THE SCHEDULE
Tuesday, Jan. 1                   Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 5                   Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 1:00 p.m. PST
                                                Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – Not only will it be a new year, it just might feel like a whole new women's basketball season for Seattle Pacific.
 
Having played just four games in the 41 days between Thanksgiving Wednesday and New Year's Eve, coach Mike Simonson's Falcons will get back into their two-games-a-week pattern when they visit Saint Martin's to resume Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Tuesday in Lacey. The New Year's Night game tips off at 7:00.
 
The first week of 2019 concludes on Saturday when SPU visits Montana State Billings. That one tips off at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
Seattle Pacific played five games in 12 days to open the season in November, That started with back-to-back contests on consecutive weekends – Nov. 9-10 in Bellingham, then Nov. 16-17 in Seattle – and finished with a non-conference contest on Nov. 20 at home.
 
The Falcons then had nine days until their GNAC-opening weekend on Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, then a whopping 16 days before beginning a two-game Southern California road trip at Cal State Los Angeles on Dec. 17. By Tuesday's tip-off in Lacey, it will have been 12 days since SPU's contest on Dec. 19 at Concordia Irvine. That stretch included the NCAA Division II-mandated seven-day down time from Dec. 20-26.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both games this week and all remaining games this season will have free live Webcasts and free live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
IT'S 1 VS. 2 VS.3
Keepers of the official scorebook at Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings could find themselves a bit busier than usual this week. That's because the games involving the Saints, Yellowjackets and SPU will feature the top three scorers in the GNAC.
 
 

On Tuesday in Lacey, Falcons senior Riley Evans, ranking No. 2 at 16.3 points per game, will share the Marcus Pavilion court with Saint Martin's sophomore Saniah Simpson-Patu, with her conference-leading 16.6 average.
 
Action then shifts to Alterowitz Gymnasium in Billings. The Yellowjackets, with sophomore Hannah Collings averaging 15.3 points to sit No. 3 on the GNAC list, host Saint Martin's on Thursday, then welcome Seattle Pacific on Saturday.
 
Simpson-Patu, last season's GNAC Freshman of the Year, already has had a pair of big outings against the Falcons. She went for 21 points and 15 rebounds last December in Seattle, then 15 points and four boards last January in Lacey.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Over the years, SPU is 29-14 in its first games to start a new calendar year.
-- In first games after the break for Christmas – regardless of whether they happen before, on, or after New Year's Day – the Falcons are 28-15.
-- They have won the last four such games, including 70-61 against Montana State Billings in Brougham Pavilion last Dec. 28.
-- These are the middle two games of six straight road games for Seattle Pacific, which is still seeking its first away-from-home win of the season. The team dropped a pair of neutral-court games at Bellingham on Nov. 16 and 17, then fell at Cal State Los Angeles and at Concordia Irvine just before the break.
-- Last Jan. 23 at Saint Martin's, SPU recorded its highest offensive total of the season (94 points), but also yielded its highest total (76).
-- So far this season, the Falcons have an offensive high of 84 (Nov. 20 vs. Holy Names) and a defensive high of 83 (Nov. 17 vs. UC San Diego).
-- SPU continues to do a better job of hanging on to the basketball, as it has cut its per-game turnover average to 15.6, third-lowest in the GNAC. Through the five weeks in which it has played, the Falcons have gone from 18.0 to 17.0 to 15.8 to 15.7 to 15.6.
-- A total of six players have led or co-led SPU in scoring this season, with Riley Evans doing so in four of the nine games.
-- Different story on the rebounding side, though, as just two players have set the pace in that department: senior Cici West in eight of the nine games, and freshman Natalie Hoff in the other.
-- Senior center Carly Rataushk starts the week on a streak of three straight double-digit scoring games. Only Evans (four in a row from Nov. 17-Dec. 1) and West (three consecutive from Nov. 17-29) have matched that.
-- In last year's GNAC Tournament championship game between SPU and Billings in Anchorage, five All-GNAC players were on the court for the opening tip: Jordan McPhee (first team and Defensive Player of the Year), Courtney Hollander (second team) and Rachel Shim (honorable mention) for the Falcons, along with Alisha Breen (first team and Player of the Year) and Rylee Kane (honorable mention) for the Yellowjackets. Together, they accounted for exactly half of the game's 132 points (MSUB won, 71-61) – and all five graduated.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 3-8, 1-1 GNAC (tie 4^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 54-16. Current series streak: SPU won 5. Last time: SPU 94, StM 76 (Jan. 23, 2018 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: After an early-season five-game losing streak, including a 103-102 triple-overtime loss at Dixie State, Saint Martin's has won three of its last five, including a 1-2 record on its pre-Christmas trip to Hawaii. The Saints have a pair of players who can fill up the hoop – and both are among the GNAC's top scorers. Saniah Simpson-Patu, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard, averages a conference-leading 16.6 points per game. Makenna Schultz, a 5-2 junior guard, is No. 12 on the conference list with her 13.1 average. Schultz erupted for 37 in the triple-overtimer at Dixie State, and Simpson-Pau went for 34 – more than half of the team's total – in an 86-67 loss at Hawaii Pacific on Dec. 15. Also in double digits is 5-11 freshman guard-forward Claire Dingus at 11.0 per game. Dingus, who has started all 10 games, also has a team-leading 8.7 rebounding average (the GNAC third-highest mark), and 57 of her 96 boards have come at the offensive end. Dingus shoots a solid .500 from the field, along with an .897 mark from the free throw line.
 
SCOUTING THE MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 4-4, 0-2 GNAC (tie 9^th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 28-21. Current series streak: MSUB won 1. Last time: MSUB 71, SPU 61 (March 3, 2018 in GNAC final at Anchorage). Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings is coming off a split of two games in Florida just prior to the Christmas break, beating Maryville of Missouri by one, then falling by 23 to No. 21-ranked Angelo State of Texas. The Yellowjackets have three scorers averaging well into double digits. Leading the way is 5-foot-5 sophomore Hannah Collins at 15.3 points per game, ranking No. 3 in the GNAC. Taylor Cunningham, a 5-11 junior forward, is at 13.5 per game (No. 9 in the GNAC) on 44.9 percent shooting from the field, and senior 6-foot forward Vanessa Stavish is at 12.5 per game. Taryn Shelley, a 6-3 freshman, leads the way on the boards at 6.9 per game, also chipping in 7.1 points, and has started five of MSUB's eight contests heading into January. She had an eye-popping double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds in the victory against Maryville on Dec. 18, and pulled down another nine the next day against Angelo State. As usual, Billings is the best ball-handling team in the GNAC, averaging just 12.5 turnovers per game, with a conference-best 1.2 assist / turnover ratio,.
 
SIMONSON SAYS …
(On returning from the break)
"I think like everybody in the D2 world, we were rusty. But I think the girls did a good job of working on their own, which is very positive to see. I thought like we came back and seemed like we hadn't missed too much, so that's a good sign."

 

(On some things he thought about during the time away)
"We talked about trying to tweak a couple things defensively to help give us a better chance to accomplish what we're trying to execute defensively. That doesn't mean we're changing what we're doing, but just make a couple tweaks to help us out going into conference play."
 
(On Saint Martin's)
"They are very scrappy. They play super-fast. I think they're going to be a perfect test for us right after the break. The teams we played in California were tough and scrappy, so it's nice to have another team that mimics what we just played."

(On Montana State Billings)
"They do a very good job of just being solid and fundamental. They run their system. They're doing a lot of similar things that they've done in the past, and they have a great transfer (6-3 freshman forward Taryn Shelley)."

FALCONS REPLAY
-- Carly Rataushk recorded her second straight career scoring high, tallying 18 points, but Cal State Los Angeles took control with three first-half scoring runs and beat the Falcons in a non-conference game, 68-54 on Dec. 17 in L.A.
-- Concordia Irvine drained 11 shots from 3-point range – with three of those midway through the fourth quarter to choke off an SPU rally – and went on to an 82-66 non-conference victory on Dec. 19 in California.
 
GIVE ALBERT AN 'A' FOR ASSISTS
Coming into the season, senior guard Jaylee Albert's single-game career high for assists was five, which she had achieved twice. Then, in the season-opener against Fresno Pacific on Nov. 9, she handed out another five.
 
 

In the final week before the holidays, Albert surpassed that total – twice. She set a new career high of seven on Dec. 17 at Cal State Los Angeles, then dished another six just two days later at Concordia Irvine.
 
Through nine games, Albert has 38 assists, a 4.2 average that ranks No. 7 in the GNAC. Last year through nine games, the top Falcon passers were Rachel Shim and Lindsay Lee, each with 26 assists.
 
If Albert continues to average in the four-per-game neighborhood, that would push her past 100 by the end of the season. The most recent SPU player to finish with more than 100 was Suzanna Ohlsen with 110 in 2015. Last year, Lee led the way with 91.
 
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
With her early-season streak of four straight 20-point games, it might be easy to think that senior guard Riley Evans has always done that.
 
But of course, that is not the case. In fact, Evans' first 20-point game was Jan. 23 on the same Marcus Pavilion court where she'll play on Tuesday. On that night, in Seattle Pacific's 94-76 win, Evans came off the bench to drop in exactly 20, which was her career high at the time. The 20^th point came on a lay-up with 42.5 seconds left in the game.
 
That also was just the second double-digit scoring game for the Australian native. Her first one was three night earlier when she went for 13 – again off the bench – in a 66-48 upset of then-No. 8 Alaska Anchorage in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Evans also had a big night against Montana State Billings in the GNAC Tournament title game, dropping in 18 off the bench, although the Yellowjackets still won, 71-61.

NEW ROLE FOR LUKASIEWICZ
Stacey Lukasiewicz, who was a key member of the Falcons from 2014-17, is now the director of women's basketball operations at Cal Baptist.
 
Lukasie

wicz joined the Lancers this past August. Cal Baptist is in its first year as a Division I school and has joined the Western Athletic Conference.
 
During her four years at Seattle Pacific, Lukasiewicz averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 rebounds. She played in 112 of a possible 113 games, making her one of just seven Falcons in program history to miss just one game during a four-year career. Last season, she served as an assistant coach at Central Washington.
 
The Lancers, now 6-6 and riding a five-game winning streak, are in town on Feb. 28 when they play a WAC game at Seattle University.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 301 NCAA Division II program, Seattle Pacific ranks:
-- 29^th in 3-point shooting percentage at .368 (Bentley 1^st at .439).
-- 49^th in fewest turnovers with 140 (University of Sciences 1^st with 84).
 
INDIVIDUALLY ...
-- Riley Evans 27 in 3-point percentage at .453.
-- Evans 31^st in free throw percentage at .879.
-- Evans 51^st in 3-point makes per game at 2.67.
-- Cici West 66^th in rebounds per game at 9.0.
-- Jaylee Albert 67^th in assists per game at 4.2.

Click on this link to see how the Falcons stack up nationally in all statistical categories.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100^th field goal       Riley Evans (has 95)
300^th assist           Jade Skidmore (has 295)
300^th point            Riley Evans (has 284)
600^th rebound        Jade Skidmore (has 591)
700^th rebound        Cici West (has 680)
1,000^th point          Jade Skidmore (has 918)
 
MADE LAST WEEK
100^th field goal      Jaylee Albert (has 101)
300^th point           Carly Rataushk (has 314)
 
AROUND THE WEST
Northwest Nazarene will begin 2019 not only as part of a three-way tie atop the GNAC, but as one of just two remaining undefeated team in the West Region – and one of just 11 unbeatens out of the 301 programs in D2. The 10-0 Crusaders will be visiting the Oregon schools. One of the top GNAC games will be Western Washington's visit to Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 5. The Vikings are 7-3, 2-0; UAA is 9-1, 1-1.
 
The other West unbeaten? That's UC San Diego, which is 9-0 overall, 5-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. In fact, the CCAA has seven teams at 6-3 or better. Two of those schools are scheduled to meet on Dec. 29 when Chico State (7-1, 4-1) visited Cal Poly Pomona (7-2, 3-1).
 
Azusa Pacific of the Pacific West Conference joins NNU as the only West team with double-digit wins so far. The Cougars are 10-3 overall, and already have played seven conference games, winning all of them. Hawaii Pacific also is undefeated in Pac West play (4-0), and is 6-4 overall. Only two other teams – Dominican (7-2, 4-1) and Fresno Pacific (8-3, 4-1) have overall winning records. HPU and Dominican meet on Jan. 2 in San Rafael, Calif.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wind up a stretch of six straight road games next week when they visit Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. Both games are the openers of doubleheaders in their respective buildings, so will have early start times: 4:15 p.m. PST in Nampa on Thursday, Jan. 10, and 5:15 p.m. in Ellensburg on Saturday the 12th. Both opponents will be led by former Seattle Pacific assistant coaches, as Steve Steele is in her third year at NNU, and Randi Richardson-Thornley is starting her second season at Central.
 

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