THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Jan. 5                  Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 7:00 p.m.
                                                New P.E. Building / Monmouth, Ore.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 7                   Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's, 5:15 p.m.
                                                Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – They're coming off one of their most successful weeks ever on their home court.
 
Now, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will try to keep it going on the road.
 
Having dealt both Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball defeats of the season, SPU begins a stretch of three straight road games, with the first two of those set for this week. The Falcons (8-4, 3-1 GNAC) visit Western Oregon on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Saint Martin's on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
 
Last Thursday, Seattle Pacific put the defensive clamps on NNU, scoring a 58-45 victory. Then on Saturday, the defense came through again and the offense stepped up its performance on the way to a 70-63 triumph against No. 22-ranked Central.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week's games and all remaining GNAC will have free live Webcasts on YouTube, and also will have live stats available. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
ALTER EARNS GNAC, NATIONAL AWARDS
Fifth-year senior guard Ashley Alter was named the GNAC Player of the Week on Tuesday for her all-around performances in the Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington contests.

But that was just the start. On Wednesday. Alter was awarded NCAA Division II National Player of the Week recognition by the D2 Conference Information Directors Association (D2CIDA).
 
 

Against the Nighthawks, Alter corralled a career-high 14 rebounds and tied her career high with five steals, to go along with 17 points, two assists, and one blocked shot. It was the third double-double of her career.
 
She then torched the Wildcats for a career-high 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field (6 of 12 from behind the 3-point arc). Alter collected another nine rebounds, dished two assists, had two steals, and blocked another shot.
 
This is the second time in her career that Alter has been named Player of the Week.
 
THERE'S ONE FOR THE TEAM, TOO
Last week's two victories earned the GNAC Team of the Week award for the Falcons, as they dealt NNU and Central Washington their first conference defeats.
 
"What I'm really happy about is that both games this week were basically what SPU basketball is," head coach Mike Simonson said. "Regardless of wins or losses this weekend, we played tough, hard-nosed defense for two games. We passed the ball really well and we shared it. When it came down to winning time and crunch time, we had a game-winning plan. I believe that's who we are."
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU starts the week in a three-way tie for second place in the GNAC with Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene. They are half a game behind 3-0 Western Washington.
-- At 8-4, the Falcons are four games above .500 for the first time since the 2017-18 season when they won their first five games on the way to finishing 23-8.
-- Their current record includes a 5-3 mark out of town: 4-1 in true road games and 1-2 on neutral courts.
-- The only true road loss was 62-54 at Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 3.
-- SPU continues to be one of the toughest teams defensively. It ranks No. 2 in the GNAC for fewest average points allowed at 56.8, right in between No. 1 Western Washington (56.0) and No. 3 Montana State Billings (56.9).
-- Along those same lines, opposing teams shoot just 36.9 percent against the Falcons.
-- Of the 12 opponents so far, three have had their lowest point totals of the season against SPU: Regis (63), Dominican (35) and Northwest Nazarene (45).
-- Ashley Alter's 31 points vs. Central Washington was the first game of 30-plus by a Falcon since Jordan McPhee poured in 30 on Nov. 17, 2017 in an 80-69 win against Azusa Pacific.
-- Alter is now tied for No. 6 among GNAC scorers at 16.4 points per game. She's also tied for No. 10 in rebounding at 6.5 per game and is ranked No. 5 in steals at 2.0.
-- Hunter Beirne ranks No. 5 in conference assists with a 3.5 average.
-- Natalie Hoff, who went 12 for 13 (.923) at the free throw line in last week's two gams combined is up to No. 6 on the GNAC list at .844 (38 of 45).
-- The Falcons had a season-low 12 turnovers against Central Washington, that after committing 24 against Northwest Nazarene.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES: 7-4, 1-2 GNAC (tie 7th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 47-5.  Current series streak: SPU won 4.  Last time: SPU 61, WOU 59 OT (Feb. 21, 2022 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 played its first eight games on the road while its new homecourt was being finished and got off to a 4-0 overall start before dropping its first two GNAC games. The Wolves got into the conference win column last Saturday by downing Saint Martin's, 77-68. Junior 5-foot-9 guard Cali McClave is a go-to player for WOU, as she averages 16.1 points per game (No. 8 on the GNAC list) with five games in the 20s, topped by 28 at Northwest Nazarene on Dec. 3. Princy Paaluhi-Caulk, a senior 5-3 guard, averages 11.2 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds. The Wolves have some quick hands, as they average 10.1 steals per game, third-best in the GNAC, led by McClave's 2.4, No. 3 in the conference.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 4-7, 0-3 GNAC (9th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 57-22.  Current series streak: STM won 1.  Last time: STM 58, SPU 51 OT (Feb. 12, 2022 at Seattle).  Last SPU series win: SPU 63, STM 43 (Feb. 8, 2022 at Lacey). Saints on the Web.
Saints in a nutshell: Saint Martin's started off well, winning two of its first three, but has dropped six of its past eight. Guard Anjel Galbraith, a junior, sets the scoring pace for the Saints with an average of 16.5 points per game, which ranks No. 5 in the GNAC. She is one of the conference's better 3-point shooters, No. 9 on the list at .405. Also scoring in double digits for Saint Martin's are freshman 5-9 guard Kiana Rios at 11.6 points and redshirt sophomore 5-8 guard Lauryn Morris at 10.5. Morris also is tops on the boards for the Saints at 6.1, and shoots .490 from the field. Galbraith and Rios both have gone off for a big scoring nights. Galbraith had 30 in a 101-60 victory against Evergreen State on Dec. 10, and Rios tallied 31 in a 79-69 victory against Dominican on Nov. 26.
 
FRANTIC FINISHES
The past two games at Western Oregon have featured dramatic comebacks – one by each team – but the Falcons won both.
 
 

On Feb. 13, 2020, SPU rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit, then got a buzzer-beating foul line jumper from Natalie Hoff to pull out a 55-53 victory. Last Feb. 19, the Wolves went on a 13-0 scoring run in the final five minutes to force overtime before Seattle Pacific ultimately prevailed, 61-59.
 
Speaking of comebacks, Saint Martin's made one against the Falcons last Feb. 12 in Brougham Pavilion and escaped with the 'W.' The Saints were down 44-33 with 7:56 left and 46-38 with 2:14 to go. But they scored the last eight points of regulation and the first seven of overtime to win it, 58-51.
 
GUARDS GOBBLING UP THE BOARDS
Playing primarily in the backcourt doesn't keep you from being front-and-center when it comes to rebounding.
 
Just ask some of the guards on the SPU roster.
 
Maya Hoff, Hunter Beirne, and Anna Eddy have the Nos. 3, 4, and 5 rebounding totals on the team. And Asley Alter, a combo guard / forward, is No. 2.
 
 

The 5-foot-11 Alter has brought down 65 rebounds, a team-leading average of 6.5 per game. Beirne is right behind with 64, and she's just 5-7. Eddy, at 5-9, has collected 56, and the 6-2 Hoff has 54, with a team-high 23 offensive rebounds. Alter has 22 at the offensive end, Eddy 19 and Beirne 18.
 
At the top of the list, as might be expected, is 6-2 fifth-year forward Natalie Hoff, with 71 boards, 18 of those at the offensive end.
 
Last year through 12 games, the Falcons had 111 offensive rebounds with three players in double digits. This year, it's 164 through 12 games, with six in double digits.
 
"We know when guards get double-doubles (as Eddy did against Stanislaus State on Dec. 17 and Alter did against Northwest Nazarene last Thursday), it's because there's an emphasis (on rebounding) across the board with all five players (on the floor)," coach Mike Simonson said.
 

POLLING PLACE
Seattle Pacific has moved into the D2SIDA West Region top 10 that was announced on Tuesday. The Falcons are No. 10 in this week's rankings.
 
The poll is compiled by a group of sports information directors for the three West Region conferences: GNAC, California Collegiate Athletic Association, and Pacific West.
 
Western Washington is a unanimous No. 1, with undefeated Cal State Dominguez Hills at No. 2. Other GNAC schools in the top 10 are No. 4 Central Washington, No. 7 Montana State Billings, and No. 8 Alaska Anchorage.

AROUND THE WEST
Coming  back from the holiday break, four teams were undefeated in GNAC play. Now it's down to one, and that is Western Washington, which is 3-0 (9-1 overall) after posting back-to-back triple-digit scores last week: 104-51 against Alaska Anchorage and 101-57 against Alaska Fairbanks. The Vikings have a tough road trip this week, visiting Central Washington (11-2, 3-1 GNAC) and Northwest Nazarene (7-5, 3-1). Montana State Billings (11-4, 2-2 GNAC) won its first two conference games in early December, but fell at home to Central and NNU last week.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills remains the West's only undefeated team at 12-0 (6-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play), Heading into this week, the Toros are tied for first place with Cal State San Marcos (9-1, 6-0 CCAA). Cal Poly Pomona is lurking right behind (8-2, 5-1 CCAA). Pomona is home against San Marcos on Saturday afternoon.
 
Concordia Irvine, riding a four-game winning streak has nudged ahead of Azusa Pacific in the Pacific West Conference. The Golden Eagles are 9-4 overall, 6-1 in conference play. Azusa (10-3, 5-1 Pac West) hasn't played since Dec. 19 an 87-79 loss to resurgent Dominican. The Penguins (8-7, 6-2 Pac West) have won five straight since falling 63-35 to Seattle Pacific on Dec. 12.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at the weekly GNAC women's basketball notebook. Click on this link for a look at GNAC statistical leaders.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons have a pair of one-game weeks during GNAC play, and the first of those is next week with a trip to Montana State Billings on Saturday, Jan. 14. SPU and the Yellowjackets will tip off at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time.