THE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Jan. 5 Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m. Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF) SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific Falcons won't have to wait long for a chance to try getting back on the women's basketball winning track.
Looking to shake off last Saturday's narrow loss at Northwest Nazarene, SPU returns to the court on Tuesday night with a visit to Saint Martin's about an hour down Interstate 5 in Lacey.
Tip-off time for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Marcus Pavilion is 7:00 p.m.
The Falcons returned conference action last week, coming from behind for a key 52-49 victory at Central Washington on Thursday before falling a point short of Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, 66-65.
Even with the setback at NNU, Seattle Pacific is still well positioned in what has turned into a wide-open GNAC race. Only Western Washington (4-0) is undefeated in conference play, and the Falcons are part of a three-way tie for second at 3-1.
FOLLOW IT LIVEFree live Webcasts and live stats will be available for all GNAC games. Webcasts will be through Stretch Internet, the conference's official internet provider. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.TIPPING OFF ON A TUESDAY? REALLY?With the GNAC welcoming Concordia of Oregon as its 11th member this season, a change in scheduling format was made necessary because of the odd number of teams.
After considering several scenarios, the conference settled on a format that has travel partners playing each other on Tuesday, and they playing Montana State Billings on either Thursday or Saturday of that same week.
For Seattle Pacific, that also meant a change in travel partners. The Falcons are now paired with Saint Martin's. Previously, they were partners with Billings.
During the second half of the conference schedule, SPU will play host to Saint Martin's on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and Montana State Billings on Thursday, Feb. 5.
ONE MORE NOTCH ON HEISEY'S LEDGERFalcons head coach
Julie Heisey will reach another century mark on Tuesday night.
When her team takes the court in Marcus Pavilion, Heisey will be at the SPU helm for the 300th time.
Now in her 11th season, Heisey has a 223-76 record in charge of the Falcons. Before taking the reins in time for the 2005-06 season, she spent nine years at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn. She coached 281 games with the Trojans, building a 162-119 record with them, and was inducted into that school's Hall of Fame in November 2014.
Heisey's 100th and 200th games with SPU were both victories, and both were on the road at Montana State Billings – 88-69 on Jan. 10, 2009, and 70-56 at Billings on Feb. 18, 2012.
The only coach with more games and more wins at Seattle Pacific is Gordy Presnell. He coached 523 games from 1988-2005, posting a 396-127 record.
The next milestone in sight for Heisey will be 400 victories. She enters this week with a 385-195 record.
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?-- SPU also was
3-1 through four GNAC games last season on the way to a 6-1 start.
-- The Falcons are
3-4 outside of Brougham Pavilion (including neutral courts) and
2-3 in true road games.
-- Saint Martin's
swept last year's series, winning 68-66 in Lacey and 68-52 in Seattle.
-- That was
just the third time the Falcons have been swept by the Saints. The previous two were 1982-83 and 1983-84.
-- Last Thursday's game at Central Washington was the first time this season Seattle Pacific
came from behind at halftime to win. The Falcons were down 29-21 at the break before rallying for a 52-49 victory.
-- It was the
exact opposite situation at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday when SPU had a 35-33 edge at halftime before falling at the end, the first time that has occurred in 2015-16.
-- In the last four games, the Falcons have
added 41 points to their free throw percentage. They entered the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic on Dec. 18 at .690 (80 of 116). Since then, they have shot a more SPU-like .788 (67 of 85), including two games of better than 80 percent: 22 of 27 (.815) vs. Wisconsin-Parkside, and 14 of 16 (.875) at Northwest Nazarene.
-- Seattle Pacific remains the
toughest GNAC team to make a 3-pointer against. Falcon opponents are shooting just .266 from downtown (47 of 177).
Lindsay Lee-- At the other end, SPU has two of the 10 long bombers in the conference. Sophomore
Lindsay Lee is No. 3 at .478 (11 of 23) and fellow sophomore
Courtney Hollander is at .448 (13 of 29).
-- Hollander is tied for the GNAC lead in defensive rebounding at 6.6 per game (73 through 11 games). Central Washington's Jasmine Parker also is at 6.6, with 79 defensive boards in 12 games.
-- Coach
Julie Heisey is 17-4 against Saint Martin's and coach Tim Healy.
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 4-7, 2-2 GNAC (tie 5th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 49-15.
Current series streak: StM won 2.
Last time: StM 68, SPU 52 (Feb. 19, 2015 at Seattle).
Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: After getting blown out by 28 points (86-58) last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's made a big-time turnaround on Saturday at Central Washington to take down the Wildcats, 65-61. The Saints have two very effective offensive weapons in 5-foot-6 senior guard
Krista Stabler and senior 6-foot forward
Megan Wiedeman. Stabler leads the GNAC scoring race with her average of 18.0 points per game. She has three games in the 20s, including 25 in a 78-66 loss to nationally ranked and defending West Region champion Cal Baptist, and accounted for more than half of the points – 38 – in a 75-71 win in Lacey against Western Oregon. Wiedeman is the conference's top rebounder with her average of 9.6 per night, including 3.5 off of the offensive glass. Fellow forward Shelbie Drey, a 6-1 junior, also is in the GNAC's top 10, ranking No. 8 at 6.8. Besides being the best rebounder, Wiedeman is one of the leading conference shot blockers, averaging 2.5 to rank No. 2.
FALCON REPLAY--
Jordan McPhee's 3-pointer from well outside the arc with four seconds remaining gave Seattle Pacific its first lead since the end of the opening quarter, and the Falcons hung on to beat Central Washington last Thursday in Ellensburg,
52-49.
--
McPhee scored 17 points, and
Courtney Hollander recorded her fourth double-double of the season, but Northwest Nazarene put 24 points on the board during the fourth quarter, coming from behind and then hanging on to beat SPU on Saturday in Nampa,
66-65.
BATTEN DOWN THE BASKETSOn nights when the offense isn't running as smoothly as they would like, the Falcons are, for the most part, keeping themselves in the game with their defense.
Of their 11 opponents so far, SPU has kept nine of them below their season scoring average. That includes double-digit differences against
Point Loma Nazarene (the Sea Lions were averaging 78 heading into the Nov. 24 game; they scored 68 against SPU),
Concordia (averaging 60, scored 46),
Wisconsin-Parkside (averaging 71, score 60), and
Central Washington (averaging 66, scored 49).
Even in the season opener at
Humboldt State, the Falcons limited the Lumberjacks to 58 points, 16 below their 2014-15 average.
The only teams to better their season averages against SPU were UC San Diego (averaging 56, scored 79) and Western Oregon (averaging 53, scored 58).
Courtney HollanderDOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTSThe Falcons have six double-doubles into the book through the first 11 games.
Courtney Hollander (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden Christian HS) added another one last Saturday, scoring 11 points and hauling down 12 rebounds at Northwest Nazarene. Hollander now has a team-leading four.
2015-16 double-doubles:
Courtney Hollander (4 season / 4 career)13 pts-13 reb vs. Fresno Pacific, Nov. 14
17 pts-13 reb at Point Loma, Nov. 24
20 pts-10 reb vs. Concordia, Dec. 5
11 pts-12 reb at Northwest Nazarene, Jan. 2
Stacey Lukasiewicz (1 season / 1 career)13 pts-12 reb vs. W. Oregon, Dec. 3.
Jordan McPhee (1 season / 1 career)20 pts-10 reb vs. Concordia, Dec. 5.
NATIONALLY SPEAKINGAmong the 318 programs in Division II, SPU ranks …
37th in 3-point defense (.266)
45th in rebounding margin (+5.7)
60th in scoring defense (59.4)
69
th in free throw shooting (.731)
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th field goal Molly Grager (has 99)
Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 86)
200th rebound Courtney Hollander (has 197)
300th rebound Hannah Rodrigues (has 294)
400th point Hannah Rodrigues (has 386)
MILESTONES MADE RECENTLY
100th field goal Brianne Lasconia (has 102)
200th point Courtney Hollander (has 224)
Jordan McPhee (has 230)
200th rebound Molly Grager (has 211)
AROUND THE WESTAs all teams leave the holidays behind and get fully back into their schedules this week,
Alaska Anchorage (16-1) of the
GNAC and the
Pacific West's Cal Baptist (10-1) remain the only one-loss teams in the West. The two-loss group is down to three teams with
Cal State East Bay (11-2) and
UC San Diego (10-2) of the
California Collegiate Athletic Association, and
Azusa Pacific (9-2) of the Pac West.
Everyone else among the 38 West schools is sitting on at least four losses.
UP NEXTThe Falcons will have Thursday off, then will fly off Friday morning to get ready for Saturday's game at
Montana State Billings. Tip-off in Alterowitz Gymnasium is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. SPU is back in Brougham Pavilion next week, playing host to
Simon Fraser on Thursday, Jan. 14, at 5:15 p.m., then welcoming rival
Western Washington on Saturday the 16th at 7:30 p.m. Both nights will be doubleheaders, as the
Falcon men play
Central Washington on the 14th at 7:30 and
Northwest Nazarene on the 16th at 5:15.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC OverallWestern Washington 4-0 8-4
Alaska Anchorage 3-1 16-1
Montana State Billings 3-1 7-5
Seattle Pacific 3-1 6-5
Simon Fraser 2-2 4-5
Northwest Nazarene 2-2 4-6
Saint Martin's 2-2 4-7
Central Washington 1-3 8-4
Concordia 1-3 3-9
Western Oregon 1-3 2-10
Alaska Fairbanks 0-4 5-9
