THE SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Jan 16: Concordia-Portland at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Saturday, Jan. 18: Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 4:15 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
Live Webcast Live stats
Weekly release, with complete updated stats (PDF)
SEATTLE – The second half of the women's basketball is here for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
And they get to start it at home.
SPU, having won three of the past four times it has played in Brougham Pavilion, will welcome the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's two Oregon schools to town this week. Concordia-Portland is here on Thursday, followed by Western Oregon on Saturday.
The game against the Cavaliers tips off at 7:00 p.m. on Iron Coaching Court. The WOU contest starts at 4:15 p.m. and will be the second half of a doubleheader. It will be preceded by the Seattle Pacific men against Montana State Billings at 2:00 p.m.
The Falcons (3-11, 1-5 GNAC) will be looking to get back into the win column after falling short in both of last week's road games: 71-54 at Simon Fraser and 73-60 at Western Washington.
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week's games, as well as all GNAC contests, will have free live Webcasts and free live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
TICKET TALK
Tickets for all Seattle Pacific home sports events are available either online or at the Brougham Pavilion ticket window. Prices for basketball are $10 for reserved seating, $7 for adult general admission, and $5 for student / youth / senior citizen general admission. SPU students and faculty / staff members with current valid school identification are admitted free. On doubleheader days, tickets are good for both games.
Fans who wish to
purchase tickets online can do so by clicking on this link. Otherwise, ticket windows open 60 minutes prior to tip-off. Cash and credit cards are accepted at the windows.
TRIPLE MILESTONE FOR BURGESS
Some things happen in threes. For
Ashlynn Burgess, it was a trio of milestone last week.
In Thursday's game at Simon Fraser, the junior notched the 100
th assist of her career. She begins this week with 101. The first 87 came during her two seasons with Wenatchee Valley College.
On Saturday night at Western Washington, Burgess surpassed 500 field goals and 1,300 points. She is now at 502 field goals (68 for the Falcons) and 1,310 points (172 with SPU).
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The
Falcons are 3-3 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- Of the
14 games during the second half of the 28-game schedule, eight will be at home.
--
Home court was a clear advantage against the Oregon schools last season. In Seattle, the Falcons prevailed 75-64 vs. Concordia and 73-68 vs. Western Oregon. On the road, it was WOU, 60-53, and Concordia, 67-62, to wrap up the season.
-- SPU sophomore guard / forward
Ashley Alter logged her career-high of 18 points last Feb. 28 at Western Oregon.
-- If the name
Riley Friauf on Concordia's roster rings a bell, there's a reason for that. She was with Concordia Irvine last season, and the Falcons saw plenty of her in California when they visited the Eagles on Dec. 18, 2018. Friauf finished with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds to help CUI win, 82-66
--
Concordia guard Olivia Vezaldenos went off 24 points when SPU visited Portland last season.
--
Western Oregon guard Keyanna Jones likely will draw some defensive emphasis from the Falcons. She
went for 36 points in last year's two games, with 23 of those coming in Seattle.
--
Seattle Pacific came up with a
season-high 10 steals last Thursday at Simon Fraser. Senior guard
Madi Hingston had five of those. She was the first Falcon to come up with that many in a game since ... well, MadI Hingston, who had six at Concordia-Portland last March 2 in the season finale.
-- Senior guard
Hailee Bennett comes into the week having hit her last 21 free throws. That included 9 of 9 against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 4 and 7 of 7 at Simon Fraser last Thursday. She did not get to the line on Saturday at Western Washington.
--
Last year's long streak was 24 by Jaylee Albert.
-- Be
nnett's .902 percentage (46 of 51) still leads the GNAC and is
tied for No.13 in NCAA Division II. The closest player to Bennett in the conference is
Kaelie Flores of Central Washington at .886 (39 of 44). The national leader is
Morgan Brunner of West Liberty (W.V.) at .966 (57 of 59).
--
Ashlynn Burgess is No. 3 in GNAC field goal shooting coming into the week. Burgess is at .553 for the season (68 of 123). She has been as high as No. 2 on that list.
--
Burgess and CU's Friauf are dead even at No. 12 on the GNAC rebounding list. Both have 87 boards in 14 games for an average of 6.2. Burgess has more at the defensive end, 59-51; Friauf has more at the offensive end, 36-28.
-- Freshman post player
Kayla Brundidge is tied for No. 5 in GNAC blocked shots at 1.3 per game. She has 14 in 11 games.
-- Coach
Mike Simonson is 1-1 against both Oregon schools.
SCOUTING REPORT
CONCORDIA-PORTLAND CAVALIERS: 3-11, 2-4 GNAC (tie 7th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 10-3.
Current series streak: CU won 1.
Last time: CU 67, SPU 62 (March 2, 2019 at Portland).
Cavaliers on the Web.
Cavaliers in a nutshell: Concordia has logged victories in two of its past five games. That includes beating Western Oregon last week, 54-43.
Olivia Vezaldenos, a junior 5-foot-7 guard, sets the scoring pace for the Cavaliers at 12.1 points per game, ranking No. 15 in the conference. She is their biggest threat from downtown, as she has buried 35 shots from behind the arc – more than a third of the team's total of 93. She also is tied for the team lead in assists (22) and steals (16). Junior 6-1 forward
Riley Friauf also has a solid all-around game. She averages 10.2 points and is the leader on the boards with 87 an average of 6.2 that is tied for No. 12 among GNAC players. She is CU's sharpest shooter at .476. Freshman 6-foot guard / forward
Dorcas Wu chips in 7.9 points per game and has a team-high 12 blocked shots, an average of 1.1 per game that is tied for No. 7 in the GNAC.
WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 5-8, 2-4 GNAC (tie 7th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 43-5.
Current series streak: WOU won 1.
Last time: WOU 60, SPU 53 (Feb. 28, 2019 at Monmouth, Ore.).
Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon's two conference wins have come against teams in the top half of the standings. The latest of those was 64-56 last Saturday against Montana State Billings in Monmouth, in which the Wolves led most of the way. The previous week, they trailed most of the way against Western Washington before finally pulling it out in double overtime, 73-70. Junior 6-foot guard
Keyanna Jones and senior 6-0 forward / center
Shariah Green carry a good chunk of the scoring load for Western Oregon. Jones averages 10.9 points per game, and Green is right behind at 10.8. Jones has been the high scorer six times; Green four times. Among the starters, Green is WOU's top shooter from the field, hitting .487 overall (tied for No. 12 in the GNAC) and .417 from 3-point range. And she sets the pace on the boards at 4.9 per game. Also capable of filling the hoop is 5-5 sophomore guard
Tresai McCarver. She averages 7.6 per contest and poured in 22 against Western Washington.
Amber Winkler, a 6-1 sophomore forward, is the GNAC's leading shot blocker at 1.9 per game (25 total).
SIMONSON SAYS …
Mike Simonson
(On the Falcons)
"If you take away the second quarter of our last two games, you look at potentially outplaying our opponents six of eight quarters on the road. We need to take that as a confidence booster, but we need to be able to do that for 40 minutes consistently."
(On Concordia)
"They can light it up when they get going. They have some players who can really score. Olivia Vezaldenos can score, Dorcas Wu can hit a lot of tough shots. We really have to be dialed in defensively against them. They will shoot a lot of 3s, but they will drive it on you, as well."
(On Western Oregon)
"Western Oregon is very good defensively. They compete, they're tough, they're gritty. They make a game very gritty and they make it a difficult game. We have to be able to handle that. They can keep the score really low. It's going to be a challenge to execute against their defense, that's for sure"
HALFTIME REPORT
It's 14 games down, 14 to go for the Falcons. At the midpoint of their schedule, here's how they stand statistically in comparison to last season after 14 games.
STATISTIC THIS SEASON LAST SEASON
Points 857 / 61.2 955 / 68.2
Points allowed 995 / 71.1 1018 / 72.7
Rebounds 556 / 39.7 495 / 35.4
Assists 189 / 13.5 179 / 12.8
Steals 61 / 4.4 103 / 7.4
Blocked shots 32 / 2.3 40 / 2.9
Turnovers 257 / 18.4 216 / 15.4
Field goal pct. .398 (319 of 802) .422 (347 of 823)
3-point FG pct. .272 (66 of 243) .382 (82 of 233)
Free throw pct. .754 (155 of 203) .683 (179 of 262)
Scoring Ashlynn Burgess 172/ 12.3 Riley Evans 197 / 14.1
Rebounding Ashlynn Burgess 87 / 6.2 Cici West 136 / 9.7
Assists Abril Rexach Roure 43 / 3.0 Jaylee Albert 59 / 4.2
Steals Madi Hingston 15 / 1.1 Riley Evans / Madi Hingston 16 / 1.1
Blocked shots Kayla Brundidge 14 / 1.3 Natalie Hoff / Carly Rataushk 9 / 0.6
FG shooting Ashlynn Burgess .553 Cici West .551
3-point shooting Hailee Bennett .309 Riley Evans .440
FT shooting Hailee Bennett .902 Riley Evans .900
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
IN THE MAKING
100th point: Grace Sterk (has 66)
100th rebound: Natalie Hoff (has 98)
200th point: Ashley Alter (has 164)
300th rebound: Abril Rexach Roure (has 285)
500th point: Hailee Bennett (has 438)
600th rebound: Ashlynn Burgess (has 541)
900th point: Abril Rexach Roure (has 883)
MADE LAST WEEK
100th assist: Ashlynn Burgess (has 101)
100th FT made: Hailee Bennett (has 106)
500th field goal: Ashlynn Burgess (has 502)
1,300th point: Ashlynn Burgess (has 1,310)
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Team
Among the 304 NCAA Division II programs, Seattle Pacific ranks:
-- 33
rd in defensive rebounds per game at 29.6 (Anderson (S.C.) 1
st at 33.3).
-- 41
st in free throw shooting at .754 (Hillsdale (Mich.) 1
st at .822).
Individual
--
Hailee Bennett tie 13
th in free throw shooting at .902 (Morgan Brunner (West Liberty) 1
st at .966).
AROUND THE WEST
The last two teams with perfect
GNAC records –
Alaska Anchorage and
Northwest Nazarene – met in Anchorage last Saturday night. The homestanding Seawolves won, 73-58, thanks to a 41-26 scoring advantage in the middle two quarters. UAA (16-1 overall, 6-0 GNAC) has won 11 straight. NNU is one of three teams with 10 overall wins (10-4) and is tied for second with
Simon Fraser (10-6, 5-1).
Western Washington also has 10 wins (10-4, 4-2). The Vikings visit Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
The
California Collegiate Athletic Association remains tight, with seven of the 13 teams within two games of the top.
Cal State East Bay (12-4, 8-2) remains in first place. Just one game back are
Cal State San Marcos (12-4, 7-3),
UC San Diego (11-4, 7-3) and
Cal Poly Pomona (11-5, 7-3). Climbing into double-digit wins last week were
Chico State and
Sonoma State (both 10-5, 6-4). Pomona visits San Diego and San Marcos this week.
Hawaii Pacific is still unbeaten in
Pacific West Conference play at 9-0 (14-1 overall) and has a two-game lead on second-place
Biola (11-4, 7-2). The Sharks have won 10 in a row and topped 100 points for the second time this season when they beat
Dominican last Saturday, 115-83.
Point Loma Nazarene (10-4, 6-2) joined the double-digit win club, and Azusa Pacific (12-3, 6-3) has won three straight.
UP NEXT
While the first half of the overall season is now in the books, the first half of the GNAC schedule concludes next week. The Falcons are home on Tuesday, Jan. 21, against
Saint Martin's at 7:00 p.m. Then it's off to
Montana State Billings on Thursday, Jan. 23. That one tips off at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.
GNAC STANDINGS
GNAC Overall
Alaska Anchorage 6-0 16-1
Northwest Nazarene 5-1 10-4
Simon Fraser 5-1 10-6
Western Washington 4-2 10-4
Central Washington 3-3 8-6
Montana State Billings 3-3 8-7
Western Oregon 2-4 5-8
Concordia-Portland 2-4 3-11
Saint Martin's 1-5 6-7
Alaska Fairbanks 1-5 6-9
Seattle Pacific 1-5 3-11
