Seattle Pacific University’s men’s and women’s basketball both had a streak of double wins on the weekend of Feb. 1 to Feb. 3. The games were held at the Falcon’s home gym, Royal Brougham Pavillion, and many Falcons achieved new career highs.
Men’s basketball won 77-75 against Central Washington University on Thursday, Feb. 1 after falling behind by 10 points twice. The top scorers for their Thursday game were senior forward Shaw Anderson with 33 points, graduate student and forward Kyle Luttinen with 15 points and sophomore guard Jadin Penigar with eight points.
Anderson’s 33 points were a career-high. His final basket of the game was scored with 9.3 seconds remaining in the game. It was made off of a rebound from a shot taken by sophomore guard Owen Moriarty.
The men’s team took their second win with a score of 66-64 against Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday, Feb. 3. The top scorers that game were Anderson (17), Penigar (13) and Moriarty (12). Starting behind in the opening quarter, the Falcons quickly closed the gap and kept the lead throughout the remainder of the game.
Women’s basketball defeated Central Washington University on Feb. 1 with a 76-65 final score. Central Washington scored the first basket but were unable to grab the lead and trailed behind the Falcons by a range of four to 10 points throughout the game.
The top scorers for women’s basketball on Thursday, Feb. 1, were junior wing Lolo Weatherspoon, who scored a career-high 26 points, junior guard Olivia Mayer (21) and junior center Schuyler Berry (18).
Weatherspoon’s 26 points also broke the 25-point school record, which was previously set by Mayer against Saint Martin’s University on Saturday, Jan. 13. This record would revert to Mayer’s possession during the team’s following game on Saturday, Feb. 3.
On Saturday, the women’s team won 73-71 against Northwest Nazarene. Although never falling too far behind, the Falcons were unable to gain the lead until the final minutes of the game.
Led by Mayer with a new career and school-high of 31 points, the top scorers were redshirt junior Hunter Beirne with 11 points and freshman guard Haylie-Anne Ohta with nine.
Thursday night was also “Pink Night” for the men’s and women’s teams in support of assistant coach Karen Byers’ ongoing breast cancer journey. The teams each took to the court sporting pink T-shirts beneath their jerseys to honor her.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams are back in action on Thursday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 10. On Thursday, the men’s basketball team will play against Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, at 7 p.m. The women’s team will face off against Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the men’s team will meet at Simon Frasier University in Burnaby, British Columbia, at 7 p.m. Women’s basketball will take on Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon at 2 p.m.
In Oregon, athletes on SPU’s track and field team fall short of their personal bests.
Senior Lizzy Daugherty and junior Emily Thomason took first and second place in the women’s pole vault event. Daugherty and Thomason both reached respective season-bests of 3.75 meters and 3.65 meters. These results fell short of Daugherty and Thomason’s personal records of 3.76 meters and 3.77 meters.
In the men’s pole vault event, freshman Mason Hreck and senior Kainoa Lee grabbed second and third place. Both Lee and Hreck fell just short of their 15-foot personal records with 4.45 meters and 4.45 meters respectively. Hreck previously set the school record with his personal best of 4.72 meters at the Spokane Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 13.
The track and field teams will return to competition in Seattle at the Husky Classic on Friday, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10. Events begin at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday.
