THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Dec. 29             Central Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Dec. 31              Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – They accomplished a lot through the first six weeks of the women's basketball season – starting with those 10 straight wins.
 
But it's the next nine weeks that will matter the most to the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
That's because those nine weeks will be focused entirely on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule.
 
SPU will bring the 2016 calendar year to a close at home this week, welcoming Central Washington to Brougham Pavilion on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, with a special New Year's Eve starting time of 2:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons already have two GNAC wins in the book, having swept their trip to Western Oregon and Concordia-Portland during the first week of December. They've been home since then, beating Cal State Los Angeles, Concordia Irvine, and Nova Southeastern prior to the just-concluded seven-day Christmas break.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All four tournament games will have a live Webcast and live stats available. The Webcast will be through Stretch Internet, the official Internet provider of the Great Northwest Athletic conference. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
TICKET TALK
Tickets will be available at the door of Brougham Pavilion, with windows opening 60 minutes prior to tip-off time. Prices are $9 for adult reserved, $6 for adult general admission, and $3 for youths, students with identification, and senior citizens age 65 and older. SPU students, faculty and staff members with proper school identification are free.
 
FALCON THURSDAYS
With GNAC play resuming, fans will be encouraged to wear Seattle Pacific gear to all games, but especially on Falcon Thursdays. Throughout the academic year, students, faculty, and staff on campus will be showing their maroon colors to celebrate Falcon Thursdays.
 
REUNION TIME
A couple of familiar faces will be back in Brougham Pavilion this week, although this time, they'll be on the visitor's side of the court.

 

Randi Richardson is in her second year as the lead assistant on Central Washington head coach Jeff Harada's staff. Richardson spent the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as an assistant to SPU coach Julie Heisey.
 
Steve Steele is in his first year as the head coach at Northwest Nazarene. He was the lead assistant to Heisey in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
 
Steele and Richardson were both on the Seattle Pacific bench alongside Heisey when the Falcons went to the 2015 NCAA West Regionals in Anchorage, advancing to the semifinals.
 
BIG HONOR FROM THE GNAC
With victories against Concordia Irvine and Nova Southeastern in the SPU Classic, the Falcons were named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's Team of the Week for Dec. 12-17.
 
Seattle Pacific improved its record to 10-0, and is now on the fourth-best start in program history.
 
The 75-50 rout of Nova Southeastern on Dec. 17 was particularly noteworthy. The Sharks came into the game with an 8-2 record and ranked as the South Region's No. 1 team in the D2SIDA poll, which is voted upon by sports information directors in each of the eight NCAA Division II regions.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are still No. 1 nationally for fewest points allowed, as opponents average a meager 48.8 per game. Only two other schools – both from North Carolina – are allowing fewer than 50 per game: Lenoir-Rhyne (49.0) and Elizabeth City State (49.3). Conference rival Alaska Anchorage is right at 50.0, and ranks No. 4 nationally in that category.
-- This is the second straight year the Falcons have faced Central and Northwest Nazarene immediately after returning from Christmas break.
-- Last year, those two games were on the road and yielded mixed results: a come-from-behind 52-49 victory at Central, and a narrow 66-65 loss at NNU.
-- Central got even when the teams played in Brougham Pavilion about a month later, rolling to a 67-46 victory.
-- That one-pointer in Nampa was typical of how things often go when the Falcons and Northwest Nazarene get together. Of the 36 all-time games between the teams, 21 have been decided by single digits, with 13 of those by five or fewer points. That includes four one-pointers, with SPU winning three.
-- Although the Falcons and Crusaders are both unbeaten in GNAC play at 2-0, they're tied for second, half a game behind Alaska Anchorage. The Seawolves are 3-0, having defeated Alaska Fairbanks, 73-57, on Dec. 10.
-- Seattle Pacific and Central Washington both beat Cal State Los Angeles earlier this month when the Golden Eagles came to the Pacific Northwest. SPU won, 54-48, then Central came out on top, 82-71.
-- Junior forward Courtney Hollander double-doubled in both games against NNU last year: 11 points and 12 rebounds in Nampa; 14 points and 10 boards in Seattle.
-- Falcons head coach Julie Heisey, a 1989 NNU graduate, is 16-6 against her alma mater. She is 19-3 against Central.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 5-5, 0-2 GNAC (tie 9th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 46-30. Current series streak: CWU won 1. Last time: CWU 67, SPU 46 (Jan. 30, 2016 at Seattle). Wildcats on the Web. Wildcats in a nutshell: Central got off to a quick start, winning three straight and four of its first five, keeping three of those teams in the 40-point range, and limiting one (Hawaii Hilo) to just 32. But the Wildcats then dropped four in a row before beating Cal State Los Angles on Dec.12. They have not played since then. Taylor Baird, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, is a multiple-faceted player. She leads Central in scoring (13.8 points per game), rebounding (8.6) and field goal shooting (54.5 percent, draining 60 of her 110 attempts), all in just 26 minutes per game. Jasmin Edwards, a 5-5 junior guard, averages 11.9 points and is by far and away the team's assists leader with 44 (4.9 per game), more than twice as many as any of her teammates. JonNae Richardson, a 5-9 sophomore guard, also is a steady rebounder, averaging 5.8 per contest. Sadie Mensing, a 5-9 sophomore guard, adds 8.4 points per game and shoots better than 50 percent from the floor (.508).
 
SCOUTING THE NW NAZARENE CRUSADERS: 4-4, 2-0 GNAC (tie 2nd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 29-7. Current series streak: NNU won 2. Last time: NNU 64, SPU 58 (Jan. 28, 2016 at Seattle). Crusaders on the Web.
Crusaders in a nutshell: NNU has been on a win two-lose two pattern through its first eight games. The most recent two contests were losses, to Eastern New Mexico and Angelo State (Texas) at the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic on Dec. 17 and 19. One of the Crusaders' victories came at NCAA Division I member Idaho, 99-95. That was their highest-scoring game of the season, but they like to put up the points, averaging 79.2, the second-best mark in the GNAC. However, NNU's opponents like to score, as well, averaging 77.8. Northwest Nazarene has scored in the 80s three times, and has allowed 90 or more three times. Senior forward Kate Cryderman leads NNU's output on offense with an average of 12.3 points per game. The 6-footer's .514 field goal shooting mark (37 of 72) ranks No. 13 in the GNAC. That includes a .464 mark (13 of 28) from 3-point land, ranking No. 6 in the conference. Ellie Logan, a 5-9 junior guard, averages 10 points per game. Lexi Tubbs sets the rebounding pace at 5.1 per game.
 
SPU FEATURED ON NCAA NATIONAL WEBSITE
The Falcons are the focus of a story on the NCAA's national Web page. Click on this link to see NCAA writer Wayne Cavadi's piece.


FALCON REPLAY
-- Jordan McPhee scored 18 points last Friday, as the Falcons beat Concordia Irvine on the first night of the SPU Classic, 76-64.
-- McPhee scored a game-high 13 points and earned Most Valuable Player honors, and Erica Pagano added 12 points as SPU kept its record perfect last Saturday by routing Nova Southeastern in the SPU Classic, 75-50.
 
HEISEY'S 400TH WIN IS IN THE BOOKS
With a chance to help Julie Heisey put victory No. 400 onto her coaching record, the Falcons made good on the first opportunity. That came on Dec. 16 when SPU led almost the entire way in beating Concordia Irvine on the first night of the SPU Classic in Brougham Pavilion, 76-64.

 

That bumped Heisey's overall record to 400-205. The first 162 of those victories came during nine seasons at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn., before she came to SPU in 2005.
 
She added No. 401 the following night when the Falcons routed Nova Southeastern, 75-50.
 
Now in her 12th year here, Heisey has a 239-86 with SPU.
 
"What it means is I've been around a lot of great people," Heisey said of reaching the milestone. "I've had great players and great coaches to help me, and just people who believe in what we've done, and they've bought in."

 

SO IS PRESNELL'S 600TH
Former Falcons coach Gordy Presnell, now in his 12th year as head coach at Boise State, earned his 600th career victory on Dec. 18 when his Broncos beat the visiting University of Portland Pilots, 74-60.
 
Presnell spent 18 years as Seattle Pacific, turning the program into a national-caliber one. He logged 396 of his victories with the Falcons from 1987-88 through 2004-05, winning three conference titles, three regional titles, and playing in the 2005 D2 national championship game.
 
DOUBLE DIGITS FOR DOUBLE-DIGIT WIN STREAKS
It's not every year that a team wins 10 or more games in a row. But Seattle Pacific has had its share of such streaks.
 
In fact, the current 10-game string of W's is the 14th time the Falcons have gotten into double digits. Of those, three have been 10s (including the current one), three have been 11s, two have been 14s, and two have been 29s.
 
The other streaks have been one each of 12, 13, 17, and 30.
 
Twice in the past, the Falcons have had a pair of double-digit win streaks during the same season. They won 13 straight early in the 1996-97 season, then, one week after that ended, started another run of 11 in a row.
 
In 2004-05, they SPU won 17 straight from late November through early February, then rode an 11-game streak from mid February all the way to the national championship game.
 
PAGANO SHOOTS HER WAY INTO TOP 10 – TIMES TWO
Erica Pagano might not pump in as many points as many points as some of her teammates on a nightly basis. But the junior forward certainly is making the most of every possession.

 

As teams return from Christmas break. Pagano (Happy Valley, Ore.) is among the GNAC's most effective shooters from the field and from the foul line.
 
Pagano is hitting at a 56.5 percent clip from the field, draining 35 of her 62 attempts to rank No. 4 in the conference. That's a jump of more than 200 points from last year, when she made 35 for the entire season, but took 108 shots to make them, a 32.4 percent accuracy rate.
 
At the line, Pagano is No. 10 at 84.0 percent, hitting 21 of 25. Last year, she had 25 attempts for the season, but hit just 14 (56.0 percent). Pagano hit 69.2 percent (9 of 13) as a freshman.

 

WELCOME BACK, RILEY
After missing the first eight games because of an injury, sophomore guard Riley Evans saw action in both of the SPU Classic games.
 
Evans (Terrigal, New South Wales, Australia) came off the bench for two minutes in the 76-64 victory against Concordia Irvine, draining a 3-pointer late in the game.
 
The following night, she got five minutes of time in a 75-50 win against Nova Southeastern.
 
POLLING PLACE
SPU moved up to No. 13 in the most recent (Dec. 20) Women's Basketball Coaches Association national poll, receiving 290 points. The Falcons had been No. 14 in the previous week's poll. Because of the holidays, the next poll won't be released until after the holidays. Ashland of Ohio (13-0) remained No. 1 with 21 of the 24 first-place votes and 597 points. Alaska Anchorage stayed No. 8. The only other West Region team in the rankings is California Baptist at No. 10.
 
In the D2SIDA national poll voted upon by sports information directors, Seattle Pacific is still No. 8. Ashland also is on top of that poll, with Anchorage at No. 5, Cal Baptist at No. 14, and Western Washington at No. 23.
 
In the D2SIDA West Region poll, the Falcons are No. 2 behind Alaska Anchorage.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 318 programs in D2, SPU is …
-- 1st in scoring defense (48.8)
-- 6th in assists per game (18.9)      
-- 9th in scoring margin (+23.3)
-- 10th in assist / turnover ratio (1.32)
-- 12th in field goal defense (.328)
-- 19th in steals per game (12.0)
-- 20th in free throw shooting (.769)
-- 21st in total assists (189)
-- 28th in total steals (120)
-- 36th in rebound margin (+7.5)
-- 48th in fewest turnovers (143)                        
-- 59th in field goal shooting (.431)
 
Click on this link to see how the Falcons stack up nationally in all statistical categories. Click on this link to see how other GNAC teams and players rank.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Alaska Anchorage (3-0), SPU (2-0) and Northwest Nazarene (2-0) all come into the week undefeated in GNAC play. The Falcons, Seawolves and Simon Fraser all are in double-digit wins, each with 10. The closest to those three is Western Washington at 7-3 (1-1 GNAC). Just two days after SPU beat Nova Southeastern by 25 points, Simon downed the Sharks by 20 points, 76-56.
 
Cal State Los Angeles has taken over first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Golden Eagles, who dropped a 54-48 decision to Seattle Pacific on Dec. 10, are just 7-5 overall, but 4-0 in CCAA play. Stanislaus State is 3-0 in conference, but just 5-7 overall. The best season record is UC San Diego's 7-3. The Tritons are 3-1 in the conference.
 
In the Pacific West Conference, three teams are off to undefeated starts: Cal Baptist at 4-0 (13-2 overall), Hawaii Pacific at 3-0 (6-2), and Academy of Art at 3-0 (6-4). Also with a solid overall mark is Point Loma Nazarene at 9-2 (4-1 conference).
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons conclude their seven-game homestand next week when they host Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings. The Saints are in town on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at 7:00 p.m. The Yellowjackets visit on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 5:15 p.m. for the first game of a women's-men's doubleheader. The Falcon men take on defending GNAC champion Western Oregon at 7:30 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference          Overall
Alaska Anchorage                     3-0                      10-1
Seattle Pacific                            2-0                      10-0
Northwest Nazarene                2-0                        4-4
Simon Fraser                             1-1                      10-2
Western Washington                1-1                        7-3
Western Oregon                        1-1                        5-4
Concordia                                  1-1                        4-6
Montana State Billings             1-1                        4-6
Central Washington                  0-2                        5-5
Saint Martin's                             0-2                        4-6
Alaska Fairbanks                      0-3                        4-6