THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Jan. 16                Seattle Pacific at Central Washington, 5:15 p.m.
                                                Nicholson Arena / Ellensburg, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, Jan. 18                 Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene, 4:15 p.m. PST
                                                Johnson Sports Center / Nampa, Idaho
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – Still in search of their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory, the Seattle Pacific Falcons will try to snag one on the road this week.
 
Coming off a pair of tough setbacks at home, SPU treks across the Cascade Mountains on Thursday to visit Central Washington in Ellensburg. That one tips off at 5:15 p.m.
 
Then it's off to Idaho and a game on Saturday at Northwest Nazarene in Nampa. That one begins at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Both games are the openers of doubleheaders that also include the Seattle Pacific men. Their contests will tip off at 7:30 p.m. against Central and 6:30 against NNU.
 
The Falcons (6-12, 0-5 GNAC) fell to Saint Martin's, 71-58, and Western Oregon, 78-67, last week in Brougham Pavilion.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
Both of this week' games and all remaining GNAC contests will have free live Webcasts on YouTube and free live stats. The appropriate links are at the top of this story.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Seattle Pacific has a pair of victories out of town, both of them coming in Salt Lake City just before the Christmas break: 75-65 against Westminster, and 92-74 against Metro State.
-- Fifth-year point guard Hunter Beirne tied her career scoring high last Saturday against Western Oregon, draining 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting. That was her second 20-pointer of the season, having gone for 23 on Nov. 15 against Cal State San Marcos. Her previous outing with 28 was in last year's regular-season finale at Alaska Fairbanks.
-- She is 15 points away from her career 700th.
-- Beirne and Central star Asher Cai are two of the four players in the GNAC averaging 3.3 assists per game, tied for No. 10 on the conference list. Beirne has 59 in 18 games; Cai has 46 in 14 games. Beirne has one game with eight assists and two games with seven.
 

-- Sophomore guard Haylie Ohta set a career high with six assists in the WOU game.
-- Layne Kearns, another sophomore guard, did not get to the free throw line in either of last week's games, so her string of consecutive makes remains at 19.
--The Falcons had nine more blocked shots last week, with six of those against Western Oregon. That pushed their season total to 75, an average of 4.17 per game.
-- The last time SPU finished a season averaging four-plus blocks per game was 2014-15. To finish at 4.0 or higher this season would take a minimum of 124 total blocks – thereby needing another 49 in the final 13 regular-season games.
-- Central Washington is among the top 10 teams in NCAA Division II for field goal shooting (No. 6 at .464) and 3-point shooting (No. 4 at .395). Sunny Huerta (.442) and Malia Smith (.438) are Nos. 12 and 13 nationally for 3-point accuracy.
-- In the past six games, the Falcons have dropped their turnovers from 18.4 per game to 16.8 per game. The goal is to have fewer than 15 in any given game, and they've met that goal in four of those six games. (The other two games were 15 and 16)

-- SPU beat both Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene in Seattle last season, 76-65 against the Wildcats and 73-71 against the Nighthawks. Kearns scored the winning basket against NNU on an uncontested reverse lay-in off a pinpoint pass from Schuyler Berry with 1.8 seconds left.
-- However, the Falcons have not won in Ellensburg or Nampa since January of 2017 when they pulled out a pair of close ones: 68-63 at NNU, 54-51 at Central.
-- Last season, NNU hung on for a 50-47 win in Nampa after Seattle Pacific cut a 13-point deficit all the way down to two. Central Washington finished the game on a 12-2, snapping a 59-59 tie and won, 71-61.
-- Central's Asher Cai is the younger sister of former SPU track and field star Scout Cai. During her time with the Falcons, Scout was an All-American in the indoor pentathlon, outdoor heptathlon, and outdoor pole vault.
 
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 10-5, 3-2 GNAC (tie 4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 52-38.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 76, CWU 65 (Feb 1, 2024 at Seattle).  Last CWU series win: CWU 71, SPU 61 (Jan. 6, 2024 at Ellensburg).  Wildcats on the Web.
Wildcats in a nutshell: Central had a big road trip last week, winning 82-70 at Simon Fraser, then led most of the way at Western Washington, including 60-50 with 6:43 left before the Vikings stormed back for a 67-65 victory. The Wildcats still have their solid 1-2 punch of junior 5-foot-9 guard Asher Cai  and senior 5-4 guard Sunny Huerta, who rank Nos. 2 and 3 in GNAC scoring (18.9 for Cai, 17.4 for Huerta). Cai also averages 6.6 rebounds (No. 6 GNAC), Those two draw a lot of attention, but sophomore 6-foot forward Capri Sims also is a solid all-around player. She averages 8.8 points on .525 shooting from the floor (No. 2 GNAC) and pulls down a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game (No. 4 GNAC). Last year as a freshman, she double-doubled against SPU in Ellensburg with 13 points 14 rebounds, then had 10 and 7 in Seattle.
 
SCOUTING THE NORTHWEST NAZARENE NIGHTHAWKS: 9-5, 3-2 GNAC (tie 4th)
All-time series: SPU leads, 34-19.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 73, NNU 71 (Feb. 3, 2024 at Seattle).  Last NNU series win: NNU 50, SPU 47 (Jan. 4, 2024 at Nampa).  Nighthawks on the Web.
Nighthawks in a nutshell: Northwest Nazarene is the reigning GNAC Team of the Week after an impressive road sweep at Western Washington (63-51) and Simon Fraser (81-55), keeping each teams to its second-lowest scoring night of the season. The Nighthawks also have been involved in a wild offensive shootout against Alaska Fairbanks, winning 115-90 on Jan. 4 in Nampa. Kendall Clark, a sophomore 5-foot-10 guard / forward, averages 14.8 points per game (No. 6 in the GNAC) and is the conference's sharpest shooter from the field at .589. She has more makes (89) than anyone in the conference, and they're all from mid-range or closer as she has taken just two shots behind the arc all season. Clark also averages 8.0 rebounds (No. 3 GNAC). Senior 6-foot guard / forward Madeline Gebers averages 12.1 points, and she does shoot a lot (and shoots well) from downtown, hitting at a .416 clip (No. 4 GNAC).
 
HEISEY'S COACHING TREE
After 13 years as the head coach at Seattle Pacific (2005-18), Julie Heisey now coaches in a different capacity, working with business executives at various levels. But three of the assistants who served under her are continuing to run their own NCAA Division II programs – and two of them will be on the other side of the court this weekend.
 
Steve Steele, who was Heisey's lead assistant from 2013-16, is now in his ninth year in charge at Northwest Nazarene. He came into this season with a 130-77 record, which includes five GNAC Tournament appearances and four trips to the NCAA West Regionals.
 
Randi Richardson was a Falcons assistant from 2013-15 and now is in her eighth season of leading Central Washington, posting a 116-67 record. The Wildcats have made the GNAC Tournament in each of her eight years, winning it in 2022. They also have played in two NCAAs.
 
Mike Simonson took over the SPU program after Heisey's departure and was here for six seasons before moving on to Biola this past August. The Eagles got off to a slow start, but have won three of their last four and are now 4-4 in Pacific West Conference play.
 
AIMING AT AN ASSIST MILESTONE
Hunter Beirne has always had an eye for finding an open teammate. If she keeps it up, she had a chance to get somewhere she has never been:
 

Into triple digits for assists.

Beirne comes into this week's games with 59 helpers, an average of 3.27 per game. Needing 41 more assists in the remaining 13 regular-season games to reach 100, she would need an average of 3.15 to make it.
 
The way she has been going lately, that should be very much within reach. Beirne had a slow November, with just 11 assists in eight games (1.38 per game). In the 10 games since then, she has had five games with four assists, two games with seven, one with five, and one with eight (and one game with just one). That's an average of 4.8 per game.
 
Beirne's single-season high was 95 in 2022-23. She had 64 in 26 games last year – so possibly could exceed that total in Game 19 or 20 this week.
 
COACH KAREN BYERS SAYS …
(On the mindset for this week's games)
"We just have to have a mentality of coming out at a higher level and just be ready to play. The last two games, it kind of took us until halftime to figure it out. We have to come out (at the start) figuring it out."
 
 

(On Central Washington)
"They have even more shooters this year, and we're going to have to defend the ball screen a lot. And we have to make really sure that we can defend the 3-point line.
 
(On Northwest Nazarene)
"We try to play similarly to NNU. I'm expecting a track meet that day – fast game, high-scoring. It'll be good to see how we play against them. I think we benefit whenever we play fast and loose. If we can play calm and loose and get the ball moving, that will be good.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Lolo Weatherspoon and Grace Leasure scored 11 points apiece, and SPU hit 50 percent in each of the last two quarters, but was not able to climb out of a double-digit hole and dropped a 71-58 decision to Saint Martin's last Thursday.
-- Hunter Beirne tied her career high with 28 points – 15 of those to help Seattle Pacific cut 19-point deficit all the way down to three – but the last run of the day belonged to Western Oregon as the Wolves took a 78-67 victory on Saturday afternoon.
 
AROUND THE WEST
The top stayed steady last week in the GNAC. But below that, a whole lot of shuffling went on as Northwest Nazarene (9-5, 3-2) and Central Washington (10-4, 3-2) came up big on the road. NNU won at Western Washington (9-6, 4-2) and Simon Fraser (9-6, 2-4); Central also won at Simon. Montana State Billings (16-2, 5-0) won both of its games, and Alaska Anchorage (14-2, 5-0) beat Fairbanks. WWU and Simon are in Alaska his week.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills just keeps winning. The Toros (16-0, 8-0) are all alone atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association, one game ahead of Cal Poly Pomona (12-2, 7-1) and Chico State (also 12-2, 7-1). Then it's a two-game gap down to fourth-place Cal State East Bay (7-7, 5-3). Last Thursday, Pomona pulled out a 90-84 overtime victory at Chico.
 
Azusa Pacific and Point Loma Nazarene kept their winning streaks going to remain tied for first in the Pacific West Conference. APU (14-1, 8-0) has won nine in a row. Point Loma (13-3, 8-0) has an 11-game win streak going. Vanguard (8-5, 6-1) is still in the mix with a chance to climb further up the ladder when it visits Azusa on Wednesday.
 
AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for the latest news, notes, results, and stats from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons wrap up the first half of the GNAC schedule next week when the Alaska schools come to Seattle. Anchorage is in Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Fairbanks is in town on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Both games are part of doubleheaders. The SPU men play Anchorage at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday and Fairbanks at 4:15 on Saturday.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                      GNAC         Overall
Montana State Billings    5-0      16-2
Alaska Anchorage          5-0      14-2
Western Washington        4-2       9-6
Central Washington        3-2      10-4
Northwest Nazarene        3-2       9-5
Western Oregon            3-3       7-7
Simon Fraser              2-4       8-6
Saint Martin's            2-4       9-5
Alaska Fairbanks          0-5       5-8
Seattle Pacific           0-5       6-12