Eight is great. With its West Regional championship in hand, the top-ranked Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team heads east to the Show Me State and the 2004 NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Saint Joseph, Mo. The undefeated Falcons (30-0) will face No. 2-ranked and likely crowd favorite Drury (34-1) in the second quarterfinal game Wednesday (Mar. 24). The winner advances to the Thursday (Mar. 25) semifinal to face either No. 8 Quincy (29-4) or No. 23 Henderson State (23-12). The NCAA championship game is Saturday (Mar. 27), and will be shown live on ESPN2. All SPU games can be heard live on the Internet, with links provided here on The Falcons Online. (Specific link once reaching the BroadcastMonsters.com Website will be placed early in the week, well in advance of the SPU game.)

Filling the field. Of the nation’s top-10 teams, five were eliminated in last week’s regionals, while five of the eight advancing were the top seeds in their regions. The other half of the Elite Eight bracket includes defending national champion and No. 7 South Dakota State (26-6), plus No. 3 California, Pa., (32-1), No. 5 Merrimack, Ma., (30-3) and No. 19 Augusta State, Ga., (24-7), a true Cinderella after winning the South Atlantic Region as the No. 8 seed. The Fans of Drury, located in Springfield, Mo., will have a 225-mile drive to Saint Joseph.

Gordy Presnell is hoping for a better showing this year than the last time the Falcons qualified for the Elite Eight in 1998.

Twice is nice. This is Seattle Pacific’s second trip to the Elite Eight and Gordy Presnell, last year’s national coach of the year for Division II, is hoping for a better showing than the last time the Falcons qualified in 1998. That year, SPU lost 86-57 to Northern Michigan in the quarterfinal round. This year’s squad completed its second-straight unbeaten regular season, joining Columbus State (‘01-’02), Saint Rose (‘97-’98) and Saginaw Valley State (‘84-’85) as the only programs to accomplish that feat in back-to-back years. The only team to win a national championship with an unbeaten record was North Dakota State, which finished 32-0 in 1995.

Valerie Gustafson was named the West Regional tournament’s most outstanding player.

How the West was won. The Falcons left little doubt as to which is the best team in the West, winning their three regional tournament games by an average margin of 17.0 points. However, the title win over Cal Poly Pomona was closer than the 80-63 score would indicate. After the Broncos had whittled a 19-point deficit to 55-51 midway through the second half, it was gut-check time for Seattle Pacific. Answering the call was point guard Amy Taylor (Jr., 5-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood-Oregon), who hit back-to-back three-pointers and scored eight unanswered points to lead a decisive SPU run. Pomona would get no closer than 10 as the Falcons advanced before a boisterous and record crowd of 1,598. Taylor, who finished with 21 points and 10 assists, made the all-tournament team along with Kristin Poe (Sr., 5-8, Enumclaw, Wa.) and Valerie Gustafson (Sr., 6-0, Olympia, Wa./Black Hills), who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Gustafson totaled 41 points (17-30 FGs) in the tournament while Poe had 39 points and 21 rebounds. Taylor had 25 assists and just two turnovers in the regional to earn Great Northwest Athletic Conference player of the week.

An awards haul. Gustafson’s tournament honor capped a busy week for hauling in awards. Earlier, she had been voted to a pair of all-region first teams. She is now a finalist for All-America. Gustafson is the team’s top scorer (15.0) and led the GNAC in field-goal percentage (.572), the latter mark being on school-record pace. She also ranks among the conference leaders in steals (1.8).

Brittney Kroon was recently named a finalist for the V Foundation Comeback Award, which is given annually to a college basketball student-athlete who has accomplished a personal triumph in the face of true adversity.

Center of attention. Defensively, center Brittney Kroon (So., 6-4, Wasilla, Ak.) stymied Pomona inside, blocking seven shots. She totaled 13 and 20 rebounds in the three games. Kroon, the NCAA leader (4.4 blocks per game) who already set a single-game block record of 13, also broke the season record during the regional final. She now has 133. The old record of 128 was set by Caroline Pfeil in 30 games in 1989-90. Kroon was recently named a finalist for the V Foundation Comeback Award, which is given annually to a college basketball student-athlete who has accomplished a personal triumph in the face of true adversity. Diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis (where the body’s immune system attacks its own liver) while in high school, she underwent liver transplant surgery in March of 2002.

It takes a village. True to the balanced theme which has brought SPU success all season, several other players could’ve made the regional all-tourney team. Michelle Beaumont (Jr., 5-11, Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) scored in double figures all three games, hitting 9-16 (.563) three-pointers. Reserve guard Mandy Wood (So., 5-6, Port Angeles, Wa.) sparked the 79-59 win over UC San Diego, hitting 4-4 treys, and was 7-9 outside the arc for the week. Wood ranks No. 3 nationally in three-point shooting percentage (.458/60-131) and is the squad’s No. 4 scorer (10.2). Carli Smith (So., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian), the team’s leading rebounder (8.3), gave SPU a lift in the regional semifinal win over Western Washington (80-66) by scoring 14 points and pulling down seven boards.

Put-backs. The Falcons established a new school record for wins with 30. Last year’s team set the old standard of 29...Bowdoin, a Div. III women’s program, is the only other unbeaten college basketball team remaining. The Maine squad has reached the national semifinal stage. ..Presnell earned the WBCA regional coach of the year award for the second year in a row...Gustafson is now No. 9 in career scoring, needing 16 points for No. 8. Poe moved into No. 5 in steals. Smith needs two rebounds to get No. 10 on the all-time season list...Taylor’s free throw percentage of .896 (60-67) is on pace for a school record...Freshman Rachel Strand (Fr., 6-2, Shoreline, Wa./King’s) was pressed into service more than usual during the regional due to the team’s foul trouble. Strand responded nicely, sinking 4-5 free throws during a key stretch vs. Western and grabbing a career-high five rebounds against Pomona...As a team, the Falcons are ranked nationally in a number of statistical categories, including scoring offense (80.2, No. 7 in DII), scoring margin (+21.4, No. 4 in DII), field goal percentage (.461, No. 17 in DII), three-point field-goal percentage (.399, No. 3 in DII), three-pointers per game (7.4, No. 13 in DII), free-throw percentage (.741, No. 39 in DII), field-goal percentage defense (.342, No. 4 in DII), rebounding margin (+7.5, No. 14 in DII) and scoring defense (58.8, No. 29 in DII).

SPU Coaches. Coach Gordy Presnell was voted the 2003 Russell Athletic/Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year for NCAA Division II last season after having also been named both conference and regional coach of the year. He has never registered a losing season in 16 years at the helm of the Seattle Pacific University basketball program. Presnell 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 21 wins per season and qualified for the playoffs 11 times, including an Elite Eight appearance in 1998.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.