THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, Feb. 1                   Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 

SEATTLE – Second half of the conference schedule, Home stretch of the regular-season schedule.
 
Either way, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are coming right down to it.
 
Their 31-game docket – the longest regular-season slate in program history – is heading into its final nine games. That starts on Saturday when SPU begins its second go-round against Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponents when No. 20-ranked Montana State Billings comes to Brougham Pavilion. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m., followed by the SPU men against Saint Martin's at 4:15 p.m.
 
The Falcons (6-16, 0-9 GNAC) dropped a pair at home last week, 90-54 to Alaska Fairbanks and 88-82 to Alaska Fairbanks.
 
SATURDAY IS PINK DAY
The contest against Montana State Billings will be Seattle Pacific's Pink Game in support of the battle against breast cancer.

A table will be set up in the Brougham lobby with information about the Kay Yow Cancer Fund, which works with and supports survivors, caregivers, and others who are battling to eradicate not only breast cancer, but all forms of cancer affecting women.

During warm-ups, the Falcons will wear pink shirts,. The SPU men also are taking part with their own pink warm-up shirts for their 4:15 p.m. contest against No. 25-ranked Saint Martin's.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- The Falcons are looking to halt a seven-game slide that started at Billings on Jan. 4 when the Yellowjackets won, 97-57.
-- In that game, SPU did not have starting wings Grace Leasure (injury) or Lolo Weatherspoon (illness). Both have since returned to action and to the starting five.
-- One of the keys will be slowing down senior forward Dyauni Boyce, who went for her season high (and tied her career high) with 35 points that day on 14-of-19 shooting from the field.
-- At MSUB, redshirt freshman forward / guard Julia Lavigne led a trio of SPU players in double figures with a career-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 accuracy at the foul line.
-- Seattle Pacific is 4-4 in Brougham Pavilion.
-- This will be the fifth time the Falcons have faced a nationally ranked opponent this winter. MSUB was ranked No. 6 when the teams met in January and had climbed as high as No. 3 before losing at Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington on Jan. 16 and 18.
-- The other three top-25 teams (with current ranking / ranking on game day): Tampa (No. 23 / No. 4), Gannon (No. 13 / No. 11), and Azusa Pacific (No. 9 / No. 18). Cal State Dominguez Hills was unranked when it played SPU on Nov. 9, but now is No. 3.
-- SPU's last win vs. a ranked team was on Nov. 11, 2023 against then-No. 11 Dominguez Hills, 58-53.
-- Emilia Bishop's 27 points and Hunter Beirne's 20 last Saturday against Alaska Fairbanks marked the first time since last Feb.1 – exactly one year ago this Saturday – that SPU has two players go for 20 or more in the same game. In that one (a 76-65 victory against Central Washington), Lolo Weatherspoon tallied 26 and Olivia Mayer added 21.
-- Sophomores Haylie Ohta and Grace Leasure both grabbed their 100th career rebounds last week. Ohta now has 103; Leasure has 101.
-- Leasure also is closing in on her 200th point, coming in with 194.
-- Seattle Pacific remains on pace to average more than four blocked shots per game for the first time since 2015, coming into the week at 4.23, No. 2 in the GNAC behind Simon Fraser's 4.56.

SCOUTING THE MONTANA STATE BILLINGS YELLOWJACKETS: 18-4, 7-2 GNAC (tie 2nd)
All-time series: Tied, 30-30.  Current series streak: MSUB won 8. Last time: MSUB 97, SPU 57 (Jan. 4, 2025 at Billings).  Last SPU series win:  SPU 69, MSUB 63 (Jan. 23, 2020 at Billings).  Yellowjackets on the Web.
Yellowjackets in a nutshell: After consecutive road losses at Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington, Billings got back on track last week with a homecourt sweep of Fairbanks and Anchorage, the latter of which (a 70-55 decision) was the first conference loss of the year for the Seawolves. Senior 5-foot-11 forward Dyauni Boyce is still filling up the basket, averaging 15.3 points per game to rank No. 6 in the GNAC. She also averages 6.4 rebounds and had a double-double of 13 points and 11 boards against last Thursday. Senior 5-8 guard Aspen Giese chips in 13.5 points. Both of them are dangerous from downtown. Giese shoots .411 from there with conference-leading totals of 67 makes (an average of 3.0 per game) and 168 attempts are both tops in the GNAC. Boyce shoots .383 (44 of 115). Senior 5-8 guard Kortney Nelson is the only GNAC player in triple digits for assists, coming into the week with 103, an average of 4.7 per game.
 




THE EMERGENCE OF EMILIA
Junior center Emilia Bishop is having by far her best-ever season and is becoming more of a factor for the Falcons on a regular basis.. She already has logged single-season bests in nearly every major statistical category. In fact, from field goals to free throws, rebounds to blocked shots – and points – she has bigger totals in each of those areas this year than in her first two seasons combined.
 
Last week was Bishop's biggest by far. It started on Thursday against Alaska Anchorage with a career-high 15 points, getting most of those at the free throw line, where she was 9 of 10.
 
Then on Saturday against Alaska Fairbanks, Bishop was in the starting lineup for the first time as a Falcon and delivered her first double-double: 27 points and 15 rebounds, both of which were career highs. She hit 10 of 19 from the floor.
 
For the week, she had 42 points, 22 rebounds, shot .500 from the field (13 of 26) and .842 at the foul line (16 of 19). In the Fairbanks game, Bishop also had a career-high three blocked shots.

"Emilia is on a roll," coach Karen Byers said. "We did a new drill where we got really tough about rebounding, and she had to rebound with two people who were fighting her with pads. That helped her with that mentality of, 'I'm the strongest out there and I'm going to get every board.' I'm proud of her – she did great."


COACH KAREN BYERS SAYS …
(On Billings)
"I'm really excited to play Billings with our fell strength. We're in our home gym, we've seen them before, and we know how they play. We're just excited for another opportunity to play them."
 
(On the second half of GNAC play)
"I think collectively as a team, we're coming together. We're looking t the first half to see where we can do better, and where are our strengths, and what are our opportunities, and how do we fix those opportunities to make them better."
 
FALCONS REPLAY
--Alaska Anchorage scored the first 12 points of the game in a span of 2 minutes 13 seconds and kept it going all night to down SPU last Thursday, 90-54.
--Alaska Fairbanks went on an 18-4 run to finish the third quarter – including the last 11 in a row – and hung on down the stretch to beat the Falcons last Saturday, 88-82.
 
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100th steal      Hunter Beirne has 84
200th point      Grace Leasure has 194
                 Haylie Ohta has 167
200th rebound    Lolo Weatherspoon has 165
400th rebound    Hunter Beirne has 357
800th point      Hunter Beirne has 770
 
Made last week
100th rebound    Haylie Ohta has 103
                 Grace Leasure has 101
200th point      Emilia Bishop has 231
 
AROUND THE WEST
Even with a road split last week, Alaska Anchorage starts the second half of GNAC play all alone atop the standings. The Seawolves (17-3, 8-1) have a one-game lead on Montana State Billings (18-4,7-2) and Central Washington (14-4, 7-2). Also well positioned to be among the six qualifiers for the GNAC tournament are Northwest Nazarene (12-6, 6-3) and Western Washington (11-7, 6-3).  Central and NNU visit the Alaska schools this week.
 
Another week, another two wins for Cal State Dominguez Hills. The Toros are now 20-0 for the season, 12-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Even so, it's still just one-game lead on second-place Cal Poly Pomona (16-2, 11-1 and on a seven-game winning streak). Chico State (14-4, 9-3) is solidly in third, two games behind Pomona and two in front of fourth-place Sonoma State. Pomona hosts Chico on Saturday.
 
The race for the top spot in the Pacific West Conference remains a three-team scrum with Azusa Pacific (17-2, 11-1), Point Loma Nazarene (15-5, 10-2) and Vanguard (12-6, 10-2). Vanguard downed PLNU last Thursday, 60-50, but then lost at Fresno Pacific, 59-54. Point Loma is home on Wednesday for a clash with Azusa.
 
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 are on the road next week, visiting Western Oregon in Monmouth on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Saint Martin's on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. SPU will be looking to even things up with both schools, as the Wolves won 78-67 and the Saints won 71-58 in Seattle earlier this month.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                    GNAC    Overall
Alaska Anchorage         8-1    17-3
Montana State Billings   7-2    18-4
Central Washington       7-2    14-4
Northwest Nazarene       6-3    12-6
Western Washington       6-3    11-7
Saint Martin's           4-5    11-6
Simon Fraser             3-6    10-8
Western Oregon           3-6     7-10
Alaska Fairbanks         1-8     6-11
Seattle Pacific          0-9     6-16
 

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