THE SCHEDULE:
Tuesday, Dec. 18       Seattle Pacific at Notre Dame de Namur, 5:30 p.m.
                                       Walter Gleasen Gym / Belmont, Calif.        
                                       Live stats        Live Webcast (pay-per-view)  
               

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        Photo gallery vs. Central Washington (Dec. 1) 

SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons will have history on their side Tuesday night.
 
Before they head home for Christmas, the SPU women make one more quick basketball road trip, as they travel to California for a non-conference contest against Notre Dame de Namur at 5:30 p.m.
 
At 6-2, Seattle Pacific is sitting exactly where it was last season after eight games. The Falcons are coming off a split of their most recent game, beating Sonoma State, but falling to Chico State in the CCAA-GNAC Challenge at Chico on Dec. 7-8.
 
That's where the history comes in. Now in her eighth season at the coaching helm, Julie Heisey has built a 166-46 record with Seattle Pacific – and in 38 of those 46 losses, her team turned things around with a win their next time on the court. Put another way, only seven times during Heisey's seven-plus seasons in the Northwest has her team lost two in a row.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and a live Webcast will be available from Tuesday's game. The live stats are free by clicking on the link at the top of this story, but the Webcast is pay-per-view. Details can be found by clicking on that link at the top of the story.
 
OHLSEN EARNS GNAC AWARD
Sophomore guard Suzanna Ohlsen was selected as the GNAC Player of the Week for Dec. 3-8 following her performances in the CCAA-GNAC Challenge.
                                                       
In SPU's 78-57 victory against Sonoma State on the first night, Ohlsen pulled down a career-high seven rebounds, tied her career high with five assists, and chipped in five points. The next night in an 89-77 loss to host Chico State, Ohlsen poured in a career-high 24 points and dealt four more assists. For the two games, she had nine assists and just one turnover to go along with her points and rebounds.
 
Ohlsen is the first Falcon this year to earn a Player of the Week honor.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU ranks No. 9 among NCAA D-2 schools in 3-point shooting (.404) and No. 16 in free throw shooting (.773). The 3-point mark would tie for No. 8 in Division I, and the free throw percentage would rank No. 15.
-- This is just the second time the two schools have played. The only previous meeting was at the Falcons Invitational in 2010, when SPU scored a 70-51 victory in Brougham Pavilion.
-- In that game, current senior Rachel Murray, now in her second year as a starter, came off the bench for a then-career high of 12 points – just her second time in double-figure scoring.
-- This is the second of three non-conference contests against Pacific West schools this season. On Nov. 17 at the West Region Crossover Classic in Bellingham,  Seattle Pacific came from behind in overtime to beat Azusa Pacific, 76-74. The last Pac West game will be at home against Dixie State on Dec. 31.
-- Against current Pac West schools, SPU has a 14-5 overall record, but has played against just five of the current 14 members: Grand Canyon (11 times), Dixie State (four), Hawaii Pacific (two), Notre Dame de Namur (one) and Azusa Pacific (one).
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
By the time they take the court on Tuesday, the Falcons will have been away from game action or 10 days. With that in mind, coach Julie Heisey said they'll have to focus on their own performance every bit as much as they focus on their opponent.
 
“Right now, no matter who we play, it really comes back to us,” she said. “We have to be able to recognize that we haven't played in a week, and we have to be more offensively efficient and more aggressive on defense, like we were against Sonoma.”
 
Although Notre Dame de Namur has had its struggles this season, Heisey said the Arognauts can be dangerous with their style of play.
 
“They're very athletic, and they run a lot of on-ball screens,” she said. “The biggest thing is they have an attacking mentality, so we have to force them not to get a good shot in the paint and make sure we out-rebound them.”
                   
The rest of December is rather quiet on the schedule, but Heisey said it's still important for the Falcons to set a proper tone.
 
“We only have two games left before conference (starts up again),” she said, “so we have to make sure we're better than last week.”
 
SCOUTING THE NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR ARGONAUTS: 1-8, 0-2 Pac West (tie 11th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 1-0. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 70, NDNU 51 (Dec. 28, 2010 at Seattle). Argonauts on the Web.
Argonauts in a nutshell: After splitting their first two games, Notre Dame de Namur has lost seven in a row. Their closest call during that stretch was a four-pointer (70-66) in a Pacific West contest at Dominican. The Argos do not have anyone averaging in double-figure scoring. Senior guard Trisha Malaspina leads the way at 7.6 points per game and also is the best shooter from the field among the regulars at 41.3 percent. Malaspina also gets the job done on the boards with a team-leading average of 6.6 per game, and is dependable at the foul line with an 80 percent success rate (16 of 20). Freshman guard Savannah Selby is a good bet from downtown, as she hit at a .396 clip (10 of 27). NDNU averages just 50 points per game, and has been in the 40s three straight times. Its highest offensive output came in its one victory, a 67-46 romp past Pacific Union on Nov. 17.
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE
(GNAC or Pac West rankings)
                                SPU                        NDNU
Points                     72.6 (3)                  50.0 (14)
Points allowed       65.4 (7)                  71.2 (8)
Rebounds              41.4 (3)                  39.3 (10)
Assists                   15.9 (4)                  10.4 (13)
Steals                       6.8 (10)                  6.1 (14)
Blocks                      2.9 (T5)                 3.1 (T7)
Turnovers              19.9 (7)                  19.6 (T6)
FG percent            .449 (3)                   .323 (12)
3-point percent     .404 (1)                   .279 (10)
FT percent             .773 (2)                   .673 (7)
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Freshman guard Brooke Bowen pumped in a career-high 16 points and was one of three SPU players in double figures as the Falcons rolled past Sonoma State on Dec. 7 at the CCAA-GNAC Challenge, 78-57.
-- Suzanna Ohlsen scored a career-high 24 points, and Katie Benson tied her career high with 24, but Seattle Pacific got behind early and never were able to catch up in falling to Chico State on the final night of the CCAA-GNAC Challenge, 89-77.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT (AGAIN)
Junior forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) was named to the all-tournament team at the CCAA-GNAC Challenge on Dec. 7-8. Benson scored 32 points in the two games combined, tying her career high with 24 in an 89-77 loss to Chico State on the final night. For the week, Benson shot 12 of 19 from the field, had 11 rebounds, two assists, three blocked shots (all three against Chico, tying her career high) and three steals.
 
The all-tourney honor was Benson's second of the season. She also made the squad at the West Region Crossover Classic in Bellingham on Nov. 16-17.
 
INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH GLASS CLEANERS
The Falcons continued their dominant rebounding ways in their most recent games against Sonoma State (53-27) and Chico State (37-23). They are now averaging 41.4 rebounds per game, while their opponents are pulling down just 32.2 per game. That plus-9.2 margin ranks in the top 10 percent of all Division II schools, checking at in No. 27 out of 277. It also is by far and away the top margin in the GNAC, as the next best is the plus-5.9 of Northwest Nazarene.
 
A TOP-40 HIT
Seattle Pacific has a lot of dependable players when it comes to free throw shooting. But so far, the most dependable of all has been Aubree Callen. The junior from Jerome, Idaho, is hitting at an 89.3 percent clip (25 of 28), and ranks No. 39 among D-2 players.
 
Not too far out of that top 40 is sophomore guard Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS). Like Callen, she has missed just three all season (22 of 25), and is at 88 percent to sit in the No. 48 spot.
 
As good as those marks are, neither one is quite high enough to lead the GNAC. That distinction belongs to Western Oregon freshman Mariah Durian 30 of 31 for a .968 percentage). Simon Fraser sophomore Erin Chambers also is above 90 percent at 28 of 30 (.933). Callen is No. 4, and Ohlsen is No. 6 on the conference list.
 
SHE'S NO. 2
Putting Ohlsen and dependability into the same breath isn't limited to free throw shooting. The Falcons also can count on her to take care of the ball, as she ranks second in D-2 for assist/turnover ratio at 3.56 per game. That mark was boosted by her nine assists and just one turnover in the two California games on Dec. 7-8. Heading into that tournament, Ohlsen was No. 11 nationally at 2.88.
 
Just how far has Ohlsen stepped up her game? For the season. she has 32 assists and only nine turnovers. Last year, she had 30 assists and 42 turnovers for a ratio of just 0.71

Click on this link to see how the Falcons and other GNAC players and teams stack up nationally..
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th field goal      Suzanna Ohlsen (has 92)
100^th 3-pointer      Mechela Barnes (has 94)
100^th free throw   Aubree Callen (has 98)
200^th field goal      Rachel Murray (has 196)
800^th point              Katie Benson (has 782)
 
MILESTONES MADE IN MOST RECENT GAMES
100^th assist           Rachel Murray (has 100)
 
POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific is still part of the national picture in the most recent (Dec. 11) USA Today Sports / WBCA national coaches poll. For the second week in a row, the Falcons were among other receiving votes, totaling five points. Ashland of Ohio remained No. 1 (unanimously, collecting all 31 first-place votes). Simon Fraser of the GNAC climbed three places into the top 10, checking in at No. 9. Western Washington tumbled 15 spots to No. 21 after losing to both Chico State and Sonoma State in California. Alaska Anchorage (9 points) and Northwest Nazarene (3) also received votes.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
               
UP NEXT
SPU will be back home in Brougham Pavilion on New Year's Eve Monday at 2 p.m. against Dixie State at 2 p.m. That same week, GNAC play gets into full gear with visits to Western Oregon on Thursday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. and Saint Martin's on Jan. 5 at 5:15 p.m.
 


GNAC STANDINGS
                                            Conference           Overall
Simon Fraser                           2-0                        8-1
Montana State Billings             2-0                        7-2
Seattle Pacific                          2-0                        6-2
Western Washington               2-0                        6-2
Alaska Anchorage                   1-0                        4-2
Alaska Fairbanks                     0-1                       0-7
Northwest Nazarene               0-2                        7-2
Western Oregon                     0-2                        5-5
Saint Martin's                          0-2                        5-5
Central Washington                0-2                        4-4