THE SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 27                Western Washington at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
Saturday, March 1                Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific, 2:00 p.m.
                                                Brougham Pavilion (2,650) / Seattle, Wash.
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats
 
 
SEATTLE – It started with an exhibition game in Tacoma on the last Friday of October. It'll end with the regular-season finale in Seattle on the first Saturday in March.
 
From one end of the women's basketball schedule to the other, the Seattle Pacific will have played 32 games (including that exhibition), spread over 19 weeks, 14 venues, six U.S. states and one Canadian province.
 
The last two of those 32 games will be played in their own venue as the Falcons welcome Western Washington and Simon Fraser to Brougham Pavilion. The Vikings are in town on Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. The Red Leafs come in on Senior Day Saturday, with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m.
 
SPU (8-21, 2-14 GNAC) is coming off a split of its final road trip of the season, scoring a 73-67 win at Alaska Fairbanks last Thursday before falling at No. 19 Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, 99-51.
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE
This week's games will have free live Webcasts on YouTube and free live stats. Greg Sexton will call the action on Thursday, and Sam Paul-Barrette is behind the mic on Saturday. The appropriate links are at the top of this page.
 




SAYING SO LONG TO THE SENIORS
Prior to tipping off against Simon Fraser, the Falcons will honor point guard Hunter Beirne, wing Peyton Bergevin, center Schuyler Berry and wing Lolo Weatherspoon.
 
Beirne is in her fifth year, having received an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic shutdown in 2020-21. She is leading the team in points and assists.
 
Bergevin is a grad student in her first year with the Falcons after playing four seasons at Linfield. She also received an extra year of pandemic-related eligibility, but has seen limited action this season because of an injury.
 
Berry made her mark in the middle for Seattle Pacific. She is a two-time member of the Preseason All-GNAC team. She played in every game as a sophomore and junior, and started 16 of her 17 games this winter before an injury shut down her season.
 
Weatherspoon became a regular starter last season and worked her way back into the starting five this season. Heading into this week, she is averaging career-bests of 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds.
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK?
-- SPU's home record is 5-8, with a 1-6 mark in GNAC play. The lone conference home win was 93-70 against Northwest Nazarene on Feb. 13.
--The Falcons have not seen Western Washington or Simon Fraser since the opening weekend of the GNAC schedule back on Dec. 5 and 7. The way the conference schedule is formatted, opening-weekend opponents don't face each other again until closing weekend.
 

-- In the GNAC opener at Simon Fraser, Seattle Pacific burst out to an 11-0 lead, but wound up dropping an 87-73 decision. Lolo Weatherspoon went for a season-high 24 points. Sophia Wisotzki, who at the time was the No. 2 scorer in Division II at 26.0 points per game (she's now No. 3 at 24.2) went for 28, although the Falcons did limit her to 8-for-18 shooting (0-for-6 downtown).
-- Wisotzki picks up plenty of points at the free throw line. Her 211 attempts are third-most in the country (one of just five players with 200-plus), and she has hit 181 for an .858 percentage.
-- In Bellingham two nights later, WWU hit 16 of 17 free throws during the first half, then drained seven shots from 3-point range during the third quarter on the way to an 83-68 victory. Weatherspoon was back in the starting lineup and led SPU with 13. The reserves contributed 33 points.
-- At 13 straight, Western has the longest win streak against Seattle Pacific of any GNAC team. The last series win for the Falcons was 61-59 on Jan. 17, 2019 at Seattle.
 

-- Junior center Madison Rubino logged 11 points and 13 rebounds at Fairbanks last Thursday, her second double-double in a span of 14 days and the fifth of her career.
-- With Weatherspoon scoring 21 points and Hunter Beirne 20 against the Nanooks, it was the third time this season the Falcons have had two players with 20 or more in the same game.
-- For most of the season, SPU has been averaging 4-plus blocks per game. Coming into this week, the Falcons are at 3.97 with 115 blocks in 29 games. To get back up to 4.0, they'd need nine more.
-- If that happens, it would be the first Falcon team at 4.0 since 2014-15 when the team averaged 4.6 blocks per game.
-- Beirne is in a similar situation for assists. She has 110, so would need 14 this week to reach 124 and a 4.0 per-game average.
-- She is one of three players ranking in the GNAC top 10 for both scoring (No. 10 at 14.2) and assists (tie No. 5 at 3.8). The other two are Central Washington teammates Sunny Huerta (No. 2 scoring at 19.3, No. 7 assists at 3.7) and Asher Cai (No. 3 scoring at 17.3, No. 8 assists at 3.4).
 
SCOUTING THE WESTERN WASHINGTON VIKINGS: 16-9, 11-5 GNAC (4th)
All-time series: WWU leads, 71-32. Current series streak: WWU won 13.  Last time: WWU 83 SPU 68 (Dec. 7, 2024 at Bellingham).  Last SPU series win: SPU 61, WWU 59 (Jan. 17, 2019 at Seattle).  Vikings on the Web.
Vikings in a nutshell: Western Washington has won three of its last four to clinch a spot in the GNAC Tournament and is one of the teams being considered for a place in the NCAA West Regionals. The Vikings have four players averaging in double figures. Junior 6-foot forward Alyson Deaver leads the way at 13.2 points per game on .457 shooting, gets to the free throw line a lot (77 of 100) and has 35 blocked shots, third-highest total in the GNAC. Senior 6-1 guard Olivia Wikstrom is close behind at 13.2 points and leads Western on the boards at 7.2 per game, the latter ranking No. 5 in the GNAC. Demi Dykstra, a sophomore 5-9 guard, chips in 11.8 points, and junior 5-5 guard Mason Oberg scores at a 10.4 clip and distributes 3.8 assists per game, tied with SPU's Hunter Beirne for No. 5 on the GNAC list.
 
SCOUTING THE SIMON FRASER RED LEAFS: 12-13, 5-11 GNAC (7th)
All-time series: Simon leads, 29-16.  Current series streak: Simon won 3.  Last time: Simon 87, SPU 73 (Dec. 5, 2024 at Burnaby, B.C.).  Last SPU series win: SPU 59, Simon 48 (Feb. 16, 2023 at Burnaby).  Red Leafs on the Web.
Red Leafs in a nutshell: Simon Fraser starts the week on the outside looking in at the GNAC Tournament. The Red Leafs need to win both of their games and hope Saint Martin's loses at home to both Alaska schools just to get into a tiebreaker scenario for the sixth and final spot. Senior 5-foot-10 guard Sophia Wisotzki continues to pour in the points, averaging 24.2 that not only leads the GNAC by a long way (next highest is 19.3), but also is No. 3 in NCAA Division II. In 25 games, she has 15 games of 20-plus points and five of 30-plus (with back-to-back 30-pointers at home against the Alaska schools on Feb. 13-15). Myrlaine Shelvey, a junior 5-9 guard / forward, averages 11.2 points, and redshirt senior 5-9 wing Makenna Gardner adds 9.5 plus a team-leading 82 assists.
 
IT'S BEEN AWHILE
A handful of Falcons have put together some solid season-long statistical performances that have put them among the program leaders.
 
-- Hunter Beirne's 413 points come on the heels of Olivia Mayer's 454-point production in 2023-24. The last time the Falcons had 400-plus point scorers in consecutive seasons was 2013-14 (Katie Benson (522) and 2014-15 (Suzanna Ohlsen 495).
-- Beirne's 110 assists make her the first Falcon in triple digits since Ohlsen's 110 in 2014-15. Depending how many she picks up this week, Beirne has a chance to become the 112th player in program history to reach 120 or more.
-- Madison Rubino has 27 blocked shots. The last player with that many was Maddey Pflaumer with 38 during the 2014-15 season.

 

COACH KAREN BYERS SAYS …  
MARCH TO A MILESTONE
In the making
100th steal     Hunter Beirne has 90
                Lolo Weatherspoon has 86
200th point     Haylie-Anne Ohta has 180
200th rebound   Emilia Bishop has 194
                Lolo Weatherspoon has 190
300th assist    Hunter Beirne has 280
300th point     Emilia Bishop has 276
300th rebound   Layne Kearns has 250
400th point     Madison Rubino has 392
400th rebound   Hunter Beirne has 389
500th point     Layne Kearns has 457
 
Made last week
300th rebound   Madison Rubino has 305
500th point     Lolo Weatherspoon has 529
  
FALCONS REPLAY
-- Layne Kearns went sky-high for an offensive rebound and subsequently hit pair of free throws to make it two-possession game, then drained two more free throws to clinch it on Thursday night as Seattle Pacific beat Alaska Fairbanks, 73-67.
-- Hunter Beirne scored 16 points and Emilia Bishop supplied nine points and eight rebounds for Seattle Pacific, but No. 19-ranked Alaska Anchorage put together three double-digit scoring runs on the way to a 99-51 victory last Saturday.
 
AROUND THE WEST
Alaska Anchorage (24-3, 15-1) is down to a magic number of one to clinch the GNAC regular-season title. A win at either Western Oregon on Thursday or at Saint Martin's on Saturday, or a Montana State Billings loss in either of its final two games (home vs. Simon Fraser on Thursday or Western Washington on Saturday) will seal the deal. One way or the other, the Seawolves have a first-round bye. The second bye is up for grabs between Billings (24-5, 15-3) and Central Washington (20-6, 13-4). Also in the tournament are WWU (16-9, 11-5) and Northwest Nazarene (16-10, 10-7) are in. Saint Martin's (14-10, 7-9) currently has the sixth and final berth with a two-game lead on Simon Fraser (12-13, 5-11). The Saints need one win or one Red Leafs loss to secure it.
 
Cal State Dominguez Hills (27-1, 19-1 CCAA) has already clinched the California Collegiate Athletic Association title, but did see its 27-game winning streak end with a 75-71 loss at home to Chico State. The Wildcats (20-6, 15-5) went on a 10-1 scoring run in the final 1:37 of the game to come back from a 70-65 deficit.. Chico sits in third heading into the final week, two games behind second-place Cal Poly Pomona (22-4, 17-3). Cal State San Bernardino, Sonoma State and Cal State Los Angeles already have locked up the other three CCAA Tournament berths.
 
Riding a seven-game winning streak, Point Loma Nazarene (21-5, 16-2) has clinched the Pacific West Conference title. The Sea Lions have a two-game lead on Azusa Pacific (21-5,14-4) and Vanguard (16-8,14-4) with two games left and effectively wrapped it up last Wednesday with a 72-68 win at Azusa. That gave Point Loma a sweep of the two-game season series. Dominican, Westmont, Fresno Pacific, and Biola also have Pac West Tournament berths in hand.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will return to action late next fall. The 2025-26 schedule is still a work in progress and will be announced later this year once it is finalized.
 
 
GNAC STANDINGS
                                                        GNAC       Overall
Alaska Anchorage          15-1     24-3
Montana State Billings    13-3     24-5
Central Washington        13-4     20-6
Western Washington        11-5     16-9
Northwest Nazarene        10-7     16-10
Saint Martin's             7-9     14-10
Simon Fraser               5-11    12-13
Western Oregon             4-12     8-16
Seattle Pacific            2-14     8-21
Alaska Fairbanks           1-15     6-18


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