Fantastic finale. Right on schedule, March Madness arrives in Brougham Pavilion Saturday night (Mar. 2) with Seattle Pacific University finding itself in a virtual playoff situation in the final regular season game. The 11th-ranked Falcons (13-4, 21-5), winners of five straight games and 20 straight at home over two seasons, face Central Washington (14-3, 20-5), with the victor likely to make the NCAA Division II tournament and the vanquished uncertain about its postseason predicament. SPU is seeking its sixth straight playoff appearance. Berths and pairings will be announced by the NCAA Sunday (Mar. 3) at 7 p.m. The West Regional will be Mar. 7-9.

Must-win again. Going into the final six games on the schedule, Seattle Pacific faced an uphill battle. The Falcons figured they needed to run the table, winning all six, if they were to break into the top six teams in the West and, therefore, earn a playoff berth. So far, so good. They have won five in a row and last week also got some help from other teams. Another regional ranking is due Wednesday (Feb. 27) and SPU should move up from No. 7 after losses by Montana State Billings, Central Washington and Sonoma State, the region's Nos. 4-6 teams. SPU trails Central by one game in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. Western Washington remains in first place.

Herculean Hughes. Must-win situations often give rise to certain players who relish coming through in the clutch, and last week it was point guard Kerie Hughes (Jr., 5-6, Mount Vernon, Wa./Mt. Vernon) who came through. Hughes scored 37 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and handed out 10 assists in a pair of road games, including a season-high 22 points and career-best 10 boards in a 94-80 overtime victory at Western Oregon. She engineered a 23-point second overtime barrage that finally put away the Wolves. Hughes was six-for-six from the line in the extra session and 13-for-16 for the game. That plus her 15-point outing at Humboldt State earned her co-player of the week in the GNAC. She is league leader in free-throw shooting (.864), second in assists (5.2), third in 3-point percentage (.449, 22-49) and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.52).

Poe's nose for the ball. There are eight players on the roster taller than Kristin Poe (So., 5-8, Enumclaw, Wa./Enumclaw) but none has a better nose for getting the basketball. She has come back from reconstructive knee surgery this season to lead the Falcons in both rebounding (8.1) and steals (2.4), ranking among the GNAC top seven in both categories. Her aggressive play has been especially evident over the second half of the season. She has posted double-doubles in points and boards in seven of the last 11 games and has averaged 11.9 rebounds in the last eight outings. Last week Poe accumulated 21 points and 25 rebounds. Earlier this month she hauled in 22 rebounds­the No. 2 single game total in school history.

Home cooking. Somehow SPU was able to overcome uncharacteristic poor shooting in Oregon and California last week. Hopefully the homecourt hoops will prove kind to them again Saturday. After shooting 52 percent against the Alaska schools the previous week, the Falcons went into a deep freeze, hitting just .363 last week and they scored a season-low 25 points in the first half at Western Oregon. The Falcons are 9-1 when shooting better than 45 percent from the floor this season, and at home they average 48 percent and 84.9 points. Center Kelley Berglund (Jr., 6-3, Port Angeles, Wa./Washington State) averages 18.2 points and converts 59.6 percent of her field goals at home.

First time around. In the first meeting at Ellensburg Jan. 26, Seattle Pacific needed a late surge and a barrage of 3-pointers to send the game into overtime where Central prevailed, 84-82. Berglund scored just eight points in her duel with the Wildcats' star pivot, Rose Shaw, who finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Emily Faurholt (Fr., 5-11, Kennewick, Wa./Kennewick) topped SPU with a season-high 26 points.

Put-backs. Coach Gordy Presnell shuffled his starting frontline last week as Valerie Gustafson (So., 6-0, Olympia, Wa./Black Hills) continues to improve. Gustafson had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists at Western Oregon and is 10-16 from the field in the last four games...Faurholt came off the bench for 24 points (9-19 FGs) and 12 rebounds last week...Stephanie Urrutia (Jr., 5-9, Sunnyside, Wa./Sunnyside) had another solid week with 30 points and just one turnover in 51 minutes...Seattle Pacific achieved its third consecutive 20-win season and the fifth in the last six years with the 81-69 win at Humboldt State...The Falcons are just 2-5 when trailing at halftime but 18-2 when out-rebounding foes...Cal Poly Pomona, Western Washington and Cal State Bakersfield were 1-2-3 in the West last week...The Falcons are 12-0 at home this season and only one game has been decided by fewer than 11 points...Stacie Lukkes (Jr., 6-0, Kent, Wa./Kentwood) has missed the last six games with a severe ankle sprain and is expected to be out this week as well...Berglund suffered a minor ankle sprain in the first half at Western Oregon, which contributed to her season-worst 2-10 shooting...As a team, the Falcons rank first in the GNAC in scoring (81.1), margin of victory (17.0), free-throw percentage (.741), and rebounding margin (+9.2). The Falcons are second nationally in scoring margin, sixth in scoring and ninth in field-goal percentage and rebounding margin...Individually, Berglund is first in GNAC field-goal percentage (.567), third in scoring (15.9), eighth in blocked shots (0.69), and seventh in rebounding (7.7) and free-throw percentage (.794). Urrutia is sixth in assists (3.6) and blocked shots (.80), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.73).

Opponents & series notes. The Falcons are 21-27 all-time against Central Washington. The Wildcats were the last team to beat SPU at home, a 67-55 victory on Jan. 18, 2001, and they have won three in a row in the series. Shaw is the No. 2 scorer (17.5) in the GNAC. Central's 11-game win streak was snapped at Western Oregon last week. In the first meeting this year, Trisha Hermanson (Fr., 5-6, Buckley, Wa./Buckley) connected on five of the team's nine 3-pointers.

Tickets please. General admission for all SPU home games are $5 with students, youth and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Reserved tickets for doubleheaders are priced at $7 and $6. Teams or groups can quality for discount rates by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

SPU Coaches. Coach Gordy Presnell began the 2001-02 campaign needing just 15 wins to reach the 300-victory milestone. Presnell has never registered a losing season in 14 years at the helm of the Seattle Pacific University basketball program. He took a team that had not recorded a winning record in nine seasons or earned a trip to the postseason and transformed it into a Division II powerhouse. During his tenure, the Falcons have averaged more than 20 wins per season and qualified for the playoffs nine times, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1998. Lynne DeYoung is in her fifth season as an assistant coach under Presnell after recording a handful of three-point shooting records for the Falcons. Brett Hecko enters his first as an assistant coach this season.