THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 1                  Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, 4:00 p.m.
                                             The Patty Center / Fairbanks, Alaska
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – The holiday break went a bit longer than expected for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.

After several days off for Christmas and a few days of practice, the Falcons will leave behind Alaska-like weather in their home town and fly off to the real Alaska this week for the resumption of their women's basketball season.
 
But it won't be quite the trip that they had anticipated. SPU will play just one game instead of two, visiting Alaska Fairbanks inside The Patty Center on New Year's Day. Tip-off will be at 4:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
The Falcons (5-7, 1-1 GNAC) originally were scheduled to play on Thursday evening at No. 5-ranked Alaska Anchorage. But due to health and safety protocols within the Seawolves program, that game has been postponed, with a make-up date yet to be determined.
 
Seattle Pacific last took the court on Dec. 18, using a game-ending 11-6 spurt to close out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 66-56 victory against Puget Sound.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
The game at Fairbanks will have a live a Webcast and live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Of the eight GNAC games on the schedule this week, four have been postponed: SPU at Anchorage, Montana State Billings at Fairbanks, and Saint Martin's at Simon Fraser on Thursday, and Billings at Anchorage on Saturday.
-- The Falcons split their first two GNAC games, defeating Central Washington, 69-65, then dropping a 63-54 decision to Northwest Nazarene during the first week of December at home in Seattle.
-- This will be the first time SPU has played an Alaska team since Feb. 1, 2020, when it dropped a 69-49 decision at then-No. 9 Anchorage to conclude a two-game road trip. That trip started off two days earlier with a 64-41 win at Fairbanks.
-- Half a dozen players who saw action in those two games – Ashley Alter, Rachel Berg, Bayley Brennan, Kayla Brundidge, Natalie Hoff, and Abril Rexach Roure – are still with Seattle Pacific.
-- Of the remaining 11 Falcons, only senior guard Kaprice Boston has played against them – and that was during her true sophomore year in 2018-19. The other 10 have never played against either school.
-- Seattle Pacific has won its last three games in Fairbanks.
-- The last three SPU opponents have finished below 60 points, bringing the season total up to five.
-- In its five games, the fewest Fairbanks has allowed has been 69.
-- Falcons senior forward Natalie Hoff is No. 1 in GNAC free throw shooting at .875 (28 of 32).
-- Of the GNAC's top 10 for average minutes, played, four are from Fairbanks: No. 1 Pearle Green (36.2), No. 6 Claudia Diez Marti (32.0), No. 9 Destiny Reimers (30.2), and No. 10 Paola Perez-Mendoza (28.8).
-- SPU has earned assists on 166 of its 271 baskets, a percentage of 61.9.. Fairbanks is at an even 60 percent (78 on 130 baskets).
-- SPU head coach Mike Simonson is 4-0 against UAF.
 
SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS: 1-4, 0-0 GNAC (tie 7^th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 63-16. Current series streak: SPU won 6. Last time: SPU 64, UAF 41 (Jan. 30, 2020 at Fairbanks). Last UAF series win: UAF 63, SPU 61 (Feb. 16, 2017 at Fairbanks). Nanooks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: When Alaska Fairbanks takes the court on Saturday against the Falcons, it will have been 34 days since it last played, an 87-62 loss at home to Southern Nazarene on Nov. 27. The Nanooks' first two GNAC games (Dec. 2 at Western Oregon, Dec. 4 at Saint Martin's) were postponed for health and safety reasons, and they did not have any contests for the rest of the month prior to the resumption of conference play. Pearle Green, a freshman 5-foot-7 guard, averages 15.0 points per game, and plays nearly every minute (36.2). Freshman 5-9 guard Destiny Reimers chips in 14.6 points per game on .476 shooting from the field, along with a team-leading 6.2 rebounds. Olivia Kraska, a sophomore 6-1 forward, averages 5.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and shoots .545 from the field.
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR
-- SPU is 29-16 in first games back after the holiday break, regardless of whether that game comes before, on, or after Jan. 1.
-- The Falcons are 31-15 in first games of a new calendar year. That includes the 56-51 victory against Pacific Lutheran to start the abbreviated 2021 season last Jan. 11.
-- A total of three New Year's Day games have been played, and SPU has won all three. The first of those was 80-64 at home against Fairbanks in 2011. Then came a 74-64 victory at Western Washington to start off 2015, and a 68-64 result at Saint Martin's in 2019.
 
WELCOME BACK, HUNTER
It took 11 months and three days. But Hunter Beirne is back on the court for Seattle Pacific.
 
 

The 5-foot-7 guard, who is a redshirt freshman in terms of athletic eligibility, subbed into the game against Puget Sound on Jan, 18 with four minutes left in the first quarter. She wound up playing 10 minutes, went 2 for 2 at the free throw line, grabbed one rebound, and handed out an assist.
 
A graduate of Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, north of Seattle, Beirne redshirted as a true freshman in 2019-20. During last winter's pandemic-shortened season, she was off to a productivestart. In her college debut on Jan. 11 against Pacific Lutheran, she came off the bench for 24 minutes and poured in 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field, pulled down five rebounds, had an assist and a steal.
 
Then four nights later at home against Saint Martin's, Beirne again came in as a reserve and had six points when she went down with a knee injury that ended her season.
 
BERRY IS BURYING THE BALL
As is often the case with freshmen, playing time was very limited for Schuyler Berry …
 
… until she had a chance to really show what she can do.
 
 

That chance came on Dec. 9 at Stanislaus State when the 6-foot-3 SPU center came off the bench and poured in 11 points – all during the third quarter – to help keep the Falcons in the game. Stanislaus eventually won, 57-55. But Berry wound up with those 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, along with five rebounds and two assists in just 12 minutes
 
When an illness kept senior forward Natalie Hoff on the sidelines two days later at Cal State East Bay, Berry got the start. She played a career-high 17 minutes, scored eight points on 4-of-6 from the floor and grabbed another three rebounds. Then on Dec. 18 at home against Puget Sound, she hit 5 of 7 from the field and 2 of 3 from the foul line for a career-high 12 points to go along with three rebounds.
 
That adds up to 31 points on 65 percent shooting (13 of 20) and 11 rebounds, all in just 44 minutes. For the season, Berry is now shooting .577 (15 of 26) in building her average to 4.3 points.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage head into the resumption of GNAC play with 1-0 records. The Vikings having defeated Simon Fraser, and the Seawolves downed Saint Martin's, but had their Western Oregon game postponed (and now have had this week's two games postponed). WWU (9-0) is the lone undefeated team in the entire West Region. UAA is 8-1.
 
Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay are mirror images of each other in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings. Both are 10-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Cal State San Marcos is right behind at 4-1 (6-2 overall).
 
Azusa Pacific is alone atop the Pacific West Conference at 4-0 (8-1 overall). Dominican is close on the Cougars' heels with a 4-1 record (7-5 overall). Those two teams will start 2022 off right, squaring off at Dominican in San Rafael, California, on New Year's afternoon.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and statistics from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons return home next week for a pair of doubleheaders. They'll host Simon Fraser on Thursday, Jan. 6, at 5:15 p.m., then tangle with arch-rival Western Washington on Saturday the 8^th at 4:15 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. SPU's men will be in the other half of those twin bills, playing Saint Martin's on Jan. 6 at 7:30, and Western Oregon on Jan. 8 at 2:00.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                  Conference      Overall
Western Washington        1-0       9-0
Alaska Anchorage          1-0       8-1
Northwest Nazarene        2-1       8-3
Montana State Billings    1-1       7-7
Seattle Pacific           1-1       5-7
Central Washington        1-2       7-4
Western Oregon            0-0       4-3
Alaska Fairbanks          0-0       1-4
Saint Martin's            0-1       8-2
Simon Fraser              0-1       4-6