GNAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Marcus Pavilion at Saint Martin's University / Lacey, Wash.
Live Webcasts and live stats (ALL GAMES)
 
\Wednesday, March 5: FIRST ROUND
Game  1     (3) Alaska Anchorage (1907) vs. (6) Saint Martin's (17-10), 5:15 p.m.
Game  2     (4) Simon Fraser (17-8) vs. No. 5 Seattle Pacific (18-8), 7:30 p.m.
 
Friday, March 7: SEMIFINALS
Game 3     Winner 1 vs. (2) Western Washington (17-9), 5:15 p.m.
Game 4     Winner 2 vs. (1) Montana State Billings (23-6), 7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, March 9: CHAMPIONSHIP
Game 5    Winner 3 vs. Winner 4, 7:30 p.m.
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        GNAC Tournament preview (PDF)
        GNAC Tournament home page (HTML)
                 
SEATTLE – This time, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are determined to make it their turn to come out ahead.
 
After coming up short in both regular-season games against Simon Fraser, SPU gets another crack at the Clan on Wednesday when they make the short drive to Lacey for the first round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament.
 
Seattle Pacific, the No. 5 seed in the six-team tournament, and No. 4 Simon Fraser tip off in Marcus Pavilion on the Saint Martin's University campus at 7:30 p.m. On the line is a spot in Friday's semifinal against top-seed and regular-season champion Montana State Billings.
 
The Falcons and Clan first met on Jan. 4 in Brougham Pavilion. SPU built a 12-point second-half lead, but Simon Fraser stormed back to pull out a 63-60 victory.
 
In a rematch on Jan. 30 in Canada, Seattle Pacific was down by just one at 49-48 with 9:25 left in the game when the Clan embarked on a 17-2 scoring run and went on to win, 77-68.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All five tournament games will have live Webcasts and live stats through Stretch Internet. Links are at the top of this story. This year's championship games will not be televised.
 
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The tournament will follow the same schedule as previous years. The top two teams in the final standings (Montana State Billings and Western Washington) receive first-round byes, advancing directly to the semifinals. Billings gets the winner of the No. 4-5 game, and Western takes on the No. 3-6 winner. The tournament champion gets the GNAC's automatic bid to the West Regionals, joining the CCAA and Pacific West winners. Other GNAC teams in the top eight of the final regional rankings also will make regionals.

TICKET TALK
Tournement tickets can be purchased online at a discount through midnight Tuesday. 
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY ON WEDNESDAY?
-- Since the GNAC Tournament began in 2011, the Falcons have a 2-3 record. They are 2-1 in first-round games, including last year's 63-60 victory against Montana State Billings.
-- This is the third straight year SPU and Simon Fraser have met in the tournament. In 2012, the Clan prevailed in the first round, 69-61. Last year, the Falcons fell to Simon in the semifinals, 66-55.
-- Thursday's game will match the GNAC's top two scorers in Simon Fraser's Erin Chambers (22.7) and SPU's Katie Benson (19.4).
-- That also was the case during both regular-season games, with Chambers at No. 1 and Benson at No. 2. Benson outscored Chambers in both, 25-15 in Seattle, and 23-20 in Burnaby.
-- Those two also are next to each other in field goal shooting, with Benson sitting No. 6 at .504, followed by Chambers at .487.
-- Also statistically close are guards Suzanna Ohlsen of the Falcons and Marie-Line Petit of the Clan. Ohlsen has averages 3.8 assists (100 in 26 games), Petit is at 3.7 (92 in 25 games).
-- Ohlsen has hit 37 straight free throws. Her .911 percentage leads the GNAC and is No. 5 in Division II.
-- SPU and Simon Fraser are among the better shot-blocking teams in D2. The Falcons rank 21st among the 287 schools at 4.7 per game; the Clan are 24th at 4.6.
-- Simon Fraser leads the all-time series, 17-7. Since joining the GNAC in 2010-11, the Clan and coach Bruce Langford have a 6-4 edge on the Falcons and coach Julie Heisey.
-- This is the first time SPU has been a No. 5 tournament seed. It previously has been No. 3 (2011), No. 4 (2012), and No. 6 (2013).
-- The Falcons already have a victory on the Marcus Pavilion court this season, having beaten Saint Martins by a 54-44 count on Feb. 20.
-- Heisey's teams are 9-3 all-time in Marcus.
 
COACH JULIE HEISEY SAYS …
(On Simon Fraser)
"Simon Fraser is very capable offensively. They can go on runs. They're very good shooters, and the spread the floor out. They're either getting lay-ups or 3s, noting in between. We have a challenge there to find a way to play better defense and not give them open looks, or they'll hit them."
 
(On winning a tough regular-season finale against Fairbanks)
"I'm glad it was a close game. I think we learned a lot because of the situation tonight. We were down by 10, we didn't shoot the ball well, and (the Nanooks) never went away. Those are situations that come into play in tournaments. It shows us that defense and rebounding and taking care of the ball and hitting free throws are big. We have to keep building on that."
 
(On Katie Benson and Suzanna Ohlsen making All-GNAC)
"I think they're both very deserving. Katie has been one of the best players in the league for the past two years. She has had an amazing senior year. … Suzanna has to do a lot for our team. She has worked really hard. I'm happy other coaches recognized the level of play she brings every night."
                                                                                     
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 17-8, 12-6 GNAC (tie 3^rd)
All-time series: SF leads, 17-7. Current series streak: SF won 3. Last time: SF 77, SPU 68 (Jan. 30, 2014 at Burnaby, B.C.). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser has lost two of its last three, both in tough road venues: 87-71 at Alaska Anchorage, and 72-63 in last Saturday's regular-season finale at Western Washington. Junior guard / forward Erin Chambers continues to score at her 22.7 conference-leading pace. She has led the Clan's point production in 20 of their 25 games, with two outings of 30 or more. On those rare nights when Chambers isn't piling up the points, junior guard Katie Lowen can take over. She has led Simon Fraser in four of the five games when Chambers hasn't, and is averaging 11 points per game – the only Clan player besides Chambers in double figures. It was Lowen's 23 points that topped the scoresheet when Simon Fraser beat SPU at the end of January in Canada. Of those, 15 came from behind the 3-point arc. The Falcons also will have to pay attention to senior guard Marie-Line Petit. She doesn't often put up big numbers, but is very effective a doing a lot of everything. When the teams met in Burnaby, Petit had nine points, seven rebounds, four assists, and one steal in 23 minutes.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
– The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves went on a decisive 11-0 run beyond the midpoint of the second half last Thursday to beat SPU in Brougham Pavilion, 76-65.
– Suzanna Ohlsen scored 17 points and dished four assists on Saturday night, and Betsy Kingma chipped in 14 points, with 12 of those from downtown, and Hannah Rodrigues grabbed a career-high nine rebounds as SPU beat Alaska Fairbanks, 69-56.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
The Falcons did not have any double-doubles last week. Senior forward Katie Benson remains the only SPU player with double-doubles this season, and is the only currently active Falcon with double-doubles.
2013-14 double-doubles:
Katie Benson (8 season, 18 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; 26 pts-12 reb at Western Oregon, Feb. 22.
 
THAT CAREER HIGH DIDN'T LAST LONG
As her freshman season has progressed, Hannah Rodrigues has become a bigger factor on the boards for SPU. That was especially evident last week.
 
On Thursday against Alaska Anchorage, Rodrigues (Eugene, Ore.) pulled down eight rebounds, beating her old high of seven that she set on Feb. 15 in Brougham against Northwest Nazarene. What's's more, she pumped in a career-high 17 points that night, way better than her old high of 10 on Jan. 16 at NNU.

Just 48 hours later, Rodrigues did herself one better with nine rebounds against Alaska Fairbanks. That performance pushed her past 100 for her career. She starts this week with 108. Rodrigues also went beyond 100 career points on Thursday, and now is up to 123.
 
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME
Sidelined for too many games and too many minutes by a knee injury, senior guard Mechela Barnes has shown in the past three games what she can do when those knees are a little more cooperative.
 
Through the first nine games that she was able to play, the 5-foot-6 Barnes (Tacoma, Wash. / Bellarmine Prep HS) averaged 1.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 9.0 minutes. But beginning with the game at Western Oregon on Feb. 22 when she scored 11 second-half points to help spark a 76-64 victory, Barnes is averaging 8.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in an average of 16 minutes a game.
 
Those same three games yielded her first two double-digit scoring nights of the season. In addition to the 11 at Western Oregon, Barnes tallied 10 in last Saturday's 69-56 victory against Alaska Fairbanks.
 
BOMBS AWAY
When Seattle Pacific meets Simon Fraser in Wednesday's GNAC first-round game, three of the best long-range shooters in the conference will be on the floor, sometimes all at once.
 
Betsy Kingma of the Falcon, Katie Lowen of the Clan, and teammate Erin Chambers, rank No. 3-4-5 in the conference for 3-pointers made. Kingma has nailed 57 (2.2 per game), Lowen 50 (2.1), and Chambers 49 (2.0).
 
In terms of accuracy, Kingma (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS) is No. 10 in the GNAC at .350, Lowen is 11th at .345, and Chambers 13th at .336. None of them are shy about shooting it, either: Kingma has launched 163, Lowen 145 and Chambers 146.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
SPU is (out of 287 Division II teams) …
-- 21^st in blocked shots (4.7).
-- 31^st in free throw percentage (.753).
-- 51^st in field goal defense (.373).
-- 59^th in scoring defense (63.0).
 
Katie Benson is …
-- 31^st in scoring (19.4).
 
Suzanna Ohlsen is …
-- 5^th in free throw shooting (.911).

Click on this link to see how the Falcons and other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
TRACKING THOSE GNAC TOP 10s
-- Katie Benson 2^nd scoring (19.4), 2^nd rebounding (9.1), tie 5^th blocked shots (1.5), 6^th field goal shooting (.504), tie 8^th steals (1.8).
-- Betsy Kingma 3^rd in 3-pointers made (2.2), tie 3^rd in assist / turnover ratio (1.7), 9^th minutes played (30.6), 10^th in 3-point percentage (.350).
-- Suzanna Ohlsen 1st free throw shooting (.911), tie 3rd steals (2.1), 4th minutes played (32.3), 6th assists (3.8), tie 8th scoring (13.9), tie 10th assist / turnover ratio (1.2).

Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC statistical leaders.
 
AROUND THE WEST REGION
Both the California Collegiate Athletic Association and the Pacific West will conduct their conference tournaments this week, along with the GNAC.
 
The CCAA tournament is Thursday through Saturday in Ontario, Calif. Top seed Cal Poly Pomona and No. 2 Chico State have first-round byes in the six-team gathering. Chico gets the winner of No. 3 Cal State Dominguez Hills vs. No. 6 Cal State East Bay, and Pomona awaits the No. 4 UC San Diego-No. 5 Cal State Los Angeles winner. Those four first-round teams all finished with 13-9 conference records.
 
With the exception of East Bay, which won both of its games, the other five teams all split their final two regular-season games last week.
 
The Pac West tournament is Thursday through Saturday in San Diego, with No. 1 Academy of Art and No. 2 Cal Baptist having first-round byes. Art gets the winner of No. 4 Dixie State-No. 5 Dominican, and Cal Baptist awaits the Hawaii Pacific-Hawaii Hilo winner. Academy of Art (21-7) and Cal Baptist (15-11) split their final two regular season games; Hawaii Pacific (17-9) is on a three-game winning streak.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
200^th point             Riley Butler (has 192)
500^th point             Betsy Kingma (has 483)
600^th field goal     Katie Benson (has 591)
900^th point             Mechela Barnes (has 893)
                                 Suzanna Ohlsen (has 874)
               
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100th 3-pointer    Betsy Kingma (has 101)
100th point            Hannah Rodrigues (has 123)
100th rebound     Hannah Rodrigues (has 108)
200th rebound     Maddey Pflaumer (has 207)
                                 Suzanna Ohlsen (has 201)
300th field goal    Suzanna Ohlsen (has 310)
1,600th point        Katie Benson (has 1,628)
 
POLLING PLACE
The final NCAA West Region rankings of the season will be released on Wednesday. It might have a lot of shakeup – or very little. Of the 10 teams in last week's rankings, seven split their final two games: No. 1 Cal Poly Pomona, No. 4 Settle Pacific, No. 5 Chico State, No. 6 Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 7 Academy of Art, No. 8 Alaska Anchorage, and No. 9 UC San Diego. Montana State Billings, which was No. 1 in the first poll, but No. 2 last week, swept its two games. Simon Fraser, at No. 3, lost its only game, that coming at No. 9 Western Washington, which also didn't have any other games.
                                                             
At the end of the conference tournaments, the three champions – GNAC, CCAA, and Pacific West – earn automatic bids to the NCAA West Regionals. The remaining spots will be filled by the five highest-ranked teams among the non-champions. Selections will be announced on Sunday at 7 p.m.
 
Cal Poly Pomona, at No.18, is the only West Region school in the top 25 of this week's USA Today Sports / WBCA national poll that was released on Tuesday. Montana State Billings, Simon Fraser, Alaska Anchorage, and Western Washington all received votes. Unbeaten Bentley of Massachusetts (27-0) is a unanimous No. 1 and now the only remaining unbeaten team after Colorado Mesa (25-1) took its first loss of the season last week.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, stats, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
From here on, it's win or go home. If the Falcons beat Simon Fraser on Wednesday, they'll face Montana State Billings in the semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The winner of that game plays for the tournament championship on Saturday at 7:30, all at Saint Martin's.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC                    Overall
Montana State Billings       15-3                          23-6
Western Washington          13-5                         17-9
Alaska Anchorage               12-6                         19-7
Simon Fraser                       12-6                         17-8
Seattle Pacific                      11-7                         18-8
Saint Martin's                       11-7                         17-10
Northwest Nazarene             8-10                       15-11
Alaska Fairbanks                   3-15                         9-17
Western Oregon                    3-15                         6-20
Central Washington              2-16                         7-19