What’s new?
Halfway through its season, the Seattle Pacific women’s basketball team is mired in a 10-game losing streak.
The most recent losses of the streak were 77-67 against Montana State Billings University on Thursday, Jan. 30, 88-82 against the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks on Saturday, Jan. 25 and 90-54 against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Thursday, Jan. 23.
The Falcons, however, maintain stellar individual performances despite their Great Northwest Athletic Conference record.
Junior post Emilia Bishop has been a standout on the court, scoring career highs of 15 and 27 points against Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks respectively.
Senior wing Lolo Weatherspoon had her third consecutive 10-point game against Anchorage. Fifth-year guard Hunter Beirne had her fifth 20-point game this season.
Sophomore wing Grace Leasure and sophomore guard Haylie-Ann Ohta both picked up their 100th career rebound against the Alaskan teams.
The Falcons had their closest game in recent weekends against the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets. Seattle Pacific took the lead four minutes into the first quarter after winning a 5-5 tie. Bishop, Beirne and redshirt-freshman guard Grace Turley combined six points in the paint to pull the Falcons ahead 14-7.
Seattle Pacific sustained its lead entering the second quarter, leading 32-21 at the five-minute mark. MSU Billings dropped 10 straight baskets over the next three minutes to close in 32-31. The Falcons held a 38-33 lead at halftime, but it was clear that MSU Billings was setting up for a takedown.
Competition spiked in the third quarter when SPU finally lost the lead with six minutes left. Four more lead changes would follow, but the Yellowjackets stayed ahead of SPU for the last four minutes of the quarter.
Beirne brought the lead back to SPU with a jump shot 15 seconds into the fourth quarter. MSU Billings regained the lead 66-65 during a 14-point run. Weatherspoon made one last layup in the paint with one minute remaining, but it was not enough for the Falcons to retake the game.
Top scores:
Against the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves — Bishop, 15 points
Against the Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks — Bishop, 27 points
Against the MSU Billings Yellowjackets — Beirne, 19 points
All eyes on:
Interim head coach Karen Byers expects Bishop, Turley, Ohta and redshirt-freshman guard Julia Lavigne to contribute heavily in the following games.
“Emilia Bishop has been such a big presence [so] we’ll definitely be looking to her more,” Byers said. “Lavigne will be a good fit for these two games, and then we typically put Turley and Ohta on ball handlers to pick the ball up early, so we will be looking to them for more defensive assists.”
Bishop has been a solid asset to the Falcons, shooting 90% at the free-throw line against Anchorage and picking up 15 rebounds against Fairbanks. Bishop had her first-ever start against the Nanooks on Jan. 25, a milestone she celebrated by dropping a career-high 27 points and 15 rebounds, also collecting her first double-double with the Falcons.
Upcoming:
The Falcons are 6-17 overall and 0-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, ranking ninth. Seattle Pacific’s next games are on the road against the Western Oregon University Wolves on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. in Monmouth, Oregon, and the Saint Martin’s University Saints on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. in Lacey, Washington.
Byers expects a tough weekend against the sharpshooting Wovles and ironclad Saints.
“They play similar styles,” Byers said. “They will want to push the pace and play slightly out of control, apply some ball pressure, and we’ve got to be ready to watch our turnovers and have great composure on the court.”
Western Oregon is eighth in the GNAC at 3-8 and 7-12 overall. The Wolves’ Bella Pedrojetti, a senior guard known for her three-point shooting, is the fifth-top scorer in the GNAC with 279 points, averaging 15.5 per game. Western Oregon has the overall advantage at the outer arch, averaging nearly two more three-pointers per game than SPU.
Seattle Pacific, however, has a 5.1 advantage in the paint and a 5.9 advantage at the free-throw line.
Saint Martin’s has a 5-6 GNAC record, ranking sixth, and is 12-7 overall. The Saints have a slight offensive advantage over SPU, one-upping the Falcons by a few percentages in field goals, three-pointers and free throws. Freshman guard for the Saints Kacey Booster currently has the best three-point scoring percentage in the GNAC at 48.3.
“We just got to show up ready to defend,” Byers said. “If we play like we did it against [MSU Billings], we’ll be really competitive, and it’ll be a good game.”
