THE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Jan. 23                 Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 27                Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 6:00 p.m. PST.
                                                Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
  
SEATTLE – That was one heck of a hot streak Seattle Pacific found itself on to finish the first half of Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball schedule: five straight wins, the latest of which was an 18-pointer against No. 4-ranked Alaska Anchorage last Saturday night.
 
But the Falcons will have no time to sit around and enjoy it.
 
That's because they have just one day to get ready for their next game, as they begin a four-game road trip at Saint Martin's on Tuesday night.
 
Tip-off in Marcus Pavilion is at 7:00 p.m.
 
SPU (14-3, 8-2 GNAC) then gets to practice at home for two days before heading east for Saturday's contest at Montana State Billings. That one tips off at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both games this week, and all remaining games this season, home and away, will have live stats and a free live Webcast. For home games (the next of which isn't until Feb. 8), Tom Gialanella will be on the Webcast play-by-play for home contests. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
TICKET TALK
Fans planning to make the trip to Lacey on Tuesday can purchase their tickets at the Marcus Pavilion box office window. Prices are $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, military members, and SPU students with proper identification, and $3 for students ages 12-18. Children 11 and under are free.
 
TWICE THE FUN: GNAC HONORS SHIM AND THE TEAM
Falcon senior Rachel Shim, who posted career highs for both scoring and rebounding in last Saturday's 66-48 victory against No. 4-ranked Alaska Anchorage, has been named the GNAC Athlete of the Week.
 
In addition, SPU was selected as the conference's Team of the Week, which is chosen from among every team in every sport (for the winter, basketball and indoor track & field).
 
 

Shim, a fifth-year senior, poured in 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, including 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point arc. She also drained both of her free throws. That beat her previous career high of 17 points, set last Feb. 11 against Simon Fraser.
 
Shim grabbed eight rebounds, two more than her previous single-game best of six, which she reached twice. Of those, three came at the offensive end. She also had one assist, two steals, and even her first blocked shot of the season.
 
The third quarter was when Shim came up big, with 11 of her points. She hit 4 of 6 from the floor, with three of those makes from downtown.
 
This was the first time Shim has won the weekly award. She is the second Falcon to do so this season. Senior guard Jordan McPhee won on Nov. 21.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU comes into the week on a five-game winning streak.
-- During the streak, the Falcons continue their remarkable run of having trailed just once: 3-2 for 53 seconds at Western Washington on Jan. 11.
-- Aside from 0-0, the only tie score during those same five games was 2-2 against Central Washington for 24 seconds on Jan. 6.
-- All of that adds up to this: In the past 200 minutes of action (including those initial 0-0 ties), the Falcons have been in the lead for exactly 195:00.
-- The Falcons are 5-1 in January, their best start to a new calendar year since 2015. That year, they were 7-2 and eventually on their way to the NCAA Tournament. But they went 0-9 in January 2016 and 5-4 last January.
-- Seattle Pacific has a chance to sweep the season series from Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings. Last year, they swept against both teams.
-- It's a given that senior Alisha Breen is going to have at least one big quarter – and sometimes more than one – in every MSUB game. Against SPU in December, it was the second quarter, with 13 of her 25 points.
-- Senior center Julia Haining tied her career high of 14 points last time against Saint Martin's, and was one rebound away from a double-double.
-- Seattle Pacific and Billings remain the two best teams in the GNAC for taking care of the basketball: just 13.1 turnovers per game for the Yellowjackets, and 14.6 for the Falcons.
-- Coach Julie Heisey is 21-5 against Saint Martin's, including 1-0 against new head coach Christy Martin. She is 16-6 against Montana State Billings and coach Kevin Woodin.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 6-12, 2-8 GNAC (10th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 53-16. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 81, STM 66 (Dec. 9, 2017 at Seattle). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's had lost eight in a row, beginning with the early December game at SPU, but halted that slide last Saturday by beating Alaska Fairbanks, 66-61. Just two nights prior, the Saints surrendered the first 14 points of the game to Alaska Anchorage, then stormed back for a 31-28 halfime lead before ultimately falling short, 76-57. Elin Johansson, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, has been the leading scorer for Saint Martin's, averaging 14.9 points per game, No. 3 in the conference, but was injured in last Saturday's win against Fairbanks.  Every bit as dangerous is 5-10 guard / forward Saniah Simpson-Patu with her 14.3 average, fifth-best in the GNAC. While Johansson has led Saint Martin's in scoring eight times, Simpson-Patu has nearly caught up, leading the way seven times. In fact, the Falcons already got an eyeful of Simpson-Patu back on Dec. 9, when she double-doubled with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Simpson-Patu averages 71 rebounds (No. 6 in the GNAC).
 
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 14-6, 7-3 GNAC (4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 27-20. Current series streak: SPU won 4. Last time: SPU 70, MSUB 61 (Dec. 28, 2017 at Seattle). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings comes into the week on a three-game winning streak and is coming off a road sweep of Western Oregon and Concordia-Portland. Alisha Breen, the 5-foot-10 senior who was named the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year back in October, continues to live up to that accolade. She leads the conference at 20.2 points per game and is second in rebounding at 9.3, and has posted nine double-doubles. The latest of those was last Saturday, when she had 17 points and 13 rebounds in a 66-61 victory at Concordia-Portland. One of her double-doubles came at SPU on Dec. 28 when she led the jackets in both categories with 25 and 10, respectively. Rylee Kane, a 5-6 senior guard, averages 11.8 points, and had 15 against the Falcons last month. Both she and Breen shoot in the 40s from the field. After a 9-0 start, MSUB dropped four in a row, but now has gotten back into a groove, winning five of its last seven.

 
 IT ALL STARTS WITH DEFENSE
Coaches everywhere harp on it all the time: Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.

 

Julie Heisey's SPU squad certainly is taking that to heart. Saturday's 66-48 win against No. 4-ranked Alaska Anchorage wasn't a championship game, but the Falcons certainly defended as if a title was on the line.
 
For instance: 
-- The Seawolves arrived in Brougham Pavilion averaging 79.1 points per game. The Falcons kept them 31 points lower. That's the largest margin this season by which they've kept an opponent below its average.
-- They forced UAA into 0-for-12 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter. Its only points during the final 10 minutes were six free throws.
-- For the entire second half, SPU limited Anchorage to 4-of-29 shooting (13.8 percent). That was 1 of 16 from inside the 3-point arc and 3 of 13 beyond it.
-- The six points allowed in the fourth quarter ties for the third-lowest total given up in any one period since the women's game went to the 10-minute quarter system in 2015-16.
-- Anchorage's 26.4 percent shooting mark was the third-lowest total against SPU this year. Only Central Washington (24.2 percent on Jan. 6) and Humboldt State (26.0 percent on Nov. 10) shot worse.
-- UAA's 14 field goals made was the second-lowest total against the Falcons this season. Humboldt State made 13.
 
By the way: If yielding just six points in the fourth quarter of that game sounded good, the Falcons did even better in Thursday's opening quarter against Alaska Fairbanks. The Nanooks put just four points on the board. That tied the Seattle Pacific team record for fewest points allowed in a quarter.
 
10 DOWN, 10 TO GO IN GNAC
The Falcons and their 10 counterparts have reached the midpoint of the GNAC schedule. Heading into the second half of conference play, SPU is the top defensive team, allowing just 59.3 points per game. In addition, Seattle Pacific is:
-- No. 2 in rebounding at 41.5 per game.
-- No. 2 in assists at 15.7.
-- No. 3 on offense at 72.3 points per game.
-- No. 3 at the foul line, shooting 74.3 percent.
-- No. 3 in steals at 10.7.
 
Individually …
-- Jordan McPhee is No. 4 in scoring at 14.6, No. 3 in steals at 2.4, and tied for No. 5 in blocked shots at 1.0..
-- Julia Haining and Courtney Hollander are No. 4-5 in rebounding at 7.9 and 7.5.
-- Rachel Shim is No. 5 in 3-point shooting at .422.
-- Haining is No. 10 in field goal shooting at .466, and tied for No. 8 in steals at 1.8.
-- Lindsay Lee is No. 10 in assists at 2.8.
 
A GRAND HERE, HALF A GRAND THERE
A trio of SPU seniors continued their march toward statistical milestones in last week's two games.

 

Jordan McPhee and Courtney Hollander both moved closer to 1,000 career points. McPhee came into the week with 922 and added another 22, giving her 944 with 10 regular-season games left.
 
Hollander started with 910 and tacked on 23 more, putting her at 933 to begin the new week.
 
Aubree Callen, a 2015 graduate and now an assistant coach with Utah Valley State, and Suzanna Ohlsen, also a 2015 grad and currently an SPU assistant coach, both reached 1,000. Ohlsen wound up with 1,394 points, while Callen totaled 1,189.
 
Erica Pagano is approaching her 500th career point. She had a total of 10 points last week, putting her at 468.
 

MARKING A MILESTONE
In reach
100th free throw   Rachel Shim (has 93)
100th steal        Rachel Shim (has 90)
200th point        Carly Rataushk (has 182)
500th point        Erica Pagano (has 468)
600th rebound      Cici West (has 589)
 
Made last week
300th point       Julia Haining (has 304)
400th point       Lindsay Lee (has 403)
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 302 programs in D2, SPU is …
-- 33rd in steals per game (10.7)
--  36th in rebounding margin ( 6.5)
-- 41st in steals (182)
-- 42nd in assist / turnover ratio (1.07)
-- 42nd in fewest turnovers (249)
-- 43rd in scoring defense (59.3)
-- 44th in scoring margin ( 13.0)
-- 50th in assists per game (15.7)
 
Click on this link to see how SPU ranks nationally. Click on this link for a look at other GNAC teams and players in the national stats.
 
POLLING PLACE
The weekly Women's Basketball Coaches Association national poll won't be released until Tuesday afternoon. SPU was not in the top 25 or on the "others receiving votes" list last week. The Falcons likely will receive votes this week; whether they receive enough to return to the top 25 remains to be seen.
 
The Falcons did jump back up to No. 2 in this week's D2SIDA West Region poll, which was released on Monday. They received 50 points in the voting from a select group of West Region sports information directors, climbing two spots. Alaska Anchorage remained on top with 59 points and five first-place votes. The other first-place vote went to UC San Diego (No. 3 with 48 points).
 
AROUND THE WEST
With the first half of GNAC play complete, Alaska Anchorage remains atop the standings, despite last Saturday's loss at Seattle Pacific. The Seawolves (16-2, 9-1) are one game ahead of SPU and Northwest Nazarene, both at 8-2. Anchorage is at home this week against Western Washington on Thursday and Simon Fraser on Saturday. NNU visits the Oregon schools.
 
Hawaii Pacific leapfrogged Azusa Pacific to the top of the Pacific West Conference. The Sharks went to Azusa last Thursday and escaped with a 73-69 victory, then completed the Southern California trip with a 69-61 win at Biola. HPU (15-2, 9-1 Pac West) has won 11 in a row. Azusa is 19-3, with a 10-2 conference record. Those two teams meet again on Feb. 22 in Honolulu.
 
Speaking of 11-game win streaks, UC San Diego had one come to an end last Thursday, with an 82-78 upset loss at Stanislaus State. The Tritons are still atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association with an 11-1 record, 15-3 overall. Cal Poly Pomona is next with a 10-3 record (13-5 overall).
 
UP NEXT
The stretch of four straight road games to begin the second half of GNAC continues next week. SPU travels to Ellensburg on Thursday, Feb. 1, for a contest against Central Washington at 5:15 p.m. That game will be streamed on ESPN3 as part of a doubleheader from Nicholson Pavilion that night. (The men's game between Central and Western Washington is the second half of the broadcast.) SPU then plays at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.
 
 
 GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference          Overall
Alaska Anchorage        9-1          16-2
Seattle Pacific         8-2          14-3
Northwest Nazarene      8-2          12-3
Montana State Billings  7-3          14-6
Central Washington      6-4          10-8
Concordia-Portland      5-5          11-7
Western Oregon          4-6           8-8
Simon Fraser            3-7           8-10
Western Washington      3-7           7-11
Saint Martin's          1-9           5-13
Alaska Fairbanks        0-10          4-12