THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Jan. 11                Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific, 7:30 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 13                Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                             Brougham Pavilion (2,650)  / Seattle, Wash.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – For the next couple of weeks, the Seattle Pacific Falcons won't have to go any farther than their own gym.
 
Having played just four home women's basketball games all season, SPU gets the next three in a row inside Brougham Pavilion.
 
Up first as the Falcons try to solidify a spot in the upper half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings is Western Oregon on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Saint Martin's comes in on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.
 
Seattle Pacific (5-9, 2-2 GNAC) is coming off a rough road trip last week. Twice, the Falcons made a big second-half comeback, but fell short both times, 50-47 at Northwest Nazarene and then 71-61 at Central Washington.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All GNAC games will have free live Webcasts and live stats. For this week's home games, Greg Sexton calls the action on Thursday, then Sam Paul-Barrette will be behind the mic on Saturday. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
MAKE IT A PAIR
Both of this week's games will be part of doubleheaders.
 
On Thursday, the SPU men get the twin bill started by taking on Simon Fraser at 5:15 p.m. On Saturday, they're on the court at 4:15 against arch rival Western Washington.
 
These will be the third and fourth GNAC home doubleheaders. The next two will be against Central Washington on Thursday, Feb. 1 (women 5:15 / men 7::30), and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Feb. 3 (men 2:00 / women 4:15). The final one will be Saturday, Feb. 24 with the men facing Montana State Billings at 2:00 and the women tangling with Western Washington at 4:15.
 
The other two home games for both the women and men will be stand-alones.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Thursday's game against Western Oregon will begin the second half of the 28-game schedule.
-- Both of this week's opponents are being led by new head coaches: Jessica Peatross at Western Oregon and Natalie Marlowe at Saint Martin's. Holli Howard-Carpenter had been in charge of the Wolves since 2013 and Christy Martin led the Saints for the past six seasons.
--The Falcons have a 4-0 record at home.
-- That includes wins in their first two GNAC games, 70-43 against Alaska Fairbanks on Nov. 30, 62-59 against Alaska Anchorage on Dec. 2.
-- With a 2-2 record, Seattle Pacific is part of a three-way tie for fifth place in the GNAC standings. At the end of the season (14 games to play), the top six teams qualify for the conference tournament, scheduled for March 7-9 at Central Washington in Ellensburg.
-- After struggling from 3-point range for much of the season, the Falcons have found the hoop more regularly of late, hitting 40;9 percent (9 of 22) against Westminster on Dec. 29 and 40 percent (6 of 15) at Central Washington.
-- In five games this season, the Falcons have had a player come up with four steals. The latest was junior wing Lolo Weatherspoon last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene. The most recent player with five or more in a game was Ashley Alter with seven last Feb. 4 at home against Western Oregon.
-- Seattle Pacific had won five straight vs. WOU before the Wolves came to Brougham Pavilion and snagged a 57 -52 win last February.
-- Coach Mike Simonson's teams are 5-2 vs. Western Oregon and 6-5 vs. Saint Martin's.
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN OREGON WOLVES:  9-5, 2-1 GNAC (tie 3rd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 48-6.  Current series streak: WOU won 1.  Last time: WOU 57, SPU 52 (Feb. 4, 2023 at Seattle).  Last SPU series win: SPU 70, WOU 61 (Jan. 5, 2023 at Monmouth).  Wolves on the Web.
Wolves in a nutshell: Western Oregon rolls into town riding a six-game winning streak. The latest of those victories was a come-from-behind 54-50 decision at home against Saint Martin's last Saturday after the Wolves scored just 14 points during the first half. Senior 5-foot-9 guard Cali McClave leads WOU in scoring at 15.9 points per game, ranking No. 5 in the GNAC. She has been in double digits for 13 of the 14 games. She also has a team-high 36 steals, a GNAC-leading average of 2.6. Junior 5-10 guard Bella Pedrojetti averages 11.7 points per game, and redshirt sophomore 6-1 forward Kiylynn Dawkins chips in 10.2 per game on .610 shooting from the field (61 of 100). In addition, she averages 7.5 rebounds per game (No. 9 on the GNAC list), right on the heels of junior 5-10 guard Ana McClave's 7.7 (No. 8), as the Wolves have the GNAC's top average of 40.9.
 
SCOUTING THE SAINT MARTIN'S SAINTS: 2-8, 0-3 GNAC (9th).
All-time series: SPU leads, 59-22.  Current series streak: SPU won 2.  Last time: SPU 71, STM 58 (Feb. 2, 2023 at Seattle). 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 comes into the week looking to snap a five-game losing streak. Senior 5-foot-4 guard Anjel Galbreath averages a solid stat line of 11.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. Sarah Lamet, a sophomore forward, chips in 10.9 points on .427 shooting, plus 5.6 rebounds per game. Redshirt junior 5-8 guard Lauryn Morris averages 9.1 points on .451 shooting, and leads the Saints on the boards with 8.3 per game, tied for No. 4 in the GNAC. Shalyse Smith is a junior 6-1 forward who has played just two games, averaging 12.0 points on .476 accuracy and 8.0 rebounds. She made her Saint Martin's debut in a non-conference game at Idaho on Dec. 19 with 17 points and five rebounds. Smith started at Western Oregon last Saturday, collecting 11 rebounds and scoring seven points in 35 minutes.
 
IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO DEFENSE
Taking care of business when the other team has the ball continues to be a strong suit for the Falcons.
 
With the schedule now halfway complete (14 of 28 games played), Seattle Pacific is allowing just 60.6 points per game. That ranks No. 4 in the GNAC, No. 8 in the West Region (among 32 teams) and No. 78 nationally (among 291 Division II teams).
 
The Falcons have kept three opponents below 50 points (3-0 record), one at exactly 50 (0-1) and two below 60 (2-0).
 
In eight of the 14 games, SPU has kept the other team below its season scoring average.

 

MULTIPLE MILESTONES FOR MAYER
Junior forward Olivia Mayer pushed past 700 career points on Saturday at Central. She had 17, giving her 713 for her career.

That's her third milestone of the season. Earlier, she tallied her 600th point and grabbed her 500th rebound. And, she is just three steals away from her 100th.

Mayer remains No. 10 in GNAC scoring, bumping her average up to 13.2 points per game. She jumped a spot to No. 7 in rebounding at 7.9. She is tied for No. 9 in steals at 1.6.

SIMO SAYS …
(On the team's progress)
"We're getting better, and I think that's what you want to be able to do over the course of the season is to improve each game, each practice – each possession if you can. We battled and competed on the road last week, and those are probably our best two road games of the year. We feel pretty comfortable at home and have performed well at home. So we're excited to be back on our home court this week."
 
 

(On Western Oregon)
They have a brand-new coach, and I'm impressed with the way they shoot the ball and the way they compete. If you're not dialed in defensively, they can put up some points on you. We have to be ready to guard the 3, but defend penetration and the inside game, as well. But the 3-point ball is the first thing we have to keep our eyes on."
 
(On Saint Martin's)
"The two most important positions are center and point guard, and they have a very good center and a very good point guard. Those are the types of teams you have to prepare for well, and I know they're going to be eager to play. We've had some battles with Saint Martin's in the past."
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Olivia Mayer had 15 points and 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year, but Seattle Pacific, after trimming a 13-point halftime deficit all the way down to two, fell short last Thursday at Northwest Nazarene, 50-47.
-- After erasing an 11-point third-quarter deficit, SPU saw Central Washington finish the game on a 12-2 scoring run to secure a 71-61 victory on Saturday in Ellensburg. Mayer led the Falcons with 17 points.
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100th assist           Olivia Mayer (85)
                            Hailey Marlow (has 84)
100th point            Grace Leasure (has 91)
100th steal            Olivia Mayer (has 97)
200th point           Hailey Marlow (has 170)
200th rebound       Hunter Beirne (has 198)
 
Made last week
700th point            Olivia Mayer (has 713)
 
AROUND THE WEST
In a showdown of GNAC leaders, Montana State Billings took the lead with a 10-0 run during the second quarter, then stayed ahead by margins ranging from one point to nine points throughout the second half and beat Central Washington last Thursday in Ellensburg, 82-73. Coupled with an 81-52 rout at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, the Yellowjackets (13-3, 4-0) sit alone atop the standings. Central (12-4, 3-1) has second place all to itself. Watch out for Alaska Anchorage (8-5, 2-2), which has won six in a row, including 61-54 against Western Washington (10-3, 2-1) and 89-68 against Simon Fraser (9-7, 1-2) last week at home.
 
Cal State San Marcos (9-3, 6-1) is now the sole occupant of first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Cougars dealt Stanislaus State its first conference loss, 70-60, then blew past Cal State Monterey Bay, 80-54. Stanislaus (10-7, 5-2) also lost to Sonoma State, 68-54. Stanislaus, Cal Poly Pomona (9-3, 5-2) and Chico State (9-4, 5-2) are all tied for second. Pomona has a big week, hosting Sonoma and San Marcos, and Stanislaus visits Chico.
 
Azusa Pacific is currently riding the West Region's longest winning streak at eight games and leads the Pacific West Conference at 6-0 (12-3 overall). Fresno Pacific (10-3, 4-1) is alone in second, with Dominican (11-3, 4-2) and Point Loma Nazarene (8-6, 4-2) knotted for third. Fresno plays host to Point Loma on Saturday.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the lates news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

UP NEXT
The Falcons have two weeks during the conference season when they play just once, and the first of those is next week when Montana State Billings comes to Brougham Pavilion on Saturday, Jan. 20. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m. It is one of the two stand-alone (no doubleheader) home games.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                       GNAC      Overall
Montana State Billings    4-0     13-3
Central Washington        3-1     12-4
Western Washington        2-1     10-2
Western Oregon            2-1      9-5
Alaska Anchorage          2-2      8-5
Northwest Nazarene        2-2      5-6
Seattle Pacific           2-2      5-9
Simon Fraser              1-2      9-7
Saint Martin's            0-3      2-8
Alaska Fairbanks          0-4      2-12
 

SPU SOCIAL 

• Twitter - @SPUSports & @SpuWbb
• Instagram - @SPUSports & @SPU_Basketball
• Facebook - /SPUSports

Seattle's only NCAA Division II Scholarship Program | #GoFalcons