THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 16               Seattle Pacific at Simon Fraser, 7:00 p.m.
                                     West Gym / Burnaby, B.C.
                                     Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 18                Seattle Pacific at Western Washington, 7:00 p.m.
                                      Carver Gymnasium / Bellingham, Wash.
                                      Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – It's the final women's basketball road trip of the regular season for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
And quite possibly the biggest.
 
Looking to shake off two straight losses at home, SPU will take two northbound trips up Interstate 5, heading across the border to play at Simon Fraser on Thursday in Burnaby, B.C., then going to Bellingham on Saturday for a contest at No. 8-ranked Western Washington.
 
Tip-off time in both West Gym against the Red Leafs and Carver Gymnasium against the Vikings is 7:00 p.m.
 
The Falcons played just once last week and put together one of their best halves of the season in building a double-digit lead against No. 23 Montana State Billings. But the Yellowjackets bounced back with a big fourth quarter to pull out a 64-61 victory.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both games will have a free live Webcast on YouTube and free live stats.  The appropriate links are available at the top of this story.

 

SENIOR DAY SET FOR FEB. 25
Prior to the 2:00 p.m. tip-off in the regular-season finale against Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday, Feb.25 in Brougham Pavilion, the Falcons will have a ceremony saluting the senior trio of Ashley Alter, Natalie Hoff and Chiarra De Virgilio.
 
Guard / forward Alter and forward Hoff are both in their fifth year. Both have been among the most productive Falcons in the history of the program.

Alter is approaching the 1,000 career point milestone, and earlier this year grabbed her 300th rebound. On Jan. 28, she played her 100th game as a Falcon. Hoff is nearing 900 career points and pulled down her 500th career rebound earlier this season. She put her 100th career game into the book on Dec. 14 at Holy Names.
 
De Virgilio, a native of Argentina, joined SPU this season from Keiser University in Florida. She provided steady, mature floor leadership in a reserve role before a knee injury ended her season in late January.
 

SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Thursday's game at Simon Fraser will be SPU's fifth chance to close out a season series sweep. It has converted one of those previous four chances so far, taking both games from Saint Martin's.
-- The Falcons beat Simon last month in Brougham Pavilion, 64-53.
-- Ashley Alter notched her second double-double of the season and fourth of her career in that game, with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
-- Anna Eddy led the Falcons with 18 points, with 12 of those coming from 3-point range.
-- The Wisotzki sisters combined for 33 of Simon Fraser's 53 points: 20 for Jessica and 13 for younger sister Sophia.
-- SPU's game at No. 8 Western Washington on Saturday will be its eighth of the season against a nationally ranked opponent.
-- The Falcons have won two of their previous seven against top-25 opponents: 70-64 against No. 21 Azusa Pacific on Nov. 19 in Bellingham, and 70-63 against Central Washington on Dec. 31 in Seattle.
-- When SPU and Western met on Jan. 19 in Seattle, the Vikings came up big at the free throw line during the fourth quarter, hitting 13 of 15 to pull out a 58-53 decision.
-- That was WWU's 14th straight victory.
-- The Falcons are 7-6 away from Seattle, including 6-4 in true road games.
-- Their last road win was 52-50 at Saint Martin's on Jan. 7. The last three out of town have gone the other way.
-- Seattle Pacific is one of just four GNAC teams playing above .500 on the road. The others are Montana State Billings (13-1), Western Washington (11-1), and Central Washington (9-3).
-- The Falcons remain No. 3 in GNAC defense, allowing 58.8 points per game.
-- Along those lines, the 53 points they the allowed Simon Fraser was the lowest total of the season for the Red Leafs, and the 58 allowed to Western Washington tied for the Vikings' lowest total of the year.
-- That defense will get tested this week, as WWU is the top-shooting team in the conference at .485; Simon Fraser is No. 3 at .414.
-- For the first time this season, Seattle Pacific is below 16 turnovers per game, now averaging 15.9.
-- Ashley Alter is No. 6 in GNAC scoring at 15.0 points per game. She also is tied for No. 9 in rebounding at 6.0 and tied for No. 4 in steals at 2.1.
-- Redshirt sophomore guard Hunter Beirne is tied with Western Washington's  Brooke Walling at 3.6 assists per game. Walling has 80 assists for the season; Beirne has 79.
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER RED LEAFS: 9-10, 7-8 GNAC (tie 5th)
All-time series: Simon leads 26-15. Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 64, Simon 53 (Jan. 21, 2023 at Seattle).  Last Simon series win: Simon 64, SPU 57 (Feb. 5, 2022 at Burnaby, B.C.).  Red Leafs on the Web.
Red Leafs in a nutshell: Simon Fraser had a nice stretch of four wins in six games to start the GNAC schedule, but has dropped six of nine since then. The Leafs are coming into the week off a 75-69 victory at Western Oregon last Saturday, sparked by a monster 33-point night from junior 5-foot-10 guard Jessica Wisotzki. She hit just 6 of 16 from the field, but was 17 of 18 at the free throw line. Wisotzki averages a conference-leading 21.5 points per game. Sophomore sister Sophia Wisotzki had her own big night with 23 points, boosting her season average to 11.7 per game. Sophomore 6-2 forward Gemma Cutler chips in 11.1 points per game, along with a team-high 8.5 rebounds. Cutler has been in double digits on the boards seven times in 19 games, with a season-high 14 this past Saturday at Western Oregon.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 20-2, 14-1 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: WWU leads, 66-32.  Current series streak: WWU won 8.  Last time: WWU 58, SPU 53 (Jan. 19, 2023 at Seattle).  Last SPU series win: SPU 61, WWU 59 (Jan. 17, 2019 at Seattle).  Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: After its hard-fought battle at SPU on Jan. 19, Western Washington saw its 14-game winning streak end two nights later at Montana State Billings, 73-61. The Vikings quickly put that behind them and started a new winning streak, which is now up to six following last week's road victories at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. Western is at or near the top of the GNAC in numerous statistical categories, including No. 1 in overall field goal shooting (.485), 3-point shooting (.384) and field goal defense (.350). Junior 6-foot-3 forward Brooke Walling is close to a double-double average at 14.0 points and 9.3 rebounds. She has 10 double-doubles in 22 games. Senior 5-11 forward Katrina Gimmaka averages 10.3 points per game. Walling and Gimmaka are the two deadliest shooters in the GNAC: .593 for Walling, .578 for Gimmaka. Speaking of double-doubles, sophomore 6-2 center Truitt Reilly had one at Seattle Pacific in January, with 10 points and 10 rebounds, one of four that she has recorded this winter.
 
TOURNEY TALK
The Falcons are still seeking to clinch a spot in the GNAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, March 2-4 at Western Washington. The top six teams in the final standings qualify.
 
SPU starts the week in sole possession of fourth place  at 7-7. That's 2½ games behind third-place Central Washington (10-5) and half a game ahead of co-fifth place Northwest Nazarene and Simon Fraser (both 7-8). Also very much still in the mix is seventh-place Alaska Anchorage (6-8).
 
Western Washington (14-1) and Montana State Billings (12-2) both have secured tournament berths. If they maintain their current Nos. 1 and 2 positions, they will get byes into the semifinals on March 3. The other four qualifiers will have first-round games on March 2, with No. 3 facing No. 6, and No. 4 playing No. 5. The time slots are 5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., although which game goes into which time slot has yet to be determined.
 
The semifinals are on Friday, March 3, at 5:15 and 7:30, and the championship game is on Saturday, March 4, at 7:30.
 
The tournament champion gets the GNAC's automatic qualifying berth into the NCAA West Regionals. Automatic spots also go to the California Collegiate Athletic Association and Pacific West Conference tournament champions. That leaves five available at-large berths to be distributed among the teams that do not win their tournaments.
 
The first of three sets of NCAA West Region rankings, is scheduled for release on Wednesday. The final set of those rankings, which are determined after the completion of the conference tournaments on the first weekend in March, ultimately determine who gets into the NCAA Tournament.
 
1K WITHIN REACH FOR ALTER
Ashley alter is getting tantalizingly close to the 1,000-point career scoring total. She comes into this week with 972, just 28 points away.
 
 

A week ago, the fifth-year Falcon needed another 51 points, then picked up a sizable chunk of that last Saturday with 23 against Montana State Billings
 
With four regular-season games left, Alter needs to average just 7.0 points to get there. She currently is averaging more than that at 15.0 per game.
 
Alter is on track to become the 25th Falcon with 1,000. The last time that happened was when Jordan McPhee and Courtney Hollander both got to a grand on the same night. Feb. 8, 2018, at home against Simon Fraser.
 
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):
 
-- 24th in rebound margin, +6.4 (Western Washington +12.3)
-- 54th in scoring defense, 58.6 (Assumption College 49.6)
-- 41st in blocks per game, 3.7 (Kutztown State 6.3).
-- 56th in fewest fouls committed, 15.2 (Academy of Art 10.9)

Click on this link for a complete look at how the Falcons stack up within NCAA Division II.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Western Washington became the second GNAC team and fourth West Region team to reach the 20-win mark with its victories at Western Oregon and at Saint Martin's last week. The Vikings (20-2, 14-1 GNAC) host second-place Montana State Billings (21-4, 12-2 GNAC) on Thursday and can clinch at least a tie for the regular-season title with a win. WWU and MSUB are still the only schools to have secured a conference tournament berth so far. Central Washington (18-6, 10-5 GNAC) can clinch a spot on Saturday with a victory at Northwest Nazarene.
 
The long-awaited California Collegiate Athletic Association rematch between first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills (23-1, 17-1 CCAA) and second-place Cal State San Marcos (19-3, 16-2) is set for Thursday at Dominguez Hills in Carson. The visiting Cougars will come in on a six-game winning streak; the host Toros have won four in a row. Dominguez Hills pulled out a 74-73 victory at San Marcos on Jan. 21. Third-place Cal State Los Angeles (17-6, 14-4 CCAA) and fourth-place Chico State (16-8, 12-6) have secured spots in the six-team conference tourney.
 
Interesting week in the Pacific West Conference as first-place Azusa Pacific (20-4, 15-2) lost once, 79-72 at Biola, and second-place Concordia Irvine (16-6, 13-3) lost twice, 80-77 at Fresno Pacific and 56-55 at Point Loma Nazarene. Azusa is still on top by 1½ games. Dominican (16-10, 13-5) is third, but still has a shot at second place. Those three schools, plus Hawaii Pacific and Point Loma, have Pac West Tournament spots in their pockets. At the other end of the standings, Holy Names ended a 21-game losing streak on Sunday with a 66-63 victory at Chaminade, which now has lost 17 straight.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for a look at this week's GNAC women's basketball notebook. Click on this link to see how GNAC teams and players rank within NCAA Division II.
 
UP NEXT
The regular season wraps up at home next week when Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks come to Brougham Pavilion. The Seawolves are in on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the SPU-UAA men at 5:15. The Nanooks visit on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., followed by the men's game against the Nanooks at 4:15. The Seattle Pacific women will be looking for a season split against Anchorage and a sweep of Fairbanks.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                          GNAC           Overall
Western Washington         14-1      20-2
Montana State Billings     12-2      21-4
Central Washington         10-5      17-6
Seattle Pacific             7-7      12-10
Northwest Nazarene          7-8      11-12
Simon Fraser                7-8       9-10
Alaska Anchorage            6-8      14-9
Western Oregon              4-10     10-12
Saint Martin's              4-10      8-14
Alaska Fairbanks            1-13      4-17