THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Jan. 1                Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 3                 Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
                                                West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – They've wrapped up their non-conference games. They've unwrapped their Christmas gifts.
 
Now, even though there's still one more holiday in the holiday season, the nationally ranked Seattle Pacific Falcons are ready to get fully into their Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball schedule.
 
SPU returns from a seven-day break and four days of practice this week, and will head north on Thursday for a New Year's night showdown against arch-rival Western Washington in Bellingham. The Falcons will bring a No. 19 national ranking, an 9-1 overall mark, and a 1-1 conference record with them to Carver Gymnasium.
 
On Saturday, it's another trip up Interstate 5 and a trip across the border to take on Simon Fraser in Burnaby B.C. Both of this week's games tip off at 7:00 p.m.
 
From here on out, it's all about the GNAC, as the final 16 games on the calendar are against conference opponents, starting with three straight on the road. The Falcons begin that portion of the season on a three-game winning streak, having downed Northwest University, Dixie State, and Holy Names in their final outings before Christmas.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from both games. Both will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
CARVER GYM HAS BEEN TOUGHEST ROAD VENUE
From the time the SPU program started as a club team in 1974-75, and in the 40 seasons since then as a varsity team, the Falcons have played more games against Western Washington (80) than against any other team.
               
That also means they've played more games in Western's Carver Gymnasium than in any other venue. The New Year's night game will be the 44^th between the Falcons and Vikings in the 52-year-old facility.
 
No surprise that it has been quite a homecourt advantage for Western – 31-12. Coach Julie Heisey's teams have won four of their 10 games in Carver, including last season's 68-62 decision.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- At 9-1, the Falcons are off to their best start since 2008-09.
-- They went all the way to 13-1 that season before taking their second loss.
-- These are Seattle Pacific's first true road games of the season. The previous four contests outside of Brougham Pavilion have been at neutral sites.
-- The first two of those neutral-site games were in Carver Gym at the West Region Crossover Classic on Nov. 21-22. SPU won both, beating UC San Diego, 71-66, and Azusa Pacific, 77-65.
-- The Falcons wound up splitting with Western last season, thanks to the 68-62 win in Bellingham. But they have lost four straight to Simon Fraser – a GNAC Tournament semifinal in 2013, both of last year's regular-season games, and a GNAC Tournament first-round game in 2014.
-- Both of this week's games will feature three of the top 10 scorers in the GNAC on the court at the same time. On Thursday, it'll be No. 4 Suzanna Ohlsen of SPU (16.9 points per game), along with No. 9 Taylor Peacocke (14.8) and No. 10 Katie Colard (14.6) of Western Washington. On Saturday, it'll be Ohlsen, No. 1 Erin Chambers (24.7) and No. 8 Meg Wilson (14.9) of Simon Fraser.
-- Ohlsen was MVP, and Peacocke made the all-tournament team at SPU's Sodexo Tip-Off Classic, and WWU's West Region Crossover Classic on back-to-back November weekends. Colard also made the West Region Crossover all-tourney team.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 8-10 against WWU and head coach Carmen Dolfo.
- Heisey's record against Simon Fraser and head coach Bruce Langford is 4-7.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 6-4, 0-1 GNAC (8^th)
All-time series: WWU leads, 53-27. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 68, WWU 62 (Feb. 1, 2014 at Bellingham). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell:  It has been a mixed bag for Western Washington so far. In their final game before the holidays, the Vikings stopped a two-game losing streak by routing Southern Indiana in non-conference play, 71-50, as 5-foot-9 senior guard Katie Colard pumped in 20 points. She and 5-9 sophomore guard Taylor Peacocke are capable of doing plenty of damage to opposing teams, posting nearly identical offensive stats. Peacocke averages 14.8 points on .477 shooting. She put up an eye-popping double-double of 27 points and 17 rebounds in a 79-74 loss to then-undefeated Azusa Pacific on Nov. 21. Colard is right behind at 14.6 and .474 shooting. She poured in 40 points (25 and 15) in last year's two games against the Falcons. Junior center Kayla Bernsen, at 6-3, is effective at both ends of the court. She averages 12.7 points, shoots .527 from the field, and collects a team-leading average of 6.7 rebounds.
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 5-4, 1-0 GNAC (3^rd) 
All-time series: Simon Fraser leads, 18-7. Current series streak: SF won 4. Last time: SF 87, SPU 79; March 5, 2014 at Lacey, Wash. (GNAC first round). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser has been up and down through the first month of the season, and comes into 2015 on a two-game losing streak, both of them at home against Cal State Dominguez Hills. Regardless, there's no question that 6-foot-1 senior guard / forward Erin Chambers is going to see the ball as often as possible. She is averaging 24.7 points per game – No. 1 in the GNAC and No. 2 in all of Division II – on .450 shooting from the field and .898 accuracy from the free throw line. In nine games, Chambers has been below 20 points just once and has two games of more than 30. Meg Wilson, a 6-1 junior forward, gets her share of the offensive action, as well, averaging 14.9 points and shooting a GNAC-best .556 from the floor. She also averages 8.9 rebounds per game, started the season with three consecutive double-doubles, and currently has four. Her rebound average includes four per game at the offensive end. Senior guard Katie Lowen scores at a 12.6 clip, and is downtown sharpshooter, hitting .433 (29 of 67) from behind the arc.
               
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Aubree Callen scored 18 points, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 17 as SPU rolled past Dixie State on Dec. 17 in the Las Vegas Challenge, 91-63.
-- Ohlsen drilled 21 points on 75 percent shooting from the field as the Falcons finished a two-game sweep of the Las Vegas Challenge on Dec. 18 by downing Holy Names, 82-46.
 
COACH JULIE HEISEY SAYS …
(On coming  back from the seven-day break)
"Our team is doing a great job. That's one thing I've always appreciated about our kids: Christmas break is a good thing. Everyone comes back rested, but I think they come back better. … I don't know what it is, but they come back, and you can tell there's a freshness, and that's good."

 

(On Western Washington)
"Western can score (and) they can do it in a lot of different ways. If you look at their top three or four scorers, whether it's (Taylor) Peacocke or (Katie) Colard, or (Kayla) Bernsen, they're averaging 14 points a game, 12 points a game. Sydney Donaldson is getting her 7 or 8 or 9, Jenni White is getting 7, 8 or 9 – and they have Tia Briggs coming off the bench. That's a lot of people on any given night capable of getting 20 or more points. Western has a lot of depth, and they just know how to win."
 
(On Simon Fraser)
"Erin Chambers right now is amazing. … She's just really good when the ball is in her hands. They have a lot of weapons. They're able to defend, and they're so long – they have three starters over 6 feet tall – that's long. It's just knowing how to play against their length. Simon Fraser is very fundamental, and they pass the ball so well."
 
OHLSEN ON TARGET
In her two games at the Las Vegas Challenge, senior point guard Suzanna Ohlsen blistered the Orleans Arena nets at a 65.2 percent clip (15 of 23). That included 75 percent (9 of 12) in the 82-46 rout of Holy Names on Dec. 18.

 

Her performance in just those two games boosted Ohlsen's shooting percentage for the season a whopping 24 point to .564. That ranks No. 1 in the GNAC – albeit by just eight points ahead of Simon Fraser's Meg Wilson (.556) and is No. 30 in NCAA Division II.
 
A lot of basketball remains to be played, but Ohlsen has a legitimate chance to finish among SPU's all-time top 10 for field goal percentage. The program record for one season is .578 by Valerie Gustafson in 2003-04. The 10^th-place mark (and it's actually a tie for No. 9) is .551 for Rachel Strand in 2006-07 and Ashley Miller in 1999-2000. The most recent Falcon to finish above .500 for the year (with a minimum 150 attempts) is Rachel Murray in 2011-12 at .552.
 
KINGMA: TOP 10 HERE, TOP 20 THERE
It's no secret that Betsy Kingma is shooting better than ever from behind the 3-point line. She comes into this week just one make shy of the .500 mark, having drained 34 of 70. Those 34 makes are tied for No. 8 in Division II and No. 1 in the GNAC, both with Western Washington's Katie Colard.
 
Their matching .486 percentage marks are tied for No. 2 in the GNAC and No. 19 nationally. The only conference player ahead of them is Alisha Breen of Montana State Billings at .500 (15 of 30).
 
WHO YA GONNA STOP?
With four players averaging in double figures, Seattle Pacific has the second-highest total of any GNAC team in that department.

 

While Suzanna Ohlsen is scoring 16.9 points, per game, senior forward / center Maddey Pflaumer is at 12.2, senior guard Aubree Callen is at 12.1, and senior guard Betsy Kingma is at 11.4.
 
The only conference team with more than that is Alaska Anchorage, which has six averaging anywhere from 13.4 to 10.3.

SIX ISN'T ENOUGH FOR McPHEE
In her first college start, freshman guard Jordan McPhee pulled down a career-high six rebounds in a 79-58 victory against Northwest University on Dec. 13 in Brougham Pavilion.
 
But McPhee (Normandy Park, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) apparently isn't one for being satisfied very long. Just four nights later, she boarded even better, finishing with eight in a 91-63 rout of Dixie State in the Las Vegas Challenge.
 
Those two performances account for almost half of McPhee's current season total of 29 rebounds (2.9 per game for 10 games).
 
GOTTA LIKE THESE TRENDS
-- The Falcons have shot better than 50 percent from the field in four of their last six games.
-- After a pair of sub-par games at the free throw line (.500 and .645), SPU has hit .778 (7 of 9), .929 (26 of 28), and .800 (12 of 15) in its last three.
- -For the season, the Falcons have earned assists on 169 of their 265 field goals – meaning 63.8 percent of their baskets have been assisted. Those totals include 22 assists on 30 hoops (73.3 percent) in the 82-46 victory against Holy Names on Dec. 18. The highest percentage (87.5 percent) was in an 85-58 loss to Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 6, when  the team had 14 assists, but hit just 16 field goals.
-- Seattle Pacific has been in double-digit steals six times in 10 games, including a season-high 15 against Holy Names.
 
POLLING PLACE
The next USA Today Sports / WBCA national poll won't be released until next Tuesday, Jan. 6. In the most recent rankings, released on Dec. 16, Seattle Pacific as at No. 19.
 
A new D2SIDA national poll was released on Dec. 23, and the Falcons climbed four spots to No. 10. Emporia State of Kansas is a near-unanimous No. 1, receiving all but one of the 16 first-place votes. The other vote went to Alaska Anchorage, which is tied for No. 4. The Seawolves and Falcons remain 1-2 in the D2SIDA West Region poll. Both the national and regional polls are conducted by sports information directors.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
SPU is (out of 289 Division II teams) …
-- 8^th in free throw percentage (.780)
-- 13^th in 3-point percentage (.401)
-- 25^th in assists per game (16.9)
-- 27^th in field goal percentage (.454)
-- 28^th in average points scored (77.8)
 
Click on this link to see where SPU and its players rank in all Division II statistics. Click on this link to see how GNAC teams and players rank nationally.
               
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th 3-pointer      Aubree Callen (has 99)
100^th point             Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 97)
                                 Molly Grager (has 90)
 
MILESTONES MADE RECENTLY (DEC. 17-18)
100^th 3-pointer      Suzanna Ohlsen (has 101)
100^th assist           Betsy Kingma (has 103)
200^th point             Hannah Rodrigues (has 215)
600^th point             Betsy Kingma (has 608)
 
UP NEXT
SPU's three-game road stretch to start 2015 concludes next Saturday at Montana State Billings. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. PST. That will be the 13^th game of the season, bringing the Falcons to the midpoint of their overall schedule.
 
The next home game will be Thursday, Jan. 15, against Northwest Nazarene at 5:15 p.m. in Brougham.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Alaska Anchorage                2-0        12-0
Central Washington             2-0           7-3
Simon Fraser                         1-0           5-4
Seattle Pacific                        1-1           9-1
Montana State Billings         1-1           9-3
Western Oregon                    1-1           4-6
Northwest Nazarene            1-1           3-8
Western Washington            0-1           6-4
Alaska Fairbanks                  0-2           8-4
Saint Martin's                         0-2           3-7