THE SCHEDULE:
Saturday, February 8         SPU at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PST
                                                Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                                Live Webcast and live stats       
 

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Coach Julie Heisey was right: Nothing about the Seattle Pacific women's basketball schedule is going to get any easier.
 
One week after scoring a big victory in a tough Western Washington gym, the Falcons will be playing in just as tough a place on Saturday when they visit first-place Montana State Billings on the Yellowjackets' home floor in Alterowitz Gymnasium. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Billings (16-5, 9-2 GNAC), the preseason favorite, has pulled two games clear of the rest of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with seven games remaining. They've done so thanks to a six-game winning streak that began after a 63-57 loss at SPU on Jan. 11.
 
The Falcons (14-5, 7-4 GNAC), tabbed for second in the preseason coaches poll, had a five-game win streak snapped last Thursday at Simon Fraser, but bounced back two nights later with a 68-62 win at Western. They are part of a four-way tie for second with Alaska Anchorage, Saint Martin's, and Western Washington coming into this week.
 
Saturday's game will the last of three straight away from home. Of their six remaining regular-season games, SPU will play four at home in Brougham Pavilion.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and a free live Webcast will be available from this week's game, and for all GNAC contests through the rest of the regular 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.
 
ALL-DISTRICT ACADEMIC HONORS FOR OHLSEN, BENSON
Junior guard Suzanna Ohlsen has been voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team for the second straight year, and senior forward Katie Benson made the squad for the first time.
                                                                                 
Now well into her junior year, Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) continues to maintain her perfect 4.0 grade-point average as a biochemistry major. On the court, she is averaging career-best marks of 13.3 points and 4.1 assists per game through 19 games. Just last week, she dished out her 200th career assist, and once again is SPU's leader at the free throw line with an 88.5 percent success rate.
 
Benson has a 3.72 GPA as a communications major. Not only is she SPU's top scorer (20.2 points per game) and rebounder (9.5), she also is No. 2 in the GNAC in both departments, and is 23rd among all NCAA Division II scorers.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- A victory in Billings would lift the Falcons to 10 games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2010-11 season, when they finished 20-9.
-- Seattle Pacific is the top team in the GNAC when it comes to winning in other gyms. The Falcons are 6-2 in true road games and 2-0 on neutral courts.
-- Montana State Billings, however, is the only conference team with a perfect homecourt record. The Yellowjackets are 9-0 in Alterowitz Gymnasium. That includes beating Simon Fraser by 18 points, Western Washington by 13, and Saint Martin's by 19.
-- With a 21-18 lead overall, this remains Seattle Pacific's closest GNAC rivalry. It was tied at 18-18 after the Yellowjackets won last year in Billings, 66-56. But the Falcons won the return game in Brougham, won again in the first round of the GNAC Tournament, then won last month in Brougham, all by narrow margins: 76-71, 63-60, and 63-57, respectively.
-- The top two rebounders in the GNAC will go head to head on Saturday. Billings 5-foot-10 junior forward Janiel Olson averages 10.7 boards per game, and SPU 6-1 senior forward Katie Benson collects an average of 9.5 per contest. Both went for double-digits on Jan. 11 in Seattle: 14 for Olson, 10 for Benson.
-- Also matching up will be two of the GNAC's top five scorers (Benson No. 2 at 20.2, MSUB's Bobbi Knudsen No. 4 at 17.4), two of the top five passers (Knudsen No. 1 in assists at 5.9, SPU's Suzanna Ohlsen No. 5 at 4.1), and two of the top 10 shooters (Billings' Chelsea Banis No. 2 at .545, Benson No. 6 at .500).
-- SPU head coach Julie Heisey is 10-4 all-time against the Yellowjackets and their head coach, Kevin Woodin. Heisey's teams are 4-2 in Alterowitz.
 




SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKTETS: 16-5, 9-2 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 21-18. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 63, MSUB 57 (Jan. 11, 2014 at Seattle). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Not only has Montana State Billings been winning since its 63-57 loss at SPU last month, it has been winning big – sometimes in terms of margin (28 points at Central Washington, 22 vs. Western Oregon), sometimes in terms of magnitude (66-61 at Northwest Nazarene, 71-63 at Western Washington), sometimes both (75-56 vs. Saint Martin's, 76-61 at Simon Fraser). Senior guard Bobbi Knudsen, who was limited to just 12 points at Seattle Pacific, has been on a tear ever since. She has scored in the 20s in four of the last five games, pouring in 28 at Western last Thursday, and 21 at Simon on Saturday. Janiel Olson has hauled down double-digit rebounds in five of the last six games – and came close in the other game (nine against Western Oregon). The Yellowjackets, thanks in large part to Knudsen, continue to be the best ball-handling team in the GNAC, averaging just 12.4 turnovers per game (fifth-lowest total in D2). Knudsen has nearly twice as many assists (123) as turnovers (64) for a 1.92 assist / turnover ratio (No. 34 in D2).
 
COACH JULIE HEISEY SAYS …
(On Montana State Billings)
"Billings is a very good team. Bobbi Knudsen is one of the best players in the nation – no question she's an All-American. She does so much for that team. They're very versatile. They have a 6-4 player in Chelsea Banis who is shooting 56 or 57 percent from the field, Kayleen Goggins is a post player who can shoot from the 3 or post up, and she can drive, and Janiel Olson is a tremendous rebounder. If you give them an open 3, they can knock it down. We definitely have our work cut out for us."
 
(On what has happened between the last MSUB game and this one)
"The biggest difference is we're maturing. We're coming together, and we have to continue to do it. We're putting spurts of good basketball together, but now, those spurts have to be longer – good offense and good defense simultaneously. In those losses, we might play good offense, but not play good defense.
 
(On how tough it is to play the Yellowjackets in Montana)
"Billings is a tough place just because of who Billings is. They're a good shooting team anywhere, but that's their gym, and those kids shoot a lot there."
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Katie Benson scored 23 points last Thursday night, but Simon Fraser went on a 17-2 run to break open a one-point game and beat SPU in Burnaby, B.C., 77-68, ending the Falcons' five-game winning streak.
-- Besty Kingma scored 17 points, Suzanna Ohlsen added 15, and Molly Grager pulled down a career-high nine rebounds to lead Seattle Pacific past Western Washington in Bellingham on Saturday, 68-62.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
SPU did not record any double-doubles last week at Simon Fraser or Western Washington. Katie Benson has seven so far, and is the only Falcon with a double-double this winter or in her collegiate career.
                                                                                                                                    
2013-14 double-doubles:
Katie Benson (7 season, 17 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; 18 pts-10 reb vs. Montana State Billings, Jan. 11; 16 pts-14 reb vs. Western Oregon, Jan. 23.
 
SHE'S BA-A-A-CK
After missing four games with an injury, center / forward Maddey Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS) was back on the floor in both of Seattle Pacific's games last week.
 
Pflaumer started and played 23 minutes in Thursday's 77-68 loss at Simon Fraser, scoring two points and pulling down three rebounds. On Saturday at Western Washington, the 5-foot-11 sophomore came off the bench for 20 minutes, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds in a 68-62 win. Pflaumer got two of those points on a top-of-the-key jumper that barely beat the shot clock buzzer, giving SPU a 53-43 lead with 6:42 left in the game.
 
GET OUT THE BROOMS
The Falcons made good on their opportunity to give the school a three-sport sweep in Western Washington's Carver Gymnasium last Saturday.
 
Their 68-62 win came on the heels of a 76-60 men's basketball triumph on Jan. 15, and a 3-1 volleyball victory last Oct. 24. It's only the second time in SPU history that all three teams have won in Bellingham during the same school year. The only previous such occasion was 1997-98.
 
GRAGER WAS GR-R-R-EAT
Sophomore center Molly Grager (Kirkland, Wash. / Juanita HS) made her present felt last Saturday like never before during her Seattle Pacific career.
 
Grager corralled a career-high nine rebounds. Her previous best game in that department was six, a mark she had tied by halftime of SPU's 68-62 win. By the end of the game, she also had tied her career high for assists (2) and blocked shots (3). Her defensive presence also factored into a few other WWU missed shots.
 
 
"Molly did some things you don't see on the stat sheet," coach Julie Heisey said of Grager's performance. "Her long arms changed some of their shots, and they shot short."
 
TURNOVERS TURNAROUND
With just 12 turnovers in last Saturday's victory at Western Washington, Seattle Pacific now has eight games this season with fewer than 15 turnovers. That's more than the last two seasons combined (two such games last season, three in 2011-12).
 
A year ago through 19 games, the Falcons had committed 362 turnovers, an average of 19.1 per game (second-worst among the 10 GNAC teams), while they were forcing their opponents into just 15.9 per game. Through 19 games this season, they have just 287, an average of 15.1 per game (third-best in the conference), while forcing opponents into 15.5 per game.
 
AROUND THE WEST
With the first NCAA West Regional poll due out on Wednesday, Feb. 19,  any one of several teams could wind up in the top spot, and about a dozen are contending for spots in the top 10.
 
Cal Poly Pomona continues to lead the California Collegiate Athletic Association and is the only West Region team in the national rankings (tie for No. 16 this week). The Broncos, on a three-game winning streak are 15-3 overall, 12-2 in conferene play, and 14-3 against West opponents. Cal State Dominguez Hills is two games behind Pomona at 10-4 in the CCAA, 14-4 overall.
 
In the Pacific West, Azusa Pacific and Academy Art are tied for first place at 12-1, although Azusa, in just its second year as a Division II school, is not yet eligible for the regional tournament. Art is 15-6 overall, and has won five in a row. Hawaii Pacific is 13-6, 9-4 in conference play.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
-- Katie Benson 23^rd in NCAA D2 scoring (20.2).
-- Suzanna Ohlsen 22^nd in free throw shooting (.885).
-- SPU 12^th in blocked shots (4.9), 17^th in free throw shooting (.766).

Click on this link to see the Falcons and other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
TRACKING THOSE GNAC TOP 10s
-- Katie Benson 2^nd in scoring (20.2), 2^nd in rebounding (9.5), 5^th in blocked shots (1.6), 6^th in field goal shooting (.500), 6^th in steals (1.9).
-- Betsy Kingma tie 3^rd in 3-pointers made per game (2.1), tie 6^th in assist / turnover ratio (1.5), 9^th in minutes played (30.4), 10^th in 3-point percentage (.357).
-- Suzanna Ohlsen 2^nd in free throw percentage (.885), 4^th in minutes played (31.8), 5^th in assists (4.1), tie 6^th in steals (1.9), tie 8^th in assist / turnover ratio (1.4).

Click on this link for a complete view of GNAC stats.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th block            Katie Benson (has 98)
200^th point             Maddey Pflaumer (has 195)
700^th rebound       Katie Benson (has 691)
                                                                     
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
200^th assist           Suzanna Ohlsen (has 205)
1500^th point           Katie Benson (has 1507)
 
POLLING PLACE
The Falcons moved up in the 'others receiving votes' list in this week's USA Today Sports / WBCA national poll that was released on Tuesday. Seattle Pacific received 12 points, tying with Concordia-St. Paul and GNAC stablemate Northwest Nazarene for 32nd. No GNAC teams are in the top 25, but six of the 10 schools did receive votes. Montana State Billings picked up 26 point to rank 30th overall.
 
Cal Poly Pomona once again is the lone West Region team in the top 25, climbing one place into a tie for 16th. Unbeaten Bentley of Massachusetts (20-0) and Colorado Mesa (19-0) are 1-2.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, stats, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT                                                              
With the regular season heading toward a close, the Falcons are back home next week to take on Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene. The Wildcats are in Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 13, followed by NNU on Saturday the 15th, both at 5:15 p.m. Those will be the final two SPU doubleheaders of the season. The men will face Simon Fraser on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday, both at 7:30 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC                    Overall
Montana State Billings         9-2                          16-5
Alaska Anchorage                 7-4                          14-5
Seattle Pacific                        7-4                          14-5
Simon Fraser                         7-4                          12-6
Western Washington           7-4                          11-7
Saint Martin's                         6-4                          12-7
Northwest Nazarene            5-6                          12-7
Alaska Fairbanks                  3-8                            9-10
Western Oregon                    2-8                            5-13
Central Washington             1-10                          6-13