THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 10 Seattle Pacific at Mont. St. Billings, 6:00 p.m. PST Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
Live Webcast Live stats Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF) Check out some of Andrew Towell's latest SPU photo galleries:
-- SPU vs. San Francisco State
-- SPU vs. Alaska Anchorage SEATTLE – The end of the women's basketball road is in sight for Seattle Pacific.
The Falcons, now up to No. 14 in one national poll and No. 7 in another, wind up their longest stretch of away games this week when they visit Montana State Billings on Saturday. Tip-off in Alterowitz Gymnasium is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
For SPU (11-1), this will be the fifth straight game outside of Brougham Pavilion. It began with two games at the Las Vegas Challenge in mid December, and resumed last week with Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests at Western Washington and Simon Fraser.
Less-than-friendly environs notwithstanding, the Falcons have won all four of those. Along with a victory against Northwest University on Dec. 13 in their last home game, they will put a five-game winning streak on the line against the defending conference champion Yellowjackets (9-5, 1-3 GNAC).
At 3-1 in conference play, SPU starts the week tied for first place with Alaska Anchorage.
FOLLOW IT LIVELive 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.
FALCONS FEATURED ON GNAC INSIDER
SPU senior guards Suzanna Ohlsen and Aubree Callen were featured on the weekly GNAC Insider podcast, which airs every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Their segment was the first one on the show. For those who missed it or simply want to hear it again, click on this link. NOT ONE, BUT TWO GNAC AWARDSWin a pair of big games on the road, and people take notice. The GNAC certainly has, naming Suzanna Ohlsen as the Player of the Week and the Falcons as the Team of the Week for their individual and collective performances at Western Washington and Simon Fraser last Thursday and Saturday. 
Suzanna OhlsenOhlsen delivered 43 points in the two games combined on 50 percent shooting from the field (16 of 32). She got 24 points handed out six assists, had five steals and did not commit a turnover in 34 minutes of the 74-64 win at Western. Two nights later at Simon, she contributed 19 points, four rebounds, four steals, and two assists in 36 minutes of a 61-56 victory. That is Ohlsen's second Player of the Week honor this season and the fourth of her career. The Falcons had never swept a road set from the Vikings and Clan since Simon Fraser joined the conference in the fall of 2010.SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?-- Saturday's game will complete a stretch of
three straight on the road against last year's
top GNAC finishers, as Billings was first, Western Washington was second, and Simon Fraser tied for third.
-- It also will be the
midpoint of the season – the 13
th of 26 games.
-- Seattle Pacific's
last victory in Alterowitz Gymnasium was 70-56 on Feb. 18, 2012.
Aubree Callen pumped in 17 points that night.
-- The last time SPU was 11-1 was the 2008-09 season, on the way to a 13-1 start.
-- The Nos. 2, 3 and 4 scorers the GNAC will share the court on Saturday.
Kayleen Goggins of the Jackets is averaging 19.3 points, SPU's
Suzanna Ohlsen is at 17.7, and MSUB's
Alisha Breen is at 16.6.
-- Both teams had to replace their leading scorers after last season. SPU's
Katie Benson graduated with her 19.3 scoring average, and MSUB's
Bobbi Knudson cap-and-gowned it after averaging 17.2 points.
-- The Falcons'
76.1 scoring average through 12 games is
7.9 points ahead of last year at the same time, and their 60.2 points allowed is 1.4 fewer than after a dozen games in 2013-14.
-- SPU head coach
Julie Heisey is 10-5 all-time against the Yellowjackets and their head coach,
Kevin Woodin. Heisey's teams are 4-3 in Alterowitz.
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 9-5, 1-3 GNAC (10th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 21-19.
Current series streak: MSUB won 1.
Last time: MSUB 74, SPU 59 (Feb. 8, 2014 at Billings).
Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: After forging a four-game winning streak prior to the holiday break, Billings had a rough road trip last week, falling 74-73 on a last-second shot at Simon Fraser, then coming up way short at Western Washington, 100-51.
Kayleen Goggins, a 6-foot-1 senior center, has taken on a huge share of the scoring load, averaging 19.3 points that is second in the GNAC, trailing only the 24.1 of Simon's Erin Chambers. Goggins also is pulling down 7.1 rebounds per game, tied for the fifth-best mark in the conference. Sophomore guard
Alisha Breen is averaging 16.6 points per game, a jump of nearly 10 points from her freshman average of 6.7. And, despite being just 5-10, she leads the Jackets on the boards at 7.3 per game. Breen can hit from anywhere on the court, shooting .472 overall, .486 from downtown and .835 from the foul line. Senior forward
Quinn Peoples, at 5-11, is averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 boards. She leads Billings in 3-point makes with 31, the fourth-best total in the GNAC.
FALCONS REPLAY-- Senior guards
Suzanna Ohlsen and
Aubrey Callen combined for 46 points, helping the Falcons rally from an 11-point first-half deficit to beat Western Washington in Carver Gym last Thursday,
74-64.
-- Ohlsen tallied 19 points, Callen had 17, and
Hannah Rodrigues chipped in 15 as SPU once again came from 11 points down in the first half and won at Simon Fraser last Saturday,
61-56, handing the Clan their first conference defeat.
SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Julie HeiseyCoach Julie Heisey on last week's victories:"Our ability to do different things on defense and taking care of the ball has been huge. We beat both of those teams without one of our starting post players, and, even though we got out-rebounded, I thought we showed toughness and will in blocking out bigger bodies."
Senior Aubree Callen on how much more the Falcons still can improve this season:"I think we have a lot left in our bucket. We've really come together as a team the last couple weeks. We've been playing great defense. That has kind of been our motto. We've kind of wanted that to be in our name, and we've really developed in that area."
Senior Suzanna Ohlsen on SPU's balance:"We have a lot of offensive threats on this team. Aubree is having a fantastic season offensively, and
Betsy Kingma is one of the best shooters in the league. As a team playing against SPU, if you take away one thing, someone else is going to have a great night."
POLLING PLACEWhether it's a panel of coaches or a group of sports information directors, the Falcons climbed considerably higher in this week's national polls.
In the
USA Today Sports / Women's Basketball Coaches of America rankings, SPU moved up five spots to No. 14. SPU was not even among "others receiving votes" in the preseason poll that came out on Nov. 25. It moved in at No. 23 on Dec. 2, climbed to No. 21 on Dec. 9, and was No. 19 on Dec. 16, the last poll before the holidays. SPU and No. 7 Alaska Anchorage are the only GNAC teams – indeed, the only West Region teams – in the top 25. A total of six other West schools received votes.
The Falcons are tied for No. 7 with Northern State of South Dakota in the
D2SIDA national poll. That one is voted on by information directors. They have been as high as No. 5 in that one, fell to No. 19 after an 85-58 loss to Anchorage, but now have worked their way back into the top 10.
Seattle Pacific also is back atop the
D2SIDA West Region poll, leapfrogging UAA after the Seawolves lost at home to Northwest Nazarene last Thursday, 79-64.
EMPHASIS ON EFFICIENCYApproaching the midpoint of the season, sophomore guard
Rachel Shim and junior center
Molly Grager haven't quite played as many minutes as they did all of last year – but they already have better numbers in some areas.
Rachel ShimShim (Sammamish, Wash. / Skyline HS) has 85 minutes in 11 games, and has more field goals (7-5), rebounds (14-9), assists (11-7), steals (6-5) and points 25-23) than she logged in 15 games totaling 93 minutes last season.
Grager (Kirkland, Wash. / Juanita HS) has 211 minutes in 12 games, with four starts. She had tied last season's total field goals (18), and has exceeded her totals for assists (13-12) and points (44-42). Her scoring average of 3.7 points is more than double her 2013-14 average of 1.6.
LOVIN' IT FROM LONG RANGEIf senior guards
Aubree Callen,
Betsy Kingma, and
Suzanna Ohlsen keep up their pace from behind the 3-point arc, all three potentially could finish among SPU's all-time single-season and career top 10 by the time the play their final game.
Betsy KingmaIncluding this season's stats, Kingma currently sits No. 3 in all-time career percentage at .400, trailing only Mandy Wood (.406 from 2002-06) and Lynne Roberts (.404 from 1993-97). Callen is fourth at .400. Ohlsen is at .350 for her career; the 10th-place mark on the list is .367 for Jennifer Riggan (1992-93).
Kingma currently owns the sixth-best all-time single-season percentage of .432 (38 of 88 in 2011-12). Her percentage so far this season is .455 (35 of 77). Callen is at .467, and Ohlsen is at .447. If everything ended now, Callen would have the third-best mark, Kingman would have the sixth-best, and Ohlsen the seventh-best. The current top 10 ranges from .480 at No. 1 (Mandy Wood 36 of 75 in 2003) to .403 at No. 10 (
Chantel Vinson 29 of 72 in 1997).
SHARPSHOOTERS FROM ALL OVER THE COURTWhether they're driving for a lay-in, launching from long range under defensive pressure, or taking an uncontested shot at the free throw line, the Falcons are hitting the bottom of the basket with enough consistency to gain some national notice. In this week's NCAA Division II statistics, released on Monday, Seattle Pacific is in the top 20 nationally in all three categories. The team ranks No. 3 in 3-point shooting at 40.8 percent, No. 6 from the foul line at 78.4 percent, and No. 20 from the field overall at 45.6 percent. All three of those marks are the second-highest in the GNAC. Western Washington leads all three categories in the conference stats: 48.4 from the field, 41.5 from behind the arc, and 80.4 from the foul line.NATIONALLY SPEAKING
SPU is (out of 289 Division II teams) …-- 3
rd in 3-point percentage (.408)
-- 6
th in free throw percentage (.784)
-- 20
th in field goal percentage (.456)
-- 36
th in assist / turnover ratio (1.05)
-- 38
th in assists (16.0)
- -41
st in average points scored (76.1)
In addition,
Suzanna Ohlsen ranks 15
th in steals (3.18), and
Betsy Kingma is 30
th in 3-pointers made per game (2.92) and 31
st in 3-point percentage (.455).
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
100th point Molly Grager (has 96)
100th game Aubree Callen (has 99)
200th rebound Betsy Kingma (has 186)
200th free throw Suzanna Ohlsen (has 193)
400th field goal Suzanna Ohlsen (has 398)
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100th 3-pointer Aubree Callen (has 104)
100th point Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 103)
AROUND THE GNACClick on
this link for results, stats, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
UP NEXTAfter more than a month since last tipping off in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcons will be back in their familiar surroundings next week. They'll take on
Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 5:15 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader, followed by the
SPU men against
Alaska Anchorage at 7:30. On Saturday,
Central Washington will be in town for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off in a doubleheader nightcap. Seattle Pacific's men face
Alaska Fairbanks in the 5:15 p.m. opener.
That will begin a stretch of five home games in the next seven. The only road trips during the next four weeks will be to Western Oregon on Jan. 22, and to Saint Martin's on Jan. 24.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC OverallAlaska Anchorage 3-1 13-1
Seattle Pacific 3-1 11-1
Simon Fraser 2-1 6-5
Alaska Fairbanks 2-2 10-4
Central Washington 2-2 7-5
Northwest Nazarene 2-2 4-9
Western Washington 1-2 7-5
Saint Martin's 1-2 4-7
Western Oregon 1-2 4-7
Montana State Billings 1-3 9-5
