SPU Women Stay No. 1, Men Now No. 2 in NCAA Regional Polls
February 2, 2005

SEATTLE (Feb. 2) ­Seattle Pacific University maintained its stranglehold on the top position among the women's basketball teams in the NCAA Division II West Region while the Falcon men slipped to No. 2 in this week's rankings.

The SPU women have been No. 1 since January of 2003. They have won 15 consecutive games this season, including a road victory over Western Washington, the No. 2 team in the West, last week. The Falcons (17-1) have also beaten the other members of the region's top five.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Pacific men (15-4) were overtaken by Hawaii Hilo following a road loss at Western Oregon.

Six Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams are ranked among the top five in their respective polls. On the women's side, Saint Martin's moved up one position to fifth. For the men, Western Washington and Alaska Fairbanks maintained their No. 3 and No. 5 positions.

The top eight teams in the final polls in March advance to the regionals, assuming the GNAC, PacWest and CCAA men's and the GNAC and CCAA women's champions, which receive automatic berths, are among the top eight.

Men - 1. Hawaii Hilo (18-2); 2. Seattle Pacific (15-4); 3. Western Washington (14-4); 4. Cal State San Bernardino (13-3); 5. Alaska Fairbanks (12-6); 6. Cal State Bakersfield (13-4); 7. Cal Poly Pomona (12-5); 8. Chico State (11-6); 9. BYU-Hawaii (10-4); 10. Chaminade (12-7).

Women - 1. Seattle Pacific (17-1); 2. Western Washington (16-2); 3. Chico State (14-3); 4. Cal Poly Pomona (13-4); 5. Saint Martin's (13-4); 6. Cal State Bakersfield (13-4); 7. Cal State Dominguez Hills (10-6); 8. Cal State San Bernardino (12-5); 9. Montana State-Billings (14-5); 10. UC San Diego (10-7).