WEST REGION CROSSOVER SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 15                     Seattle Pacific at Azusa Pacific, 7:30 p.m.
                                                Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
                                                Live Webcast (pay-per-view)        Live results
 
Saturday, Nov. 16                Seattle Pacific vs. UC San Diego, 6:00 p.m.
                                                Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
                                                Live Webcast (pay-per-view)        Live results
 

SEATTLE – How much more challenging can a schedule get?
 
Based on who the Seattle Pacific Falcons will be facing in this week's preseason women's basketball tournament …
 
… not much.
 
Coming off a tough season-opening weekend in Northern California, SPU flies off to Southern California this week for contests against national top-10 teams Azusa Pacific and UC San Diego at the West Region Crossover Classic.
 
Up first is No. 4-ranked host Azusa on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Felix Event Center. The Cougars are coming off a trip to last season's NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
 
It won't get any easier on Saturday when No. 6 UC San Diego is across the court for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off. The Tritons, who are playing their final year of Division II athletics before moving up to the Division I Big West Conference next year, The Tritons made it to NCAA Sweet 16 last season, in which they came up short against Azusa, 64-61.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both games will have live Webcasts and live stats. Both Webcasts will be pay-per-view and can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate link at the top of this story. Live stats are free, and that link also is at the top of this story.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons played these same two teams last year in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham Pavilion. Azusa Pacific hung on for a 67-58 victory, and UC San Diego overcame a nine-point second-half deficit and went on to take an 83-72 decision.
-- SPU will be squaring off against the Cougars and Tritons for the eighth straight year in preseason tournament play.
-- Two years ago, when this tournament was at APU, the Cougars were ranked No. 16, but Seattle Pacific pulled out an 80-69 victory on the first night. The next night, the Falcons hung on to beat UC San Diego, 65-59.
-- Through the previous seven years of this tournament, SPU has swept four times (2013, '14, '16, and '17), split once (2012), and lost both twice (2015 and '18).
--The Falcons already have a pair of double-doubles in the book. Junior forward Ashlynn Burgess had 18 points and 11 rebounds last Friday against Humboldt State. In the Fresno Pacific game on Saturday, sophomore guard Ashley Alter went for 15 points and 10 rebounds, her first collegiate double-double.
-- In fact, rebounding was a one of the positives out of last weekend's tournament. SPU had a 29-28 advantage on Humboldt and 38-30 on Fresno Pacific.
-- Burgess has shown that she has an eye for the basket. She shot 63 percent (17 of 27) in the two games combined, going 8 of 12 against Humboldt State, then 9 of 15 against Fresno Pacific.
-- The Falcons had five players at 50 percent or better in the Humboldt game and four at 50 or better in the Fresno game.
 




SCOUTING REPORT
AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS: 2-0, 0-0 PAC WEST
All-time series: SPU leads, 8-2. Current series streak: Azusa won 1. Last time: Azusa 67, SPU 58 (Nov. 15, 2018 at Seattle). Cougars on the Web.
Cougars in a nutshell: There's a reason the Cougars are so highly regarded in the national preseason rankings. Matter of fact, there are five good reasons: All five of the double-digit scorers from last year's Elite Eight team are back. At the head of the pack is senior 6-foot guard Savanna Hanson with her averages of 15.3 points and 8.4 rebounds. Along with that, she dished a team-leading 128 assists. Laura Pranger is double-trouble for opponents. Not only did she average 11.8 points per game, along with 6.0 rebounds, Pranger blocked 117 shots – more than half Azusa's team total of 224. Senior 5-4 guard Zoe March averaged 11.4 points on 52 percent shooting from the field. Senior 6-foot guard Daylee Hanson (Savanna's sister) was at 11.0 points per game, and senior 5-8 guard Rachel Bozlee chipped in 10.7 points. Savanna Hanson (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Pranger (10 and 10) both double-doubled against the Falcons last year in Seattle.
 
UC SAN DIEGO TRITONS: 1-0, 0-0 CCAA
All-time series: SPU leads, 13-5. Current series streak: UCSD won 2. Last time: UCSD 83, SPU 72 (Nov. 17, 2018 at Seattle). Tritons on the Web.
Tritons in a nutshell: UC San Diego had a season-long winning streak of 30 games last season from the opener in November to the NCAA West Region championship game in March before it ended with a 64-61 loss to Azusa Pacific. The Tritons graduated their top three scorers (Mikayla Williams 19.3, Joleen Yang 12.2, and Kayla Sato 12.1), but still return three others who averaged in double digits. Leading that group is senior 5-10 guard Sydney Sharp at 11.7 points per game. Julia Macubhay, a sophomore 5-6 guard, averaged 11.0, and senior 6-1 forward Haleigh Hatfield contributed a double-double of 10.4 points and a team-high 10.7 rebounds per game. One of her double-doubles last season was 10 points and 16 rebounds against SPU. Hatfield is dangerous from 3-point range, as she shot 43.5 percent (48 of 92). Also returning is top playmaker Brianna Claros, The sophomore 5-5 guard dished a team-leading 103 assists, along with averaging 5.9 points per game and shooting 36 percent (40 of 111) from downtown.
 
SIMONSON SAYS …
(On the focus coming out of the first two games)
"Defense is all we really are focusing on going into this weekend. As I watched the tape from last week, I thought we did some good things defensively. We made them take tough shots and make tough shots, so that's a good thing. But at the end of the day, we have to make them miss. We have to contest a shot, but that might not be enough. It's about extra effort to make people miss, and then we've gotta rebound it."

 

(On Azusa Pacific)
"Azusa is probably the most athletic team we will play all year. They're very long and very tall, they won the region last year, so they will give us a ton of experience in that sense. They get hands on a lot of balls and block a lot of shots. Since they're so long and tall, they really want to attack and get high-percentage shots near the hoop."
 
(On UC San Diego)
"UCSD is very well coached. They're very sound in what they do philosophically. They have a good offensive system where they pass and cut and move. So we have to anticipate a lot defensively.
 
(On getting to play two nationally ranked teams)
"To play them this early to is a blessing for our team to get ready for GNAC. I think we can give these two teams a run for their money. Our team has a lot of bright spots."
 
UP NEXT
After four straight preseason tournament games on the road, the Falcons will host their own tournament next Friday and Saturday, the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic,  On Friday, Concordia-Portland will play Regis University of Denver at 4:00 p.m., and the Falcons will go against Colorado School of Mines at 6:15. On Saturday the 23^rd, it's Concordia vs. Colorado Mines at 1:00 p.m., then SPU against Regis at 3:15.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                      GNAC     Overall
Alaska Anchorage          0-0     3-0
Alaska Fairbanks          0-0     2-0
Western Washington        0-0     2-0
Saint Martin's            0-0     1-0
Central Washington        0-0     1-1
Northwest Nazarene        0-0     1-1
Western Oregon            0-0     1-1
Simon Fraser              0-0     2-3
Concordia-Portland        0-0     0-2
Seattle Pacific           0-0     0-2
Montana State Billings    0-0     0-4