THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 2                 Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 5:15 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 4                 Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 4:15 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – Being home couldn't come at a better time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Following a rugged women's basketball on which results at Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene both went the other way, SPU returns to Brougham Pavilion for its next three games.
 
The first two of those are set for this week when Saint Martin's visits on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. and Western Oregon comes in on Saturday at 4:15 p.m.
 
Both games are part of doubleheaders. On Thursday, the second contest will feature the Falcon men against arch-rival Western Washington at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the men get things started at 2:00 p.m. against Simon Fraser.
 
This will be the second go-round for the Seattle Pacific women (11-8, 6-5 GNAC) against both Saint Martin's (7-11, 3-7 GNAC) and WOU (9-9, 3-7 GNAC). The Falcons beat both teams on the road last month, 70-61 against the Wolves in Monmouth, and 52-50 against the Saints I Lacey.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week's games will have free live Webcasts on YouTube and free live stats. Kyle Morrison will call the action on the Webcast. The appropriate links are available at the top of this story.
 
LENDING A HAND IN THE COMMUNITY
Thursday's game will be Ballard Food Bank Night. Fans are encouraged to bring pre-packaged food items to Brougham Pavilion.
 
Those who bring three or more items earn a free ticket, which is good for both games of the doubleheader. Collection bins, staffed by SPU event student helpers, will be set up outside the main doors.

Ballard Food Bank's mission is to bring food and hope to our neighbors. To achieve this mission, they provide access to nutritious food through their grocery style food bank, no-cost café, home deliver, and weekend food for kid's program.  
 

 













T-SHIRTS FOR SPU STUDENTS
The first 100 Seattle Pacific students through the doors on Thursday will receive a free T-shirt.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons begin the week in sole possession of fourth place in the GNAC, one game behind No. 3 Central Washington (7-4) and one game ahead of the three-way logjam for fifth place between Alaska Anchorage, Northwest Nazarene, and Simon Fraser (all 5-6).
-- SPU will have an opportunity to sweep both season series. It did sweep Western Oregon last year, including a 67-54 victory in Seattle, but split with Saint Martin's, winning by 20 points in Lacey, but falling 58-51 in overtime at home after the Saints scored the last eight points of regulation and the first seven of OT.
-- Seattle Pacific is 4-2 at home.
-- Saint Martin's has a 3-6 record away from Lacey (1-5 in true road games). Western Oregon is 6-6 away from Monmouth (3-6 in true road games).
-- Even after yielding a season-high 81 points (last Thursday at Central) and then 63 at Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific remains one of three GNAC defensive teams allowing an average of fewer than 60 per game. The Falcons are No. 3 on the conference list at 58.6. Montana State Billings is No. 1 at 57.5, and Western Washington is No. 2 at 58.4
-- SPU doesn't yield many rebounds, either – just 30.5 per game, second-lowest in the GNAC.
-- Not many of those come at the offensive end. Falcon opponents have collected just 137 offensive rebounds, which is by far the lowest total in the GNAC. (The next lowest total is 167 for Western Washington opponents.)
-- Looked at from a different perspective, Seattle Pacific grabs 78.2 percent of the available rebounds.
-- Ashley Alter is No. 6 in GNAC scoring at 15.2 points per game. She is tied for No. 10 in rebounding at 6.0 and is tied for No. 6 in steals at 1.8.
-- Sophomore center Schuyler Berry and Saint Martin's guard Lauryn Morris are tied for No. 8 in GNAC field goal shooting at .473.
 

-- Fifth-year forward Natalie Hoff is up to a tie for No. 4 in GNAC free throw shooting at .857 (48 of 56). Hoff took just two free throws last week, hitting both at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
-- Anjel Galbraith of Saint Martin's is the only GNAC player in triple digits for free throws, hitting exactly 100 of the 135 she has taken.
-- Redshirt sophomore point guard Hunter Beirne remains tied for No. 6 in assists at 3.5 per game. She has dished five helpers in three of her last five games.
-- Head coach Mike Simonson's teams are 5-5 against Saint Martin's and 5-1 against Western Oregon.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 7-11, 3-7 GNAC (tie 8th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 58-22.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 52, STM 50 (Jan. 7, 2023 at Lacey).  Last STM series win: STM 58, SPU 51 OT (Feb. 12, 2022 at Seattle).  Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's had won a season-high three in a row before dropping a 73-62 decision at Western Oregon last Saturday. The last of those three straight was a 66-65 stunner at home against Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 21, their first time of beating the Seawolves since March 2014. Anjel Galbraith, a junior guard, leads the Saints at 15.8 points per game, ranking No. 4 in the GNAC. She had 16 against SPU in January. She is tied for the most assists in the GNAC with 91.. Also averaging in double-digit scoring are freshman 5-9 guard Kiana Rios at 12.1 per game, and redshirt sophomore 5-8 guard Lauryn Morris at 10.4. Morris had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds in January's SPU contest. She leads Saint Martin's on the boards at 6.8 per game.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 9-9, 3-7 GNAC (tie 8th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 48-5.  Current series streak: SPU won 5.  Last time: SPU 70, WOU 61 (Jan. 5, 2023 at Monmouth).  Last WOU series win:  WOU 60, SPU 53 (Feb. 28,2019 at Monmouth).  Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon halted a five-game losing streak with an 81-69 victory at home against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 21, then made it two in a row by downing Saint Martin's last Saturday, 72-63. Junior 5-foot-9 guard Cali McClave pumps in an average of 15.7 points per game for the Wolves, No. 5 in the GNAC, with 33 of her 100 field goals made coming from 3-point range. She tallied18 against the Falcons on Jan. 5. Just as big a threat for WOU is senior 5-3 guard Princy Paaluhi-Caulk at 13.0 points per game on .452 shooting from the field and with a team-leading 54 assists. She dropped in 22 on SPU last month.  Both are among the GNAC's top 10 for steals: Sophomore 5-10 guard Ana McClave is Western Oregon's top rebounder at 7.3 per game, No. 6 in the conference.
 
CLOSE CALLS
After building a 27-4 first-quarter lead at Western Oregon on Jan. 5, SPU saw the Wolves come roaring back, wiping out that entire margin and going ahead 57-56 with 4:52 left in the game. But from there, the Falcons went on a game-ending 14-4 run to close out a 70-61 victory.
 
It was even tighter two nights later at Saint Martin's. The Saints were up by 13 at 43-30 early in the fourth quarter before Seattle Pacific gradually cut into it.
 
Then, with the score tied at 50-50 and the clock winding down, Schuyler Berry was fouled on a drive to the hoop with 2.8 seconds left. She hit both free throws for a two-point edge. Saint Martin's had a desperation shot from behind the midcourt line, and Anjel Galbraith's heave did hit the back rim, but bounced away at the buzzer.
 
ONE ISN'T ENOUGH
Sophomore center Schuyler Berry's 15 points at Central Washington last Thursday was the third time this season she has been in career-high territory.
 
 

Berry tallied 12 in the season opener on Nov. 18 against Cal State San Marcos, which tied her previous best from last year. She upped that to 13 the very next afternoon against Azusa Pacific, and matched that on Dec. 8 against Lincoln of California.
 
 

Redshirt sophomore point guard Hunter Beirne has been doing the same sort of thing on the boards. Her high coming into the year was five from her injury-abbreviated 2020-21 season (which itself was abbreviated by the pandemic).
 
So far this season, she set a new high of six on Nov. 26 (matched on Dec. 1), then seven on Dec. 8 (matched on Dec. 17), then eight on Dec. 29 (matched on Dec. 31), and then nine last Thursday at Central Washington.
 
IN GOOD HANDS WITH SPU
The Falcons have done a considerably better job at taking care of the basketball during the past two weeks, with just 11 turnovers against both Western Washington and Central Washington (a season low) and only 14 against both Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene.
 
Prior to that, they were averaging 17.3 turnovers per game. They've dropped that all the way down to 16.3, which is No. 5 in the 10-team GNAC for fewest per game. SPU's total of 309 through 19 games is seven fewer than last year's 316 through 19.
 
NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Some highlights for the Falcons in the NCAA Division II national rankings heading into this week (among the 294 total D2 women's basketball programs):
 
-- 13th in rebound margin, +8.1 (Grand Valley State +12.9)
-- 49th in scoring defense, 58.6 (Assumption College 49.8)
-- 51st in blocks per game, 3.6 (Kutztown State 6.6).
-- 58th in fewest fouls committed, 15.3 (Academy of Art 11.0)
 
Individually, fifth-year forward Natalie Hoff is No. 44 in free throw accuracy at 85.7 percent.

Click on this link for a complete look at how the Falcons stack up within NCAA Division II.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Western Washington didn't need long to get back on track. After finishing the first half of GNAC play with a 73-61 loss at Montana State Billings, the Vikings (16-2, 10-1 GNAC) put together a road sweep in Alaska last week, 99-62 at Fairbanks and 62-52 at Anchorage. Meanwhile, Billings (18-4, 9-2 GNAC) kept winning, it's streak now at seven after a road sweep at Northwest Nazarene, 63-53, and at Central Washington, 75-66. The Wildcats (15-5, 7-4 GNAC) are hanging onto third place heading into this week's trip to Simon Fraser and WWU.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills came up short last week for the first time this season. The final remaining undefeated team in the West Region, the Toros (19-1, 13-1 CCAA) saw their 19-game winning streak end with a 73-72 homecourt loss to Chico State on Saturday in a California Collegiate Athletic Association showdown. A 3-pointer with one second remaining gave Chico the win. Cal State San Marcos (15-3, 12-2 CCAA) remains in second while Chico (14-6 overall) and Cal State Los Angeles (13-6) are tied for third at 10-4.
 
Azusa Pacific is still in control of the Pacific West Conference at 13-1, with an 18-3 overall record and riding an eight-game winning streak. But Concordia Irvine is right there at 11-1, having won nine in a row to build an overall record of 14-4. The Eagles play the two bottom teams this week, hosting Chaminade (1-20, 1-14 Pac West) on Thursday and  visiting Holy Names (1-20, 0-13) on Saturday. Azusa's schedule includes a Saturday rematch against Dominican, this time at home. The Penguins handed APU its only conference loss, 87-79, on Dec. 19.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link to see how GNAC teams and players stack up within NCAA Division II.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons get all of next week to practice get some extra rest as the only game on the calendar is a visit from Montana State Billings on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2:00 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion. The Yellowjackets won the first contest between the teams, 66-49 in Billings on Jan. 14.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                          GNAC              Overall
Western Washington         10-1        16-2
Montana State Billings      9-2        18-4
Central Washington          7-4        15-5
Seattle Pacific             6-5        11-8
Alaska Anchorage            5-6        13-7
Northwest Nazarene          5-6         9-10
Simon Fraser                5-6         7-8
Western Oregon              3-7         9-9
Saint Martin's              3-7         7-11
Alaska Fairbanks            1-10        4-14