THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Jan. 17                Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 19                Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 4:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
        Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
 
SEATTLE – They've been practicing in their home gym almost every day.
 
Now, nearly seven weeks after taking the Brougham Pavilion court against Western Oregon, the Seattle Pacific women's basketball teams gets to play a game in there again.
 
And, what better way to perform in front of a hometown crowd than by taking on Western Washington. The arch-rival Vikings will be in town on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest. They'll be followed on Saturday by Simon Fraser in a game that has a 4:00 p.m. tip-off time.
 
Since defeating WOU by a 73-68 count on Dec. 1, the Falcons (4-9, 3-3 GNAC) have played their last six games on the road: a pair of non-conference outings in California, and GNAC trips to Saint Martin's, Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, and Central Washington.
 
The one home game that had been scheduled – Dec. 12 against Academy of Art – was canceled when the Urban Knights were hit hard by injuries and illness.
 
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.
 
TICKET TALK
Ticket prices are $10 for reserved seats for all ages, $7 for adult general admission, and $5 for youths, students, and senior citizens. Children 2 and under are free. SPU students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free with a valid current identification card.
 
A new ticketing system, which will allow online ordering and payment by credit card at Brougham Pavilion ticket windows, is up and operating. Cash will continue to be accepted at the ticket windows, as well.
 
A DIFFERENT KIND OF DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Most of the time, double-double talk in the basketball world involves points and rebounds. Toward that end, SPU's Cici West has five of them this year.
 
 

Last Saturday at Central Washington, senior guard Jaylee Albert recorded the first one of her college career … but this one wasn't points and rebounds.
 
It was points and assists.
 
Albert scored 12 points and handed out a career-high 10 assists as the Falcons roared back from most of a 21-point deficit before ultimately falling to the Wildcats, 77-70. Those 10 assists accounted for 22 points (eight 2-point baskets and a pair of 3s), meaning Albert factored into 34 of SPU's 70 points.
 
Double-digit assists are not an every-day occurrence. That last time it happed for the Falcons was Jan. 1, 2011, when Maddie Maloney dished 10 in an 80-64 victory against Alaska Fairbanks in Brougham Pavilion. She made it a double-double on that day, as well, scoring 11 points.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are looking to snap a three-game losing streak.
-- Thursday's game will mark the midpoint of SPU's schedule, as it will be game No. 14 of 27.
-- Of SPU's four wins this season, three have come at home – and all of those in a row: 84-73 vs. Holy Names, 75-64 vs. Concordia-Portland, and 73-68 vs. Western Oregon.
--The Falcons are 3-2 overall in Brougham, with the losses coming to Azusa Pacific and UC San Diego in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 16-17.
-- Getting a season sweep of Western Washington and Simon Fraser is very tough to do, since they are traditionally among the best in the GNAC. But the Falcons managed to do that against both last year.
-- In fact, Seattle Pacific wound up beating the Clan three times, the last of which came in the opening round of the GNAC Tournament in Anchorage.
-- Even with that, however, these are the only two GNAC programs that lead their respective all-time series against SPU: 58-31 for Western Washington, 21-13 for Simon Fraser.
-- While Mike Simonson of the Falcons is in his first year as a head coach, his counterparts this week are the longest-tenured coaches in the GNAC. Carmen Dolfo is in her 28^th year at WWU, and Bruce Langford is in his 18^th at Simon.
-- Jaylee Albert's career-high 10 assists at Central Washington last Saturday factored into a season-high 17 for the Falcons. It also bumped her up to No. 2 in the GNAC with a 4.4 average (57 total).
-- The Falcons will have their work cut out for them on the boards against Western Washington. The Vikings are the top rebounding team in the conference, averaging 42.6 per game. SPU is No. 8 at 35.9.
-- But that's just part of the equation. Western allows its opponents just 31.7 per game, the second-lowest total in the GNAC, for a margin of plus-10.9 per night. Falcon opponents grab an average of 38.2, for a margin of minus-2.2.
-- With back-to-back double-digit scoring games last week – her first two in a row since Nov. 29-Dec. 1 – senior guard Riley Evans comes is at No. 5 on the GNAC scoring list, averaging 14.8 per game. She had 16 at Northwest Nazarene (12 of those from 3-point range) and 13 at Central Washington (6 from downtown).
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 9-5, 4-2 GNAC (4^th)
All-time series: WWU leads, 58-31. Current series streak: SPU won 2. Last time: SPU 80, WWU 62 (Feb. 10, 2018 at Seattle). Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: After falling at home to Concordia-Portland last Thursday and then never leading through the first 29 minutes, 54 seconds against Western Oregon on Saturday, Western Washington came up with a big fourth quarter to beat the Wolves, 73-61. The Vikings have some impressive victories, including an overtimer against current Pacific West Conference leader Azusa Pacific back in November, and a six-pointer against GNAC rival Montana State Billings on Dec. 1. Sophomore forward / center Kelsey Rogers leads Western in scoring at 15.7 points per game (No. 3 in the GNAC, and is a deadly shooter, hitting .577 from the field (No. 2) and .806 from the free throw line. She also averages 6.1 rebounds and has 20 blocked shots. Junior 6-3 center Anna Schwecke is a big contributor, as well, at 11.6 points, a team-leading 8.1 rebounds (No. 4 in the GNAC) and .538 shooting (No. 5).
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER CLAN: 7-6, 3-3 GNAC (tie 5^th)
All-time series: Simon leads, 21-13. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 85, Simon 59 (March 1, 2018 at GNAC Tournament, Anchorage). Clan on the Web.
Clan in a nutshell: After a tough stretch during which it lost four out of five, Simon Fraser has won two of its last three, including a split at home against the Oregon schools last week (a 69-65 loss to Western Oregon, a 67-60 victory against Concordia-Portland). Setting the points-producing pace for the Clan is 5-11 senior forward Sophie Swant at 13.8 points per game. She opened GNAC play on Nov. 29 with a 26-point outburst against Montana State Billings. Close behind is 5-9 sophomore guard Jessica Jones at 12.8 per game. She got off to a fast start with a 23-point performance against UC San Diego in the season opener. Samantha Beauchamp, a 6-3 senior forward, is big on the boards (a team-high 6.0 per game, with 11 at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 5) and has an eye-popping 36 blocked shots. That's 10 more than anyone else in the GNAC and works out to a 2.8 average.
 
FALCON REPLAY
-- Riley Evans started finding the hoop again with 16 points, but undefeated and No. 5-ranked NNU scored 15 in a row bridging the first and second quarters and rolled to an 82-64 victory against the Falcons last Thursday in Nampa.
-- Cici West tied her career high of 18 rebounds, to go along with 14 points, and Jaylee Albert dished a career-best 10 assists, but SPU's rally from a 21-point third-quarter deficit against Central Washington ultimately fell short on last Saturday night, as the Wildcats pulled out a 77-70 victory.
 
SIMONSON SAYS …
(On getting to play at home)
"We are so, so excited to play at home. We're eager to get into our gym, the gym we light up with shots ever day. We're excited to play in front of our home fans, have people cheer for us when we make a shot, and have some of that momentum. We've missed that, for sure.

 

(On Western Washington)
"They're physical, and they're a great defensive team. They might be the best defensive team in the conference this year. We're going to have to work to move the ball around against them, because they're gong to be physical. They load to the ball very well, and they guard at a high level. And they're a very good rebounding team."
 
(On Simon Fraser)
"They really spread you out and attack you. They traditionally have been a good-shooting team and they're very hard to defend. Their style is very unique."
 
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARDS
When it comes to rebounding, the number 18 most definitely resonates with redshirt senior forward Cici West.
 
The 5-foot-10 Seattle native played her first three years of college basketball at Division I Portland State, and had a pair of 18's on the boards. The first one came as a sophomore against the University of Portland in November 2015, which was a single-game record for PSU's Stott Center.
 
 

Just 67 days after that, she did it again with 18 against Idaho.
 
Now, West has another 18 to her credit, collecting that many in last Saturday's 77-70 loss at Central Washington.
 
At Portland State, West led or co-led the Vikings on the boards 28 times during her career, with 10 of those occasions during her junior season in 2016-17.
 
In 13 games for SPU this season,  West has been the top rebounder in 12 of them. The only exception was Nov. 16 at home against Azusa Pacific when freshman Natalie Hoff's 12 led the way. West had seven that night.
 
West has 129 rebounds so far this year and hauled down her career 700^th last week (also scoring her 700^th career point). With 14 regular-season games left, she's well within reach of a spot in SPU's single-season all-time top 10. The No. 10 rung on that ladder currently belongs to Megan Hoisington with 249 in 2009-10.

 
YOUNG ONES GETTING IT DONE
In discussing last Saturday's game at Central Washington when SPU cut a 21-point deficit down to four in just a little less than eight minutes, head coach Mike Simonson pointed out, "We had some young players come in and compete, and that's a great sign. In that fourth quarter, we finally had a group out there that said, 'No more,' and really just fought back and boxed out and got rebounds and was a very good transition team."
 
The stats validate Simonson's observation.
 
On the floor for all or part of that eight-minute stretch were sophomore Hailee Bennett and freshmen Ashley Alter and Natalie Hoff.
 
Alter scored eight points, had two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Hoff supplied three points, two rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot. Bennett contributed two points, two rebounds, and one assist. Along the way, all of them got to the free throw line, with Alter and Bennett each draining 2 of 2, and Hoff 1 of 2.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Among the 301 NCAA Division II program, Seattle Pacific ranks:
-- 45^th in fewest turnovers with 201 (Colorado Mesa 1^st with 145).
-- 50^th in 3-point shooting percentage at .347 (Bentley 1^st at .415).
 
Individually:
-- Jaylee Albert 52^nd in assists per game at 4.4
-- Riley Evans 21^st in 3-point percentage at .446.
-- Evans 12th in free throw percentage at .897 (UP 15).
-- Cici West 36th in rebounds per game at 9.9 (UP 19).
 
West climbed 19 places from last week and is up 30 spots from two weeks ago. Evans moved up 15 spots in free throw shooting. The national leader in that one? Northwest Nazarene's Avery Albrecht at .938.

Click on this link to see how the Falcons stack up nationally across all statistical categories.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
200^th assist             Jaylee Albert (has 196)
200^th point              Hailee Bennett (has 185)
200^th rebound         Jaylee Albert (has 193)
300^th assist            Jade Skidmore (has 297)
600^th rebound        Jade Skidmore (has 594)
1,000^th point          Jade Skidmore (has 929)
 
MADE LAST WEEK
700^th point             Cici West (has 701)
700^th rebound        Cici West (has 718)
 
AROUND THE WEST
Northwest Nazarene is one of just six remaining undefeated teams in Division II, now at 14-0 overall and 6-0 in the GNAC. The Nighthawks face a potentially tough challenge this week, as they visit Central Washington (10-3, 5-1 GNAC) on Tuesday night in Ellensburg. Alaska Anchorage (13-1, 5-1) visits the Oregon schools.
 
That group of six remaining undefeateds also includes UC San Diego. The Tritons are 14-0, 10-0 atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Cal Poly Pomona is still within striking distance at 8-1, 12-2 overall. Cal State San Marcos moved into double-digit wins, and is 10-4, 7-3 CCAA (tied with San Francisco State). San Marcos visits San Diego on Saturday.
 
Azusa Pacific is still perfect in Pacific West Conference play at 11-0, and has a 14-3 overall mark. But the three teams immediately behind the Cougars continue to build impressive records, as well: Dominican (11-2, 8-1 Pac West), Hawaii Pacific (9-5, 7-1) and Fresno Pacific (11-4, 7-2). Dominican visits Fresno on Tuesday.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at news, notes, results, and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
The home stop was nice while it lasted, but the Falcons head back onto the road next week to wind up the first half of the GNAC schedule. They'll visit Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, Jan. 24, then stop at current No. 12-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Saturday the 26^th. Both games tip off at 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                Conference          Overall
Northwest Nazarene       6-0         14-0
Alaska Anchorage         5-1         13-1
Central Washington       5-1         10-3
Western Washington       4-2          9-5
Montana State Billings   3-3          7-5
Simon Fraser             3-3          7-6
Seattle Pacific          3-3          4-9
Western Oregon           2-4          5-7
Saint Martin's           1-5          4-11
Concordia-Portland       1-5          6-8
Alaska Fairbanks         0-6          3-9