WEST REGION CROSSOVER CLASSIC SCHEDULE
At Western Washington University
 
Friday, Nov. 16:                    Seattle Pacific vs. UC San Diego, 5:00 p.m.
                                                Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                                Live stats        Live Webcast
                                                                                             
Saturday, Nov. 17               Seattle Pacific vs. Azusa Pacific, 5:00 p.m.
                                                Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                                Live stats        Live Webcast
 
 
        Weekly release (PDF)

SEATTLE – Off to a solid start to their season in one tournament last weekend, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will try to extend that solid start in another tournament this weekend.
 
The SPU women will put their 2-0 record on the line against UC San Diego on Friday, followed by a game against Division II newcomer Azusa Pacific on Saturday in the West Region Crossover Classic at Western Washington University.
 
Both contests in Carver Gymnasium tip off at 5 p.m.
 
The Falcons took care of business against both of their opponents at last weekend's Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham Pavilion. On Friday, they trailed just momentarily early in the game before going on to rout Illinois Springfield, 80-54. The next night, Seattle Pacific led from start to finish in a 62-46 win against Western State Colorado.
 
SPU will have all of Thanksgiving week off from competition. The schedule resumes with the start of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Thursday, Nov. 29, when Northwest Nazarene comes to town for a 7 p.m. game. Central Washington visits on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and a free live Webcast will be available from Bellingham' The Webcasts will be through Stretch Internet, the new Webcast home of the GNAC. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
ABOUT THE WEST REGION CROSSOVER CLASSIC
Formerly the first leg of the GNAC-CCAA Challenge, this tournament has become an annual part of Seattle Pacific's schedule, with Western Washington typically part of the equation, as well. This year's tourney includes just one California Collegiate Athletic Association team, that being UC San Diego. Azusa Pacific, from Azusa, Calif., is part of the Pacific West Conference.
 
All of this weekend's games for all four schools will count toward the West Region rankings when they come out starting in February.
 





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons also started 2-0 in 2010, the second game of which was a 75-66 victory against UC San Diego.
-- But last year, the Tritons pushed SPU into an 0-1 start with a 68-47 season-opening victory in California.
-- The last time Seattle Pacific won its first three games was in 2009, beating Colorado Christian, Humboldt State, and Pacific Lutheran.
-- The most recent 4-0 start? That would have been 2007 against Regis, North Alabama, Puget Sound, and Sonoma State. SPU went on to win its first 29 games that season before falling to Alaska Anchorage in the West Region title game.
-- Falcons coach Julie Heisey is 6-2 all-time against UC San Diego, including two victories in the NCAA West Regionals.
-- SPU won the first eight games of the all-time series against the Tritons, but UCSD has won two of the last three.
-- The Falcons are 3-0 all-time against Azusa Pacific, with Heisey's teams accounting for two of those victories, most recently on New Year's Eve 2009, a 71-62 decision in California.
-- This is the second of three preseason tourneys for the Falcons. The last one is Dec. 7-8 in Chico, Calif., when the Falcons will face Sonoma State the first night and Chico State the second.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
As expected, coach Julie Heisey saw some things she liked, and saw other things to keep working on in last week's two Sodexo Tip-Off Classic games.
 
“The biggest thing is I thought we had different people step up in different games,” she said. “Rachel Murray was very consistent, Katie Benson had a great game, Mechela Barnes had a great game one night, Maddey Pflaumer did really well. It was just having an opportunity to see kids play, because in practice, you're always stopping and starting.”
 
Not stopping their own momentum is one place where Heisey said the Falcons are putting some focus.
 
“We have to recognize that every possession, we have to play all-out,” she said. “We're shooting well, but then we would have an unforced turnover or a foul, and all of those things kill momentum. You might have a bad possession or two, but you want to find a way to turn that around, especially when things are going well.
 
But a 2-0 start and a chance to add to it this week is a good position to be in for mid November.
 
“Obviously, it's a journey,” Heisey said. “You've got to put things together, and as always, we're trying to make sure we're playing for 40 minutes and giving that same effort and not having mental lapses. It'll be a lot more fun this week because we've had a chance to have Aubree (Callen) in practice (Callen had been dealing with a minor injury). We've really tried to work better on fine-tuning our defense and work harder on rebounding and being more efficient with our offense.”
 
SCOUTING THE UC SAN DIEGO TRITONS
All-time series: SPU leads, 9-2. Current series streak: UCSD won 1. Last time: UCSD 67, SPU 48 (Nov. 11, 2011 at San Francisco). Tritons on the Web.
Tritons in a nutshell: UC San Diego is coming off a spectacular season in which it started 26-0 and wound up with a 30-3 record, losing in the West Regional title game to Alaska Anchorage. The Tritons subsequently lost head coach Charity Elliott, who accepted the job at Division I member Loyola Marymount, and graduated leading scorer and playmaker Chelsea Carlisle (16.4 points, 6.1 assists). Carlisle, however, is back as an assistant for new head coach Heidi VanDerveer. UCSD went with the same starting lineup in all 33 games last year, and three of those starters are back: guard and second-leading scorer Daisy Feder (15.0 points), guard and third-leading scorer Emily Osga (12.1 points), and forward Erin Dautremont (8.9 points, 5.9 rebounds). The Tritons are 0-3, but two of the three losses were to ranked teams at last weekend's Disney Tip-Off Classic in Anaheim: 69-58 to No. 15 Gannon, and 64-62 to No. 13 Grand Canyon. UCSD also fell 61-58 to Simon Fraser, unranked but widely regarded as a primary contender for the GNAC title.
 
SCOUTING THE AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS
All-time series: SPU leads, 3-0. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 71, APU 62 (Dec. 31, 2010 at Azusa, Calif.). Cougars on the Web.
Cougars in a nutshell: Azusa Pacific concluded its final NAIA season by advancing all the way to the quarterfinals of the national tournament. The Cougars started the year ranked No. 1 nationally and were still in the top 10 at season's end, checking in at No. 9 after a 26-8 campaign that included a 15-3 record for second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference. After two exhibition games, APU opened its season on Tuesday with a 79-65 loss at Cal State Los Angeles. Kelly Hardeman, a 6-foot freshman forward, poured in 20 points in that game, and 5-11 junior forward Hannah Kenny, who played in all 34 games last year as a reserve, added 17. Kenny's total was way above her 2011-12 scoring average of 3.7 points per game.
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE
                                                SPU      UCSD      APU
Points                                     71.0        59.3        65.0
Points allowed                       50.0        64.7        79.0
Rebounds                              39.0        30.0        39.0
Assists                                   16.0          7.7        13.0
Steals                                       9.0          4.3          7.0
Blocks                                      3.0          0.3          4.0
Turnovers                              16.5         14.7        24.0
FG percent                            .477         .373        .357
3-point percent                     .364         .273        .408
Free throw percent               .789        .789        .762
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Katie Benson scored 17 points and led four Seattle Pacific players in double figures as the Falcons cruised past Illinois Springfield on the first night of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, 80-54.
– Rachel Murray scored 12 points and was named the Sodexo's Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row, and Maddey Pflaumer also collected 12 points to help SPU beat Western State Colorado, 62-46.
 
MVP, MVP
No, that wasn't an echo. It was a repeat for Rachel Murray.
 
The senior guard from Eglington, Australia, garnered the top individual honor from the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic for the second year in a row. Through the two games, Murray was SPU's most consistent player. She totaled 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, including 2 of 4 from downtown, and a near-perfect 9 of 10 from the foul line.
 
Murray also wound up in double figures for total rebounds with 10 (five in each game), handed out seven assists and came up with two steals.
 
Falcons teammate Mechela Barnes (Tacoma, Wash. / Bellarmine Prep HS) made the all-tournament team. Barnes totaled 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting (3 of 5 from 3-point range), five rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots, and three steals.
 
MIGHTY FINE AT THE LINE
The Falcons were practically flawless at the free throw line last Friday against Illinois Springifled. SPU hit 17 of 18 in that game, a mark of 94.4 percent. That actually was higher than the school record if 92.9 percent, but that record is based on a minimum of 20 attempts.
 
After junior forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) hit one, then missed one on the team's first trip to the line against Springfield, the Falcons hit their final 16 in a row, including four more by Benson. That streak was extended to18 when redshirt freshman forward Maddey Pflaumer hit a pair against Western State Colorado the next night, but ended there when the Falcons missed one later in the first half.
 
NOT BAD FROM THE FIELD, EITHER
Seattle Pacific players hit a solid 50.9 percent of their field goals (29 of 57) on opening night against Illinois Springfield. Rachel Murray and junior guard Mechela Barnes (Tacoma / Bellarmine Prep) both shot 62.5 percent (5 of 8) to lead the way.
 
Last season, it wasn't until the fourth game when the Falcons shot better than 50 percent from the floor. They went on to do that in five games altogether.
 
PFLAUMER FINDS HER TOUCH
Exhibition games don't count for much of anything, and redshirt freshman forward Maddey Pflaumer certainly is happy about that. In her unofficial Seattle Pacific debut on Nov. 4 at Oregon State, Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issasquah HS) went 0 for 9 from the field in an 80-55 loss to the Beavers.
 
Now that the games do count, Pflaumer is making sure her shots count, too. In last weekend's two Sodexo games, Pflaumer shot a combined 8 of 11 (72.7 percent) from the field, hitting 5 of 6 and tying for the team scoring lead with 12 points in last Saturday's 62-46 victory against Western State Colorado. The 5-foot-11 Pflaumer also pulled down 11 rebounds in 35 total minutes for the two games.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Junior forward Katie Benson has four career double-doubles, all of them coming last season. She is the only current Falcon with double-doubles.
 
Although it wouldn't have counted because it was just an exhibition game, Benson came within one rebound of a double-double in last Sunday's 80-55 loss at Oregon State, finishing with 15 points and nine boards.
 
OFF TO THE RACES
Katie Thralls, who played basketball the past three seasons for the Falcons, is running cross country this fall, and is enjoying considerable success. Thralls has finishes first or second for SPU in all but one race this season. At the GNAC Championships on Oct. 20 in Monmouth, Ore., she placed 18th and earned the conference's Newcomer of the Year award.

Two weeks ago at the NCAA Division II West Regionals in Kahuku, Hawaii, Thralls surged toward the front of the pack from the start and stayed there, finishing 11th to help Seattle Pacific qualify for the NCAA nationals. That meet will be this Saturday in Joplin,Mo. Thralls' performance in Hawaii earned her a spot on the All-Region team.

MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th field goal     Aubree Callen (has 99)
500^th point:           Rachel Murray (has 496)
700^th point:           Katie Benson (has 688)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
300^th rebound      Katie Benson (has 314)
 
FALCONS TABBED AT NO. 3
Seattle Pacific has been picked by coaches for a third-place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Falcons, who were part of a three-way tie for third in last season's final standings, received 76 points in the voting.
               
Western Washington, coming off of a second-place finish in both the regular season and in the conference tournament, is the favorite. The Vikings got seven of the 10 first-place votes and 96 points. Simon Fraser is second with the other three first-place votes and 93 points.

Click on this link for a complete GNAC preview, including the coaches poll.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will have an abbreviated week next week because of Thanksgiving, with practice, but no games. They'll be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 29, when they open the GNAC scheduled in Brougham Pavilion against Northwest Nazarene at 7 p.m., followed by a visit from Central Washington on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. The Falcons split with both schools last season, beating them in Seattle, but losing on the road after building double-digit first-half leads in both places.