SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University men's and women's basketball teams have qualified for this weekend's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournaments! Below is everything you need to know before the tournament tip-off on Thursday.
THE SITE
This year's GNAC Basketball Tournaments are hosted by Central Washington University inside the newly renovated Nicholson Arena. It's a short two-hour drive east on Interstate 90 from SPU. Parking is available in front of and around the venue.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2024 GNAC Men's Basketball Championships are available online at
www.gnactickets.com. Tournament passes, good for all men's and women's games, are $60 for adults and $40 for students, children and seniors. Individual session prices, which include two games per session, are $15 for adults and $11 for students, children, and seniors.
FAN PARKING
Parking is enforced on Central's campus from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fans attending the afternoon women's games on Thursday and Friday will need to in any of the school lots, including the lot for Nicholson Arena.
Parking passes can be purchased in advance by clicking on this link. If not purchased in advance, there is an electronic stand in the Nicholson Arena parking lot for fans to purchase passes. Whether online or at the electronic stand, the cost is $6 for one vehicle for one day.
The
main parking lot in front of Nicholson is Q-14.
Overflow parking will be by the Psychology Building in lot S-10.
Free parking is available in lots X-12 and X-22, as well as along East 18
th Avenue.
Click on
this link for a campus parking map.
WOMEN'S BRACKET
Thursday, March 7
Quarterfinal 1: Noon – No. 3 Seed Alaska Anchorage vs. No. 6 Seed Seattle Pacific
Quarterfinal 2: 2:15 p.m. – No. 4 Seed Central Washington vs. No. 5 Seed Simon Fraser
Friday, March 8
Semifinal 1: Noon – No. 2 Seed Western Washington vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 1
Semifinal 2: 2:15 p.m. – No. 1 Seed Montana State Billings vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
Saturday, March 9
5 p.m. – Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2
MEN'S BRACKET
Thursday, March 7
Quarterfinal 1: 5:15 p.m. – No. 3 Seed Saint Martin's vs. No. 6 Seed Alaska Anchorage
Quarterfinal 2: 7:30 p.m. – No. 4 Seed Central Washington vs. No. 5 Seed Seattle Pacific
Friday, March 8
Semifinal 1: 5:15 p.m. – No. 2 Seed Northwest Nazarene vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 1
Semifinal 2: 7:30 p.m. – No. 1 Seed Montana State Billings vs. Winner of Quarterfinal 2
Saturday, March 9
7:30 p.m. – Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2
HOW TO FOLLOW
All games of the 2024 GNAC Basketball Championships will be streamed live, free of charge, on
GNAC.tv. Shawn Walli and Dustin Daniel are set to call all the action from Ellensburg. Live stats for all games of the women's tournament will be
available online here. Live stats for all games of the men's tournament will be
available online here.
FOR THE WOMEN
Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage get the tournament started with a noon tip-off on Thursday. That will be exactly one week after they played in Anchorage, with the Seawolves winning that one, 51-39. The Falcons kept UAA to its lowest point total of the year and 20 points below its season scoring average. The two teams wound up splitting the season series, with SPU winning by a 62-59 count in Seattle on Dec. 2.
Olivia Mayer tallied 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting and was one of players in double figures.
Hunter Beirne had 13 and
Schuyler Berry chipped in 12. Mayer led the way with 11 in last week's rematch.
The No. 6-seeded Falcons come into the tournament off a 72-64 road win at Alaska Fairbanks last Saturday, thanks in large part to a career-high 28 points from Beirne. After struggling on the road earlier in the year, SPU won three of its last five games away from home, and Saturday was its highest out-of-town score this year.
This will be the second straight time the teams have met in the first round of the tournament. Last March in Bellingham, SPU finished the game on a 12-2 scoring run to come from 63-57 down with 6:18 to play to win it, 69-65.
Mayer finished the regular season with 10 double-doubles, including 15 points and 14 rebounds at Fairbanks. She is No. 8 in GNAC scoring at 15.5 points per game and No. 5 in rebounding at 8.1.
FOR THE MEN
The men play the final game of the first day against host Central Washington. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. SPU and CWU split their regular-season meetings, with each team taking its home game. The Falcons are 2-1 all-time against the Wildcats in the GNAC tournament. The last time the two teams met in the postseason was in 2016 when the Falcons beat the Wildcats 69-65 in the quarterfinals.
The Falcons enter the tournament with momentum, having won their last four games. SPU owns the best field goal percentage of any team in the tournament, hitting on 48.8 percent of their attempts. They also lead the GNAC with a 38.5 3-point field goal percentage.
Trace Evans is third in the conference with a 57 percent field goal percentage.
Maui Sze has connected on 43.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Shaw Anderson enters his final GNAC tournament scoring 21 points per game. The next closest player in the tournament is Saint Martin's Kyle Greeley with 16.3 points per game.
SPU SOCIAL
Seattle's only NCAA Division II Scholarship Program | #GoFalcons
