Heading south. Hopefully a trip to California before the holidays will prove therapeutic for the Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team. The 10th-ranked Falcons (4-2) find themselves in a strange situation going into their final three non-conference games, having lost two consecutive contests for the first time in six years. First comes a visit to Westmont (4-4), the No. 25 team in NAIA, Saturday night (Dec. 17). Next week at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge in Bakersfield, SPU faces two more tough opponents, perennial powerhouse Cal Poly Pomona (3-3) Tuesday (Dec. 20) and host Cal State Bakersfield (5-1) Wednesday (Dec. 21). The Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener is Dec. 29 at Central Washington.

Gut check time. Winning 93 out of 98 games was no fluke for the Falcons. Perhaps losing two in a row was. Coach Julie van Beek inherited a core group of players who felt they had unfinished business after falling in the NCAA Division II championship game. Now they must set some goals aside for the moment, and rediscover their identity and redevelop the confidence, character and chemistry which enabled them to win three straight GNAC titles and become the dominant program in the West Region. Most champions will face adversity somewhere along the path (Baylor, the Div. I champ, lost two of three in midseason), and it’s probably best to face it sooner rather than later.

A shock to the system. Rarely does a single regular season loss ruin a season, but losing is something with which this current group of Falcons has very little experience. An 80-76 overtime loss to 11th-ranked Chico State was hard to take. A 65-61 loss to Sonoma State the following night was worse. It marked the program’s first consecutive losses since the 1999-00 season, and it was stunning to those who were part of teams with undefeated regular seasons in ‘02-03 and ‘03-04. No SPU squad has lost three straight since 1995-96.

Up for grabs. For the past three seasons, the NCAA West Regional seemed to have found a permanent home in Brougham Pavilion. But last week’s results served notice that it will be a season-long fight for that home court advantage. Chico State and Western Washington, which beat the Wildcats, are now the frontrunners. Still, SPU has plenty of time and opportunities to recover. A couple wins in California would help, and the Falcons will meet Western twice in GNAC play. Earning the top seed in the region can be a huge advantage come March. Seattle Pacific has won eight of nine home playoff games and advanced to the regional championship game each of the past three seasons.

Ah, shoot. Continuing an early-season trend, the Falcons twice went to the front last week. They were 10 points ahead of Chico State but then went cold. SPU shot just 34 percent from the field in the second half against Chico and 35 percent in the final 20 minutes versus Sonoma. After hitting 41 percent on three-pointers in the first four outings, Seattle Pacific made just 21 percent last week.

Wood continues to sizzle. One player who has stepped up this season has been Mandy Wood (Sr., 5-6, Port Angeles, Wa.). Not only has Wood made the move to point guard, she has taken up the scoring slack left by the graduation of Amy Taylor and Michelle Beaumont. She poured in a career-high 27 points against Chico State, hitting 4-8 treys along the way. Wood finished with a combined 41 points in the two losses to make the all-tournament team in Bellingham. She ranks fourth in the conference in both scoring (16.8) and field-goal percentage (.557), and is also second in assists (5.2) and steals (3.0).

Fielding flourishes. Autumn Fielding (Jr., 5-9, Kennewick, Wa.) has flourished since being inserted into the starting lineup three games ago. After reaching double figures just once last season, Fielding has scored 10 or more points four times already this season. Since becoming a starter three games ago, Fielding is averaging 11.0 points, and is shooting 57 percent from the field and 46 percent from three-point range. Her overall shooting percentage (.528) is seventh in the GNAC, and she is fifth in three-point shooting (.444).

Put-backs. SPU dropped seven spots to No. 10 in the is week’s USA Today/ESPN coaches poll...Bellingham and Western Washington also figured in Seattle Pacific’s last losing streak. The Vikings handed the Falcons back-to-back December losses, in overtime at home and by four in Bellingham. SPU travels to Western for a bout on New Year’s Eve to complete the stretch of seven in a row on the road...Jenny Poe (Sr., 5-8, Enumclaw, Wa.) matched her season high with 15 points against Sonoma State. Poe is also ninth in GNAC free throw percentage (.813) and is averaging 10.8 points...Carli Grant (Sr., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian) rounds out SPU’s triumvirate of double-digit scorers, averaging (10.5). She is second conference rebounding (9.7) and sixth in field-goal percentage (.531). Grant hauled in 16 rebounds last week to up her career total to 855, and needs just three more to take over No. 3 on the career list...Seattle Pacific is second in the GNAC in scoring (77.8). The Falcons lead the conference in blocks (5.0), behind Brittney Kroon’s (Sr., 6-4, Wasilla, Ak.) GNAC-best 4.4 blocks per game. SPU also ranks third in shooting percentage (.445) and three-pointers per game (6.0).

Coaching Staff. Julie van Beek is in her first year as the Falcons’ head coach after building Nashville’s Trevecca Nazarene into an NAIA national power. After starting the program from scratch, van Beek’s last six squads reached the playoffs, including a national quarterfinal appearance in 2005. In nine years at the helm her record was 162-119. She is a native of Nampa, Id., and played at Northwest Nazarene. Michelle Skyles is the top assistant, having moved from a similar position at Eastern Washington. Skyles coached Jerome to the Idaho state 4A title in 2004. Sasha Anderson joins the staff following five years as head coach at Snohomish County Christian.

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 is $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.