THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 7        Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                      Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                      Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
        RECENT PHOTO GALLERIES:   Simon Fraser (Jan. 29)
                                                                   Western Washington (Jan. 31) 

SEATTLE – It's Homecoming week – and for the first time since 2011, the Seattle Pacific women will get to play in front of the home crowd on the big Saturday.
 
Coming off of crucial victories against Simon Fraser and Western Washington last week, the No. 21-ranked Falcons will tip off against Montana State Billings at 2:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion, the first game of the Homecoming doubleheader. They'll be followed by the SPU men against Simon Fraser at 4:00 p.m.
 
The last Homecoming game for the Seattle Pacific women was Jan. 22, 2011, a 64-54 victory against Western Oregon. Since then, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule has had the Falcons on the road on that particular Saturday.
 
SPU begins this week all alone in second place in the standings. A week ago, the Falcons were part of a three-way tie for second with Simon Fraser and Western Washington before beating the Clan last Thursday in Brougham, 89-76, and the Vikings last Saturday, 72-68.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Live stats and free live Webcasts will be available from Saturday's game. The Webcast 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.
 
TICKET TALK
Tickets are available at Brougham Pavilion beginning 60 minutes before tip-off. Prices are $9 for reserved seating, $6 for adult general admission, and $3 for students and senior citizens (65 and older). Those tickets will be good for both Homecoming Day games. SPU students, faculty, and staff presenting a current valid ID card will be admitted free. Complimentary programs are available at the entrance to the gym.
 
CALLEN IS PLAYER OF WEEK FOR THE FIRST TIME
Aubree Callen, who scored 43 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and logged her second career double-double in helping the Falcons beat Simon Fraser and Western Washington, is the GNAC co-Player of the Week for Jan. 25-31.

 

It is the first time in her SPU career that Callen (Jerome, Idaho) captured the weekly conference award.
 
Last Thursday, Callen hit 10 of 16 from the floor on the way to 23 points, had nine rebounds, dished three assists and came up with two steals in an 89-76 victory against Simon. Then two nights later against arch-rival Western, she pumped in a team-high 20 points – including the 1,000^th of her career – and collected 10 boards as SPU beat the Vikings, 72-68.
 
This is the fourth Player of the Week award for Seattle Pacific this season. Senior point guard Suzanna Ohlsen has won it twice, and senior center Maddey Pflaumer once.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Montana State Billings is the defending conference champion and went all the way to the NCAA West Regional final (Sweet 16) last season before losing to Cal Poly Pomona, 75-68.
-- After closing out season sweeps of Simon Fraser and Western Washington last week, the Falcons have a chance for their third series sweep of the year, having beaten Billings on Jan. 10 in Montana, 70-60. They have not swept the Jackets since 2009-10.
-- The contest in Billings was the finale of a three-game road trip to start 2015, and was the third straight in which the Falcons wiped out a double-digit deficit to win. They were down 54-44 with 10:53 left, then outscored MSUB the rest of the way, 26-6.
-- This is SPU's closest series against any GNAC opponent. The Falcons lead it, 22-19.
-- The two reigning GNAC co-Players of the Week will be on the court together, as Falcons senior guard Aubree Callen will be joined by Billings senior forward Kayleen Goggins.
-- The game will feature three 1,000-point scorers: Callen and Suzanna Ohlsen of SPU, and Quinn Peoples of Montana State Billings. Peoples, like Callen, hit the millennium mark  last week.
-- It also will feature four of the GNAC's top 10 scorers: No. 2 Goggins (19.9), No. 3 Ohlsen (17.6), No. 5 Alisha Breen of Billings (16.0), and No. 6 Callen (15.4).
-- Both teams have been taking good care of the basketball, averaging fewer than 15 turnovers per game (14.2 for SPU, 14.9 for Billings).
-- SPU coach Julie Heisey is 11-5 all-time against the Yellowjackets and head coach Kevin Wodin.
 
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 12-9, 4-7 GNAC (tie 7^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 22-19. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 70, MSUB 60 (Jan. 10, 2015 at Billing, Mont.). Yellowjackets on the Web
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings got back into the win column last Saturday, and a sweet one it was, 79-74 at home against Simon Fraser after the Clan beat the Jackets with two seconds left on Jan. 1 in British Columbia, 74-73. Senior 6-1 forward Kayleen Goggins and sophomore 5-10 forward Alisha Breen both are capable of filling up the hoop. Goggins had 24 on 11-of-20 shooting against SPU last month, and has led MSUB in scoring 13 times, averaging 19.9 per game. Breen, averaging 16.0, broke loose for 30 points in last Thursday's 82-71 loss to Western Washington, the second time this season she has gone for that many, although the Falcons limited her to 10 last time. Breen also is a big rebounder, as her average of 7.1 leads the team and ranks No. 5 in the conference. Senior forward Quinn Peoples, at 5-11, knows a thing or two about scoring, as well, averaging 11.1 per game. Once again, Billings is one of the best teams in the GNAC at taking care of the ball, averaging just 14.9 turnovers per game,
 
FALCON REPLAY
-- Aubree Callen poured in a season-high 23 points and hauled down nine rebounds last Thursday night as SPU snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Simon Fraser in Brougham Pavilion, 89-76.
-- Callen scored 20 points and made it a double-double with 10 rebounds, and fellow senior Suzanna Ohlsen added 19 points as SPU fended off Western Washington in Brougham, 72-68.
                                                  
NOT ONE OR TWO, BUT THREE MILESTONES
Last Saturday night was a special on in Brougham for lots of reasons.
                                                                                                                 
The biggest one was a 72-68 victory against Western Washington, one that snapped a tie with the Vikings for second place, giving SPU sole possession of that spot for the moment. It also put the wraps on the first two-game season sweep of Western since 2007-08.
 
But wait … there's more.
 
-- With 2:33 left and the Falcons up by just two, Aubree Callen drove to the basket, made the lay-in, was fouled, and hit the subsequent free throw. Those were points 998, 999, and 1,000 in her SPU career. She is now one of 22 Falcons to hit a grand, and was the second one this year after Suzanna Ohlsen did it on Dec. 4 against Alaska Fairbanks.
 

-- At the 10.5-second mark, Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) helped clinch the game by hitting the second of two free throws on a two-shot foul. That was her 1,215th point, moving her into a tie with Valerie Gustafson (2000-04) for 10th place on the all-time Seattle Pacific scoing list.
-- Ohlsen's accomplishment came in her 100th game as a Falcon.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Aubree Callen recorded the second double-double of her career and just the second this season for SPU when she put 20 points and 10 rebounds into the book against Western Washington. Callen's previous double-double was Dec. 31, 2013 with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in a 76-66 win against Dixie State.
 
Senior center Maddey Pflaumer (Issaquah, Wash. / Issaquah HS) double-doubled on Nov. 22 with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Falcons beat Azusa Pacific, 77-65.
 
THE OTHER SIDE OF KINGMA
Falcons senior Betsy Kingma is best known for her sharpshooting from downtown – and so far this year, she's hitting at a .429 clip, a mere three percentage points off her single-season career best.

 

But the 5-11 Kingma, listed as a guard, has become a big factor defensively for Seattle Pacific. Never was that more evident than last Thursday night when she tied her career high with three blocked shots in an 89-76 victory against Simon Fraser.
 
It wasn't just the total number of blocks that stood out. It was when – and against whom – she got the last two of those. With the Falcons up 81-71 late in the game, the Clan's Erin Chambers, who leads D2 in scoring at 23 points per night, launched a 3-pointer from the left of the lane. But Kingma, who was darting across from the other side, got her left hand on the shot, deflecting it.
 
Then, with the score 83-73 and the clock ticking under 2:30 to go, Chamber drove to the basket from the left side, only to have Kingma reach up with her right hand and swat the ball away.
 
While stopping someone of Chambers' caliber for an entire game takes more than one person, she was primarily Kingma's responsibility, and finished with just 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting.
 
"Her timing, that block – she was honestly phenomenal tonight," senior teammate Maddey Pflaumer said. "It was a team effort, but a lot of the props go to her."

Kingma got two more blocks in Saturday's win against Western Washington.
 
POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific climbed one spot in this week's USA Today Sports / WBCA national poll, moving up to No. 21. The Falcons have been as high as No. 8 and remain one of three West Region teams in the top 25. Alaska Anchorage moved up to No. 2, and Humboldt State is up to No. 23.
 
In the D2SIDA national poll, SPU is back in the top 25, checking in this week at No. 23. The Falcons fell into the 'others receiving votes' block in the last poll after losses the previous week at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. The D2SIDA West Region poll saw SPU climb one place to No. 3.
 
The NCAA West Region rankings, which ultimately determine which eight teams from among the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West Conference get into the national tournament, will debut on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The three conference tourney champions plus the five highest-ranked teams among the non-champions get the eight coveted berths.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Conference leaders Alaska Anchorage, Humboldt State, and Hawaii Pacific all stayed put last week. But Pacific West Conference leader HPU now has lost two straight, both at home, after a nine-game overall winning streak in. The latest of those was Monday night's 96-78 rout by Cal Baptist (18-3, 11-2) within half a game of Hawaii Pacific (17-4, 12-2) and even in the loss column.

 
Humboldt (17-2, 13-1 CCAA) has won its last three to stay one game ahead of Cal State Dominguez Hills (17-5, 12-2, winner of four straight) in the CCAA. But some shake-up could be coming this week. Dominguez Hills is home against Cal State San Bernardino (14-4, 10-4) on Friday, then hosts a showdown against Humboldt State on Saturday.
 
Some separation definitely has started to appear in overall records. In the GNAC, Anchorage has one loss, SPU three, and everyone else has at least seven. In the CCAA, it's Humboldt (two), San Bernardino (four), Dominguez Hills (five) and Cal Poly Pomona (five), then everyone else with at least eight. In the Pac West, Cal Baptist has three losses, Hawaii Pacific four, and everyone else at least seven.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
SPU is (out of 289 Division II teams) …
--4^th in free throw percentage (.783)
--6^th in 3-point percentage (.388)
--12^th in field goal percentage (.461)
--27^th in assist / turnover ratio (1.06)
--33^rd in fewest turnovers per game (14.2)
--42^nd in blocked shots (4.1)
--37^th in average points scored (74.7)
 
Individually, Betsy Kingma is 27^th in 3-point shooting percentage (.429) and 28^th in 3-point makes per game (2.84). Aubree Callen is 38^th in free throw percentage (.867). Suzanna Ohlsen is 41st in steals (2.5) and 44th in field goal shooting (.527).
 
Click on this link to see how the Falcons rank in all Division II statistics. Click on this link to see how other GNAC teams and players stack up nationally.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th free throw     Maddey Pflaumer (has 97)
300^th assist            Suzanna Ohlsen (has 299)
300^th rebound        Maddey Pflaumer (has 281)
700^th point              Betsy Kingma (has 684)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK
100^th game            Suzanna Ohlsen (has 100)
200th rebound       Betsy Kingma (has 202)
                                  Hannah Rodrigues (has 206)
400^th point             Maddey Pflaumer (has 411)
400^th rebound       Aubree Callen (has 409)
1,000^th point          Aubree Callen (has 1,002)
1,215^th point*        Suzanna Ohlsen (has 1,215)
*Needs 1,215 to move into SPU's all-time top 10 for scoring   
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, stats, news, and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons are back on the road next week, visiting Central Washington on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 7:00 p.m., and Northwest Nazarene on Valentine's Day Saturday at 1:00 p.m. PST. SPU beat both teams in Brougham Pavilion last month, winning 67-52 against Central and 81-65 against Northwest Nazarene.
               
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                GNAC    Overall
Alaska Anchorage               10-1        20-1
Seattle Pacific                         8-3        16-3
Western Washington             7-4        13-7
Central Washington              6-5        11-8
Simon Fraser                          6-5        10-9
Saint Martin's                          4-6          7-11
Alaska Fairbanks                    4-7        12-9
Montana State Billings          4-7        12-9
Northwest Nazarene             3-8          5-15
Western Oregon                     2-8          5-13