WEST REGION CROSSOVER CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 20             Seattle Pacific vs. UC San Diego, 3:00 p.m.
                                           Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
                                           Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 21          Seattle Pacific at Azusa Pacific, 7:30 p.m.
                                            Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
                                            Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – No one fully knew what to expect. Not the players. Not the coaches. Maybe not even the opponents.
 
But after recording a pair of double-digit blowout victories in the first preseason tournament of the year, expectations no doubt have risen a notch or two for the Seattle Pacific women's basketball team.
 
Coming off of a 24-point victory against host Humboldt State and a 46-point romp past Fresno Pacific last Friday and Saturday at the West Region Challenge, the Falcons return to California this weekend for the West Region Crossover Classic.
 
SPU takes on long-time regional rival UC San Diego on Friday at 3:00 p.m. in Azusa Pacific's Felix Event Center. Then on Saturday, it's the Falcons going against the host Cougars at 7:30 p.m.
 
Azusa, Seattle Pacific, and San Diego are ranked 3-4-5 in this week's D2SIDA West Region rankings, as voted on by sports information directors.
 
With an all-new starting five that included two sophomores, two juniors, and the team's only senior, Seattle Pacific led all the way in beating Humboldt State, 82-58. Then, with just 18 hours of rest between the first night's final buzzer and the next day's tip-off, the Falcons 89-43.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Free live Webcasts and live will be available from both games this weekend. Webcasts begin 10 minutes before tip-off each day. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
FALCONS EARN WEEKLY GNAC TEAM AWARD
SPU clearly caught the eyes of some people last weekend. That included those in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference office, who chose the Falcons as the Team of the Week for Nov. 9-14.
 
The award was the first for a Falcons team this year and is the school's eighth since the GNAC started the Team of the Week program in 2012-13. The women's basketball team also won it this past January after sweeping the Western Washington-Simon Fraser road trip.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This is the fourth straight year the Falcons have won their first two games of the season.
-- In 2013-14, SPU went on to start 6-0. Last year, it was a 7-0 start.
-- This is Julie Heisey's 11th year as SPU's head coach, and UC San Diego has been on the schedule every year, whether in the regular season or in the NCAA Tournament. Heisey is 8-3 all-time against the Tritons.
-- Her teams are 5-0 against Azusa Pacific.
-- Probably the most dramatic of those UCSD games was two years ago when Azusa Pacific also was the host for this tournament. Betsy Kingma hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give SPU a 66-63 victory.
-- The Falcons have had some battles with Azusa Pacific, as well, although that series doesn't have quite the same lengthy history as SPU-UCSD. At the 2012 Crossover Classic in Bellingham, Seattle Pacific scored the last four points of overtime, all on free throws – two on Aubree Callen, then two by Michaela Barnes – to pull out a 76-74 victory.
-- Seattle Pacific, UC San Diego, Azusa, and Western Washington are getting together in a preseason tournament for the fourth year in a row.
-- Of the 80 minutes the Falcons played in last week's two games, they led for all but 6 minutes and 6 seconds.
-- It was a wire-to-wire lead against Humboldt. The Fresno Pacific game was back and forth for much of the first quarter before SPU went on top for the final 31:44.
-- A total of 11 Falcons saw action in each of the two games. All 11 got into the scoring, rebounding, and assist columns in at least one of those two games.
 
SCOUTING THE UC SAN DIEGO TRITONS: 1-1, 1-1 CCAA
All-time series: SPU leads, 11-3. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 71, UCSD 66 (Nov. 21, 2014 at Bellingham). Tritons on the Web.
Tritons in a nutshell: UC San Diego is already into its conference schedule, starting the season with a 73-60 victory against CCAA newcomer Cal State San Marcos last Friday, but then falling by 24 points at Cal State Dominguez Hills on Tuesday. The Tritons returns two of last year's regular starters, the most potent of whom is 5-foot-11 senior forward Farrah Shokoor. She averaged a double-double of 13.0 points and 12.5 rebounds in 2014-15, and had double-doubles in 14 of her 28 games. Through this season's first two contests, she has averages of 11 points and nine rebounds. Haley Anderson, a 5-8 junior guard, started 23 games last year, but currently is coming off the bench. Jamie Katuna, 5-7 sophomore guard, begins the week as UC San Diego's leading scorer at 14.5 points per game. She's also averaging 5.0 rebounds. Another force on the birds is 6-0 junior forward Cassie MacLeod, pulling down an average of 8.5 to go along with six points per contest. The Tritons graduated one of their top playmakers in Stephanie Yano (2.6 assists per game). But Taylor Tanita, a 5-4 sophomore who also averaged 2.6 assists, is back.
 
SCOUTING THE AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS: 3-0, 0-0 Pac West
All-time series: SPU leads, 6-0. Current series streak: SPU won 6. Last time: SPU 77, APU 65 (Nov. 22, 2014 at Bellingham). Cougars on the Web.
Cougars in a nutshell: Azusa Pacific has all the necessary tools to make an impact in the West Region. That starts with 6-foot senior forward Kelly Hardeman, the Pacific West Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Hardeman averaged 19.9 points and 9.9 rebounds last season (just four rebounds shy of a double-double average), figures which included 22 points and 13 rebounds in the game against SPU. In just three games so far this season, Hardeman has averages of 17 points and 11 boards. The Cougars two front court starters in 5-9 senior forward Miriam Zabrinski and 6-1 senior center Maggie Dumphy. Zabrinski averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 rebounds (currently 10.3 and 5.3); Dumphy's numbers were 10.0 and 4.3 (currently 10.1 and 7.0). Cyndie Jones, a 5-7 senior guard is back to run the point, and already is averaging 5.3 assists per game, along with 10 points. Besides all of them, Azusa welcomes 5-9 senior guard Allison Greene back to the court. She averaged 14.6 points and 4.7 assists in 2013-14, but redshirted last season with an injury.
               
COACH JULIE HEISEY SAYS …
(On some things she saw in last week's two games)
"The things we've tried to hang our hat on are rebounding and defense, and I think that gave us a good start. We did what we practiced. We did a good job of taking care of the ball and sharing the ball."

 

(On some things to work on going forward)
"We still gave up too many offensive rebounds. We didn't have as many assists because we missed some baskets that we would like to have made. … It wasn't perfect – no game is. But everyone who came in was able to contribute. We saw good minutes from every person, and that's nice. You can't always say that."
 
(On UC San Diego)
"They still have Farah Shokoor. She's an undersized post player, but she's going to be hard to guard. She's always moving, and that's someone we really have to pay attention to. They have several solid players who gave them good minutes last year."
 
(On Azusa Pacific)
"Azusa is very very good. They have everybody back, and Allison Greene is back after being injured. They have four kids who can average 20 points a game, no question. Kelly Hardeman is a very good shooter and rebounder."
 
FALCON REPLAY
-- Jordan McPhee pumped in 17 points, one of four veterans to log career scoring highs, and SPU led from start to finish in rolling past Humboldt State at the season-opening West Region Challenge, 82-58.
-- Courtney Hollander had 13 points and 13 rebounds as SPU concluded an opening-weekend sweep at the West Region Challenge by rolling past Fresno Pacific last Saturday afternoon, 89-43.
               
M-V-P: THAT'S McPHEE
Not only does Jordan McPhee have a place in the starting lineup. She now has an award to go along with it.
 
The 5-foot-10 sophomore guard was named the Most Valuable Player of last weekend's West Region Challenge at Humboldt State after helping the Falcons win both games by a combined 70 points.
 
In Friday's 82-58 victory against Humboldt State, McPhee scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed three rebounds. On Saturday, she went for 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals as the Falcons routed Fresno Pacific, 89-43.
 
McPhee was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow sophomore guard Courtney Hollander.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DEBUT
Coming into last week's openers, no one on the Seattle Pacific roster had a double-double to her credit.

 

That changed on Saturday when Courtney Hollander dumped in 13 points and collected 13 rebounds against Fresno Pacific in an 89-43 win.
 
Hollander (Lynden, Washington / Lynden Christian HS) beat her career highs in both categories. Her previous best scoring output was 10 points against Azusa Pacific last Nov. 22. Her top mark on the boards had been eight last Nov. 26 against San Francisco State.
 
The Falcons had just two double-doubles last season: one for Aubree Callen, and one for Maddey Pflaumer.
 
BRI BRINGS IT UPON HER RETURN
For the first time since February of 2014, guard Brianne Lasconia was in the thick of the action for Seattle Pacific.

 

Lasconia (Seattle / Shorecrest HS) went down with a knee injury near the end of her sophomore year, then sat out all of last season while healing from it.
 
She got the start in both games last weekend, contributing a combined 23 points, four rebounds and four assists, and two steals. Her scoring total included a career-high 16 in Friday's win against Humboldt State. That eclipsed her previous high of 15, set on Nov. 23, 2013 against Azusa Pacific.
 
Lasconia shot 60 percent from the field for the weekend (9 of 15). Factored into that total was her 4-of-7 mark from behind the 3-point arc.
 
BETTER LEARN TO PRONOUNCE IT
Junior guard Stacey Lukasiewicz had has heard her last name get mangled in all kinds of ways. But given how she started her season last weekend, everyone from public address announcers to Webcasters to anyone in between had better learn the right way to say it, because they're likely to be saying it a lot.
 
For the record: It's lu-ka-SAV-age.
 
In the SPU-Humboldt State game last Friday, the Colorado Springs native got her first start as a Falcon, and responded with career highs of 11 points and four assists.
 
Going against Fresno Pacific the next day, she put another 11 points on the board, doubled her assist total to eight, and hauled in five rebounds. In the two games together, she shot 8 of 12 from the field.
 
"She was efficient, took good shots, she was able rebound well, and she had some nice passes," coach Julie Heisey said. "She overall played solid and made us better."
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th FT                  Hannah Rodrigues (has 97)
100^th rebound       Brianne Lasconia (has 95)
                                 Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 91)
200^th rebound       Molly Grager (has 186)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100^th FG                 Hannah Rodrigues (has 100)
100^th point             Courtney Hollander (has 114)
                                 Jordan McPhee (has 120)

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
Instead of flying home after Saturday's game, the Falcons will stay in Southern California and head down to San Diego for Tuesday's non-conference contest against Point Loma Nazarene. The Sea Lions are the team that knocked off top-seeded and then-national No. 1 Alaska Anchorage in the first round of last season's NCAA West Regional tournament at Anchorage, 64-63.
 
That will be Seattle Pacific's final game before starting GNAC play at home on Thursday, Dec. 3, against Western Oregon. Tip-off time in Brougham Pavilion is 7:00 p.m.