Perfect in New Year. Unbeaten since the calendar turned over, the Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team will endeavor to stay that way when it goes on the road this week. The Falcons (4-1, 10-4) have gathered momentum at home and take a three-game win streak south. A stretch of five road games in the next seven begins with a battle for second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at Humboldt State (4-2, 9-6) Thursday night (Jan. 19). Last place Western Oregon (0-6, 0-15) hosts SPU Saturday evening (Jan. 21). Homecoming week begins Jan. 26 against Alaska Fairbanks..

Gaining traction. Compared to the 29- and 30-game win streaks of recent seasons, this little run to begin 2006 is indeed modest, yet it also may be the start of something big. Seattle Pacific remains not only in the hunt for an NCAA Division II tournament berth, but could still finish among the top seeds for the West Regional. Coach Julie van Beek’s squad is coming off perhaps its most complete performance of the year and trails GNAC leader Western Washington by only one game in the loss column.

Second half surge. It’s possible that the Falcons are beginning to hit their stride to start the second half of the season. They certainly were a second-half team in last week’s 94-62 victory over Northwest Nazarene. After leading by eight at the break, Seattle Pacific opened the final period with a 16-2 run to take a commanding 20-point lead. After the Crusaders cut the deficit to 17, SPU went on a 17-4 run, widening the gap to 30 with 10 minutes to play. The Falcons shot 62 percent from the field in the half and made good on 6 of 8 three-pointers.

Not in our house. With the win, Seattle Pacific improved to 7-0 at Brougham Pavilion this season. That isn’t much of a surprise. The Falcons have won 32 straight home games overall and 64 straight at home during the regular season play. Ideally, the team will find a way to bring the regional tournament back home for the fourth straight year. SPU has parlayed the home court advantage to earn a trip to the Elite Eight each of the last two years. The region’s No. 1 seed will host the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Wood heats up. Leading scorer Mandy Wood (Sr., 5-6, Port Angeles, Wa.) has opponents shaking in their sneakers after her performance against NNU broke a personal two-game scoring slump. When Wood’s shooting is locked on target, the Falcons are at their best. She exploded for 23 points, her second highest total of the season, in the victory. That followed her two lowest scoring outputs of the year, including her only single-digit performance. Wood fueled the early second-half run that put the game away for SPU, scoring eight of the team’s 16 points. She started and finished off a stretch of 12 unanswered points with a pair of three-pointers and finished 3 for 3 from behind the arc for the half. She shot 9-13 overall and matched her career high for treys, drilling 5 of 6. Wood was also one short of her career high with seven assists.

Better to give than receive. SPU’s ball movement has opposing defenses scrambling. Along with Wood, Beth Christensen (So., 5-5, Enumclaw, Wa.) is finding people in scoring positions. Crisp passes by Christensen resulted in a season-best eight assists against Northwest Nazarene and she’s averaging 5.8 in league play. During the three-game win streak, Seattle Pacific is averaging nearly 25 assists per game, with Christensen averaging 6.3 and Wood 5.3 during that stretch. Christensen is second in the conference with 4.9 assists per game overall, followed by Wood who is third at 4.6.

Far from Stranded. One complaint you don’t hear from the Falcon bench is a lack of playing time. Seattle Pacific has 10 players on the roster that average double figures in minutes played and all but two have played in every game. That’s probably because the reserves make the most of their opportunities. Against NNU, it was reserve forward Rachel Strand (Jr., 6-0, Shoreline, Wa./King’s) who made the biggest noise off the bench. Strand matched her season high and fell one short of her career mark with 12 points in 21 minutes. She shot 5-6 from the field and is shooting .593 in five conference games. The Falcons got 33 points off the bench in the win, and SPU’s bench has outscored its opponents 99-54 during the win streak.

Put-backs. Brittney Kroon (Sr., 6-4, Wasilla, Ak.), who led the nation in blocked shots two years ago, again is tops in all of NCAA Div. II with 4.46 blocks per game...SPU is 10th nationally in shooting percentage (.468)...The victory over NNU was the most lopsided since the season opener vs. Northwest...Autumn Fielding (Jr., 5-9, Kennewick, Wa.) matched her career high with four rebounds vs. NNU. She also scored six points and dished out four assists...Carli Grant (Sr., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian) had nine points and seven rebounds in the victory and took over the GNAC rebounding lead (8.6 per game). Grant, who led the league in rebounding last season, now has 948 points and 918 rebounds in her career. She is just 34 rebounds shy of the GNAC record and 207 behind the SPU record. Her five double-doubles leads the league...Wood is now 27 three-pointers shy of the conference record...Wood ranks seventh in the GNAC in scoring (14.8), fourth in three-pointers per game (2.0)...Along with the conference lead in rebounding, Grant ranks eighth in shooting (.523)...Kroon is ninth in the GNAC in rebounding (6.9). The Falcons are second in the conference and 13th nationally in scoring with 78.2 points per game. SPU is also second in the conference and 15th in the NCAA with a 46.8 team shooting percentage...SPU collected 11 points in voting for this week’s national coaches poll, equivalent to 32nd in the rankings. Three of the four losses were to teams ranked among the top 20.

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.