THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 20                 Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650)  / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – First, they get a breather. Then they get the best.
 
It's that kind of a week for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
SPU winds up a three-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball homestand by welcoming No. 12-ranked Montana State Billings to Brougham Pavilion on Saturday. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m. It is the only contest on this week's docket.
 
The Falcons (6-10, 3-3 GNAC) split last week's two games, rallying in the fourth quarter to beat Western Oregon, 57-52, then falling just short against Saint Martin's, 55-52.
 
Billings (15-3, 6-0 GNAC) is the only team with an undefeated conference record.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All GNAC games will have free live Webcasts and live stats. Greg Sexton calls the action for this week's game. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER TOP-25ER
When the Falcons and Billings tip off on Saturday, it will be the fourth time this season that a national top-25 opponent has been on the other side of the court. The Yellowjackets are ranked No. 12 and have been in the top 25 from the very beginning, starting at No. 16 in the preseason poll. MSUB has risen as high as No. 10 and has been as low as No. 21.
 
SPU played three ranked opponents in its first four games: No. 11 Cal State Dominguez Hills, No. 12 Azusa Pacific, and No. 22 Cal State San Marcos. Its season-opening opponent, Cal State Los Angeles, wasn't in the top 25, but was receiving votes.
 
More of the same is potentially in store next Thursday when the Falcons head to Bellingham to face Western Washington. The Vikings are No. 21 in this week's poll.
 
PINK GAME SET FOR FEB. 1
When Central Washington visits Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Feb. 1, it will be Seattle Pacific's Pink Game in recognition of the battle against breast cancer.
 
A table will be set up in the Brougham Pavilion lobby with information about the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which works with and supports survivors, caregivers, and others who are battling to eradicate not only breast cancer, but all forms of cancer affecting women.
 




SO WHAT"S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU is 5-1 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- Even with last week's split, the Falcons are still above the red line for postseason play. The top six teams make the GNAC Tournament, and SPU is tied for fifth with Northwest Nazarene. Western Oregon (2-3) is the first team below the line.
--Seattle Pacific's guards continue to be some of its best rebounders. Last Thursday against Western Oregon, Hailey Marlow had six; Hunter Beirne and Layne Kearns pulled down four apiece. All of them stand 5-foot-7.
 

-- In the Saint Martin's game on Saturday, Beirne grabbed seven (tying her season high); Kearns and Marlow each had four. For the week, that backcourt trio accounted for 29 of the team's 70 boards – 41 percent.
-- Against Saint Martin's, the Falcons had more than half of their rebounds – 18 of 33 – at the offensive end, leading to 15 second-chance points.
-- The most recent time that happened was last Feb. 18 at Western Washington with 13 of 25 boards under their own basket. In fact, SPU pulled that off three times last season.
-- Seattle Pacific's defense is back under 60 per game for average points allowed, now at 59.8. That's No 4 in the GNAC. Western Washington is on top at 57.5, and Montana State Billings is No. 2 at 58.1.
-- In conference games, the Falcons and Billings are 1-2 defensively, with SPU allowing 55.0 and MSUB 55.7.
-- But offensively, the Yellowjackets are averaging 74.1 (No. 1) and SPU 56.1 (No. 8) overall. In GNAC play, it's 82.2 per game for Billings (No. 1) and 58.2 for Seattle Pacific (No. 8).
--  SPU is 6-2 when keeping an opponent under 60, but it just 3-7 when it scores under 60.
-- When the teams played last February in Brougham, the Falcons built a 16-point first-half lead, were up by 11 at halftime, and still ahead by seven in the final minute of the third quarter. But they got just four more points the rest of the way, and MSUB ran off 12 in a row on the way to a 64-61 victory. Hunter Beirne had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists for Seattle Pacific.
--Yellowjackets coach Kevin Woodin is in his 20th season at the helm, making him the third longest-tenured coach in the conference. Carmen Dolfo is in her 33rd year at Western Washington and Bruce Langford is in his 23rd at Simon Fraser.
--Coach Mike Simonson's teams are 2-6 all-time against Montana State Billings.
 
SCOUTING THE MSU BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS:  15-3, 6-0 GNAC (1st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 30-27.  Current series streak: MSUB won 5.  Last time: MSUB 64, SPU 61 (Feb. 11, 2023 at Seattle).  Last SPU series win: SPU 70, WOU 61 (Jan. 5, 2023 at Monmouth).  Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: Billings comes to town having won five in a row and nine of its last 10. Providing a huge boost to the Yellowjackets is senior 6-foot-2 forward Kola Bad Bear. She averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in four seasons at Montana State University (the last three years as a regular starter), but had one year of eligibility remaining because of the pandemic-affected 2020-21 season. Bad Bear is averaging 16.2 points (No. 5 in the GNAC), 6.4 rebounds, and is deadly accurate from the field at .552 (also No. 5). Dyauni Boyce, a junior 5-11 forward, joins Bad Bear among the GNAC's scoring leaders, ranking No. 7 at 15.2 per game on .495 shooting (No. 10), plus 5.3 rebounds. Junior 5-8 guards Aspen Giese and Kortney Nelson chip in 10.1 and 9.1 points, respectively.  Billings is known for playing solid, fundamentally sound team basketball, and it shows in the conference stats: No. 1 in scoring offense and 3-point shooting, No. 2 in scoring defense, field goal shooting, and free throw shooting, and No. 1 in fewest turnovers.
 
NEWBIE VS. NEWBIE
After playing elsewhere for the first part of their careers, Olivia Mayer and Kola Bad Bear are making quite a splash at their new schools – and they'll get to go against each other on Saturday.
 
 

Mayer of course, has been shining all season for Seattle Pacific after playing the past two winters at Whitworth in Spokane. The junior 6-foot forward is among the GNAC top 10 in scoring (No. 9 at 14.3), rebounding (No. 5 at 7.8), offensive rebounding (tied for No. 6 at 2.5), defensive rebounding (No. 6 at 5.3) and steals (tied for No. 7 at 1.7).
 
 

Bad Bear, the senior 6-2 forward for Billings, is No. 5 in scoring (16.2), No. 5 in field goal shooting (.552), and tied for No. 4 in offensive rebounding (2.7).
 
In GNAC-only stats, Mayer and Bad Bear are 1-5 in scoring (18.8 to 17.3) and 3-7 in rebounding (7.5 to 6.7). They are 6-7 in field goal shooting (Bad Bear ahead .577 to .535), 5-6 in offensive rebounding (Bad Bear ahead, 2.7 to 2.5), and are co-No. 9 in blocked shots (0.8).
 
Mayer has six double-doubles and two games of 20-plus points. Bad Bear has five double-doubles and six games of 20 or more points.
 
SIMO SAYS …
(On Montana State Billings)
"I really respect what Kevin (Woodin) and Alisha (Breen) have built. They do a really good job of being solid fundamentally. They really don't have a weakness. For us, it's going to be about competing really hard, focusing on what we can control, taking care of the ball, taking and making good quality shots, and just playing solid defensively. We've had some battles with them, especially in Seattle. Stylistically, it always ends up being a competitive game."
 
 

(On takeaways from the Saint Martin's game)
"As I watched the tape, they exposed some things we need to improve going into the Billings game. It was a physical game, rebounding was huge, and certain offensive actions that they ran caused us some problems that hadn't been problems for a while. I know we're going to need to tighten up certain areas of the game."
 
(On continuing to move forward)
"I'm really impressed with their perseverance, their tenacity, and their bounceback. Even in player meetings and film sessions and practices this week, it has been remarkable seeing their bounceback. That's half the battle. There's so much you can learn from losses and adversity. We have a lot of young players and returners learning what it's going to take to be successful in this league, night in and night out.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Olivia Mayer personally powered a 7-0 fourth-quarter scoring run, including a clinching pair with two seconds left for the last of her 18 points, Schuyler Berry swiped an inbounds pass under the Western Oregon basket with 8.9 seconds remaining and Seattle Pacific hung on for a 57-52 victory last Thursday..
-- Mayer poured in 25 points, her most ever in an SPU uniform, but Saint Martin's built a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter, then survived a late Falcons comeback for a 55-52 win last Saturday..
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100th assist            Olivia Mayer (88)
                             Hailey Marlow (has 85)
100th point             Grace Leasure (has 91)
200th point            Hailey Marlow (has 184)
 
Made last week
100th steal            Olivia Mayer (has 101)
200th rebound      Hunter Beirne (has 209)
 
AROUND THE WEST
Among the top four teams in the GNAC, three are on multiple-game winning streaks: five for conference leader Montana State Billings (15-3, 6-0), three for Western Washington (12-3, 4-1) … and seven for Alaska Anchorage (9-5, 3-2), The last three of those Seawolves wins have come with All-GNAC guard Vishe' Rabb back in action for the first time since sustaining an injury in last year's GNAC Tournament, and she has started all three of those games, averaging 7.7 points and 3.0 rebounds. UAA is on the road this week at Central Washington (13-5, 4-2) on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene (6-7, 3-3) on Saturday.
 
The leading teams in the California Collegiate Athletic Association also have win streaks going. Cal State San Marcos (11-3, 8-1) has taken five in a row and moved into first place. Chico State (11-4, 7-2) has won its last seven, and Sonoma State (11-5, 6-3) has three straight. Early-season leader Stanislaus State (10-9, 5-4) has dropped four in a row, all in conference play, and is now part of a three-way tie for fourth.
 
Azusa Pacific (14-3, 8-0) has the West Region's longest winning streak, now at 10, and is alone atop the Pacific West Conference. Fresno Pacific (12-3, 6-1) and Dominican (14-3, 7-2) are within striking distance. FPU has won three straight; Dominican has triumphed in its last five. Fresno visits Azusa on Thursday.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. This week's GNAC notebook highlights SPU's Olivia Mayer as a "Player to Watch"
 
UP NEXT
Seattle Pacific concludes the first half of GNAC play next week with a road trip north. Up first is Western Washington on Thursday, Jan. 25 in Bellingham, followed by a trip across the border to Burnaby, British Columbia on Saturday to tangle with Simon Fraser. Both games tip off at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                        GNAC       Overall
Montana State Billings     6-0     15-3
Western Washington         4-1     12-2
Central Washington         4-2     13-5
Alaska Anchorage           3-2      9-5
Northwest Nazarene         3-3      6-7
Seattle Pacific            3-3      6-10
Western Oregon             2-3      9-7
Simon Fraser               1-4      9-9
Saint Martin's             1-4      3-9
Alaska Fairbanks           0-5      2-13
 
 
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