Not looking ahead. With its ticket to the big dance already booked, the No. 4-ranked Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team now takes aim on securing an outright Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and bringing the rest of the West back to Seattle. To accomplish those feats, the Falcons will go on the road to finish the regular season. SPU (15-1, 23-2) seeks its fifth straight win when it resumes play Thursday night (Mar. 3) at Alaska Fairbanks (9-7, 13-12). The final game is at Alaska Anchorage (4-12, 9-16) Saturday night (Mar. 5). Announcements regarding the site selection for the West Regional and the entire NCAA Division II bracket occur Sunday night (Mar. 6). Postseason play begins Mar. 11.

Three-peat. Seattle Pacific officially clinched its ninth straight trip to the NCAA tournament by beating Western Washington in its last outing, 76-61. That verdict gives the Falcons the GNAC’s automatic berth in the 64-team field. Although Western and Saint Martin’s are mathematically alive, SPU holds the tiebreaker and another win would clinch the crown outright. Earlier in the week, it had defeated Seattle University, 79-45. The Falcons have won the conference championship each of the past two years and three of the last four.

Home court advantage. Seattle Pacific is also sitting pretty with regard to seizing the top seed in the West Region. It has been ranked No. 1 in the West for all of this season and the two teams in closest pursuit–Western Washington and Cal State Dominguez Hills–each lost at least once last week. Brougham Pavilion has not only been the site of the regional tourney the past two years but has served as the launching pad to a couple of Elite Eight advancements, in 1998 and 2004. The home-court advantage could pay dividends in the postseason, if past form is any indication. Over the past four seasons, Seattle Pacific has gone 35-0 in conference play and 54-1 overall at Brougham Pavilion.

Dilemma at ballot box. Often the league title and conference player of the year award go hand in hand. If Coach Gordy Presnell’s peers follow suit this time around, they will be looking beyond statistics, instead factoring intangibles such as who hits the key shots in close games, and whose personality is strongest. Without a doubt, those traits translate the qualities of point guard Amy Taylor (Sr., 5-8, Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood-Oregon). Although she leads the team in scoring (12.6), Taylor is not listed among the GNAC’s top 10. She does rank No. 1 in assists-to-turnovers ratio, No. 2 in three-point shooting (.401) and No. 7 in assists (3.8). Her numbers resemble those of Kerie Hughes, who was GNAC player of the year in 2003. Gus Balogh got top honors in ‘01 and Valerie Gustafson did so last season.

Carli goes overboard. It seems that Carli Smith (Jr., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian) is most dangerous when the ball is in the air, because she appears to have a keener sense than anyone else of where it’s going to fall. Smith vacuumed the backboards last week, pulling down a total of 27 rebounds in the two games. That, along with 28 points, earned her GNAC co-player of the week. Smith’s career-high 22 rebounds against Western Washington tied the conference record and matched the No. 2 all-time total at SPU. She also had a career-best seven assists. Her work on the offensive boards essentially accounted for the final margin of victory, with her seconds chances resulting in 13 second-chance points. In her three-year career, Smith has tallied 719 points and 719 rebounds, the latter ranking No. 6 in league history. Smith leads the GNAC with an average of 10 .0 rebounds per game. She is also second in the league in field-goal percentage (.564).

Senior moment. Michelle Beaumont (Sr., 5-11, Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) became the latest member of the exclusive 1000-point club last week. Beaumont opened the second half the Western Washington win with five straight points to put SPU up by 12, and her 11 points raise her career total to exactly four figures.

Tops marks. Not only have the Falcons posted the best record in the league; they also placed a league-best six players on the GNAC all-academic team. Beaumont, one of four players to earn the honor for the third year in a row, was joined by repeat honorees Brittney Kroon (Jr., 6-4, Wasilla, Ak.) and Mandy Wood (Jr., 5-6, Port Angeles, Wa.), plus first-timers Jenny Poe (Jr., 5-8, Enumclaw, Wa.), Rachel Strand (So., 6-2, Shoreline, Wa./King’s) and Taylor. The team’s overall cumulative GPA is 3.44. To be eligible for academic all-GNAC, players must be in their second season of play, possess a minimum GPA of 3.20 and appear in at least 50 percent of all games.

Put-backs. Kroon and Wood scored 15 points apiece in the win over Western Washington while Smith had 15 vs. Seattle U...Kroon had a total of nine blocks for the week, including seven vs. Western. Already owning SPU’s single game (13), single season (135) and career (259) blocked shots records, Kroon is two away from the GNAC career mark of 261...Trisha Hermanson (Sr., 5-6, Buckley, Wa./White River) grabbed a season-high six rebounds against WWU, and Strand knocked down a two three-pointers against SU...Kroon leads the GNAC in and ranks No. 7 nationally in blocked shots (3.6) and leads the league in field-goal percentage (.596)...Wood is third in three-point percentage (.385), seventh in three pointers made (1.74) and eighth in assists (3.7)...Seattle Pacific leads the GNAC in scoring (79.8), scoring defense (58.0), scoring margin (21.8), field-goal percentage (.463), field-goal percentage defense (.346), three-point percentage (.382), three-pointers made (7.08), rebound margin (9.9), assists (20.68) and blocks (5.48)...Nationally, the Falcons rank fifth in scoring margin, seventh in free-throw percentage and rebounding margin, ninth in scoring, three-point percentage and field-goal percentage defense and 14th in field-goal percentage...This is the fourth straight season that SPU has finished unbeaten at home during the regular season.

Coaching Staff. For the second straight year, Gordy Presnell was voted the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s NCAA Division II Coach of the Year for 2004, along with conference and regional coach of the year honors. He has never registered a losing season in 17 years at the helm of the Seattle Pacific University basketball program, including back-to-back perfect records during the regular season the past two years. 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 12 times, including Elite Eight appearances in both 1998 and 2004. Returning to Presnell’s staff for her third season is former University of Oregon player Jamie Craighead, who completed her career in 2002 as Oregon’s leader in three-pointers. During her final season, she started all 35 games, averaging 7.9 points.

Tickets, please. General admission tickets for all SPU home women’s basketball games are priced $5, with students, youth and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Reserved seating for doubleheaders with men’s games are $7 and $6. Teams or groups can qualify for discount rates by calling 206-281-2085 in advance.

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.