THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Jan. 4                  Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings, 1:00 p.m. PST
                                             Alterowitz Gymnasium / Billings, Mont.
                                             Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – It's get-down-to-business time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Back in the gym after the seven-day Christmas break, SPU gets fully into its Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball schedule this week with a Saturday afternoon visit to No. 6-ranked Montana State Billings.
 
Tip-off in Alterowitz Gymnasium is at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time.
 
The Falcons (6-9, 0-2 GNAC) return to action on a roll, having won their last four games to conclude the non-conference portion of the schedule. That includes back-to-back victories in Salt Lake City just prior to the break: 75-65 at Westminster and 92-74 against Metro State (also in Westminster's gym).
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
All remaining games on the schedule will have free live Webcasts on YouTube and free live stats. The appropriate links for Saturday's game are at the top of this story.
 
READY TO ROLL FROM THE GET-GO
Seattle Pacific has won its first post-holidays game for three straight years. Last season, it was a 57-43 non-conference win at home against Westminster before resuming GNAC play. In 2022, the Falcons returned by downing Northwest Nazarene in a GNAC game at home, 58-45.
 
Overall, SPU has taken eight of it last nine and 13 of its last 16 post-holiday openers.
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- Saturday's game essentially brings Seattle Pacific to the midpoint of its schedule, as it will be No.16 of 31 on the docket.
-- Last year through 15, the Falcons were 6-9, same as they are now. They subsequently lost game No. 16, falling to Saint Martin's, 55-52.
-- The December victories against Westminster and Metro State were the first away from home for the Falcons. Westminster was a true road win; Metro was a neutral court victory.
-- SPU's current four-game winning streak matches its longest from last season. That one was all against conference opponents (home vs. Central Washington and NNU; on the road at Saint Martin's and Western Oregon).
-- MSUB was on a 10-game winning streak before dropping a 72-69 decision to No. 23 Cal Poly Pomona on Dec. 17.
-- Billings will be the fourth nationally-ranked opponent this season for the Falcons. The other three (with current ranking / ranking on game day): Tampa (No. 12 / No. 4), Gannon (No. 9 / No. 11), and Azusa Pacific (No. 8 / No. 18). Cal State Dominguez Hills was unranked when it played SPU on Nov. 9, but now is No. 5.
-- SPU's last win against a ranked team was on Nov. 11, 2023 against then-No. 11 Dominguez Hills, 58-53.
 

-- Of senior wing Lolo Weatherspoon's three career games in the 20s, two came last month: 24 at Simon Fraser on Dec. 5, and 22 vs. Metro State on Dec. 21. Her other one was a career-high 26 last Feb. 1 at home against Central.
-- Sophomore guard Haylie Ohta and redshirt freshman guard / wing Grace Turley both notched career scoring highs on Dec. 21 against Metro State. Ohta had 12 points (previous high 10). Turley, making her first college start, finished with 11, her first double-digit game (previous high nine).
-- The Falcons have three games with 20 assists. The latest of those was Dec. 21 vs. Metro.
-- As expected, fifth-year point guard Hunter Beirne is leading the way. She had seven assists in the Metro game, her fourth time this season with that many, plus her eight-assist performance at Simon Fraser on Dec. 5.
-- Sophomore guard Layne Kearns tallied her 300th career point on Dec. 20 at Westminster. She comes into this week with 327.
-- Senior center Schuyler Berry needs just 16 more points to reach 700.
-- SPU is averaging 4.13 blocks per game, No. 4 in the GNAC. Its total of 62 blocks is second-highest in the conference, trailing only the 67 of Montana State Billings (No. 2 at 4.47 per game).
-- Sophomore wing Grace Leasure is tied for No. 3 at 1.1 blocks per game (16 total), and Berry is tied for No. 6 at 0.9 (14 total).
 
SCOUTING THE MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 13-2, 2-0 GNAC (tie 1st)
All-time series: SPU leads, 30-29.  Current series streak: MSUB won 7. Last time: MSUB 66, SPU 55 (Feb, 17, 2024 at Billings).  Last SPU series win:  SPU 69, MSUB 63 (Jan. 23, 2020 at Billings).  Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: In winning 13 of its first 15 games, including two against national top-25 teams just before the break (57-52 vs. No. 16 Texas-Tyler and 71-58 vs. No.7 Lubbock Christian), MSU Billings is doing what it typically does best: spreading the wealth on offense, playing solid defense, and taking care of the basketball. The Jackets kept Tyler 14 points below its scoring average and Lubbock seven points below its average. Senior 5-foot-11 forward Dyuani Boyce leads the way at 14.3 points per game (No. 8 in the GNAC), and senior 5-8 guard Aspen Giese is close behind at 13.4 (No. 11). Giese's .413 accuracy from 3-point range ranks No. 4 in the conference, and Boyce hits at a .377 clip. Billings has three players averaging six rebounds per game: Senior 5-8 guard Kortney Nelson (6.3, along with 8.5 points), Boyce (6.2) and junior 5-11 forward Kaitlin Grossman (6.0).
 
THEY'RE STARTING TO GO IN …
SPU has eight players who are seeing regular playing time (200-plus minutes), and five of them are now shooting better than .400 from the field. Of that quintet, four are at .430 or better: at .430 or better: Layne Kearns (.442), Lolo Weatherspoon (.438), Hunter Beirne (.434), and junior wing Madison Rubino (.430). Schuyler Berry is  at .418.
 
Also in the .400s are junior center Emilia Bishop (..422) and redshirt freshman forward / guard Julia Lavigne (.429).
 
Collectively, the Falcons are now above .400 for the first time all season. They got there on Dec. 21 with a .515 performance (34 of 66) against Metro State. That's a jump of 36 percentage points from their .365 mark at the start of December. The .515 was their second-highest percentage of the year, trailing only the .525 (31 of 59) against Cal State San Marcos on Nov. 15.
 
SPU had no games above.500 last season, getting as high at .469 (twice).
 
… AND IT SHOWS ON THE SCOREBOARD
The 92 points against Metro State on Dec. 21 was Seattle Pacific's first 90-pointer in nearly seven years. The last one prior to that was Jan. 23, 2018, a 94-76 homecourt win against Saint Martin's.
 
In their first eight games of the season, the Falcons scored fewer than 60 points in five of them and averaged just 55.8 per game. In their last seven games leading up to the holiday break, their low total is 64 and they're averaging 75.1.
 
 After never scoring more than 76 points in any game last season (and scoring in the 70s just three times), SPU has five games in the 70s, one in the 80s, and now one in the 90s so far.

BERRY'S GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
Through the first 10 games of the season, senior center Schuyler Berry did not reach double-digit scoring in any of them.
 
 

Now, she has gotten there in three straight games and four of the last five.
 
During SPU's three-game week prior to the break, Berry pumped in 12 points against Pacific Lutheran, 12 against Westminster and 11 against Metro State. She shot .483 from the field (14 of 29), boosting her season percentage by 31 points from .387 to .418.
 
Along with those 35 points, Berry pulled down 16 rebounds in those three games, with seven vs. Metro.
 
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Layne Kearns pumped in 16 points, one of three players in double figures, and SPU took the lead late in the first quarter then stayed ahead the rest of the afternoon on the way to a 75-65 non-conference victory against Westminster on Dec. 20. 
-- Lolo Weatherspoon broke loose for 22 points, and Seattle Pacific broke the 90-point barrier for the first time in almost seven years by rolling past Metro State in the non-conference women's basketball finale, 92-74, on Dec. 21. 
 
AROUND THE WEST
As GNAC play resumes, Montana State Billings (13-2, 2-0) and Alaska Anchorage (11-2, 2-0), already have double-digit win totals to start 2025, with Central Washington (8-2, 1-0), Saint Martin's (8-2, 1-1) and Simon Fraser (8-3, 1-1) on the brink of getting there. The Saints and Red Leafs meet on Thursday night in Lacey. Central and Anchorage clash on Saturday in Ellensburg.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills (12-0, 4-0), Cal Poly Pomona (9-1, 4-0) and Chico State (9-1, 4-0) begin the new year tied for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The Toros are the lone remaining undefeated team in the West Region. Pomona has won nine straight after a season-opening loss, and Chico has won six in a row. Cal State Los Angeles (9-2, 2-1) is the only other team in the entire conference above .500 overall. Pomona hosts Dominguez Hills on Thursday.
 
Azusa Pacific (10-1 overall), Point Loma Nazarene (9-3) and Vanguard (6-4) are all tied at 4-0 atop the Pacific West Conference, and all three have nice winning streaks going: five for Azusa, seven for Point Loma, and six for Vanguard. PLNU (Thursday) and APU (Saturday) play host to fourth-place Fresno Pacific (7-5, 3-2) this week.
 
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 play their first two GNAC home games next week, as Saint Martin's comes to Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 5:15 p.m., and Western Oregon visits on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. Both games are part of doubleheaders. The SPU men tangle with Western Washington on Thursday at 7:30, and Simon Fraser on Saturday at 2:00.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                      GNAC          Overall
Montana State Billings    2-0      13-2
Alaska Anchorage          2-0      11-2
Central Washington        1-0       8-2
Saint Martin's            1-1       8-2
Simon Fraser              1-1       8-3
Western Washington        1-1       6-5
Western Oregon            1-1       5-5
Northwest Nazarene        0-1       6-4
Alaska Fairbanks          0-2       5-5
Seattle Pacific           0-2       6-9
 
 
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