THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 16               Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, 8:00 p.m. PST
                                                The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 18               Seattle Pacific at Alaska Anchorage, 6:00 p.m. PST
                                                Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Alaska
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
         Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – The amount of games remaining is growing smaller. But the stakes are growing larger for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
After coming up short in both of their home games last week, the Falcons will be seeking to get out of the doldrums this week when they trek to Alaska for their final Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball road trip of the year.
 
SPU visits Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time. From there, it's off to national No. 2-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. That one tips off at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
In addition to wanting some redemption against both – the Nanooks scored a 72-59 victory in Brougham Pavilion last month; the Seawolves were in town two days prior to that and wiped out a nine-point halftime deficit to win, 71-62 – the Falcons still have the task of needing to clinch a postseason berth. They are one of four teams battling for the final three spots in the GNAC Tournament.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
A live Webcast and live stats available from all of this week's action. 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.
 
SPEAKING OF THE GNAC TOURNAMENT …
In the final four games of the regular season, Seattle Pacific's magic number for securing a GNAC tourney spot remains at three. That's where it was last week
 
The Falcons start this week still in fourth place with a 9-7 conference record. Behind the Falcons are three teams – Alaska Fairbanks, Northwest Nazarene and Concordia – all deadlocked at 7-9. Any combination of SPU wins and losses by any of those three teams that adds up to three will guarantee that the Falcons make the trip down Interstate 5 to Saint Martin's in Lacey for the GNAC Tournament.
 
Seattle Pacific certainly is in control of its own destiny, facing two of those three opponents during the final two weeks: at Fairbanks on Thursday, and home against Concordia next Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
 
WEST REGION RANKINGS
The Falcons are No. 8 in the first of three sets of NCAA West Region rankings. Those were released on Wednesday, with two more sets to follow on subsequent Wednesdays, and a final set on Sunday, March 5, following completion of the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West tournaments.

As expected Alaska Anchorage is No. 1, and Cal Baptist is No. 2. They are followed by No. 3 Western Washington, No. 4 Simon Fraser, No. 5 UC San Diego, No. 6 Hawaii Pacific, and No. 7 Point Loma Nazarene. Below SPU are Cal State East Bay and Cal Poly Pomona.

Although 10 teams are in the rankings, only the top eight on the final list make the NCAA. That group will include the three conference tournament champions as automatic qualifiers. Then, the five highest-ranked teams among the non-champions fill out the bracket.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are going for season splits against both teams.
-- SPU is still looking for its first win against Alaska Anchorage since Ryan McCarthy took over as head coach  McCarthy's teams are 9-0 against the Falcons.
-- Seattle Pacific has won four straight road games: at Northwest Nazarene, Central Washington, Saint Martin's, and Montana State Billings.
-- In fact, the Falcons have a better winning percentage out of town (8-2 for .800) than at home (9-5 for .643).
-- Alaska Fairbanks essentially won last month's game in Seattle thanks to a fast start (12-0 to open the game) and a fast finish (10-0). In between, the Falcons outscored the Nanooks, 59-50.
-- The Falcons had just one double-figure scorer against Fairbanks: Jordan McPhee with 14.
-- Seattle Pacific will need to find a way to handle UAA senior forward Autummn Williams. She burned the Falcons for 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting in Seattle.
-- Junior forward Erica Pagano remains one of the sharpest shooters in the GNAC, now tied with Northwest Nazarene's Ellie Logan for No. 7 at .497.
-- SPU and Fairbanks are positioned alongside each other in five major stat categories. The Falcons have the higher rung in steals (No. 4 vs. No. 5), 3-point shooting (6 vs. 7) and free throw shooting (2 vs. 3). The Nanooks are one spot better in scoring and field goal shooting (both No. 5 vs. No. 6).
-- Seattle Pacific climbed two places to No. 6 in Division II free throw shooting this week. The season percentage is now .784 after going .889 (18 of 22) in last week's two games combined (8 of 10 vs. Western Washington, 10 of 12 vs. Simon Fraser.
-- This season's record against ranked teams is 1-3: a neutral court victory against UC San Diego, a home loss to Anchorage, and a home-and-home sweep by Western Washington.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 21-1 vs. Alaska Fairbanks, and 11-16 against Anchorage.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 11-12, 7-9 GNAC (tie 5th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 57-15. Current series streak: UAF won 1. Last time: UAF 72, SPU 59 (Jan. 21, 2017 at Seattle). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: Alaska Fairbanks has never been to the GNAC Tournament. That is on verge of changing, so the Nanooks clearly have plenty to play for this week. They have dropped three in a row, the latest of which was a 93-60 rout at Northwest Nazarene last Saturday. Senior forward Jordan Wilson had 26 points in that one and is the fifth-leading scorer in Division II at 21.6 points per game. And, it's a very efficient 21.6 – Wilson shoots 58.1 percent from the field, a mark that ranks No. 7 in D2. Wilson and fellow senior forward Kaillee Skjold make for a very potent 1-2 punch. Skjold averages 16.0 per game and went for 30 in last Thursday's 69-66 loss at Central Washington, a game in which she and Wilson shot a combined 23 of 42 from the floor (54.8 percent) and scored all but nine of UAF's 66 points. Skjold is the Nanooks' leading rebounder at 8.8 per game and has nine double-doubles for the season.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES: 23-1, 16-0 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 39-27. Current series streak: UAA won 9. Last time: UAA 71, SPU 62 (Jan. 19, 2017 at Seattle). Seawolves on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage, which starts the week on a 19-game winning streak, finally had a close one last week, fending off Northwest Nazarene in Idaho, 78-70. Of the Seawolves' 23 victories, only three have been decided by fewer than 10 points. One of those was the 71-62 decision at SPU last month. As has been the case throughout the year, all of them can score, and one of them – senior forward Autummn Williams – can really score, with a 21.0 average that ranks No. 3 in the GNAC and tied for No. 8 in Division II. She went for back-to-back games in the 30s last week. She had a then-career high 29 against the Falcons in January. Behind her, Anchorage has three players averaging in the 8s and two more in the 7s. Making sure the ball gets distributed to everyone is senior guard Kiki Robertson, whose average of 5.6 assists per game is tied for 18th nationally. Anchorage leads the GNAC in points scored (83.3), fewest points allowed (52.2), rebounds (38.2), assists (20.0), and steals (16.6). It forces an average of 26.9 turnovers per game.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- National leading scorer Taylor Peacocke had 27 points, and No. 21-ranked Western Washington limited SPU to a season-low 28.6 percent shooting from the field to beat the Falcons last Thursday, 69-50.
-- Rachel Shim scored a career-high 17 points, but Simon Fraser used a 9-0 scoring run in the third quarter to cut short a Seattle Pacific rally, and went on to beat the Falcons on Homecoming Saturday afternoon, 72-60.
 
SENIOR DAY SET FOR FEB. 25
SPU seniors Brianna Lasconia, Stacey Lukasiewicz, Hannah Rodrigues, and Rachel Shim will have their moment in the spotlight when Western Oregon comes to Brougham Pavilion next Saturday to close out the regular season.
 
The four Falcons will be saluted in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the scheduled 2:00 p.m. tip-off.
 
TAKING SMART TO A DISTRICT LEVEL
Junior guard Jordan McPhee was named last week to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team, one of five players voted to the West Region squad.

 

McPhee (Normandy Park, Wash. / Mount Rainier HS) has a near-perfect 3.98 grade-point average as a business major. She is the first Falcon to earn All-District accolades since the 2015-16 season. In addition, she has one GNAC All-Academic team honor, and has been nominated for this year's team, as well.
 
The CoSIDA teams are voted upon by sports information directors from the GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West Conference.
 
On the court, McPhee is Seattle Pacific's second-leading scorer at 10.8 points per game, and it tied for No. 2 on the team in rebounding at 5.1.
 
Click on this link for a feature profile on McPhee that appeared in the Seattle Times on Jan. 17.
 
A TRIPLE MILESTONE KIND OF A NIGHT
Not just one or two, but three Seattle Pacific players passed career scoring milestones during last Thursday's game against Western Washington in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Courtney Hollander had nine points that evening to most past 700. Along with the 13 she had on Saturday against Simon Fraser, she now is at 721.
 
Junior forward Erica Pagano (Happy Valley, Ore.) led the way with 10 points against the Vikings to top the 300 mark. She begins this week with 312.
 
Senior guard Stacey Lukasiewicz delivered eight points against Western to push past 400. She begins the week with 402.
 
MARKING SOME OTHER MILESTONES
In the making
100th assist           Rachel Shim (has 97)
100th steal             Hannah Rodrigues (has 91)
200th rebound       Erica Pagano (has 169)
500th rebound       Courtney Hollander (has 492)
 
Made last week
100th assist           Jordan McPhee (has 100)
300th point             Erica Pagano (has 312)
400th point             Stacey Lukasiewicz (has 402)
700th point             Courtney Hollander (has 721)
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING (TOP 50)
Among the 307 programs in D2, SPU is …
-- 6th in free throw shooting (.784)
-- 12th in total assists (417)
-- 13th in assists per game (17.4)    
-- 18th in assist / turnover ratio (1.17)
-- 23rd in scoring defense (57.3)
-- 43rd in total steals (235)
-- 50th in steals per game (9.8)
 
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
Now with 19 victories in a row, Alaska Anchorage has a 23-1 overall record, and is still undefeated in the GNAC (16-0). But the Seawolves still don't have the GNAC title clinched, as the remain just one game ahead of Western Washington (21-3,15-1). The Vikings are on a 15-game winning streak, but put that on the line Tuesday night at home against Simon Fraser (22-4, 13-3 GNAC). All three of those teams are safely into the GNAC tournament and very likely into the NCAA West Regionals, as well. The last three GNAC tourney spots are coming down to a four-way battler between Seattle Pacific (9-7), Alaska Fairbanks (7-9), Northwest Nazarene (7-9), and Concordia (7-9).
 
After flying so high all season, UC San Diego (18-5, 14-3 conference) has lost two if its past three after splitting two California Collegiate Athletic Association games last week. The Tritons are now just one game ahead of second-place Cal State East Bay (16-8, 13-4 CCAA). San Diego remains the lone CCAA team with the best shot at regionals. Still in the picture are East Bay, Cal State San Bernardino (13-7, 10-6), Chico State (14-8, 9-7) and Cal Poly Pomona (13-9, 11-5).
 
Cal Baptist has pushed its winning streak to 22. At 25-2 overall and 16-0 in the Pacific West Conference, the Lancers are 1 ½ games ahead of second-place Hawaii Pacific (18-4, 15-2) and two up on Point Loma Nazarene (20-3, 14-2). HPU and Point Loma clash on Thursday in Honolulu. All three of those teams conceivably could make the West Regionals. No one else in the conference is even close, unless one team was to pull off a string of upsets in the conference tournament.
 
UP NEXT
The 28-game regular season winds up at home next week against the Oregon schools, Concordia-Portland comes to Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7:00 p.m. That will be Play for Kay Night in recognition of the fight against breast cancer. The finale is Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2:00 p.m. against Western Oregon, with a Senior Day ceremony preceding the tip-off.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference          Overall
Alaska Anchorage                    16-0                    23-1
Western Washington                15-1                    21-3
Simon Fraser                             13-3                    22-4
Seattle Pacific                              9-7                    17-7
Alaska Fairbanks                        7-9                    11-12
Concordia                                    7-9                    10-14
Northwest Nazarene                  7-9                      9-13
Central Washington                    5-11                  10-14
Montana State Billings               5-11                    8-16
Western Oregon                          3-13                    7-16
Saint Martin's                               1-15                    5-19