THE SCHEDULE
Friday, Jan. 29                                     College of Idaho at Seattle Pacific, 6:00 p.m.
                                                                Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 30                                College of Idaho at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                                Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – Just one week squaring off against one women's basketball opponent from Idaho, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are ready to take on another one.
 
SPU will be home in Brougham Pavilion again this week as College of Idaho comes to town. The Falcons and Yotes will play on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Last week, Seattle Pacific split two games against Lewis-Clark State, dropping a 68-67 decision on Friday, then leading from start to finish in posting a 72-63 victory on Saturday.
 
The Yotes hail from Caldwell, Idaho, just 27 miles west of Boise. Like L-C State, College of Idaho is an NAIA school and a member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, fans will not be allowed to attend any of this year's games, home or away. However, they can keep up with all the action online with free live Webcasts and free live stats. Andrew Harvey will call the action for both of this week's games.
 
THIS TIME, BERG BAGS GNAC HONOR
Rachel Berg, whose 27 total points in two games against Lewis-Clark State included a career-high of 14 in the first one, has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week for women's basketball.
 
This is the second straight week a Falcons player has captured the conference award. Last week, it went to junior Ashley Alter.
 
 

In last Friday's game against the Warriors, Berg hit 5 of 10 overall, including 3 of 4 from downtown, to go along with five rebounds and three assists, although the Falcons fell just short at the end, 68-67.
 
The next day, the junior guard supplied 13 points on 5-of-7 accuracy from the floor, again hitting 3 of 4 from long range. Berg dished four assists and grabbed three rebounds as Seattle Pacific won, 72-63.
 
For the week, Berg shot 58.8 percent overall (10 of 17) and 75 percent (6 of 8) from 3.
 
Said SPU head coach Mike Simonson of Berg's performance in Saturday's victory, "She hit some huge shots down the stretch, 3 of 4 from 3, and every 3 she hit was a big one we needed."
 
This is the first such honor from Berg, a native of nearby Bellevue and a graduate of Bellevue Christian High School.
 
ANOTHER ADDITION TO SCHEDULE
Seattle Pacific has added two more games to its schedule, setting up a home-and-home series against Central Washington.
 
The Falcons and Wildcats will play in Ellensburg on Friday, Feb. 26, at noon. They will meet again the next night at 7:00 in Brougham Pavilion.
 
The Feb. 27 home game will be the second of two on the SPU basketball docket that day, as the Falcon men will host Northwest Nazarene at 2:00 p.m.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- This is the first-ever meeting between SPU and College of Idaho.
-- Of the 11 current members of the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the Falcons now will have played seven of them.
-- If Seattle Pacific wins both games this week, it will match last year's total of five home victories.
-- The Falcons added three points to their team scoring average last week, jumping from 61.0 to 64.4, which is No. 2 among the three GNAC schools that currently are playing.
-- At the other end of the court, SPU is far and away the conference's top defensive team, allowing just 60.9 points per game. Saint Martin's is next at 69.0, followed by Northwest Nazarene at 74.0.
-- They also bumped their shooting percentage up by nine points, from .418 to .427. That is currently No. 1 in the GNAC (neither Saint Martin's nor Northwest Nazarene are even a .400) and leaves them 11 points ahead of last year's final mark of .416.
 

-- At .571 (20 of 35), sophomore Kayla Brundidge leads the conference in field goal shooting. Mallory Vivola of Saint Martin's is No. 2 at .500 (17 of 34).
-- Not only has SPU been winning the battle of the boards so far this season, it has been doing so decisively. In the first five games, the Falcons have earned a double-digit advantage in four of them, including plus-22 on Jan. 11 against Pacific Lutheran (42-20) and plus-20 last Friday against Lewis-Clark State (45-25).
-- The closest game so far has been plus-7 on Jan. 15 against Saint Martin's (33-26).
-- And, taken from another angle: Of their 165 missed field goal tries, the Falcons have grabbed 69 offensive rebounds, meaning that 41.8 percent of the time, they give themselves at least one additional shot at the hoop.
-- Their opponents, meanwhile, have just 37 offensive rebounds on 173 missed shots – a mere 21.4 percent.
-- SPU has more defensive rebounds (141) than its opponents have total rebounds (133) in the first five games.
-- Rachel Berg's 14 points against Lewis-Clark State last Friday was her second straight career scoring high. The first one came on Jan. 16 when she had 10 in a 61-50 victory against Saint Martin's.
-- Of SPU's 123 made field goals, 57.7 percent (71 total) have been assisted.
-- Senior point guard Abril Rexach Roure tied her SPU high for most assists in a game when she recorded six last Friday vs. Lewis-Clark State. Her career high is nine during her freshman year (2017-18) at Eastern Wyoming. Rexach Roure's per-game average of 3.8 leas the GNAC, just ahead of the 3.7 mark by Tierney DeDonatis of Saint Martin's.
 
SCOUTING THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO YOTES: 3-7, 0-0 CCC
All-time series: First meeting. Yotes on the Web.
Yotes in a nutshell: C of I is coming off a two-game homecourt sweep of Simpson last week, winning by margins of 64-45 and 53-36. They have played three NCAA Division I teams so far, falling to Boise State, Eastern Washington, and Montana, and were set to play at Portland State on Wednesday prior to heading to Seattle. Points have not come easily, as the Yotes average just 49.1 per game. Leading the way is 5-8 junior guard Kaylee Krusemark at 8.3. She can fire them in from 3-point range, as she hits at a team-high .342 clip (13 of 38). Close behind are 5-8 sophomore guard Allie Cannon and 5-10 senior forward Kiersten Rasmussen, both at 7.9 points per game. Rasmussen also has racked up 17 blocked shots. Cannon has started all 10 games, as has 5-10 sophomore guard Lexi Mitchell, who averages a team-leading 7.1 rebounds per game to go along with her 7.2 points. Cannon's 17 points last Friday against Simpson not only was a season-high for her, it was a season high for the Yotes.
 
FINALLY GOING DOWN FROM DOWNTOWN
For the first three games, the Falcons just could not find their shooting eye from 3-point range, hitting a combined 7 of 37 (18.9 percent).
 
That changed in a big way during the two-game series against Lewis-Clark State last week.
 
 

In Friday's game, SPU buried 10 of 19 (52.6 percent), with Rachel Berg and Kaprice Boston both going 3 of 4. On Saturday, the Falcons hit 9 of 19 (47.4 percent). Berg again was 3 of 4, Boston was 2 of 2, and freshman Beth Pettingill hit her only attempt.
 
All of that added 158 percentage to the team's season mark. SPU is now at .347 (26 of 75). For the record, its final mark last year was .329.
 

SIMONSON SAYS …
(On how the team is playing now compared to three weeks ago)
"We're starting to become more confident, especially in the things we can do. You can see that just with our shooting percentage going up the past couple weeks. I just feel that we have a poise. We know how each other plays, we can play off each other's game, we know each other's strengths. I can see roles starting to emerge on our team, which is great."
 
 

(On the team keeping itself in every game)
"Resiliency is a word we've focused on. Where we really have seen it is that in all of our games, there haven't been that many big, dramatic (scoring) runs from our opponents. That shows that even in the course of a game, we're able to respond and keep bounding back.'
 
(On College of Idaho)
"They're a very gritty, tough team. They press a little bit, they deny, they play zone – kind of like Lewis-Clark State. They'll do a little bit of everything, so we have to be prepared for a tough, hard-fought game."
 
AROUND THE WEST
Among the three GNAC schools that are playing, Seattle Pacific has a 3-2 record, with Saint Martin's at 1-2 and Northwest Nazarene at 1-3. This week, Montana State Billings is scheduled to open its schedule, playing host to Lewis-Clark State on Friday and Saturday.
 
Of the 10 schools in the Pacific West Conference, eight have now seen some action. Hawaii Pacific leads the three-team Hawaii Pod with a 2-0 record, with both wins coming against Hawaii Hilo. Chaminade has not played. Fresno Pacific is 2-0 (2-2 overall) in the Northern California Pod, beating Dominican twice. Academy of Art has not played. In the Southern California Pod, Azusa Pacific is 2-0, with Point Loma Nazarene and Concordia Irvine both 1-1, and Biola 0-2.
 
UP NEXT
SPU plays its first two road games of the season next week. The Falcons will play back-to-back night at Saint Martin's, on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 4 and 5. Both games will tip off at 6:00 p.m. The next home game is Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 6:00 p.m. against Northwest University of Kirkland.