PORTLAND, Ore. – A pair of big performances for Olivia Mayer. And a pair of big wins for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Mayer, who poured in 21 points against Central Washington last Thursday and a career-high 31 against Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball Player of the Week for the first time.
 
 

The 6-foot-1 forward, a junior who joined SPU this year after starring the past two seasons at Whitworth University in Spokane, logged her seventh double-double of the season to help the Falcons down Central last Thursday, 76-65, grabbing 10 rebounds to go along with her 21 points.
 
Then in Saturday's Northwest Nazarene game, Mayer hit 12 of 17 from the field. Her last shot – and the basket that gave her the career high – was a turnaround  12-footer on the left of the lane with 51.9 seconds left that gave Seattle Pacific its first lead of the day, 70-69. The Falcons went on to win it, 73-71, after wiping out a 14-point deficit at the outset of the fourth quarter.
 
Mayer's previous career high was 29 points on Dec. 2, 2022 in a game against Puget Sound.
 
Along with her 52 points for the week (an average of 26.0 per game), Mayer totaled 17 rebounds (8.5 per game). She shot .576 from the floor (19 of 33) and .846 at the free throw line (11 of 13).
 
"Olivia was incredible. She was the hot hand that we could just keep going to," head coach Mike Simonson said after the NNU game. "There was a time when she really flipped the switch mentally and she just took her game to the next level. Scoring 31 against a team that is pretty good defensively like NNU shows what a quality player she is."
 
SPU started the week as part of a three-way tie for sixth place in the standings, with the top six at the end of the season qualifying for the GNAC Tournament. With the two wins, combined with other results, the Falcons have lifted themselves into part of a four-way tie for fourth.
 
The Falcons are on the road this week, visiting Saint Martin's on Thursday in Lacey at 7:00 p.m., and Western Oregon on Saturday in Monmouth at 2:00 p.m.