WEST REGION CROSSOVER CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 21          Seattle Pacific vs. UC San Diego, 5:00 p.m.
                                       Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                       Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 22      Seattle Pacific vs. Azusa Pacific, 5:00 p.m.
                                        Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                        Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with updated stats (PDF)
        PHOTO GALLERY: SPU vs. Fresno Pacific (Nov. 14)

SEATTLE – Winning in a runaway. Winning in overtime.
 
Just two games into the new women's basketball season, the Seattle Pacific Falcons have had it both ways.
 
Coming off yet another sweep of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, SPU hits the road for the first time of the new campaign, taking its 2-0 record north to Bellingham for this weekend's West Region Crossover Classic at Western Washington University.
 
The Falcons will face West Region nemesis UC San Diego on Friday at 5 p.m. in Carver Gymnasium. Then on Saturday at 5, they'll take on Azusa Pacific. Host Western Washington tangles with the opposite opponent both nights at 7.
 
With the homecourt advantage last week, SPU went on a 23-0 second-half run to roll past Fresno Pacific, 78-45. The Falcons knew it would be much tougher the next night against Humboldt State – and they were right, coming from six points down with three minutes left to force overtime, and then going on to beat the Lumberjacks, 83-74.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and a free live Webcast will be available from both games this week. Both will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider of the GNAC. Appropriate links to both the Webcasts and stats can be found at the top of this story.
 
ALREADY AN MVP
Senior point guard Suzanna Ohlsen needed just the first two games on the calendar to earn her first honor of the 2014-15 season.

 

Ohlsen scored 34 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished seven assists last weekend to help the Falcons beat Fresno Pacific and Humboldt State in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic. She had 14 points and six boards on Friday in a 78-45 rout of Fresno Pacific, then tallied 20 and racked up five assists in Saturday's come-from-behind 83-74 overtime victory against Humboldt State.
 
In the Humboldt game, Ohlsen scored five straight points to help the Falcons climb out of a 63-57 hole in the final three minutes. She then tallied five of SPU's 16 points during the extra five-minute period.
 
Senior guard Aubree Callen also got onto the honors list by joining Ohlsen on the all-tournament team.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This is the third straight year the Falcons have paired up with UC San Diego and Azusa Pacific in a preseason tournament.
-- SPU has split the prevoius two games with San Diego, falling 86-67 at Bellingham in 2012, but winning 66-63 at Azusa last season.
-- The two games against Azusa Pacific both have gone into the Seattle Pacific win column: 76-74 in overtime in 2012, and 83-74 last year.
-- Last season's game against UCSD had a dramatic finish, as Betsy Kingma won it with a 3-point buzzer-beater, snapping a 63-63 tie.
-- Winning it on a trey was some redemption of sorts for the Falcons. In the previous year's loss at Bellingham, the Tritons buried 10 shots from downtown during the first half to take a double-digit lead that they never relinquished.
-- Current redshirt senior guard Aubree Callen scored what then was a career-high 21 points in the 2012 OT victory against Azusa. But that mark lasted just a month and a half, when the topped that with a 26-point outing.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 5-3 all-time against UC San Diego and 4-0 against Azusa Pacific.
-- The Falcons were 2-1 in neutral-court games last season.
 
SCOUTING THE UC SAN DIEGO TRITONS: 1-0, 0-0 CCAA
All-time series: SPU leads, 10-3. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 66, UCSD 63 (Nov. 22, 2013 at Azusa, Calif). Tritons on the Web.
Tritons in a nutshell: After opening with a 74-51 loss to 6^th-ranked Division I power Stanford in an exhibition game, UC San Diego emerged on top in a back-and-forth battle against the University of Mary last Saturday, 89-84 in overtime – a game that featured 14 ties and 18 lead changes. The Tritons have three starters returning from last year's 16-11 team. Leading the way is senior guard Miranda Seto, a 5-foot-5 dynamo who can do it all. Last year, she averaged 14.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists. She went for 17 points last year against the Falcons, and accounted for nearly half of San Diego's points (24) in the exhibition loss to Stanford. Also back is guard Stephanie Yano, the team's assist leader (3.2 per game), and 5-10 forward McKennan Bertsch, the top Tritons shooter at a phenomenal 64 percent from the field. Among the players having completed their UCSD careers are leading rebounder Erin Dautremont (6.8 boards per game), and Megan Perry, who tallied a team-high 18 points in last year's SPU game.
 
SCOUTING THE AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS: 3-0, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: SPU leads, 5-0. Current series streak: SPU won 5. Last time: SPU 83, Azusa 74 (Nov. 23, 2013 at Azusa, Calif.). Cougars on the Web.
Cougars in a nutshell: This team simply doesn't quit. The Cougars were 14 down early in the second half of their season opener against Cal State Dominguez Hills last Friday, but rallied to win, 72-65. The next night against 2014 Final Four team Cal Poly Pomona, APU tied the game on a pair free throws at the end of the first overtime, then won it in double OT, 85-81. Then this past Tuesday against Cal State Los Angeles, Azusa bounced back from a 17-point first-half deficit to prevail, 63-58. Kelly Hardeman, a 6-foot junior forward who poured in 29 points against SPU last season, is averaging 25.7 points and 9.3 rebounds through the first three games. Miriam Zabinski, a 5-9 forward who joined the Cougars after two seasons in junior college, is averaging 15.7 points and 7.0 boards. Junior 5-7 guard Cyndie Jones, in her first year at APU after playing for Pomona in 2012-13, is scoring at a 13-point clip, and also collecting 5.7 boards per game. Also returning but not having played yet is senior guard Allison Greene, last season's second-leading scorer at 14.6 points and leading playmaker at 4.7 assists.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Suzanna Ohlsen scored 14 points, Aubree Callen added 13, and Seattle Pacific went on a 23-0 run during the second half to rout Fresno Pacific last Friday in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, 78-45.
-- Maddey Pflaumer hit two free throws with 9.5 seconds left to force overtime and finished with a career-high 18 points, and Ohlsen pumped in 20 points, with a clutch 3-pointer late in regulation and another early in OT to help the Falcons down Humboldt State last Saturday, 83-74.
 
COACH JULIE HEISEY SAYS …
(On UC San Diego)
"Miranda Seto and Stephanie Yano have played a lot, and they're very good. San Diego always plays really hard and very fast. They're typically undersized, but they're really hard to guard because the spread you out and run a lot of handoffs and ball screens. We have to be careful not to give up lay-ups and open 3s. Even though they're small, they really crash the boards. They're really scrappy and quick."

 

(On Azusa Pacific)
"We know Kelly Hardeman is really deadly from 3-point range. She's a good rebounder, she can score off the block, and she loves to shoot the 3. Cyndie Jones is very fast and really athletic at the point, and Miriam Zabinski does a little bit of everything. She's a good rebounder, good passer, and a really good scorer. Azusa runs a lot of match-up zone, and that's hard to play early in the season."
 
(On starting the season with two wins last week)
"I liked what I saw. The bottom line is we were in a situation (against Humboldt State) where you can't manufacture confidence or how to come from behind and get a win. Our defense and execution got better down the stretch when we needed it the most. We were able to beat a very good team – that goes a long way. We did a good job of rebounding and a good job of taking care of the ball."
 
STICKY FINGERS – IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
The Falcons had their hands on the basketball a lot through the opening weekend of the season. Part of that was because they took good care of it. SPU had just 10 turnovers in on Friday against Fresno Pacific, and had just 11 in the Humboldt State game the next night.

 

While playing defense, the Falcons came up with double-digit steals in both games: 11 against Fresno Pacific, and 12 against Humboldt State. Last year, SPU had 10 games of 10 or more steals, with a high of 15 against Montana Tech.

In the Fresno Pacific game, four  Falcons came up with two steals apiece. Against Humboldt State, Betsy Kingma swiped the ball four times. The last of those came with 45 seconds left in overtime and led to a pair of Suzanna Ohlsen free throws that extended the lead to 78-71.
 
SPEAKING OF FREE THROWS …
Two years ago, the Falcons were the best team from the line in all of NCAA Division II, hitting at a 79.8 percent success rate.
 
It's still early, but they're already ahead of that so far. Seattle Pacific hit 80 percent against Fresno Pacific (20 of 25, including 11 of 12 during the second half) and 80.6 percent (29 of 36) against Humboldt State, a mark that included 11 of 12 in overtime. Those 36 foul shot attempts on Saturday were more than the Falcons got in any game last season, when the high was 29 in two different games.

Senior guard Suzanna Ohlsen continued her success at the line. After not getting there on Friday, she hit all four attempts on Saturday. Ohlsen now is up to 46 in a row, dating back to last Jan. 18 at Central Washington. Her career percentage is creeping every closer to .900, as she starts this week at .897 (175 of 195).
 
DOUBLE THE SCORING FUN – TIMES FIVE
All five Seattle Pacific starters hit for double figures last Saturday night against Humboldt State. The totals ranged from the 10 points of sophomore forward / guard Hannah Rodrigues (Eugene, Ore.), all the way up to 20 for senior guard Suzanna Ohlsen.

 

In between were a career-high 18 points for senior forward Maddey Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS), 17 for senior guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho), and 15 for senior guard Betsy Kingma (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS).
 
The last time the Falcons had at least five players in double figures was Jan. 26, 2012, when six players did so in a 78-62 victory at Saint Martin's. That group included Callen, Ohlsen, and Kingma, with the latter two getting theirs off the bench.
 
EVERYBODY INTO THE GAME – FRESHMEN, TOO
All 13 active SPU players saw some court time in the Fresno Pacific game last Friday, with 12 of those contributing at least two points.
 
Those getting minutes included the four freshmen on the roster. Guard Courtney Hollander (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden HS) played nearly half the game, hitting all three of her shots from the floor, including a 3-pointer, and grabbing two rebounds in 19 minutes. Guard Jordan McPhee (Des Moines, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) was right behind with 18 minutes, adding two points and three rebounds.
 
Forward Erica Pagano (Happy Valley, Ore.) made the most of her five minutes with three points and two rebounds, and guard Lindsay Lee (Spokane, Wash. / Lewis & Clark HS) hit her only shot I four minutes.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th 3-pointer      Aubree Callen (has 93)
                                  Suzanna Ohlsen (has 90)
100^th assist           Betsy Kingma (has 88)
100^th rebound       Molly Grager (has 93)
1,000^th point          Suzanna Ohlsen (has 933)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
500^th point             Betsy Kingma (has 515)
900^th point             Suzanna Ohlsen (has 933)

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Before the Falcons head home for Thanksgiving next week, they'll take to the court for a non-conference contest against San Francisco State on Wednesday in Brougham Pavilion, with a special tip-off time of 5:00 p.m. That will be the first of four straight home games. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule begins the following week against Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, Dec. 4, and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, Dec. 6, both at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Alaska Fairbanks                   0-0           3-0
Alaska Anchorage                 0-0           2-0
Seattle Pacific                         0-0           2-0
Simon Fraser                          0-0           2-0
Montana State Billings         0-0           2-1
Central Washington              0-0           1-1
Saint Martin's                          0-0           1-1
Western Washington            0-0           1-1
Northwest Nazarene            0-0           1-2
Western Oregon                    0-0           1-3