THE SCHEDULE: 
Thursday, January 2          Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, January 4          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 – Preseason tournaments? Done. Non-conference contests? Finished.
 
For the next two months and then some, it's all GNAC, all the time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
With their 8-2 overall record and No. 9 national ranking, SPU dives fully into its Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball schedule this week, facing two of its always-toughest opponents: arch-rival Western Washington on Thursday, then Simon Fraser on Saturday, both at 7:00 p.m., and both in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The GNAC schedule actually began earlier this month, as the Falcons scored a 71-68 victory at Alaska Fairbanks on Dec. 5 before falling 77-65 at Alaska Anchorage two nights later. Western and Simon Fraser have played just one conference game, and that was against each other, with the Clan prevailing on Dec. 7 in Burnaby, B.C., 62-58.
 
Seattle Pacific has been idle since Dec. 21, when No. 10-ranked West Texas A&M came back from a 14-point first-half deficit to pull out a 74-65 victory in Brougham Pavilion. The Falcons then took a seven-day holiday break, as mandated by the NCAA, before returning to practice on Dec. 30.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE          
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available for both of this week's games, and for all GNAC contests through the rest of the season. The Webcasts are through Stretch Internet, the conference's official video streaming provider. Appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
                                                       
LIGHTS, CAMERA, TV ACTION
Seattle Pacific will take to the airwaves next Saturday, Jan. 11, when it plays host to Montana State Billings in Brougham Pavilion. The televised game on ROOT Sports will be moved up to a special 3:00 p.m. tip-off time.
 
This will be the first time in three seasons that the Falcons women have appeared on television. Their most recent TV contest was Feb. 2, 2011, a 67-57 loss at Western Washington.
 
It will be the first of two times in a span of five days that an SPU team will be on ROOT. The nationally ranked Falcon men will have their game at Western Washington beamed live on the Northwest regional sports network on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 7:00 p.m.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU has lost three straight games to the Vikings since an 82-66 victory in Bellingham on Dec. 3, 2011.
-- The last time either team won more than three in a row when the Falcons took seven straight from 2002-03 through 2004-05. (The 2003-04 season included three games, the third of which was in the NCAA tournament).
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 7-9 all-time against the Vikings and their head coach, Carmen Dolfo. Heisey's teams came up short the first three times against Western, then won seven of the next 11.
-- Last season's game in Brougham went overtime, with the Vikings finally prevailing, 80-76. Through the years, the teams have played four OT games, with Western taking all four.
-- The game against Simon Fraser will match the GNAC's top two scorers: Erin Chambers of the Clan (22.0 per game) and Katie Benson of the Falcons (21.4).
-- Since Simon Fraser joined the GNAC in 2011-12, the Falcons have won all three games against the Clan in Brougham. That included a 70-60 victory last Feb. 14, when the Simon came to town ranked No. 8.
-- That victory for the Falcons was sparked by Benson, who pumped in a career-high 32 points and topped the 1,000-point mark for her career.
-- Heisey is 4-4 all-time against Simon Fraser and head coach Bruce Langford.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 4-5, 0-1 GNAC (8^th)
All-time series: WWU leads, 52-26. Current series streak: WWU won 3. Last time: WWU 80, SPU 76 (OT) (Feb. 16, 2013 at Seattle). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western got hit hard by graduation, losing three outstanding starters – center Britt Harris (14.3 points, 6.1 rebounds), guard Corinn Waltrip (12.9 points) and guard Trishi Williams (10.8 points, 4.3 assists) – from the team that made it to last year's NCAA national semifinals. It was Waltrip who burned SPU for 36 points in Western's 80-76 overtime victory in Brougham last Feb. 16. The Vikings started slow, losing three of their first four games, but now have won three of their last five, including an 80-44 rout of Texas Woman's University on Dec. 20 in their most recent game. Western has four players hovering around 10 points per game: guard Katie Colard (10.6), guard Jenni White (10.2), forward Tia Briggs (9.9) and guard Taylor Peacocke (9.7). Sarah Hill, a 6-foot-3 forward and one of the two regular starters back from last year (Colard is the other) is pulling down a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game.
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 7-2, 1-0 GNAC (3^rd)
All-time series: Simon Fraser leads, 15-7. Current series streak: Simon Fraser won 1. Last time: Simon Fraser 66, SPU 55 (March 8, 2013 at Lacey, Wash.). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: True, there's no more Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe – the all-everything center has graduated and is playing professionally in Switzerland after averaging a double-double of 16.8 points and 12.4 rebounds to help the Clan make it to the West Region title game. Still, Simon Fraser has abundant talent. That starts with 6-1 junior guard / forward Erin Chambers, whose 22.0 points per game leads the GNAC and ranks No. 7 in D2. That's a jump of nearly nine points from last year's average of 13.5 per game. She has pumped in 20 or more points in seven of the nine games so far. Junior guard Katie Lowen chips in 13.1 points per game. Sophomore forward Meg Wilson, who stands 6-1, has taken over as the Clan's leader on the boards, tied for the sixth-best GNAC average of 7.8 per game.
 
FALONS REPLAY
-- Katie Benson had a double-double by halftime, finishing with 19 points and 14 rebounds on Dec. 19 to lead SPU past South Dakota School of Mines in a non-conference game, 78-41.
-- Benson scored 24 points, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 16, but No. 10-ranked West Texas stormed back from a 14-point first-half deficit and pulled away late in the game to beat the No. 9 Falcons on Dec. 21 in Brougham Pavilion, 74-65.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The double-doubles keep coming for senior forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS).  Benson had 19 points and 14 rebound in a 78-41 victory against South Dakota Mines, giving her five double-doubles for the season and 15 for her career.
 
So far this season, Benson is averaging a double-double of 21.4 points and 10.6 rebounds. The last SPU player to average a double-double through an entire season was Carli Smith (10.8 points, 10.1 rebounds in 2004-05).
                                                          
2013-14 double-doubles:
Katie Benson (5 season, 15 career): 20 pts-10 reb vs. Humboldt State, Nov. 8; 20 pts-17 reb vs. Point Loma Nazarene, Nov. 16; 31 pts-14 reb at Azusa Pacific, Nov. 23; 26 pts-12 reb at Alaska Anchorage, Dec. 7; 19 pts-14 reb vs. South Dakota Mines, Dec. 19.
 
BIG WEEK FOR GRAGER …
Sophomore center Molly Grager (Kirkland, Wash. / Juanita HS) gift-wrapped an early Christmas present for herself in the final two games before the holiday.
 
In the 78-41 win against South Dakota School of Mines on Dec. 19, Grager handed out two assists for the first time as a Falcon. In that same game and again against No. 10-ranked West Texas A&M two nights later, she had five rebounds, tying her single-game career best, a mark she now has reached three times. Grager also had two blocked shots against West Texas to match her career high.
 
… AND FOR THE NEWBIES, TOO
Among Seattle Pacific's four active freshmen, three established at least one career high in the South Dakota Mines game.
 
Guard Stacey Lukasiewicz (Centennial, Colo.) had nine points, beating her previous best of six. Guard Rachel Shim (Sammamish, Wash. / Skyline HS) scored her first four points as a Falcon, and guard Caitlin Heinly (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) had five points, more than doubling her previous best of two. She also came up with her first steal.
 
GETTING A HANDLE ON IT
One of coach Julie Heisey's points of emphasis coming into the season was cutting down on turnovers. Last season, the Falcons averaged 19.4 per game – the second-highest total in the GNAC – while forcing their opponents into just 15.5 per game.
 
That message is being heard. Through the first 10 games, SPU is averaging nearly four fewer turnovers, now at just 15.7, the fourth-lowest mark in the conference. Against No. 10- ranked West Texas A&M on Dec. 21, the Falcons had a season-low six turnovers. In fact, through the first 10 games, they have had fewer than 15 turnovers in four of them. Last season, Seattle Pacific had fewer than 15 turnovers in just two of its 28 games.
 
When they're on defense, the Falcons are forcing their opponents into 16.7 turnovers per game.
 
MAKING HEADLINES
Katie Benson was the subject of a feature article on Dec. 24 in the Everett Herald newspaper by reporter Rich Myhre.
 
Click on this link to check out Myhre's profile of Benson.
 
MOVING UP THE LIST
With her 24 points against West Texas A&M on Dec. 21, Katie Benson climbed into the No. 8 spot on the all-time SPU scoring list. She now has 1,337 for her career. The No. 7 rung currently belongs to Tosca Lindberg with 1,463 points from 1990-93.
 
Benson began the season as Seattle Pacific's No. 15 all-time scorer with 1,123 points, and already has climbed seven places.
 
Benson comes into this week with 617 career rebounds, just 18 shy of a spot in the school's all-time top 10. Melissa Reich, with 635 boards from 2008-11, is now in the No. 10 position.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th point             Brianne Lasconia (has 97)
100^th rebound      Riley Butler (has 97)
300^th field goal     Mechela Barnes (has 299)
500^th field goal     Katie Benson (has 478)
                                                                     
MILESTONES MADE RECENTLY (Dec. 19-21)
300^th point             Betsy Kingma (has 309)
600^th rebound       Katie Benson (has 617)
1,000^th shot           Katie Benson (has 1,016)
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Katie Benson ranks 17th in NCAA D2 scoring (21.4 points per game). That's a jump of three places from the previous national list. She also is tied for 21st in rebounds (10.6).
-- SPU is No. 9 nationally in blocks per game (5.3), 26th in field goal defense (.348), and 26th in fewest points allowed (59.2). In the previous rankings, the Falcons were 39th in fewest points allowed.

Click on this link to see how the Falcons and other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
TRACKING THOSE GNAC TOP 10s
SPU has four of its starters among the top 10 in various GNAC statistical categories.
-- Katie Benson 1st in rebounds (10.6), 1st in offensive rebounds (4.1), 2nd in scoring (21.4), tie for 2nd in blocked shots (1.6), tie for 2nd in defensive rebounds (6.5), 4th in steals (2.5), 6th in field goal shooting (.514) and 8th in free throw shooting (.819).
-- Suzanna Ohlsen 6th in assists (3.5), tie for 7th in steals (1.9), 9th in free throw shooting (.815), 9th in minutes (29.9), and 10th in assist / turnover ratio (1.3).
-- Maddey Pflaumer 7th in defensive rebounds (4.8), 9th in blocked shots (1.1).

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, stats, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up a six-game homestand next Saturday, Jan. 11, when they play host to GNAC preseason favorite Montana State Billings at 3:00 p.m. That is 2¼ hours earlier than the originally announced tip-off time in order to accommodate the live ROOT Sports telecast. The nationally ranked SPU men will be in Brougham Pavilion at 7:30 that night against Alaska Anchorage.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC                    Overall
Alaska Anchorage                 2-0                          9-1
Saint Martin's                         2-0                          8-3
Simon Fraser                         1-0                          7-2
Northwest Nazarene             1-1                          8-2
Seattle Pacific                        1-1                          8-2
Montana State Billings         1-1                          8-4
Western Oregon                    1-1                          4-6
Western Washington            0-1                          3-4
Alaska Fairbanks                   0-2                          6-4
Central Washington              0-2                          5-5