THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Dec. 8                 Lincoln (Calif.) at Seattle Pacific, 5:15 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – They've played in Bellingham. They've played in Denver. They've played in Fairbanks and in Anchorage.
 
Finally this week, the Seattle Pacific women's basketball team get to play in …
 
… Seattle.
 
Coming off a split of the season's first six games in those out-of-town venues, the Falcons (3-3) will tip off their home schedule this week by hosting Lincoln University of California on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
Last week in Alaska, the Falcons snagged a 65-60 at Fairbanks on Thursday, before falling short at No. 11-ranked Anchorage on Saturday, 62-54.
 
Thursday's game against Lincoln will be the first half of a non-conference doubleheader. The SPU men play in the second half, hosting Evergreen State at 7:30 p.m.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Thursday's game will have a live Webcast and live stats. Greg Sexton will call the play-by-play action. The appropriate links are at the top of this story.
 
ANOTHER NEWBIE OPPONENT
The game against Lincoln will be the first time that the Falcons have gone against the Oaklanders. But it continues a stretch of taking on at least one new opponent every year.
 
Beginning in 2010-11, SPU has faced a newbie on the other side of the court for 12 of the past 13 seasons (including three last season). Its record in those games is 14-4.
 
2010-11:   Notre Dame de Namur (won, 70-51)
           St. Edward's (won, 81-41)
2011-12:   Cal State East Bay (won, 70-59)
           Harding (won, 89-66)
2012-13:   Illinois Springfield (won, 80-64)
           Western State Colorado (won, 62-46)
2013-14:   South Dakota Mines (won, 78-41)
           West Texas A&M (lost, 74-65)
2014-15:   Holy Names (won, 82-46)
2015-16:   Eastern New Mexico (won, 76-62)
           Wisconsin-Parkside (lost, 60-53)
2016-17:   Nova Southeastern (won,  75-50)
2017-18:   Oklahoma Christian (lost, 75-70)
2018-19:   None
2019-20:   Academy of Art (won, 76-50)
2020-21:   College of Idaho (lost, 51-42)
2021-22:   Multnomah (won, 73-43)
           Corban (won, 63-38)
           Westminster (won, 70-60)
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Although Thursday is the official home opener, SPU has played once in Brougham already, a 66-33 exhibition victory against Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 5.
-- The Falcons were 8-8 at home last season.
-- SPU is 2-2 in non-conference play, defeating Azusa Pacific and Regis, and falling to Cal State San Marcos and Colorado School of Mines.
-- Despite falling short at Anchorage on Saturday, the Falcons had their best shooting night of the season from the floor at 46.5 percent (20 of 43). They hit 53.3 percent in the first quarter (8 of 15), 60 percent in the third (6 of 10), and 55.6 in the fourth (5 of 9). The downfall was in the second quarter at just 11.1 percent (1 of 9).
-- Factoring into that were marks of 50 percent or better from the top four scorers: 80 percent for Maya Hoff (4 of 5), 62.5 for Chiara De Virgilio (5 of 8), 57.1 for Natalie Hoff (4 of 7), and 50 for Anna Eddy (5 of 10, with 4 of 8 from downtown).
-- That was Eddy's second straight 50 percent outing, as she was 4 of 8 at Fairbanks last Thursday.
-- The Falcons rank No. 3 among GNAC teams in overall shooting at .415, and are No. 4 in 3-point shooting at .330.
-- Redshirt sophomore guard Hunter Beirne is No. 5 in GNAC 3-point shooting at .438 (7 of 16). Sophomore guard Anna Eddy is No. 4 in average 3-pointers made at 2.7 per game.
-- Natalie Hoff comes into the week just 16 rebounds away from 500 for her career.
-- In the victory at Fairbanks, Seattle Pacific kept the Nanooks without a field goal for the final 3:10 of the game, limiting them to just two shots.
-- That makes three times this season when the Falcons defense has clamped down in the late going to seal a 'W'. They kept Azusa without one for the final 5:33 on Nov. 19 in a 70-64 victory, and didn't let Regis get one for the final 2:04 on Nov. 25 on the way to a 66-63 triumph.
-- Even at Anchorage last Saturday, SPU didn't allow the Seawolves a basket in the last 3:15 of the contest.
 
SCOUTING THE LINCOLN OAKLANDERS: 2-8
All-time series: First meeting. Oaklanders on the Web.
Oaklanders in a nutshell: Lincoln is essentially an independent program, not affiliated with any league or umbrella organization (NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA). The Oaklanders lost their first four games, this season, then won a pair, but begin their two-game trip to the Northwest on a four-game losing streak. (They play Central Washington in Yakima on Friday.) Leading the way in scoring on the eight-player roster is 5-foot-3 guard Lindsey Claude, who averages a sizable 23.2 points per game. She had three consecutive games in the 30s (31, 35, 39), and last week went for 26 against The Masters University. Claude also averages 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.8 steals per contest. Julianna Martinez, a 5-7 guard, averages 10.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. She went for a season-high 21 points on Nov. 9 in a 75-65 victory against Cal Maritime. The Oaklanders average just 56.0 points per game and are allowing an average of 76.3.
 
LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT BASKET
Seattle Pacific players are always looking to make the right pass at the right time to an open teammate. But they took that mindset to a new level last Saturday against No. 11-ranked Alaska Anchorage.
 
The Falcons certainly would have liked to have made a few more baskets that night – they had just 20. But all 20 were assisted. While there is no way to go back and check – or even track down – every box score in the previous 47 seasons, it seems safe to say that picking up an assist on every made hoop is extremely rare.
 
 

Setting the passing pace was redshirt sophomore guard Hunter Beirne with eight assists. That was double her previous best of four-- which she had just two nights earlier at Alaska Fairbanks. Anna Eddy dished four, and newcomer guard Chiara De Virgilio added three.

 "The team really bought into our game plan," coach Mike Simonson said. "We executed well at times, and that shows with our 20 assists. I would hope that next time we play them, we have more than 20 – that's a huge, tall ask, but it just shows our kids bought in on how to attack Alaska Anchorage. I'm impressed with that number."
 
MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MINUTE
Playing time through the first two weeks (four games) of the season was hard to come by for newcomer 5-7 guard Chiara De Virgilio, The Argentinian did not play in the season-opening West Region Crossover Classic in Bellingham on Nov. 18-19, then saw just nine minutes in the two games combined at the Regis Thanksgiving Classic in Denver on Nov. 25-26.
 
Her status certainly took a leap during last week's road trip to Alaska. With starting guard Ashley Alter sidelined while dealing with a minor injury, De Virgilio (pronounced day- ver-zhil-ee-o).saw 33 minutes, 7 seconds of action off the bench against Alaska Fairbanks. She delivered 14 points, four rebounds, five assists, and seven steals – that last stat matching her career-high. Then two nights later at Anchorage, she got the start and supplied 13 points, three rebounds, was right back at it with 13 points, and one steal, all in 34 minutes.
 
AROUND THE WEST
The last unbeaten team in the GNAC saw its early-season win streak end last week when Alaska Anchorage dropped a 68-61 overtime decision at home to Montana State Billings. That leaves the Yellowjackets with the best overall record in the conference at 8-1, along with a 2-0 GNAC record. Also winning their first two conference contests were Central Washington (7-1 overall) and Northwest Nazarene (6-2 overall). Anchorage is 6-1 overall.
 
The West Region thus is down to one undefeated team, and that would be Cal State Dominguez Hills in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.  The Toros are 6-0 overall, 2-0 in conference play. However, alone atop the standings is Cal Poly Pomona (3-0). The Broncos are 6-1 overall. Also at 2-0 in the CCAA is Cal State San Marcos (5-1 overall).
 
The Pacific West has five teams that went 2-0 to start conference play last week: Azusa Pacific, Concordia Irvine, Point Loma Nazarene, Hawaii Pacific, and Biola. But Azusa has by far the best overall record at 7-2 (one of those losses was to Seattle Pacific in Bellingham on Nov. 19). The only other teams at .500 or better overall are Concordia (5-3), Hawaii Hilo (4-3), and Fresno Pacific (4-4).

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at this week's GNAC women's basketball notebook. Click on this link for a look at results, stats, and polls.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wind up the calendar year next week with three games on an unusual Monday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule. Up first is a trip to Dominican in San Rafael, Calif., on Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m. Then it's a visit to Holy Names in Oakland on Dec. 14 at 1:00 p.m. SPU is back home on Dec. 17 to welcome Stanislaus State in the non-conference finale at 2:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                      GNAC            Overall
Montana State Billings    2-0        8-1
Central Washington        2-0        7-1
Northwest Nazarene        2-0        6-2
Western Washington        1-0        5-1
Alaska Anchorage          1-1        6-1
Seattle Pacific           1-1        3-3
Simon Fraser              0-1        2-3
Western Oregon            0-2        4-2
Saint Martin's            0-2        3-6
Alaska Fairbanks          0-2        1-6