THE SCHEDULE:
                                   FALCONS INVITATIONAL (Brougham Pavilion/Seattle) 
                                   Wednesday, Dec. 29:
                                   St. Edward's vs. C. Washington, 5:00 p.m. 
                                   SPU vs. Notre Dame de Namur, 7:00 p.m. 
                                   Live Webcasts        Live stats 

                                  Thursday, Dec. 30:
                                  Notre Dame de Namur vs. C. Washington, 5:00 p.m. 
                                  SPU vs. St. Edward's, 7:00 p.m. 
                                  Live Webcasts        Live stats 

                                  GNAC 
                                  Saturday, Jan. 1: Alaska Fairbanks at SPU, 2:00 p.m. 
                                  Brougham Pavilion/Seattle 
                                  Live Webcast        Live stats 

                                  Monday, Jan. 3: Alaska Anchorage at SPU, 7:00 p.m. 
                                  Brougham Pavilion/Seattle 
                                  Live Webcast        Live stats 


        Weekly release, with complete stats (PDF)

SEATTLE – The Christmas break was some welcome down time for the Seattle Pacific Falcons. And that extra rest could come in handy starting this week when they embark on a stretch of four women's basketball games in six days, all in Brougham Pavilion.

SPU will play host to the Falcons Invitational, with doubleheaders set for Wednesday and Thursday. The Falcons take on West Regional opponent Notre Dame de Namur of the Pacific West Conference on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Then on Thursday, they will face St. Edward's of Austin, Texas, at 7 p.m.

That will wind up Seattle Pacific's non-conference schedule.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Central Washington will tip off both days of the tournament, meeting St. Edward's on Wednesday, and Notre Dame de Namur on Thursday, both at 5 p.m. The Thursday docket is actually a tripleheader, which begins when the SPU men play Western Oregon in their conference opener at 2 p.m.

With just one day of rest, the Falcons get fully into conference play on New Year's Day when Alaska Fairbanks visits Brougham at 2 p.m. for the first half of a women's/men's doubleheader. The SPU men take on Saint Martin's at 4:15.

On Monday, the always-challenging Alaska Anchorage women come calling at 7 p.m.

TWEAKING THE SCHEDULE
Why so many games in so many days? The GNAC added a conference tournament this season, which necessitated pushing the start of regular-season play ahead by a week. In the meantime, Seattle Pacific already had its Falcons Invitational tournament scheduled prior to that decision. They also were locked tournament commitments on the first two weekends of December when some other schools got going on their GNAC slates. That left only the Jan. 1-Jan. 3 window as a chance to get caught up on the schedule with their conference counterparts.

THE FALCONS INVITATIONAL
This is the first year of the Falcons Invitational, and marks the first time in six years that the SPU women have played host to a tournament around the December holidays. The last time was Dec. 29-30, 2004, when Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona came in for the GNAC-CCAA Challenge.

The format will be familiar: Instead of a first round, consolation game and championship game, opponents are pre-determined for both nights. Seattle Pacific and Central Washington won't meet, since they'll play twice during the conference season.

SPU not only will be playing St. Edward's for the first time, it will be the Falcons' first game ever against a team from the Heartland Conference.

FOLLOW IT LIVE
All four Falcons Invitational games, all Seattle Pacific home games and almost all GNAC road games will have live Webcast and live stats feeds available online. Fans can find the appropriate links by clicking on the Live Stats or Webcast icons at www.spufalcons.com. The only exceptions will be no live Webcast from the game at Western Washington on Feb. 2, which will be carried live by Fox Sports Northwest television, and no live stats from the game at Saint Martin's on Feb. 19.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY?
Some of the looming story lines from this week's games:

--SPU is seeking its first win against a Pacific West Conference team this season. The Falcons fell 74-69 to Grand Canyon and 76-66 to Dixie State on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4, respectively, at the Pac West-GNAC Challenge on Dixie State's campus in St. George, Utah.
--The Falcons have never played St. Edward's or a team from the Heartland Conference.
--Alaska Fairbanks is still winless (0-8), so will be especially motivated to break into the 'W' column with an upset at Seattle Pacific's expense.
--SPU is coming off an unprecedented three-game sweep of Alaska Anchorage last season – twice in conference play, and again in the NCAA West Regional semifinals. The Falcons won by 15 in Seattle (57-42), seven in Anchorage (67-60) and four in the NCAA tournament (52-48). SPU has had several two-game sweeps of Anchorage over the years. The teams have met three straight year in NCAA West Regional play, with the Seawolves beating the Falcons in back-to-back title games (2008, 2009) before Seattle Pacific prevailed in last year's semis.

SPEAKING OF THE FALCONS
Given her druthers, Seattle Pacific head coach Julie van Beek Heisey wouldn't have four games in six days. That being said, she and her team are ready to get at it.

“Obviously, it's a difficult time to have time off, and then have four in six days,” she said. “We just have to make the best of the situation and challenge the kids. It's about depth. Everyone has to be really disciplined and rest, and then come back in shape and ready to go.”

Knowing she'll need that depth, Heisey gave her reserves as much playing time as possible in their final pre-Christmas game, a 65-60 victory at Simon Fraser in the GNAC opener on Dec. 18. The Falcons used 13 of their 14 players.

“I really liked that we were able to play a lot of people. With every sub we made, we got a good little punch,” Heisey said. “We haven't had a game this season where we've been able to sub deep into the bench. As we look toward games after Christmas and look to the GNAC tournament and regionals, we have to have depth.”

Heisey is hoping is that the Falcons, who are rebounding well, passing well and taking good care of the ball, will come back into action with a sharper shooting touch.

“Right now, we're struggling from 3-point range. We have to start knocking some of those down,” she said. “We have to continue to find ways to go inside, too.”

SCOUTING THE NOTRE DAME DE NAMUR ARGONAUTS (2-5)
All-time series: First meeting. Notre Dame de Namur on the Web.
Argonauts in a nutshell: After splitting its first two games, Notre Dame de Namur fell into a slump, dropping four straight. But the Argos snapped out of it on Dec. 11 with a 56-47 victory against San Francisco State. The team is led by senior twin guards Katie and Laura Zasly, both of whom stand 5-foot-9. They joined NDNU last year and immediately became the team's leading scorers, with Laura averaging 15.1 points per game and Katie close behind at 13.3. That trend is continuing this year, but with even better numbers. Laura Zasly is now at 16.7 points per game, and Katie is at 14.9. Laura also pulls down an average of 6.7 rebounds, but 6-1 junior forward Pilar Mullins is the dominant Argo on the boards at 11.4 per contest.

SCOUTING THE ST. EDWARD'S HILLTOPPERS (7-4)
All-time series: First meeting. St. Edward's on the Web.
Hilltoppers in a nutshell: St. Edward's comes to Seattle having won two straight after dropping three in a row. The most recent of those victories came on the road, 63-54 at Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Dec. 16. The Hilltoppers rely on a balanced scoring punch, as only one player – 5-10 senior forward Haley Tidwell – averages in double figures, scoring at an 11.4 clip per game. She has had two outings of 21 points. Junior guard Brittany Ward and sophomore guard Kasey Harlos also can fill it up. Each of them has been the leading scorer for St. Edward's four times, Ward doing it most recently with 18 against Corpus Christi.

SCOUTING THE ALASKA FAIRBANKS NANOOKS (0-8, 0-1 GNAC)
All-time series: SPU leads, 45-12. Current series streak: SPU won 17. Last time: SPU 59, UAF 47 (March 4, 2010 at Fairbanks). Alaska Fairbanks on the Web.
Nanooks in a nutshell: Alaska Fairbanks played their first four opponents close, with one game going to overtime (68-64 against Mercyhurst) and another going to double overtime (90-84 against New Mexico Highlands). Senior center Nicole Bozek, who hails from Kamiak High School about an hour north of Seattle, is doing it all for the Nanooks. She leads the team in scoring (12.0), overall field goal shooting (.500 at 27 of 54), 3-point shooting (.533 at 8 of 15), steals (16) and blocked shots (six, tied with Lindsay Sommers). Junior guard Autumn Greene (6.9) and senior forward Jessica Harrison (6.6) clean up the rebounds for Fairbanks.

SCOUTING THE ALASKA ANCHORAGE SEAWOLVES (10-2, 1-0 GNAC)
All-time series: SPU leads, 37-15. Current series streak: SPU won 3. Last time: SPU 52, UAA 48 (March 13, 2010 at Seattle in NCAA regional semifinals). Alaska Anchorage on the Web.
Seawolves in a nutshell: Anchorage has logged some impressive results among its 10 victories, beating UC San Diego (74-62), current No. 21 Grand Canyon (63-55), Division I member San Jose State (48-35) and rising West Region power Dixie State (68-53), handing the Red Storm their first loss of the season. UAA went into the Christmas break following back-to-back routs of Chaminade, 105-30 and 102-43. The biggest threats for the Seawolves, as expected, are 6-2 junior forward Hanna Johansson (14.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, .565 field goal shooting) and senior guard/forward Nikki Aden (13.2 points, .453 shooting). Sophomore forward Alyssa Horn lead Anchorage on the boards at 7.1 per game, and also averages 9.7points. Horn has four double-doubles, including three in a row prior to the break.

HOW DO THEY COMPARE?
(GNAC/CCAA/Heartland rankings) 
                                    SPU             NDNU        STEDW       UAF             UAA 
                                    (GNAC)       (CCAA)      (Hrtlnd)      (GNAC)       (GNAC)
Points                        63.1 (9)      59.6 (6)      65.2 (5)      57.8 (10)   73.4 (1)
Points allowed        60.4 (5)      66.1 (5)      63.9 (3)      73.4 (9)      48.9 (1)
Rebounds                 40.4 (T4)   42.9 (3)       37.3 (6)     43.2 (1)      43.8 (1)
Assists                     14.4 (6)      12.0 (6)       12.4 (4)     10.4 (10)    15.1 (4)
Steals                       10.1 (3)         7.4 (7)         9.7 (4)       6.1 (10)    14.7 (1)
Blocks                        2.1 (9)         2.4 (3)         2.5 (3)       2.6 (7)         3.5 (9)
Turnovers               17.0 (2)       18.0 (2)       20.2 (5)    27.1 (10)    17.2 (T4)
FG percentage       .382 (7)       .383 (7)       .394 (4)    .341 (10)    .395 (4)
3-pt percentage    .224 (9)       .308 (4)       .304 (3)     .266 (8)      .274 (7)
FT percentage       .637 (10)     .600 (9)       .680 (4)     .667 (8)     .694 (6)

COUNTDOWN TO 300 FOR HEISEY
Adding the Dec. 18 victory at Simon Fraser to her collection, Seattle Pacific coach Julie van Beek Heisey how has 290 as she gets fully into her 15th season as a head coach. Of those, 128 have come with the Falcons. She is 290-146 overall (.665), and 128-27 (.826) on the SPU bench. For the first time, Heisey is now more than 100 games above .500 with the Falcons. She started the season 123-25 at Seattle Pacific.

ON THE HONOR ROLL
--Senior center Melissa Reich (Bothell, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS) and junior guard Nyesha Sims (Portland, Ore.) each have a pair of all-tournament honors this season. Reich made the five-player squad in the season-opening Sodexo Tip-Off Classic in Brougham Pavilion on Nov. 19-20. She also was on the five-player squad at the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge on Dec. 3-4 in St. George, Utah. Sims was named MVP of the Sodexo tourney. 
--Senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale HS) joined the MVP parade by earning that award at the CCAA-GNAC Challenge on Dec. 10-11 in Rohnert Park, Calif.
--Rohrbach's performance earned her GNAC Player of the Week for Dec. 6-11. It was the first conference weekly honor of her career and the first for the Falcons this season.

SWEET SHOOTING SIMS
The signs were always there that Nyesha Sims could shoot the ball this well. As a freshman playing 26 games as a reserve, Sims hit 49.4 percent from the field (41 of 83). Last year as a sophomore – again, exclusively as a reserve) – she hit a solid 45.7 percent (69 of 151). Now, having started all seven games as a junior, Sims is hitting at a career-best 52.1 percent clip (37 of 71). That ranks No. 6 in the GNAC.

SHARP SHOOTING AT THE LINE *
Yup, it's an asterisk up there. That's because three SPU players have a free throw shooting percentage high enough to be ranked among the conference's top 10 – but haven't taken -- and made -- enough attempts. Freshman guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) is at .857 (12 of 14), senior Caitlyn Rohrbach is at .833 (10 of 12), and junior Nyesha Sims is at .800 (8 of 10). Players must average 1.8 makes per game and have played in two-thirds of their team's games to be ranked. Callen averages 1.7 makes, Rohrbach averages 1.4 and Sims averages 1.1.

HOW 'BOUT THAT BENCH BUNCH?
When coach Julie van Beek Heisey used 13 of the 14 players on her roster in the 65-60 victory at Simon Fraser on Dec. 18, they weren't just filling space on the court. They were contributing. The eight Falcons who played reserve roles combined for 26 points, five rebounds and nine assists.

NOW ENTERING THE GAME … KINGMA AND BUTLER
Among the reserves seeing action at Simon Fraser – their first official minutes of their careers -- were freshman guard Betsy Kingma (Bellevue, Wash./Newport HS) and freshman center Riley Butler (Kent, Wash./Kentlake HS). Kingma didn't waste any time, needing just 72 seconds to take – and make – her first shot, a 3-pointer that gave SPU its first double-digit lead of the night, 31-20. She finished with those three points, plus one steal and one turnover in three total minutes. Butler also was in for three minutes, but did not score.

FUN WITH NUMBERS
--Senior guard Maddie Maloney (Issaquah, Wash./Skyline HS) continues to lead the GNAC in steals at 2.9 per game. She also is 10th in assists at 2.7 and No. 7 in assist/turnover ratio at 1.5.
--Senior center Melissa Reich and senior forward Caitlyn Rohrbach are tied for 11th in GNAC rebounding at 6.4 per game. Reich ranks fifth on the offensive glass at 3.1, and Rohrbach is tied with Nyesha Sims for 10th at 2.6.
--Reich also ranks No. 8 in blocked shots at 1.0.
--Sims is among the GNAC's 10 best in scoring (10th at 12.6), overall rebounding (fifth at 7.9), defensive rebounding (seventh at 5.3) and field goal shooting (sixth at .521).

Click on this link for a complete look at GNAC leaders. 

SEEING DOUBLE-DOUBLE
With 16 points and 11 rebounds at Simon Fraser on Dec. 18, Nyesha Sims now has two double-doubles for the season. Her first was a 16-point, 12-rebound performance in 74-69 loss to Grand Canyon at the Pacific West-GNAC Challenge on Dec. 3 in St. George, Utah. Those are Seattle Pacific's only two double-doubles of the season.

POLLING PLACE
The Falcons headed into the holiday break ranked No. 23 in the most recent USA Today/ESPN top 25 coaches poll. Seattle Pacific received 120 points in the poll that was released on Dec. 14. No poll was released on Dec. 21, and the next one is due out on Dec. 28.

Fellow GNAC teams Alaska Anchorage (No. 11) and Western Washington (No. 18) also were ranked in that poll. West Region rival Grand Canyon was No. 19, and Chico State was No. 20.

Delta State of Mississippi stayed No. 1 with 692 points, receiving 22 of the 28 first-place votes.

FALCONS REPLAY
Nyesha Sims had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, and SPU went 4 of 4 at the free throws line in the final 90 seconds – reserves Katie Benson and McKayla Gorman each hitting a pair – as the Falcons hung on to win their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener on Dec. 18, beating Simon Fraser, 65-60. Seattle Pacific had a 16-point lead at 42-26 early in the second half that melted all the way down to just one point at 61-60 with 1:44 left. But the Falcons kept the defending Canadian national champions off the board the rest of the way.

UP NEXT
After the stretch of four games in six days, Seattle Pacific will be off until Saturday, Jan. 8, when it plays host to Montana State Billings at 2 p.m. in Brougham Pavilion to conclude a five-game homestand. Then, the Falcons will play four of their next six on the road, starting Jan. 13 at Central Washington.

TICKET TALK
Tickets for SPU's home games can be purchased at Brougham Pavilion (3414 3rd Ave. W.) on match day. Ticket windows open one hour prior to the listed start times.

Reserved seats are $8 for center court and $7 for the foul lines. General admission tickets are priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for special general admission rates by calling (206) 281-2085 at least 72 hours in advance.

SPU students who show their school identification will be admitted free to all home games.

AROUND THE GNAC
Click on this link for results, schedules, news and notes from around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.


GNAC STANDINGS 
                                                GNAC     Overall
Western Oregon                    2-0           4-6
Western Washington           1-0            8-1
Alaska Anchorage                1-0          10-2
Seattle Pacific                        1-0            5-2
Northwest Nazarene            1-1            6-4
Saint Martin's                         1-1            6-4
Montana State Billings         1-1            5-4
Alaska Fairbanks                  0-1            0-8
Central Washington             0-2            4-3
Simon Fraser                        0-2            3-4