track. The undefeated Tritons (16-0) moved up to No. 1 in this week's USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. Altogether, five West Region teams are in the top 25: co-no. 12 Grand Canyon, No. 14 Alaska Anchorage, No. 17 Cal Poly Pomona, and No. 22 Cal State Monterey Bay. SPU and Western Washington both received votes.
 
The first regional rankings will be released on Feb. 15. The top team in the final regional rankings in late February earns the right to host the tournament. The three conference champions (GNAC, CCAA and Pacific West), and the next five-highest ranked teams make the field.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th point – Suzanna Ohlsen (has 93).
100^th steal – Nyesha Sims (has 93).
300^th point – McKayla Gorman (has 287).
200^th rebound – Rachel Murray (has 179).
300^th rebound – Jordan Harazin (has 291).
500^th rebound – Nyesha Sims (has 488).          
                         
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. 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
Seattle Pacific returns to the road next week as the second half of the GNAC schedule tips off. The Falcons take a short trip south on Interstate 5 next Thursday, Jan. 26, for a 7 p.m. game at Saint Martin's. Then on Jan. 28, they visit Western Oregon in Monmouth with a 2 p.m. tip-off time. The next home game will be Thursday, Feb. 2 against Alaska Anchorage.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                             GNAC   Season
Alaska Anchorage               6-1          15-3
Seattle Pacific                      6-2          12-4
Western Washington          5-2          11-4
Simon Fraser                       5-2          10-5
Montana State Billings       4-4          12-7
Northwest Nazarene           3-4            9-6
Western Oregon                  3-4            4-13
Saint Martin's                       2-5            7-10
Central Washington            2-5            5-9
Alaska Fairbanks                0-7            4-13