THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 11    Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
                                      Whatcom CC Pavilion / Bellingham, Wash.
                                      Live Webcast        Live stats                      
 
Saturday, Feb. 13     Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
                                      West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
                                      Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
               
SEATTLE – They're back on their feet … and back in the race.
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons put a nine-game women's basketball losing streak behind them and now are riding a two-game winning streak to remain a contender for a spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament as they return to the road this week with six games left in the regular season.
 
SPU (8-13, 5-9 GNAC) heads to Bellingham on Thursday for a game against Western Washington at Whatcom Community College. On Saturday, they go even farther north, heading across the border to Burnaby, B.C., and a game at Simon Fraser. Both tip off at 7:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons won't have to look far or hard to find motivation. First and foremost, they're within striking distance of the final spot in the six-team GNAC Tournament. And, they lost to both teams last month in Brougham Pavilion. Seattle Pacific had its second-lowest offensive output of the year in a 76-47 loss to Simon Fraser, then came from way behind and took Western Washington to overtime before losing, 70-67.
 
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 game at Simon Fraser will be streamed on YouTube.) The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
TICKET TALK IN BELLINGHAM
A very limited number of tickets are available for Thursday's SPU-Western Washington game. It is being played in The Pavilion at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham while Western's on-campus Carver Gymnasium undergoes a complete renovation.
 
Seating capacity is in the range of 700, and approximately 400 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. Reserved seating is $12. General admission is $8 ($5 for students or seniors 60 and older). Tickets can be purchased by calling the WWU box office at (360) 650-6103, and those tickets will be available for pick-up at the will-call window. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the box office window.
 
Click on this link for a printable PDF of Mapquest driving directions to Whatcom (as if leaving from the SPU campus).
 
PONDERING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR POSTSEASON PLAY
With SPU winning twice last week, and Northwest Nazarene losing twice (Thursday to Simon Fraser, Saturday to Western Washington), the Falcons are now just one game behind the Crusaders for the last GNAC Tournament slot. The top six teams in the final standings make the tournament.
 
While SPU is at Western Washington and Simon Fraser this week, Northwest Nazarene is on the road at Alaska Anchorage on Thursday and at Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday. After that four regular-season games remain for each team.
 
To make the tournament, set for March 3-5 at Saint Martin's, Seattle Pacific will have to finish ahead of NNU. The Crusaders won both games of the season series, and that is the first tiebreaker if the Falcons and Crusaders finish with identical conference records.
 
A glance at the standings shows SPU and Alaska Fairbanks tied for seventh. But the Nanooks are not eligible for this year's postseason while serving a one-year ban for rules violations.





SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- When the Falcons and Clan met in Seattle on Jan. 14, Simon Fraser led all the way except for a 2-2 tie. The margin grew to as many as 30 points on two occasions during the fourth quarter of the 76-47 result.
-- No SPU player reached double figures in that game. Molly Grager, Brrianne Lasconia, and Stacey Lukasiewicz, had eight points apiece.
-- Down by 17 at 42-25 early in the third quarter against Western, the Falcons tied the game with a 17-0 run before the Vikings won in overtime, 70-67.
-- That was the second straight overtime game between the teams. The Vikings prevailed in last year's GNAC semifinals when an extra five minutes were needed, 72-67.
-- Western Washington comes into the week as the GNAC's top shooting team from the field at 47.9 percent. The game against SPU played a big part in that, as the Vikings shot 56 percent in the first half , 54.5 percent in the second, half, and 53.7 percent (29 of 54) for the game.
 

-- Sophomore center Erica Pagano got her first two career starts last week, playing 20 minutes against Saint Martin's, and nine against Montana State Billings.
-- Seattle Pacific has kept seven opponents below 60 points, including four in the 40s. Its record in those seven games is 6-1.
-- SPU had a season-low 10 turnovers against Billings. In games with fewer than 15 turnovers, the team's record is 5-1; it's 3-12 in games with 15 or more.
-- The Falcons are 3-8 away from Brougham Pavilion, including 2-7 in true road games.
-- SPU teams are 1-1 so far in Western's temporary home at the Whatcom Community College Pavilion. The volleyball team lost in September, 3-0, but the men's basketball team won in December, 83-64.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 10-12 against Western Washington and coach Carmen Dolfo. She is 6-8 against Simon Fraser and coach Bruce Langford.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 16-6, 12-2 GNAC (2^nd)
All-time series: WWU leads, 55-29. Current series streak: WWU won 2. Last time: WWU 70, SPU 67 OT (Jan. 16, 2016 at Seattle). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington has won four in a row and seven of its last eight, including seven-point victories at Central Washington 58-51 last Thursday) and at Northwest Nazarene (97-90 last Saturday). The 97 points tied WWU's highest offensive production of the season, having also put up that many in the opener last Nov. 13 against Fresno Pacific. Even more impressive is Western has built that four-game winning streak without the services of 6-foot-1 junior forward Tia Briggs, who has been sidelined with an illness. That's an absence of 11.0 points (on 57 percent shooting) and 4.9 rebounds in 32 minutes per game (15 points and 3 boards against SPU in January). But three double-figure scorers are still on the floor, led by 5-9 junior guard Taylor Peacocke. She averages 16.7 points per game, No. 4 in the GNAC. Senior 6-3 center Kayla Bernsen is a three-way threat at 12.0 points, a team-high 7.7 rebounds, and 64 blocked shots, which also leads the Vikings. Kiana Gandy, a 5-10 junior at forward, chips in 11.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
                                                                                                                                            
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 11-8, 9-5 GNAC (4^th)
All-time series: SFU leads, 19-9. Current series streak: SFU won 1. Last time: SFU 76, SPU 47 (Jan. 14, 2016 at Seattle). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: Simon Fraser made a big move to solidify a GNAC Tournament berth last week, sweeping Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington on the road to leapfrog CWU into fourth place. The Clan begin the week having won their last four. Factoring into that has been the lights-out play of 5-10 redshirt sophomore guard Elisa Homer. She buried a GNAC-record 12 shots from 3-point range in the 87-65 victory at NNU. Homer wound up with 40 points in that game, the fourth-highest total in conference history. She also has had games of 26 and 32 points this season, and is part of a three-way tie for the GNAC scoring lead (along with Jordan Wilson of Fairbanks and Alisha Breen of Billings) at 17.2 points per game. Of Simon Fraser's starting five, four (including Homer) average in double-figure scoring. 12.0 for 5-7 junior guard Ellen Kett, 11.3 for 6-2 sophomore forward Rachel Fradgley, and 11.1 for 5-7 senior guard Alisha Roberts. Kett went off for 23 last time against SPU on 8-of-11 shooting, and Fradgley had 14-point, 9-rebound night.
                                                                                                                                                                            
FALCON REPLAY                                
-- Courtney Hollander scored 14 points, and Julie Haining tallied a career-high 10 last Tuesday as Seattle Pacific snapped a nine-game losing streak by beating Saint Martin's in Brougham Pavilion, 71-60.    
-- Hollander scored 15 points, Jordan McPhee came off the bench for 14, and the two sophomores teamed up for 13 of their points during the fourth quarter on Thursday at home to help SPU beat Montana State Billings, 52-43.
 
SENIOR NIGHT SET FOR FEB. 20
It'll be the smallest Senior Night in a long time: Molly Grager will have the pre-game ceremony all to herself when Alaska Anchorage comes to town next Saturday.

 

Grager is having by far the best year of her career with averages of 6.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and a team-leading .459 shooting percentage from the floor.
 
At one point, this had the potential to be a four-member graduating class. Grager, Brianne Lasconia, and Brooke Bowen all came to SPU in the fall of 2012, and Maddey Pflaumer was a redshirt freshman after missing her true freshman year with an injury.
 
But Bowen transferred, Lasconia took a medical redshirt year in 2014-15 to recover from knee surgery, and Pflaumer graduated on time last June, opting not to use her redshirt year.
                                                            
FROM OFF THE BENCH TO TOP OF THE LIST
Julia Haining has been waiting a long time for a night like that.

 

Haining (Lynnwood, Wash. / Inglemoor HS), who redshirted her true freshman year (2013-14), then missed last season with a knee injury, has been seeing regular time off the bench this winter. Last Tuesday against Saint Martin's, Haining pumped in a career-high 10 points. She got those points on nearly flawless shooting from the field, draining 5 of 7.
 
That .714 percentage (with a minimum of five makes) gave her the team's best single-game shooting performance of the year. Previously atop the list were matching .700 efforts (7 of 10) by Molly Grager at Humboldt State on Nov. 13, and Courtney Hollander at home against Concordia on Dec. 5.
 
In that same game against Saint Martin's, Haining came up with two steals, also a career high.
 
McPHEE RETURNS TO ACTION
Sophomore guard Jordan McPhee, after missing four games with a tweaked ankle, returned to the competition floor in last week's two games. Against Saint Martin's on Tuesday, with her playing time being closely monitored, McPhee (Normandy Park, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) came off the bench for 16 minutes, scoring four points, grabbing six rebounds, and taking up some of the defensive duty against high-scoring Saints guard Krista Stabler as the Falcons won, 71-60.
 
Then in Thursday's 52-43 victory against Montana State Billings, McPhee got 25 minutes off the bench. She tallied 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, three steals, and just one turnover.
 
McPhee comes into the week averaging 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds, both second on the team behind fellow sophomore Courtney Hollander (12.7 and 7.7). She was injured while going for a potential winning shot at the end of regulation time against Western Washington on Jan. 16.
 
AND NOW THAT SHE'S BACK …
The last two of McPhee's 14 points against Billings came at the free throw line with 19 seconds left, giving the Falcons a 52-41 lead. Those were the 300th and 301st points of her career.
 
This week, McPhee is easily within range of two more milestones: her 100th field goal (she has 94), and her 100th free throw (she's at 93).
 
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT 300
With McPhee scoring her 300^th point last week, two of her teammates are in position to join her in passing that century mark this week.
 
Junior guard Stacey Lukasiewicz (Centennial, Colo.) will head into Thursday's game at Western Washington with 298 points. Right behind her is senior center Molly Grager (Kirkland, Wash. / Juanita HS) with 296.
 

Once they get there, Lukasiewicz and Grager will become the fifth and sixth SPU players this season to tally their 300^th point. Junior forward Hannah Rodrigues (Eugene, Ore.) had the quickest route. She started the year with 299 points, moved past 300 with a jump shot just five minutes into the season opener at Humboldt State on Nov. 13.
 
Courtney Hollander (Lynden, Wash. / Lynden Christian HS) passed 300 late in the game at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 23. Junior guard Brianne Lasconia (Seattle / Shorecrest HS) made that milestone in the same Fairbanks game.
 
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DELIGHTS
Sophomore forward Courtney Hollander now has a team-leading six double-doubles for the season. The last SPU player with that many in a single year was Katie Benson, who logged eight in 2013-14.
 
The Falcons have eight double-doubles in 2015-16, matching the 2012-13 and 2013-14 squads. Last year, just two were recorded.
 
2015-16 double-doubles:
Courtney Hollander (6 season / 6 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
14 pts-12 reb at Alaska Fairbanks, Jan. 23
14 pts-10 reb vs. NW Nazarene, Jan. 28
 
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 …
-- 48th in rebounding margin (+5.0)
-- 57th in offensive rebounds (15.0)
-- 72nd in free throw shooting (.724) – a jump of 21 places from last week's 93rd.
 
Individually, Courtney Hollander ranks 71st in defensive rebounds at 6.0 per game, and Jordan McPhee is 85th in steals (2.19).
 
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    Jordan McPhee (has 94)
100th free throw  Jordan McPhee (has 93)
100th point            Lindsay Lee (has 84)
                                 Erica Pagano (has 81)
300th rebound     Courtney Hollander (has 270)
300th point           Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 298)
                                Molly Grager (has 296)
 
MILESTONES MADE LAST WEEK 
100th assist          Brianne Lasconia (has 107)
                                  Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 101)
300th point            Jordan McPhee (has 301)
                                               
AROUND THE WEST
Alaska Anchorage in the GNAC and Cal Baptist in the Pacific West have gotten through another week with their winning streaks – and their one-loss records – intact. The Seawolves (26-1, 13-1 GNAC) pushed their winning streak to 14 and maintained their one-game lead on Western Washington (16-6, 12-2) atop the standings.
 
Cal Baptist (21-1, 13-1 Pac West) also has won 14 in a row. But in conference, the Lancers are part of a three-way tie at the top with Azusa Pacific (19-3 overall) and Academy of Art (18-6).
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills took its first loss in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, falling in overtime at Cal State Los Angeles, 98-92. But the Toros (16-7, 14-1 CCAA) are still in sole possession of first place, with UC San Diego (18-3, 13-2) and Cal State East Bay (19-4, 13-2), tie for second.
 
UP NEXT
The final two home games of the season are set for next week. On Thursday, Feb. 18, Alaska Fairbanks comes to Brougham Pavilion, followed by current national No. 1 Alaska Anchorage on Saturday the 20th. The Falcons and Nanooks tip off at 7:00 p.m. The game against UAA has a special 6:00 p.m. start time, and will be Senior Night in honor of this year's lone senior, center Molly Grager. Following the Falcons-Seawolves contest, the SPU men will take to the court against Montana State Billings in a game that will be televised live around the Northwest on ROOT Sports.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                                      GNAC                 Overall
Alaska Anchorage              13-1           26-1
Western Washington            12-2           16-6
Montana State Billings        11-3           15-7
Simon Fraser                   9-5           11-8
Central Washington             8-6           15-7
Northwest Nazarene             6-8            8-12
Alaska Fairbanks               5-9           10-14
Seattle Pacific                5-9            8-13
Saint Martin's                 3-11           5-16
Concordia                      3-11           5-17
Western Oregon                 2-12           3-19