THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Jan. 31 Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 pm.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Saturday, Feb. 2 Western Oregon 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 – Playoff time is still six weeks way. But for the Seattle Pacific Falcons, the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball season no doubt will have playoff intensity every time they take the court.
With the first nine games of conference play behind them, the Falcons start to get their second look at GNAC opponents this week at home when Saint Martin's and Western Oregon come to Brougham Pavilion. The Saints are in town on Thursday night at 7 p.m., and the Wolves come in on Saturday afternoon at 2.
The Falcons, at 10-7 overall, 4-5 in the GNAC and part of a three-way tie for fifth place, are looking to halt a four-game slide the began on Jan. 12 in Brougham when Alaska Anchorage escaped with a 77-72 victory. SPU has been on the road for the past two weeks and is coming off a 76-66 loss at Montana State Billings last Saturday.
Seattle Pacific has five of its next seven games in Brougham, where it has a 6-1 record so far this season. The only two road games during that stretch are next week at Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from both games this week. The Webcasts, with Tom Gialanella on play-by-play, are carried 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.
JOCKEYING FOR POSTSEASON
The top six teams following the regular-season finale on March 2 will qualify for the third edition of the
GNAC Tournament, set for March 6, 8 and 9 at Saint Martin's in Lacey. If that tournament were to start now based on the first half of play,
Western Washington and
Simon Fraser would have the top two seeds and a first-round bye.
Montana State Billings and
Northwest Nazarene would be Nos. 3 and 4 (they're both 6-3; MSUB beat the Crusaders in the first half of the schedule).
The three-way tie for the last two tournament spots between
SPU,
Alaska Anchorage and
Saint Martin's would wind up with Anchorage at No. 5 (having beaten the other two schools) and the Saints at No. 6 (losing to the Seawolves, but beating the Falcons during the first half).
Of those six teams, Seattle Pacific gets four of them – Saint Martin's, Simon Fraser, Western, and Billings – at home in Brougham during the second half.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons
split with these two teams on the road earlier this month: a 72-65 victory at Western Oregon on Jan. 3, and a 70-66 loss at Saint Martin's on Jan. 5.
-- It was in the game at Western Oregon when starters
Rachel Murray and
Mechela Barnes went out with injuries. Murray returned to action last Saturday with 17 minutes at Montana State Billings. Barnes is expected to be available again this week.
-- SPU will be looking for its
14th season sweep of
Western Oregon. The Falcons had 13 straight before the Wolves gained a split last year with a 79-74 victory in Monmouth.
-- In contrast, Seattle Pacific will be
seeking a split against
Saint Martin's. The last GNAC opponent to win both regular-season games from SPU was Western Washington in 2005-06.
-- SPU coach
Julie Heisey is 14-2 all-time against Saint Martin's and 14-1 against Western Oregon.
-- The Falcons continue to have three players averaging in double-figure scoring:
Katie Benson at 14.8,
Suzanna Ohlsen at 13.6, and
Aubree Callen at 12.1.
-- Thursday's game against Saint Martin's will feature two of the GNAC's top 10
field goal shooters. Seattle Pacific's
Rachel Murray is No. 4 at .507 (35 of 69), and
Chelsea Haskey of the Saints is No. 7 at .474 (117 of 247).
-- The game against Western Oregon will have three of the top four from the
free throw line. WOU freshman
Mariah Durian is No. 1 at .946 (53 of 56), with SPU's
Suzanna Ohlsen No. 3 at .904 (47 of 52) and
Aubree Callen No. 4 at .886 (62 of 70).
Katie Benson of the Falcons is No. 8 at .795 (58 of 73).
-- There's more: Durian is the NCAA Division II national leader in foul shooting, with Ohlsen at No. 5, and Callen at No. 14.
-- That same game also features three of the top 10
from downtown. Ohlsen is No. 1 at .508 (32 of 63),
Chantel Divilbiss of Western Oregon is No. 5 at .400 (16 of 40), and Callen is No. 6 at .391 (25 of 64).
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
While chances are good that both
Rachel Murray and
Mechela Barnes will be available for action this week, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon still loom as two tough customers for the Falcons.
“Saint Martin's plays super hard, and they play a lot of guards, so that's hard for us to match up to,” SPU coach
Julie Heisey said. “They have a very good post in Chelsea Haskey, and she scored on us pretty well last time. It's a challenge for us to defend them. What they do, they do well – it's a lot of penetrating and a lot of driving. You get spread out, and it's tough to cover open shots, and last time, we gave up some wide-open 3s.”
While SPU won at Western Oregon in the first game of 2013, the lead was single digits most of the night until the final two minutes of the game.
“Western Oregon is very capable – they beat Billings at home,” Heisey said. “They fight hard, they're very fast, and very fundamental.”
Heisey said one of the points of emphasis for her team going forward is to put a complete game together.
“We've hung tough, we've improved … we know we can compete,” Heisey said. “We've competed 27, 28 minutes in a lot of these games. Now, we have to find a way to continue to work toward a full 40.”
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 11-8, 4-5 GNAC (tie 5th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 46-13.
Current series streak: Saint Martin's won 1.
Last time: Saint Martin's 70, SPU 66 (Jan. 5, 2013 at Lacey).
Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's has been playing far ahead of most expectations. Picked for a ninth-place finish in the GNAC preseason coaches poll, the Saints already have won more games (11) than they did all of last year (9), although they come into the week off a 48-45 loss to Alaska Anchorage last Saturday in Lacey. Junior forward
Chelsea Haskey can do just about everything for Saint Martin's. She leads the team in scoring (14.4 points per game tied for No. 9 in the GNAC), rebounding (6.8, No. 8), field goal shooting (.474, No. 7) and 3-point shooting (.400). She is the only Saints player to average in double figures, although sophomore forward
Brooke Paulson is almost there at 9.9 points per game. Haskey went for 18 points and eight rebounds in the first game against SPU, and sophomore guard
Angela Gelhar came off the bench for 14, getting nine of those during the second half to help prevent the Falcons from catching up.
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 7-12, 2-7 GNAC (9th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 32-3.
Current series streak: SPU won 1.
Last time: SPU 72, WOU 65 (Jan. 3, 2013 at Monmouth).
Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon stopped a four-game losing streak last Saturday at home, leading for all but the first two minutes of the game in a 67-61 victory against Alaska Fairbanks. While the Wolves have two players who average double-digit scoring (freshman guard / forward
Mariah Durian at 12.8, and senior guard
Lorrie Clifford at 12.4), they aren't the only two who can do damage to an opponent. Junior forward Melissa Fowler led WOU's offense in both games last week, getting 14 against Alaska Anchorage and 21 against Fairbanks. She also had a team-high nine rebounds in each game. Sophomore forward
Dana Goularte paces the Wolves on the boards, averaging 6.7 per contest. Western Oregon had a balanced attack in the 72-65 loss to SPU on Jan. 3, with four players in double figures. Clifford had 14, and Durian, who did not start that game, came off the bench for 14. That was the first of five straight games in which Durian provided a spark as a reserve, tallying double figures in four of those. She started both of last week's games against the Alaska schools.
HOW DO THEY COMPARE
(GNAC rankings)
SPU StM WOU
Points 71.1 (4) 56.6 (10) 61.9 (9)
Points allowed 67.1 (9) 59.6 (2) 66.5 (8)
Rebounds 41.6 (2) 36.8 (9) 39.2 (5)
Assists 15.1 (4) 12.2 (9) 11.9 (10)
Steals 7.9 (9) 9.6 (5) 8.6 (6)
Blocks 2.8 (6) 3.1 (T4) 3.1 (T4)
Turnovers 19.2 (8) 19.5 (9) 19.7 (10)
FG percent .422 (3) .375 (9) .376 (8)
3-point percent .378 (1) .344 (T5) .344 (T5)
FT percent .804 (1) .636 (9) .679 (T5)
FALCONS REPLAY
--
Suzanna Ohlsen's 19 points and
Katie Benson's fourth double-double in five games wasn't enough last Saturday as Montana State Billings limited Seattle Pacific to 23 percent second-half shooting in rallying for a
66-56 GNAC victory. Benson had 16 points and a career high-tying 17 rebounds.
FRESHMAN FACTOR
The numbers are starting to add up for Seattle Pacific's four freshman players. Guard
Brooke Bowen (Vancouver, Wash. / Skyview HS), guard
Brianne Lasconia (Seattle, Wash. / Shorecrest HS), forward / center
Maddey Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS), and center
Molly Grager (Kirkland, Wash./ Juanita HS) have gotten into a combined 60 games so far, with one start (Pflaumer on Jan. 5 at Saint Martin's) and totaling 766 minutes.
Together, the foursome is averaging 3.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Bowen has the top averages of 5.7 points and 3.5 boards; Pflaumer is close behind at 4.8 and 3.2, respectively.
The last time SPU had four freshmen as part of the rotation was two seasons ago with current juniors
Katie Benson,
Riley Butler,
Aubree Callen, and
Betsy Kingma. By the end of that 2010-11 campaign, they had a combined 75 games played with one start, totaling 964 minutes. That group averaged 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
BREAKOUT SEASONS
With the GNAC schedule at the halfway point, a handful of SPU players are well on the way to the best seasons of their college careers.
With 141 rebounds so far – including 61 in her last five games -- junior forward
Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) is well ahead of the 117 she had through 17 games last season. She's just 38 away from her entire 2011-12 total of 179.
Junior guard
Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) was averaging 6.8 points and 2.6 boards at this stage of last season. Now, she's at 12.1 points and 5.6 boards, having already exceeded her rebounding total (95 now, 78 all of last year) and just six points shy of her scoring total (205 now, 211 last year).
Sophomore guard
Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS), in her first year as a full-time starter after coming off the bench in 24 of last season's 27 games, has gone from averages of 5.7 points and 1.8 rebounds through 17 games in 2011-12 all the way to her current marks of 13.6 and 2.4, respectively. She had 15 assists and 15 steals at this time in 2012, but already has 65 assists and 35 steals through this season's first 17 contests.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Katie Benson logged her fourth double-double in the past five games when she put up 16 points and 17 rebounds last Saturday at Montana State Billings. The 17 boards tied her career high. Benson has five double-doubles this season and nine for her career.
Junior guard
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.
No other current Falcon has a double-double.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING, SPU IS …
-- No. 1 in
free throw shooting at .804.
-- No. 8 in
3-point percentage at .378. Truman of Missouri leads at .425.
-- No. 12 in
rebounding margin at +9.1. Shaw of North Carolina leads at +14.3.
--
Suzanna Ohlsen is No. 5 in
free throw percentage at .904. Ohlsen, who did not take a free throw in last week's only game, still jumped five places on the list this week.
--
Aubree Callen is No. 14 in
free throw percentage at .886. She jumped seven places.
Click on
this link to see how SPU players, as well as other GNAC players and teams, stack up nationally.
POLLING PLACE
Western Washington stayed at No. 5, and three other West Region teams are bunched at 12-13-14 in this week's
USA Today Sports / WBCA coaches poll that was released on Tuesday. Western swept its games at Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene last week, but didn't move up because the four teams ahead of the Vikings stayed undefeated. That includes No. 1
Ashland of Ohio, now 21-0 and once again a unanimous No. 1 choice.
Chico State fell three places to No. 12 after absorbing its second loss of the season (51-44 at home to Cal State Monterey Bay). Simon Fraser slipped six spots to 13th after a 60-59 loss at Northwest Nazarene, and
Grand Canyon climbed three places to 14th.
Northwest Nazarene of the GNAC isn't in the top 25 yet, but is close. The Crusaders received 40 points and are up to No. 28 after beating Simon Fraser and coming within four points of Western Washington.
AROUND THE WEST
In spite of their loss to Monterey Bay,
Chico State is still atop the
California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with a 10-2 record and a 14-2 overall mark. They're a game ahead of
Cal State Los Angeles (14-5 overall, 9-3 CCAA) and
UC San Diego (11-8, 9-3). Monterey Bay has jumped squarely into the picture at 11-3, 8-3.
Grand Canyon is two games clear atop the
Pacific West Conference at 9-1 (17-3 overall), with
Hawaii Pacific (11-4, 7-2) next in line. Those two teams, along with
Academy of Art (13-5, 6-2) and
Hawaii Hilo (10-6, 7-3) likely will be part of the conversation prior to the release of the first West Region rankings on Feb. 20.
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th 3-pointer Mechela Barnes (has 95)
100th assist Suzanna Ohlsen (has 95)
100th point Brooke Bowen (has 97)
Michelle Teng (has 92)
300th rebound Rachel Murray (has 286)
Mechela Barnes (has 283)
400th point Suzanna Ohlsen (has 380)
800th point Mechela Barnes (has 780)
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
None
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on
this link for a look at news, notes and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
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.
UP NEXT
The Falcons will get another look at
Alaska Anchorage and
Alaska Fairbanks when they head north next week. SPU and the Seawolves tip off at 8 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, Feb. 7. The game against the Nanooks in Fairbanks on Feb. 9 will get started at 4 p.m. PST. Seattle Pacific will be looking for a split against Anchorage and a sweep of Fairbanks.
GNAC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
Western Washington 9-0 15-2
Simon Fraser 7-2 14-3
Northwest Nazarene 6-3 14-3
Montana State Billings 6-3 12-5
Alaska Anchorage 4-5 10-7
Seattle Pacific 4-5 10-7
Saint Martin's 4-5 10-8
Central Washington 3-6 8-9
Western Oregon 2-7 7-12
Alaska Fairbanks 0-9 2-15
