THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 9         Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PST
                                        Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.          
                                        Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Updated weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)
               
SEATTLE – It's a tough place to play. But that's not foremost in the minds of the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
All they're concerned about is putting another result on their side of the ledger.
 
Having come up short twice since the calendar flipped to 2016, the Falcons will try again for their first 'W' of the new year when they visit Montana State Billings on Saturday night.
 
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference game tips off at 6:00 p.m. in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
SPU will be out to snap a two-game losing streak as it winds up a four-game stretch away from home. After a one-point defeat at Northwest Nazarene last Saturday, the Falcons fell at Saint Martin's on Tuesday night, 78-70 in a fast-paced game that produced the most combined points of any Seattle Pacific contest this season.
 
The calendar turns a bit more friendly for the rest of the month as the Falcons play four of their six remaining January games in Brougham Pavilion.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Free 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.
               
BACK HOME FOR BOBBI ON SATURDAY NIGHT
During her four seasons at Montana State Billings, Bobbi Knudsen made quite a name for herself, not only as one of the best players in Yellowjackets history, but also in the history of the entire GNAC.

 

Saturday's game will mark a couple of significant Alterowitz Gymnasium firsts for Knudsen. She'll take in the game from the visitor's bench, and she'll be coaching, as she continues her first season assisting Seattle Pacific head coach Julie Heisey.
 
The native of Malta, Mont. (about 208 miles north of Billings), who finished her college career in 2014 by leading Billings to the NCAA West Region championship, Knudsen still owns the GNAC records for career assists (532), field goals made (680), field goals attempted (1,617) and minutes played (3,838). Knudsen averaged 17.2 points and 5.8 assists as a senior.
 
She then went to play professionally in Germany for a year before joining SPU as an assistant coach in September.
                                    
While she was there, Knudsen and Billings had a slight upper hand against Seattle Pacific, winning five of the nine games. That included three of the four played in Alterowitz.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY ON SATURDAY?
-- This is the second time this season the Falcons will try to snap a losing streak. On Dec. 3, they ended a three-game skid by beating Western Oregon, 79-58.
-- Seattle Pacific is 3-5 outside of Brougham Pavilion and 2-4 in true road games.
-- SPU's all-time series against Billings is the closest of any GNAC opponent, with the Falcons having a 23-19 edge.
--The Falcons swept last year, winning 70-60 in Montana and 64-55 in Seattle.
--That was the first sweep for either team since 2010-11, when Billings prevailed in both games.
-- Last winter in Alterowitz, the Yellowjackets led for the first 35-plus minutes and were up by 10 with 10:53 to play. But SPU went on a 12-1 run in the final five minutes for the 70-60 win.
-- On Tuesday in Lacey, the Falcons had to contend with the GNAC's leading scorer in Krista Stabler, who went off for 32 points. On Saturday, they'll come up against the conference's second-leading scorer in 5-foot-10 junior forward Alisha Breen, who averages 17.1 per game.
 

-- Junior forward Hannah Rodrigues has a chance to hit two century milestones in the same game: 300 rebounds (she comes in with 299) and 400 points (currently at 390).
-- The four makes from 3-point range by junior guard Brianne Lasconia on Tuesday at Saint Martin's – and four makes in a row, at that – were the most by a Falcon this season.
-- Lasconia's career-high 17 points on Tuesday made her the fifth different player to lead SPU in scoring. Sophomore guard Jordan McPhee has done it the most often (five games), and Courtney Hollander has been the top scorer four times.
-- Bobbi Knudsen won't be the only one making a homecoming on Saturday. Falcons freshman guard Jaylee Albert starred at Hamilton High School in the city of the same name, approximately 372 miles west of Billings.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 12-5 all-time against the Yellowjackets and coach Kevin Woodin.
 
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 8-5, 4-1 GNAC (tie 2nd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 23-15. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 64, MSUB 55 (Feb. 7, 2015 at Seattle). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings put together a five-game winning streak and captured six of its last seven before Christmas. It then split last week's two games in Alaska, falling 70-50 at Anchorage, but beating Fairbanks, 59-55. Alisha Breen is a force with whom to be reckoned, whether she's shooting or rebounding. In addition to her 17-point scoring mark, she averages 6.8 rebounds per game, ranking No. 8 in the conference. She has been MSUB's high scorer in eight games, and the high rebounder in seven – including four games in which she led both categories. The latest of those was last Saturday at Alaska Fairbanks with an impressive 20-point, 17-rebound double-double. Breen is the only Billings player averaging double-digit points. The next closest is 5-6 sophomore guard Rylee Kane at 9.2. Monica Grimsrud, a 6-1 senior forward, averages 8.9. Senior forward Janiel Olson, at 5-10, gives the Yellowjackets a solid presence at both ends of the court, averaging 7.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, the latter being No. 5 in the GNAC after she grabbed 18 in Thursday's 64-49 victory against Saint Martin's.
               
FALCON REPLAY
-- Brianne Lasconia scored a career-high 17 points, and drained four straight 3-pointers at the outset of the second quarter, but Saint Martin's went on an 8-0 fourth-quarter scoring run to beat the Falcons on Tuesday night in Lacey, 78-70.
 
DON'T STOP, THIEF
Jordan McPhee's hands weren't just made for shooting the ball.
 
They also were made for stealing it.

 

Against Saint Martin's on Tuesday night, sophomore guard McPhee (Normandy Park, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) came up with a career-high seven steals. That was three more than her previous best of four, set against Alaska Fairbanks as a freshman on Dec. 4, 2014.
 
Those seven steals were the most in a game for SPU since Suzanna Ohlsen had five last Jan. 1 in Bellingham against Western Washington. McPhee's average climbed from 1.6 to 2.1, tied for No. 7 in the GNAC.
 
The Falcons finished with 14 steals on Tuesday. Not only was that by far and away the most this season, it was the most since they came up with 15 against Montana Tech on Nov. 15, 2013.
 
STARTING ON THE NEXT 300
Tuesday night's game at Saint Martin's was head coach Julie Heisey's 300^th in charge of the Falcons.
 
Ironically, her 100^th and 200^th games on the Seattle Pacific bench both came at Montana State Billing. Into her 11^th season in the Pacific Northwest, Heisey has a 223-77 record with SPU.
                               
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Seattle Pacific has six double-doubles in the book through the first 12 games. Sophomore forward Courtney Hollander (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden Christian HS) leads the way with four.
 
While the Falcons already have tripled last season's double-double production (just two in 2014-15, one each for now-graduated Aubree Callen and Maddey Pflaumer), they still have a ways to go to catch up with a couple recent seasons. SPU had 14 in 2011-12 (10 by Nyesha Sims, four by Katie Benson) and 11 in 2009-10 (seven for Megan Hoisington, four for Melissa Reich).
 
SPU had eight each in 2012-13 (six for Benson, one for Callen, one for Rachel Murray) and in 2014 (all for Benson).
 
Individually, Benson finished her career with 19 double-doubles, and Sims had 15.
 
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 SPEAKING
Among the 318 programs in Division II, SPU ranks …
75th in 3-point defense (.287)
65th in rebounding margin (+4.9)
81st in scoring defense (60.9)
91st in free throw shooting (.717)
 
Click on this link to see how SPU stacks up nationally. Click on this link to see where GNAC teams and players rank within Division II.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100th field goal      Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 90)
300th rebound       Hannah Rodrigues (has 299)
400th point             Hannah Rodrigues (has 390)       
 
MILESTONES MADE RECENTLY
100th field goal      Molly Grager (has 100)
200th rebound       Courtney Hollander (has 202)

AROUND THE WEST                                                                                               
Alaska Anchorage (17-1) and the Pacific West's Cal Baptist (11-1) 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), UC San Diego (10-2), and Azusa Pacific (10-2).
 
Everyone else among the 38 West schools in the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West Conference is sitting on at least four losses.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
After four straight games on the road and nearly a month since their last home game, the Falcons are back in Brougham Pavilion next week for a pair of doubleheaders. On Thursday, Jan. 14, the SPU women play host to Simon Fraser at 5:15 p.m., followed by the Falcon men against Central Washington at 7:30. The teams switch time slots on Saturday. The women tangle with arch-rival Western Washington at 7:30, preceded by the men's 5:15 p.m. game against Northwest Nazarene.
 

GNAC STANDINGS
                                                                      GNAC                 Overall
Western Washington               5-0          9-4
Alaska Anchorage                 4-1         17-1
Montana State Billings           4-1          8-5
Seattle Pacific                  3-2          6-6
Saint Martin's                   3-3          5-8
Central Washington               2-3          9-4
Simon Fraser                     2-3          4-6
Northwest Nazarene               2-3          4-7
Alaska Fairbanks                 1-4          6-9
Concordia                        1-4          3-10
Western Oregon                   1-4          2-11