THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Jan. 17 Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
Live stats Live Webcast
Saturday, Jan. 19 Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
Live stats Live Webcast
Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
PHOTO GALLERIES: SPU vs. Fairbanks SPU vs. Anchorage
SEATTLE – It'll be 1, 2, 3. But it won't be as simple as that on the basketball court for the Seattle Pacific women.
The Falcons embark on their toughest stretch of the season so far when they take to the road this week for visits to nationally
ranked Western Washington and Simon Fraser. SPU and the No. 8 Vikings tip off at 7 p.m. Thursday in Bellingham. Then on Saturday night in Burnaby, B.C., the Falcons tangle with the No. 10 Clan at 7.
Western and Simon Fraser are currently 1-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings after the Vikings eked out a 59-57 victory against SFU last Saturday in Bellingham.
And the 2? That's Montana State Billings, currently the GNAC's second-place squad, but facing the same opponents this week as Seattle Pacific, albeit on opposite nights. Then, the Falcons and Yellowjackets go at it next Saturday, Jan. 26, in Billings.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from both of this week's games on Stretch Internet, the new Webcast home of the GNAC. Details can be found by clicking on the appropriate links at the top of this story.
IT DOESN'T HAPPEN OFTEN
This week's contests at Western and at Simon Fraser will be the first time the Falcons have gone back-to-back against ranked teams since the end of the 2010-11 season. Seattle Pacific played at No. 16 Alaska Anchorage in the semifinals of the GNAC Tournament (the Seawolves won, 68-66), then faced No. 7 Grand Canyon in the first round of the NCAA West Regionals (the Antelopes hung on, 53-51).
So far this season, SPU has played one opponent who was ranked at game time (No. 8 UC San DIego). Chico State was not ranked when the Falcons and Wildcats played on Dec. 8, but now is No. 13.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are right on pace with where they stood last year at this point of the season at 10-4 overall and 4-2 in the GNAC.
-- Last season, SPU opened its conference schedule with these same two opponents on the road, falling 79-74 at Simon Fraser, but winning 82-66 at Western Washington.
-- Seattle Pacific hadn't beaten the Vikings on their court since 2007.
-- Western Washington and Simon Fraser are the only two current GNAC members against whom SPU does not have a winning record. The Vikings lead the all-time series, 50-26, and the Clan have a 13-6 advantage.
-- Most of the games against Simon Fraser came prior to the Canadian school joining the NCAA and the GNAC in time for the 2010-11 season. Since then. Seattle Pacific has a 3-2 edge.
-- Falcons coach
Julie Heisey is 7-7 all-time against Western Washington. SPU lost its first three games to the Vikings after Heisey became head coach in 2005-06, but has won 7 of 11 since then. She is 2-5 against WWU in Bellingham.
-- Heisey is 3-2 against Simon Fraser.
-- SPU comes into the week leading the conference in
rebounds (42.9),
3-point shooting (.381) and
free throw shooting (.796). The free throw mark ranks No. 3 nationally.
--
Simon Fraser leads in
fewest points allowed (53.3),
assists (18.3),
blocks (4.8) and
field goal shooting (.459).
Western has no No. 1 rankings, but is No. 2 in
fewest points allowed (58.8),
assists (17.2),
blocks (4.2) and
3-point shooting (.363).
--SPU has out-rebounded 13 of its 14 opponents, including a season-high 60 against Alaska Fairbanks last Thursday.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Some teams and coaches might look at this week's schedule and gulp. But SPU coach
Julie Heisey is looking forward to it.
“We just have to focus on ourselves and look at these as two great opportunities to get better,” she said. “We did a good job last week of realizing that everyone is going to play and has a chance to learn from this experience. We have to go out and compete and not give (Western Washington or Simon Fraser) anything easy.”
Western can come at a team in a number of different ways.
“They can beat you in transition, with the 3, and they're good at breaking you down at halfcourt,” Heisey said. “The challenge is just try to find a couple of areas that we can try to take away. Britt Harris has been their leading scorer most often, but Trishi Williams can score, and Sarah Hill is good at scoring – I can name five or six kids and know that any one of them is a threat.”
Simon Fraser is the epitome of a veteran team.
“You can tell they've played together for a long time,” Heisey said of the Clan. “They have a lot of weapons. The challenge with them is they are so tall – they don't have many players under 6 feet.”
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 11-2, 5-0 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: WWU leads, 50-26.
Current series streak: WWU won 1.
Last time: WWU 72, SPU 62 (Feb. 23, 2012 at Seattle).
Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western comes into the week on a five-game winning streak, includinglast Saturday's 59-57 thriller at home against Simon Fraser in a battle of conference unbeatens. Senior center
Britt Harris scored at the buzzer, the last two of her team-high 14 points. The Vikings also did a solid job defensively, keeping the Clan 15 points below their usual 72.8 average. But then, WWU is the second-stingiest defensive team in the conference, allowing just 58.5 per game. Harris leads the team on offense, averaging 14.6 points per game (No. 8 in the GNAC), and 5-foot-9 senior guard
Trishi Williams chips in 10.7 per game. Both are among the steadiest shooters in the GNAC. Harris hits at a .550 clip, ranking No. 2, and Williams is at .522, ranking No. 3.
Sarah Hill, a 6-3 junior forward, took over a starting spot after two straight losses in California in early December and is the team's rebounding leader at 6.9 per game.
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 11-2, 4-1 GNAC (3rd)
All-time series: Simon Fraser leads, 13-6.
Current series streak: SFU won 1.
Last time: Simon Fraser 69, SPU 61 (March 1, 2012 in GNAC Tournament at Lacey, Wash).
Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser's eight-game winning streak came to an end with last Saturday's 59-57 loss at Western Washington. But the Clan have taken big steps since joining the GNAC in 2010-11. They went just 7-17 (4-14 GNAC) in their first season, then improved to 17-11 (11-7 GNAC) and reached the conference tournament semifinals last year. Mention Simon Fraser, and one name comes to mind:
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe. The 6-foot-2 senior forward is averaging a double-double of 16.2 points and 13.4 rebounds, the latter of which ranks No. 2 in all of Division II. She leads D-2 in field goal shooting at a phenomenal 66.9 percent (83 of 124). But she is not the Clan's only weapon.
Erin Chambers, a 6-1 sophomore guard / forward, chips in 14.8 points and 5.1 boards a game, and shoots 45.4 percent. Senior guard
Kristina Collins averages 9.8 points and hands out 3.9 assists per game. Simon Fraser is the GNAC's best defensive team, allowing just 53.3 points per game.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE
(GNAC rankings)
SPU WWU SFU
Points 74.7 (2) 71.4 (6) 72.8 (3)
Points allowed 66.5 (8) 58.5 (2) 53.3 (1)
Rebounds 42.9 (1) 40.7 (4) 39.1 (6)
Assists 15.9 (4) 17.2 (2) 18.3 (1)
Steals 8.1 (8) 8.7 (7) 8.0 (9)
Blocks 2.7 (6) 4.2 (2) 4.8 (1)
Turnovers 19.1 (7) 15.8 (3) 16.7 (3)
FG percent .439 (2) .437 (3) .459 (1)
3-point percent .381 (1) .363 (2) .344 (5)
FT percent .796 (1) .697 (6) .713 (2)
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Katie Benson,
Suzanna Ohlsen and
Aubree Callen scored 18 points apiece, and Benson had a career-high 13 rebunds last Thursday, helping the Falcons build a 30-point second-half lead on the way to beating Alaska Fairbanks,
82-71.
-- Benson had a 19 points and a career-high 17 rebounds last Saturday, but Sasha King pumped in 23 for Alaska Anchorage, leading the Seawolves past SPU,
77-72.
SO-O-O CLOSE TO NO. 1
Free throw shooting has been a strong suit for the Falcons this season, and they've been moving steadily up the national ladder. They were No. 4 last week, and are now up to No. 3 at .796. The only teams ahead of them are Winona State of Minnesota and Belmont Abbey of North Carolina at .797.
Regardless of how things play out nationally, this SPU team is well on its way to school record for foul line accuracy, now 20 points ahead of the current single-season standard of .776, set in 2004-05.
WHILE WE'RE ON THAT SUBJECT …
Playing big roles in the free throw success are junior guard
Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) and sophomore guard Suzanna
Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS). Ohlsen is shooting .894 (42 of 47), the 12th-highest mark in D-2. Callen is at .867 (52 of 60), and is No. 36 in the division.
If both of them were to continue around that pace, they would earn a spot in the all-time SPU single-season top 10. Those percentages range from No. 1
Amy Taylor (.896 on 60 of 67 in 2003-04) to No. 10
Stephanie Urrutia (.824 on 75 of 91 in 2002-03).
Callen's current career average of .828 (125 of 151) also qualifies for a spot in that top 10 -- matter of fact, it would rank No. 2 if the season ended today, trailing only the .853 career mark of Taylor. Ohlsen is at .878 for her career (65 of 74), but it takes a minimum of 100 attempts over two seasons or more to get onto that list. However, with 12 regular-season games left plus any potential postseason games, it's highly possible she'll get to that minimum by this year's final buzzer.
NEVER BORING ON THE BOARDS
Not one, not two, but three Seattle Pacific players had career-high rebounding performance last week – and
Katie Benson did it twice.
The junior forward from nearby Snohomish pulled down 13 in last Thursday's 82-71 victory against Alaska Fairbanks in Brougham Pavilion That beat her old mark of 11, which she had reached in four different games, most recently on Jan. 5 at Saint Martin's. Then last Saturday against Alaska Anchorage, Benson collected 17 rebounds. That was a high for a GNAC game this season – for about two hours, until Simon Fraser's Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe grabbed 21 against Western Washington. The Clan star has this year's GNAC high for any game when she had 24 against Trinity Western.
Also setting new career bests for the Falcons were senior guard
Michelle Teng (Bellevue, Wash. / Bellevue Christian HS) with eight against Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, and freshman guard
Brianne Lasconia (Seattle / Shorecrest) with four, also against Fairbanks.
STEALING A SUPERLATIVE
SPU was approaching two years since one of its players had five or more steals in a game. But
Suzanna Ohlsen took care of that last Saturday when she pilfered the ball six times against Alaska Anchorage.
The last time a Falcon had five or more in a game was on Feb. 28, 2011, when Maddie Maloney came up with five in a GNAC Tournament contest against Western Oregon in Brougham Pavilion.
BETTER THAN EVER FOR TENG
With more playing opportunities than she has ever had, senior guard
Michelle Teng is racking up better numbers than she ever has.
While the Falcons deal with numerous injuries, Teng has very ably stepped up from her reserve role to play in all 14 games, including the first five starts of her career. Just midway through the schedule, she already has topped her first three seasons combined in minutes played (219-189), free throws made and attempted (10 of 14 vs. 4 of 7), offensive rebounds (16-9), defensive rebounds (13-8), total rebounds (29-17), and assists (23-12). Her 42 points is just four fewer than the 46 she scored through her first three years.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Katie Benson logged back-to-back double-doubles last week. Benson had 18 points and 13 rebounds against Alaska Fairbanks, followed by 19 points and 17 boards against Alaska Anchorage. She has three double-doubles this season and seven for her career.
Aubree Callen joined the double-double list on Dec. 31 when she scored 10 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds in a 76-66 non-conference victory against Dixie State. That was the first of Callen's career.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING, SPU IS …
-- No. 3 in
free throw shooting at .796.
-- No. 8 in
rebounding margin at +10.5. Shaw of North Carolina leads at +15.9
-- No. 12 in
3-point percentage at .381. Truman of Missouri leads at .458.
-- No. 22 in
field goal percentage at .439. Truman leads at .489.
-- No. 22 in
scoring at 74.7. Glenville State of West Virgina leads at 98.3.
--
Suzanna Ohlsen is No. 12 in free throw percentage at .894, and No. 21 in assist / turnover ratio at 2.11. Ohlsen jumped 15 places on the free throw list this week.
--
Aubree Callen is No. 36 in free throw percentage at .867.
--Ohlsen was No. 1 in 3-point shooting at .510 after last Thursday's games. She's now at .500 – but is not ranked this week because she's one make below the minimum of two per game that it takes to qualify. Ohlsen has made 27 treys in 14 games. Chances are good that she will return to the list in subsequent weeks.
Click on
this link to see how SPU players and other GNAC players and teams stack up nationally.
POLLING PLACE
This week's
USA Today Sports / WBCA coaches poll that was released on Tuesday once again finds four West Region teams ranked in the top 25, including No. 8
Western Washington (up three places) and No. 10
Simon Fraser.
Chico State (11-1) dropped to No. 13 after sustaining its first loss of the season, 71-65 at UC San Diego last Friday.
Grand Canyon is at No. 18.
Ashland of Ohio remained a unanimous No. 1.
SPU did not receive any votes this week after being on that list for the past four polls.
Montana State Billings (8) and
Northwest Nazarene (6) did receive votes.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th 3-pointer Mechela Barnes (has 95)
100th assist Suzanna Ohlsen (has 89)
100th point Brooke Bowen (has 86)
Michelle Teng (has 88)
200th FT made Katie Benson (has 199)
300th rebound Rachel Murray (has 286)
Mechela Barnes (has 283)
500th point Aubree Callen (has 477)
800th point Mechela Barnes (has 780)
900th point Katie Benson (has 873)
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
300th field goal Katie Benson (has 313)
400th rebound Katie Benson (has 408)
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on
this link for a look at news, notes and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXT
The Falcons have the first of their two single-game weeks coming up next week. They'll have Thursday night off, then head to
Montana State Billings, tipping off against the Yellowjackets on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 4:15 p.m., to wind up the first half of the GNAC schedule.
GNAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Western Washington 5-0 11-2
Montana State Billings 5-1 11-3
Simon Fraser 4-1 11-2
Seattle Pacific 4-2 10-4
Northwest Nazarene 3-2 11-2
Alaska Anchorage 2-3 8-5
Saint Martin's 2-4 9-7
Central Washington 1-4 6-7
Western Oregon 1-5 6-10
Alaska Fairbanks 0-5 2-11
