D2CCA CANADIAN TIP-OFF CLASSIC SCHEDULE
All games at Langley Events Centre / Langley, B.C.
 
Friday, Nov. 1                       Seattle Pacific vs. Tampa, 10:30 a.m.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Nov. 2                  Seattle Pacific vs. Gannon, 10:30 a.m.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Sunday, Nov. 3                     Seattle Pacific vs. Dominica, 12:45 p.m.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – It's the golden anniversary season of Seattle Pacific women's basketball. That's right: season No. 50.
 
Not only will the Falcons get a head start on it, they'll do so against some of the best teams in NCAA Division II.
 
SPU will make the drive north this weekend and cross the border into British Columbia, Canada, on the way to Langley for the D2CCA Canadian Tip-Off Classic.
 
The Falcons will play three game in three days at the Langley Events Centre.. Up first on Friday is Tampa, which reached last year's Elite Eight, finished No. 4 in the final national poll and are No. 4 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) preseason poll. Tip-off is at 10:30 a.m.
 
Just 24 hours later, it'll be another Elite Eight qualifier on the other side of the court as Seattle Pacific faces Gannon University from Erie, Pennsylvania. The Golden Knights also reached the Elite Eight, wound up No. 7 in the final poll and are No. 11 in this year's preseason poll.
 
SPU will wrap it up on Sunday against West Region opponent Dominican of the Pacific West Conference. Tip-off against the Penguins will be at 12:45 p.m.

FOLLOW IT LIVE
All games will have live Webasts and live stats. The Webcasts on are a pay-per-view basis. There is no charge for the live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story.
 
A CROSS-BORDER HOOPS FEST
This is the second year of the Canadian Tip-Off Classic. It is the first time for the SPU women, but the Falcon men did play in it last November.
 
The tournament features six women's teams and six men's teams. On the women's side, Seattle Pacific, Dominican, and host Simon Fraser are all from the West Region. Tampa, Gannon, and St. Edward's of Texas round out the field. On the men's side, five of the six teams are from the West, including Great Northwest Athletic Conference members Simon Fraser, Western Oregon, and Saint Martin's.
 
Each team will play three opponents. The games will count toward overall record and statistics. However, they won't count toward the maximum allowance of 28 games. So the Falcons will wind up playing 31 games between now and the end of the regular season next March.
 
BYERS IS IN CHARGE NOW
Karen Byers, who has been with the SPU program the past two season and served as the lead assistant to Mike Simonson last season was named the interim head coach on Aug. 19 after Simonson accepted the head coaching job at Biola University in Los Angeles.
 
 

Byers came aboard prior to the 2022-23 season as second assistant coach. She moved up to lead assistant this past season. Both years, she helped guide the Falcons into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
Byers, who previously served as head coach at Bainbridge High School prior to coming to SPU (and still makes the daily ferry trip across Puget Sound) particularly enjoys working with her players on skill development and breaking down film for practice structure and game preparation.
 
"I'm just so thankful to move forward with this team," Byers said. "I'm really excited for the athletes and the girls. I'm very blessed by the opportunity that I have here – what a special place to have my first college team be SPU. It's just a magical place, and I'm so excited for this team."



 

SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU has a 36-13 record in season-opening games. That includes last year's 79-54 loss to Cal State Los Angeles in the West Region Crossover Classic at Western Washington.
--The Falcons were 3-7 in non-conference games last season. That included 2-0 at home, 1-2 on neutral courts, and 0-5 in true road games.
-- Seattle Pacific's overall out-of-town record last season was 4-14.
-- The games against Tampa and Gannon will be the first for the Falcons against either opponent.
-- They have played Dominican one other time since the Penguins moved up D2 and to the Pacific West at the start of the 2011-12 school year. That prior game was in 2023, which the falcons won, 63-38.
-- This is the second straight year SPU will have an opening-weekend opponent that made it all the way to the previous season's Elite Eight. Last year, it was Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Toros came into 2023-24 ranked No. 11, but the Falcons pulled out a 58-53 win in Bellingham.
-- Non-conference games against national top-25 opponents is nothing new for SPU. Last year, the Falcons played three of their first four against schools in the preseason top 25: No. 11 Dominguez Hills, No. 12 Azusa Pacific (the Cougars won, 69-57) and No. 22 Cal State San Marcos (CSSM, 74-44).
-- SPU was one of the tougher teams to shoot against last season, as opponents hit just .397. That was the third-lowest percentage in the GNAC and made the Falcons one of just four conference teams to keep other teams below 40 percent.
-- Returning fifth-year point guard Hunter Beirne ranked No. 8 in average minutes per game in the GNAC at 31.1 (808 total).
 
SCOUTING THE TAMPA SPARTANS: 31-7, 17-3 Sunshine State (2nd)
All-time series: First meeting.  Spartans on the Web.
Spartans in a nutshell: Tampa returns a talented trio of players who sparked last year's run to the South Region championship and a spot in the Elite Eight. Zoe Piller, a senior 6-foot-1 forward / center, led the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game on 57.3 percent accuracy from the field a she started all 38 games. She also averaged 7.9 rebounds, with team-high 117 at the offensive end. Of Piller's 581 points, 125 came from the free throw line. Grad student 5-6 guard Audrey Ramsey averaged 15.2 points and hit 42.7 percent from downtown, draining 70 daggers. When she wasn't shooting, Ramsey was busy handing out 149 assists, the second-highest total on the team. Kath Van Bennekom, a senior 5-9 guard, chipped in 8.1 points per game on 49.6 percent marksmanship from the floor.
 
SCOUTING THE GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS: 35-3, 21-1 PSAC (1st)
All-time series: First meeting.  Golden Knights on the Web.
Golden Knights in a nutshell: Multiple players who played vital roles to winning the Atlantic Region title and advancing to the Elite Eight are back for Gannon. Bri Claxon, a junior 5-foot-7 shooting guard, averaged 13.2 points per game and nailed her shots from the field at a 46.2 percent clip, including 40.5 percent from downtown. Another shooting guard, 6-foot sophomore Kate Ratliff, averaged 6.8 points, was second on the team with 59 steals, and started 23 of the 38 games. The Golden Knights did have one very significant departure in 5-10 post player Samantha Pirosko, who graduated. She was the WBCA and D2CCA National Player of the Year after averaging 19.8 points on 53.5 percent shooting, plus 8.1 rebounds.

SCOUTING THE DOMINICAN PENGUINS:  20-10, 12-8 Pac West (4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 1-0  Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 63, Dom 38 (Dec. 12, 2023 at San Rafael, Calif.).  Last Dominican series win: None.  Penguins on the Web.
Penguins in a nutshell: Dominican put together a 20-win season last year that extended all the way to the semifinals of the Pacific West Conference tournament. Of the top five scorers from that squad, three are back for another go. Keynoee Neal, a junior 5-foot-10 guard, averaged a team-leading 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. She also accounted for fully half of the team's blocked shots (27 of 54). Senior 5-3 point guard Alaiyah San Juan was the other double-digit scorer at 11.3 points per game and was the Penguins' most accurate shooter, hitting .487 overall from the field, with .406 accuracy from downtown. Sophomore 5-10 guard Adia Walker added 9.1 points and was always on the lookout for open teammates, topping Dominican with 70 assists. The Penguins added a big rebounder in 5-7 forward Taylor Linzie, a transfer from Cal State East Bay. She averaged 9.2 boards for the Pioneers, with 12 double-digit outings in 25 games. She also averaged 7.1 points.
 
SCOUTING THE 2024-25 FALCONS
Expect the unexpected.
 
As interim head coach Karen Byers sees it, that just might be the best way to describe the Seattle Pacific team that she will send onto the court this winter.
 
The Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 scorers from last year's 11-18 team (8-10 GNAC) are back in action. The only departure from that top group was forward Olivia Mayer, who averaged 15.7 points and 8.7 rebounds last year as a junior, but decided not to continue with basketball.
 
 

Senior center Schuyler Berry had her best-ever season across multiple statistical categories: 9.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 26 blocked shots, 43 assists, and 31 steals. She put her 500th point and 300th rebound into the books, Berry played in all 29 games with 26 starts, totaling 841 minutes. She hit 50 percent or better from the field 13 times, including the last six games of the season.
 
 

Returning to run the show at the point is fifth-year guard Hunter Beirne. She averaged a career-best 9.5 points and led the team with 64 assists. Factoring into her scoring average was a career-high 28-point performance in the must-win regular-season finale at Alaska Fairbanks, helping SPU secure a 72-64 victory and the final spot in the GNAC Tournament.
 
 

Senior wing Lolo Weatherspoon averaged a career-best 7.0 points, and also had single-season bests in multiple stat categories with 57 rebounds (2.3 per game), 37 assists, and 32 steals. Layne Kearns quickly became part of SPU's regular rotation as a freshman, seeing time in 27 of the 29 games, with 13 starts. She averaged 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds and also came up with 26 steals.
 
Also returning for Seattle Pacific are sophomore wing Grace Leasure (4.7 points), sophomore guard Haylie-Anne Ohta (3.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 28 assists, 20 steals in 28 games with 11 starts) and junior post player Emilia Bishop (2.5 points, 2.5 rebounds).
 
Ready for their first official game action will be 5-9 guard Grace Turley and 6-foot forward / guard Julia Lavigne. Turley is from Mount Si High School east of Seattle and was the conference Defensive MVP as a senior in 2023. Lavigne played a key part in helping Ontario (Calif.) Christian win its league title with an undefeated record in 2023.
 
A group of four newcomers includes two freshmen and two transfers. Madison Rubino, a 6-foot-1 forward, is a junior who played her freshman year at Idaho in 2021-22, did not play in 2022-23, then was at Cal Poly Humboldt last season. With the Lumberjacks, she started 21 of her 26 games, averaging 7.2 points on .447 shooting from the field, plus 5.7 rebounds. She logged three double-doubles. Grad student Peyton Bergevin, a 5-foot-11 wing, played three seasons at Linfield, averaging 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds.
 
Preparing for their college debuts are 6-foot guard / forward Phoenix Sharp and 5-11 wing Grace Mertes. Sharp scored 1,150 points in three seasons at Awaken Christian High School in Las Vegas, and was both All-Conference and All-State last year as a senior. Mertes helped Timberline High in Boise win the Idaho state championship in 2022.
 
SPU TABBED FOR 8TH IN GNAC
Seattle Pacific was picked for an eighth-place finish in the GNAC women's basketball poll..
 
The Falcons received 34 points in voting by the conference's 10 coaches. Western Washington and Montana State Billings are essentially co-favorites for the title.
 
Western, a 54-52 winner against the Yellowjackets in the GNAC Tournament championship game, picked up four first-place votes and 91 points. Billings, which won the regular-season crown last year with a 16-2 record (28-7 overall) received five firsts and 90 points. The other first-place vote went to Alaska Anchorage, which is No. 3 overall with 79 points.
 
 

BERRY, BEIRNE IN PRESEASON TOP 15
For the second straight year, Seattle Pacific center Schuyler Berry has been voted to the Preseason All-GNAC team – and this time, she is joined by veteran point guard Hunter Beirne, who's on the elite 15-player squad for the first time.
 
A 6-foot-3 center, Berry is entering her senior season coming off her best year as a Falcon in terms of scoring and rebounding. She averaged 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game last winter, starting 26 of SPU's 29 contests. She also averaged 0.9 blocks per game, swatting away 26 shots. Along the way, Berry scored her 500th career point and pulled down her 300th career rebound.
 
Now in her fifth year, Beirne is the ultimate point guard with her intelligence and ability to read what's going on during any given moment and then make a quick decision on how to handle it. Last year, she averaged a career-best 9.5 points and handed out a team-high 64 assists, the second straight season she has led the team in helpers
 
EXHIBITION EXCERPTS
The Falcons played just one exhibition game, falling 74-59 at Puget Sound in Tacoma on Oct. 25.
 
Hunter Beirne led Seattle Pacific with 12 points, getting nine of those on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the 3-point arc. Lolo Weatherspoon added 11 points, and Layne Kearns chipped in 10 plus a team-high four assists. Kearns also was credited with two blocked shots.
 
Schuyler Berry led the way on the boards with six to go along with six points.
 
MILESTONES IN THE MAKING
100tb point       Grace Leasure (has 98)
                  Haylie-Anne Ohta (has 84)
100th rebound     Lolo Weatherspoon (has 97)
                  Peyton Bergevin (has 90)
200th assist      Hunter Beirne (has 170)
200th field goal  Hunter Beirne (has 187)
200th point       Layne Kearns (has 155)
200th rebound     Madison Rubino (has 16j8)
300th point       Lolo Weatherspoon (has 270)
500th point       Hunter Beirne (has 476)
600th point       Schuyler Berry (has 588)
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will be back on the road next weekend, heading to Carson, California for the West Region Crossover Classic at Cal State Dominguez Hills. SPU will take on Cal State Los Angeles on Friday, Nov. 8, then will face host Dominguez Hills on Saturday the 9th. Both games in the Torodome will tip off at 5:30 p.m. GNAC rival Western Washington will be the other team in the tournament – the same foursome that played in Bellingham last year.


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