THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 23               W. Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.      
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 25               Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.      
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
               
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Just like that, here it is – the final week of the regular season for the Seattle Pacific women's basketball team.
                    
Coming off a wire-to-wire and much-needed victory at Montana State Billings last Saturday night (70-56), the Falcons are back in Brougham Pavilion this week to take on rival Western Washington on Thursday night, followed by Simon Fraser on Saturday night. Both games tip off at 7.
 
Saturday is Senior Night, with a ceremony prior to tip-off.
 
SPU comes into the week as part of a three-way tie for third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at 10-6 – the same as Simon Fraser and Montana State Billings. All three teams have clinched spots in the GNAC Tournament, which is set for March 1-2-3 at Saint Martin's in Lacey. This week's games will determine seeding and opponents for the first round.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live Webcasts and live stats will be available for both of this week's games. Links can be found at the top of this story.
               





SALUTING THE SENIORS
When Simon Fraser comes into Brougham Pavilion on Saturday night, Seattle Pacific will honor guards McKayla Gorman and Jordan Harazin, and center Joani Reimer prior to the game.
 
Harazin became a starter for the Falcons midway through her freshman season. She went on to win the GNAC Freshman of the Year award in 2009, and has been a regular in the backcourt ever since. She recently moved into No. 16 on the all-time GNAC career assists list.
 
Gorman has been a valuable boost off the bench, and also has taken on starting duty for several games. She has been a steady presence at the point, is willing to mix it up for rebounds underneath the basket, and has shown a knack for hitting timely shots, especially from downtown.
 
Reimer, after seeing limited action the past two seasons, has become a crucial role player for the Falcons off the bench. She has set or matched career highs in five major statistical categories this season – points (13), rebounds (10), blocked shots (3), assists (2) and steals (1).
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
--If it seems like a long time since the Falcons have squared off against Western Washington and Simon Fraser … that's because it has been. SPU tipped off conference play on Dec. 1 with a 79-74 road loss to the Clan, then bounced back two nights later to beat Western in Bellingham, 72-66.
--The last time either team posted a season sweep in the SPU-Western Washington series was 2007-08, when the Falcons went 29-1 overall. That included an 86-44 victory in Bellingham, and a 58-48 decision in Brougham.
--Western and Simon Fraser are the only two conference teams that have an all-time winning record against the Falcons. The Vikings have a 49-27 lead, and the Clan are ahead, 14-5.
--Prior to its 82-66 victory in December, Seattle Pacific hadn't won in Bellingham since January of 2008. The last time the Vikings won in Seattle was 78-54 in March of 2006.

PEEKING AHEAD AT PLAYOFFS
The victory at Montana State Billings last weekend clinched a spot for Seattle Pacific in the GNAC Tournament, which begins next week at Saint Martin's in Lacey. (The top six qualify this year, unlike last year's top-eight format.) If the Falcons can finish at least second in the final standings – which would take a combination of several things, but is still mathematically possible – that would mean a first-round bye on March 1 and a semifinal game on March 2. If not, they would open play with a first-round game on March 1, with their final seed – No. 3, 4, 5 or 6 – still far from certain.
 
The six tournament qualifiers are a done deal: Alaska Anchorage, Western Washington, Billings, SPU, Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene. The only seed that is officially secure is Anchorage at No. 1.
 
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
On a night when they very much needed a victory, the Falcons got one last Saturday in Billings – and got it in a way the delighted coach Julie Heisey.
                    
“It was a team win. Our kids grew up a lot this week,” she said. “We talked, we trusted, and I'm really proud of the seniors – Jordan (Harazin), McKayla (Gorman) and Joani (Reimer) came up big.”
 
The Falcons figure to need all of that and more this week at home against Western Washington and Simon Fraser, whom they haven't seen in 2½ months.
 
“The first week of December was a lifetime ago,” Heisey said. “Western has a lot of confidence. They're a very young team, but they've done really great at being consistent. One of the biggest things that has improved with them is their team defense, and their turnovers are down. They're playing hard and playing well, and they can score.”
 
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe of Simon Fraser can be a challenge all by herself. But the Clan have plenty of others who get the job done, too.
 
“Simon Fraser is a real talented team, and they've proved to be a consistent team,” Heisey said. “They present us with some match-up problems.”
               
WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 18-6, 12-4 GNAC (2^nd)
All-time series: WWU leads, 49-27. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 82, WWU 66 (Dec. 3, 2011 at Bellingham). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington, having graduated four of its five starters from last year, was picked for just a fourth-place finish in the GNAC preseason coaches poll. Now, the Vikings are solidly in second place, having won three straight, including 75-64 at home against Central Washington last Saturday, and six of their last seven. They need a win in just one of their final two game to wrap up a first-round GNAC Tournament bye. Junior point guard Corinn Waltrip – the lone returning starter from last season – shares the team scoring lead with forward Kristin Schramm, both averaging 12.5 points per game. Junior center Britt Harris leads the way on the boards  at 6.4 per game. Western also has two of the conference's sharpest shooters: Freshman forward Sydney Donaldson at .550, ranking No. 6, and junior guard Trishi Williams at .543, tied with SPU's Rachel Murray for No. 7.
 
SIMON FRASER CLAN: 15-9, 10-6 GNAC (tie 3^rd)
All-time series: Simon Fraser leads, 14-5. Current series streak: Simon Fraser won 1. Last time: Simon Fraser 79, SPU 74 (Dec. 1, 2011 at Burnaby, B.C.). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser was quick out of the blocks, winning five of its first six, including a 2-0 start in GNAC play. The obvious key to slowing down the Clan is finding some way to put the brakes on junior forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, who averages a monster double-double of 18.7 points and 13.5 rebounds per game. Twice this season, she has gone off for more than 30 points, including 37 – more than half of SFU's output – in a 71-67 loss at home to Northwest Nazarene last Saturday. Raincock-Ekunwe had 26 points and 15 boards against SPU in December. But junior guard Kristina Collins also can fill it up with an average of 11.3 per game, and sophomore forward Chelsea Reist averages 10.7. Raincock-Ekunwe and Reist rank 2-3 in GNAC shooting at .567 and .558, respectively, and Raincock-Ekunwe leads in blocked shots at 1.6 per game.
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC / NWC rankings)
                                SPU                        WWU                      SFU
Points                     73.8 (2)                  73.3 (3)                  66.3 (6)
Points allowed     64.2 (4)                  64.4 (5)                  63.4 (3)
Rebounds              42.3 (2)                  41.4 (4)                  36.9 (8)
Assists                  17.4 (2)                   17.0 (3)                  16.3 (4)
Blocks                      3.0 (T4)                  4.5 (1)                    3.3 (2)
Steals                       7.0 (10)                  7.3 (T8)                  8.3 (7)
Least turnovers   17.5 (4)                  20.5 (8)                 18.8 (T5)
FG percent             .444 (3)                  .455 (2)                 .415 (5)
3-point percent    .341 (4)                  .369 (1)                  .277 (9)
FT percent             .788 (1)                  .714 (5)                  .712 (6)
 
Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC statistics.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
--Rachel Murray pumped in 19 points, and Katie Benson had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds as Seattle Pacific finished on an 18-4 scoring run to beat Montana State Billings last Saturday in Alterowitz Gymnasium, 70-56.
                                                                                          
BENSON DOUBLES UP ON DOUBLE-DOUBLES
In the last two games, sophomore forward Katie Benson has produced the same number of double-doubles that she did in the first 22 games of the season for the Falcons. Benson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) recorded 12 points and 11 rebounds – the latter tying her career high – in last Saturday's 70-56 victory at Montana State Billings. That came on the heels of a 22-point, 10-rebound performance on Feb. 11 in an 80-75 loss at Central Washington
                      
All for of Benson's double-doubles have come this season.
 
AND NOW, STARTING AT GUARD …
It was going to happen sooner or later. Turns out it was sooner for Suzanna Ohlsen. The freshman guard made her first career start in last Saturday's 70-56 win at Montana State Billings. Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash./Monroe HS) played 23 minutes, finishing with three points, one rebound and two assists. But her bigger contribution was on the defensive end, where she was one of three players used by head coach Julie Heisey to slow down Bobbi Knudsen. The Yellowjackets scoring star still finished with a team-high 17 points, but she had to work for them, hitting just 8 of 20 from the floor, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
 
TOLD YA SO: COACH WAS RIGHT ABOUT REBOUNDS
Julie Heisey drives the point home to her players at every conceivable opportunity: Get the rebound. Last Saturday in Billings, the Falcons followed that advice to the letter, with a whopping 47-27 advantage on the boards against the Yellowjackets. That included 16 off of the offensive glass, which led to a 15-0 margin in second-chance points. And of those 16, three of them were by junior forward Rachel Murray (Eglington, New South Wales, Australia) in a span of 25 seconds late in the game. All three were off of missed Falcon free throws, and led to four more points that kept Billings at bay.
 
That game also was the first one this season in which the Falcons had two players go for double-digit boards. Katie Benson tied her career high with 11, and senior center Joani Reimer (Ferndale, Wash./Lynden Christian HS) set a career high with 10, beating her old mark of eight.
 
EFFICIENT AUBREE
Sophomore guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) didn't have a large number of scoring opportunities last Saturday at Billings, but she made the most of those that she did get on the way to tying her career high of 17 points. Callen shot five times from the field, including four times from downtown, and hit three of those long ones. She also was highly effective at the foul line, draining 8 of 10.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Here's are some of SPU's statistical highlights in the latest (Feb. 20) NCAA Division II national rankings:
Team:                   
-- No. 3 free throw percentage (.788); No. 7 rebounding margin (+9.6), No. 10 assists per game (17.4), No. 16 field goal percentage (.444), No. 26 scoring (73.8), and No. 27 assist/turnover ratio (1.0).
Individual:                                                                                                     
-- Jordan Harazin No. 28 assist/turnover ratio (1.79 assists for every 1 turnover).
 
Click on this link to see how SPU players, as well as GNAC players and teams stack up nationally.
 
POLLING PLACE
The Falcons are still not among the top 10 in this week's NCAA West Region rankings. A total of eight teams make the West Region field: the GNAC, CCAA and Pac West champions, then the next five highest-ranked teams on the final regional list. If Seattle Pacific is not in the top eight on the final list, it would have to win the GNAC tournament to gain an automatic berth to regionals.
 
The likely regional host will be UC San Diego, which is still undefeated (26-0) and is a unanimous No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN national coaches poll for the second straight week. Alaska Anchorage is back up to No. 8, the spot it occupied prior to dropping a 67-62 decision at Seattle Pacific on Feb. 2. UCSD and Anchorage are 1-2 in the regional rankings.
 
Regionals are set for March 9, 10 and 12.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING       
100^th 3-pointer – Jordan Harazin (has 94).
200^th assist – McKayla Gorman (has 195).
200^th point – Betsy Kingma (has 197).
300^th point – Aubree Callen (has 274).          
300^th rebound – Katie Benson (has 281)
                               
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK 
100^th field goal – McKayla Gorman (has 100).
               
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 second GNAC Tournament begins next week at Saint Martin's. The women will play their first round games on Thursday, March 1, followed by semifinals on March 2, and the championship on March 3. The title game, along with the men's final, will be shown live on ROOT Sports.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                             GNAC   Season
Alaska Anchorage               15-2        24-4
Western Washington          12-4       18-6
Montana State Billings       10-6        18-9
Seattle Pacific                      10-6        16-8
Simon Fraser                       10-6        15-9
Northwest Nazarene             9-7        15-9
Western Oregon                    6-10        7-19
Central Washington              4-12        7-16
Saint Martin's                          3-13        8-18
Alaska Fairbanks                   2-15        6-21