THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Feb. 7            Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage, 8:00 p.m. PST
                                           Wells Fargo Center / Anchorage, Alaska
                                           Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 9             Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, 4:00 p.m. PST
                                           The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
                                           Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Back on track, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are back on the women's basketball road this week.
 
SPU, coming off two consecutive homecourt victories last week to leave behind a four-game losing streak, heads out on the penultimate road trip of the regular season, visiting Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks. The Falcons and rival Seawolves tip off at 8 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, followed by a trip to frigid Fairbanks for a game against the Nanooks on Saturday afternoon at 4 Pacific.
 
For the first time since early January, Seattle Pacific had a full lineup back last week, and that played a role in the two victories in Brougham Pavilon – 71-67 against Saint Martin's, and 64-55 against Western Oregon.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from both games in Alaska this week. The Webcasts 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.
 
OHLSEN BEST AT THE BOOKS
Starting sophomore guard Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) has been voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America district team. She carries a 4.0 grade-point average as a biochemistry major, the only perfect mark among the five district selections and one of 28 nationally.
                                                       
The district squad includes players from the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and the Pacific West Conference.
 
This is the fourth straight year the Falcons have had a player on the district team, which is selected by sports information directors. Ohlsen now becomes eligible for a spot on the Academic All-America team. That list, voted upon by CoSIDA national representatives, is scheduled for a Feb. 20 release.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SeattlePacific has three players averaging in double figures: Katie Benson (14.9 points per game), Suzanna Ohlsen (13.2) and Aubree Callen (12.6).
-- SPU's last win in Anchorage was 67-60 on March 6, 2010. That was the regular-season finale and was the last time either team swept the regular-season series.
-- A week later, the Falcons beat the Seawolves in the NCAA West Regional semifinals in Seattle, 52-48, on the way to the Elite Eight.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 11-8 all-time against the Seawolves. She is 15-0 against Alaska Fairbanks.
-- Anchorage has just one GNAC victory at home – 86-58 against Fairbanks in the opener on Dec. 1. Seattle Pacific has just one conference road victory – 72-65 at Western Oregon on Jan. 3.
-- A win at Anchorage would help SPU avoid its first sweep by a conference opponent since Western Washington pulled that off in 2005-06.
-- The Falcons (.794) and Seawolves (.751) are the top two free throw shooting teams in the conference.
-- The Nanooks are one of just two teams in the GNAC against whom Seattle Pacific currently has a multiple game winning streak – 22 straight. The other is Western Oregon (two straight).
 




SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
While Anchorage is a notch below SPU in the conference standings, that doesn't change anything as far as Falcons coach Julie Heisey is concerned: The Seawolves are still the Seawolves, especially on their home court.
 
“Even though they went through a little down spell like we did, they're very, very good, and their seniors know how to win,” she said. “Sasha King and Alyssa Horn both had big games at Western last week. We have to come in and find a way to slow them down. Sasha really hurt us at our place. She's so fast and hard to guard. Alyssa Horn has the ability to just go off. We really have to try to minimize their runs and take care of the ball and control the boards.”
 
Alaska Fairbanks has had its struggles this season, but showed last month in Brougham Pavilion that  it can put together some solid play.
 
“They're very fast, and they score a lot in transition,” Heisey said. “Last time, we had a hard time not letting them get to the basket. So again, it's trying to find ways to slow them down and not give up easy baskets.”
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 10-9, 4-7 GNAC (tie 6th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 39-19. Current series streak: Anchorage won 1. Last time: Anchorage 77, SPU 72 (Jan. 12, 2013 at Seattle). Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage wound up a stretch of four straight away from home with losses last week at Simon Fraser (60-52) and Western Washington (83-72). Even so, the Seawolves remain very much in the postseason picture. Senior guard Sasha King, despite missing four games with an injury, is still UAA's leading scorer, averaging 15.6 points per game, to rank No. 5 in the GNAC. When the teams played in Seattle last month, King pumped in 23 points, draining five shots from downtown, as the Seawolves finished the night with 11 treys. King also dishes it nicely, with her 5.9 assists per game, ranking No. 2 in the conference. She leads the GNAC with 2.9 steals per game. Senior forward Alyssa Horn is the only Anchorage player to start all 19 games, and averages 14.3 points (No. 10 GNAC), along with a team-high 8.6 rebounds (No. 4).
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 2-17, 0-11 GNAC (10^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 51-13. Current series streak: SPU won 22. Last time: SPU 82, UAF 71 (Jan. 10, 2013 at Seattle). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: The Nanooks lost their first seven, swept a pair from Dallas Christian just before Christmas, then have dropped 10 in a row since then, including 77-48 at nationally ranked Western Washington and 71-55 at Simon Fraser (also nationally ranked) last week. Still, UAF has been competitive in several games, playing within six at Montana State Billings (73-67) and Western Oregon (67-61) recently. Fairbanks is a solid rebounding team, averaging 40.2 per game, and sets the GNAC pace in steals at 11.6. The Nanooks are without leading scorer April Fultz (12.0 per game) for the rest of the season. Senior guard Taylor Altenburg is now the leader at 10.7 points per game and had a team high 16, along with 10 rebounds, last Saturday at Simon Fraser. Sophomore guard Benissa Bulaya (7.9) and senior forward Jacqueline Lovata (8.2) also can fill it up. Lovato had 19 plus nine rebounds last month in Seattle.
 
HOW DO THEY COMPARE
(GNAC rankings)
                                SPU                        UAA                        UAF
Points                     70.7 (4)                  68.1 (6)                  62.1 (8)
Points allowed     66.5 (9)                  65.6 (7)                  73.7 (10)
Rebounds              41.1 (2)                  35.3 (10)                40.2 (4)
Assists                  15.0 (4)                  15.3 (3)                  12.5 (8)
Steals                       8.0 (9)                    9.8 (4)                  11.6 (1)
Blocks                      2.8 (6)                    2.1 (10)                  2.2 (T8)
Turnovers             19.1 (9)                  15.4 (2)                  18.8 (7)
FG percent            .424 (3)                  .395 (5)                  .358 (10)
3-point percent    .378 (1)                  .336 (7)                  .233 (10)
FT percent             .794 (1)                  .751 (2)                  .635 (10)
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Aubree Callen pumped in 22 points, and Katie Benson added 18 as the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Saint Martin's last Thursday night, 71-67.
-- Benson tallied 14 points, getting nine of those during the second half, and was one of four players in double figures, and Suzanna Ohlsen grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to lead SPU past Western Oregon last Saturday, 64-55.
 
CENTURY MARKS
When she takes the court on Thursday night at Alaska Anchorage, senior guard Rachel Murray will be stepping into the action for the 100th time in a Falcons uniform. Since she arrived from Eglington, New South Wales, Australia in the fall of 2009, SPU has played 106 games, and Murray has been in all but seven of them, missing those due to injury issues. She has been a regular starter the past two seasons.
 
No one else will hit 100 games this year for the Falcons, but junior forward Katie Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) and junior guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) are closing in on it. Each has played 75 games.
 
HALFTIME RALLY
In a sign that they have thing going in the right direction again, the Falcons made their first comeback from a halftime deficit to pull out a victory last Saturday. Down 31-27 to Western Oregon heading into the intermission, SPU outscored the Wolves by a 37-24 margin during the final 20 minutes on the way to a 64-55 victory in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Prior to that, SPU was 0-4 when trailing at the half. They are 10-2 when ahead at the break, with the two losses (at Western Washington and at Montana State Billings) coming during the four-game losing streak that ended last Thursday. Only once this season has a game been tied at halftime. That was when Alaska Anchorage, the opponent on Thursday, came from 13 down to forge a 41-41 deadlock on Jan. 12 in Brougham Pavilion. The Seawolves eventually won, 77-72.
 
FOUR FOR THE DOUBLE
While it's always good to have a go-to player for a crunch-time basket – and SPU has a few of those – the Falcons have collected half of their 12 victories this season when the other side has no idea who that go-to player will be. Case in point: a 6-0 record when four players score 10 or more points. That happened most recently last Saturday when Katie Benson had 14, Aubree Callen 13, Suzanna Ohlsen 12 and Rachel Murray 11 in a 64-55 win against Western Oregon.
 
Seattle Pacific also has had seven games with three players at 10 or more, winning three of those.
 
IT'S ALL ABOUT 'D'
Same old story: Offense is great, but defense wins games. In limiting Western Oregon to 55 points last Saturday, the Falcons kept an opponent below 60 for the sixth time this season, and they have won all six of those games. In three of them, the Falcons weren't far above 60 themselves, but it was more than enough: 62-46 against Western Colorado, 65-48 against Central Washington, and 64-55 against Western Oregon.
 
Last year, SPU went 8-0 when the other side didn't hit 60. In fact, the last time the Falcons kept an opponent below 60 but didn't win the game was when Grand Canyon escaped with a 52-50 decision in the first round of the 2011 NCAA West Regionals.
 
HOW'S THE WEATHER UP THERE?
Everyone who visits during the winter comes back with a “how cold it was in Fairbanks” story. When the Falcons were there last Jan. 5, the high was 5 below zero after falling to 38 below the previous night. With that in mind, this year's conditions are expected to be downright balmy. When SPU arrives on Friday from Anchorage, the high for that day is expected to reach 17 above, with a low on Friday night of4 below. The temperature is predicted to reach 17 above again on Saturday.
 
In contrast, Anchorage – about 360 miles farther south – will be about 30 degrees when the team arrives on Wednesday and 28 on Thursday.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING, SPU IS …
-- No. 1 in free throw shooting at .794.
-- No. 7 in 3-point percentage at .378. Truman of Missouri leads at .429.
-- No. 15 in rebounding margin at +8.4. Ashland of Ohil leads at +14.1.
-- No. 49 in scoring offense at 70.7. Glenville State of West Virginia leads at 97.3
-- Suzanna Ohlsen is No. 7 in free throw percentage at .893.
-- Aubree Callen is No. 20 in free throw percentage at .880.

Click on this link to see how SPU and other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
POLLING PLACE
Western Washington climbed one place to No. 4, while West Region teams Chico State (No. 11), Simon Fraser (No. 12) and Grand Canyon (No. 13) moved up one spot apiece in this week's USA Today Sports / WBCA coaches poll that was released on Tuesday. Western, playing at home last week, beat Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage. Colorado Mesa, which was undefeated and No. 4 last week, absorbed its first loss and fell to No. 7.
 
Ashland of Ohio, 22-0, is a unanimous No. 1 again. The ranks of unbeaten are down to three: Ashland, No. 2 Bentley of Massachusetts (19-0), and No. 3 Clayton State of Georgia (20-0).
 
Northwest Nazarene remained on the precipice of the top 25. For the second week in a row, the Crusaders are No. 28.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Chico State remains atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with a 12-2 record, 16-2 overall. UC San Diego is 11-3, but just 13-8 overall, while Cal State Monterey Bay is third at 10-3, 13-3 overall.
 
In the Pacific West, Grand Canyon remains the leader at 10-1, 18-4 overall. Hawaii Pacific is second at 8-2, 12-4 overall.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th point             Riley Butler (has 94)
100th 3-pointer     Mechela Barnes (has 96)
300th rebound      Rachel Murray (has 295)  
                                 Mechela Barnes (has 290)
400^th rebound       Erin Stephens (has 392)
600^th point             Rachel Murray (has 594)
                                 Erin Stephens (has 585)   
800th point            Mechela Barnes (has 787)
1,000^th point          Katie Benson (has 948)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100th assist          Suzanna Ohlsen (has 101)
100^th point             Michelle Teng (has 102)
400^th point             Suzanna Ohlsen (has 400)

AROUND THE GNAC           
Click on this link for a look at news, notes and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific begins a late-season stretch of three straight home games next week when nationally ranked opponents Simon Fraser and Western Washington come to Brougham Pavilion. The Clan visit on Valentine's Thursday at 5:15 p.m., and the rival Vikings are here on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 5:15 p.m. Both nights will be doubleheaders, with the nationally ranked Falcon men tipping off at 7:30 against Central Washington on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                        Conference               Overall
Western Washington          11-0                        17-2
Simon Fraser                         9-2                        16-3
Montana State Billings         8-3                         14-5
Northwest Nazarene            7-3                         15-3
Seattle Pacific                        6-5                         12-7
Alaska Anchorage                 4-7                         10-9
Saint Martin's                         4-7                         11-8
Central Washington             3-7                           8-10
Western Oregon                    2-9                          7-12
Alaska Fairbanks                  0-11                        2-17