Though just barely, the men and women of Seattle Pacific University basketball held on to their winning streaks and their ranks last week.
The women pulled ahead of Western Washington University, who they'd lost to earlier in the season, for a 70-67 victory Feb. 20. Their seven-game winning streak also included a 62-47 victory against Montana State University at Billings Feb. 17, which brought their overall record to 20-3 and 11-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
"Western is one of the best teams in the country, so just knowing you're going against them and beating them is a pretty great feeling," said Julie van Beek, head coach for the Falcon women. "Our goal is to win conference. We're moving toward the goals we set, and everybody's working hard. Hopefully, everybody can stay health and we'll finish strong," she said.
Seniors Megan Hoisington and Daesha Henderson helped SPU take over first place in the GNAC standings with a forced turnover by Hoisington and 19 points by Henderson with 2:12 left in the game against WWU.
The teams had to adjust to multiple injuries this season, with the loss of two post players. Sophomore point guard McKayla Gorman injured her knee last week, too, which meant the team had to again reconfigure its game.
Though the team's performance last week will get them to the regional tournament (the Falcons are currently ranked third), one loss could take away the conference title, especially with WWU a half-game behind.
"We have to go out and make sure we're getting better every night," van Beek said. "We need to finish strong. They've worked really hard to win a conference championship; we're just trying to stay focused...make sure we're peaking at the right time."
The women play their Senior Night and last home game at 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27. Seniors Henderson, Hoisington and Sydney Benson (the latter out for the season after a torn ACL injury earlier this month) will be honored before tip-off.
With two tight victories against WWU Feb. 18 and Montana State at Billings Feb. 20, the Falcon men are 10-1 in the GNAC, 20-3 overall. The men scraped past Montana with a three-pointer in the last 1.3 seconds made by junior Chris Banchero, who tallied 24 points in the game and senior Brandon Larrieu scored his 1,000th point in his SPU career. He now has 1,002 points.
"I was excited about both of them. Western Washington is one of the better teams in the conference," said men's head coach Ryan Looney. "We had to make some tough type plays to win it at the end of the game and we did. I felt like we got better in that game."
Despite being in first place, Looney said the team's still finding ways to improve.
"We talked about playing with more energy and trying to consistently play hard," Looney said. "In the last two games we found a way to do that. Even though the games were close, we ended up winning because we did those things."
The Falcon men will defend their first-place GNAC and regional rank with four games left to play. The Falcons play their final regular-season home game Thursday, Feb. 25 against Central Washington, who beat SPU 85-72 earlier this season. If SPU beats second-ranked Central, they will be guaranteed a spot in the conference title.
The 7 p.m. game at Brougham Pavilion will also include a ceremony to honor the team's seniors: Rob Diedrichs, Brandon Larrieu, Rafael Moreira, Colby Vranes and Adam Wardell.[[In-content Ad]]
