Home stretch. Many of the pieces are beginning to fall into place for the Seattle Pacific University women’s basketball team’s march to March Madness. The Falcons have gone unbeaten in the New Year, winning 10 in a row, and now four of the final six regular season games are at home, where they have not lost in nearly three years. This week SPU (11-1, 17-4) can all but cinch its 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Division II tournament in games against Western Oregon (0-13, 0-22) Thursday night (Feb. 16) and Humboldt State (8-5, 13-9) Saturday evening (Feb. 18). The final two Great Northwest Athletic Conference road games are next week, beginning Feb. 23 at Alaska Fairbanks.

A winning formula. Home is the operative word for the Falcons, who will have a sizeable advantage at Brougham Pavilion as they seek their fourth straight GNAC title. They are a perfect 9-0 at the pavilion this year, and have won 34 straight overall and 66 in a row during the regular season. Conference opponents have left town empty-handed for 48 consecutive games. The conference crown will likely be decided Mar. 2 when Western Washington–the last team to defeat SPU–visits for the penultimate regular season contest.

On the rise. You could say that the Falcons have been flying under the radar for the past couple months. Since dropping four of their final seven games in December, Coach Julie van Beek’s squad has been defining roles, developing rotations and putting the building blocks in place for the postseason push. Ranked No. 6 in the West the past month, SPU could be poised for a rise following losses by three of the top five teams.

Grinding it out. An old adage is that championships are won with defense, and recently Seattle Pacific has proven very stingy when it comes to yielding baskets. In February, the Falcons have allowed only 43.7 points per game and five of their last six opponents have failed to score 50. Last week, in a showdown with the next-best team in the West Region rankings, SPU overcame season lows of 54 points and 31-percent shooting to beat Northwest Nazarene, 54-49, on the road. It was the only game during the win streak that has not been by double figures. SPU held NNU to just 32 percent shooting and forced 26 turnovers in the win. In the last three games, foes have collectively managed to shoot only 26 percent.

Grant finale. Perhaps symbolic of the team’s grit and determination is forward Carli Grant (Sr., 5-11, Spokane, Wa./Valley Christian), who has been nearly unstoppable in the paint as the regular season nears its final stages. Grant paced the Falcons with 12 points and 15 rebounds at NNU. She is averaging 10.0 points and 13.3 rebounds over the past four games and is shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and 83 percent from the foul line during that stretch. Grant has grabbed at least 11 rebounds in all four games and has recorded a double-double in the past two, giving her a share of the GNAC lead with eight. Already the GNAC career rebounding leader and on pace for her second straight league rebounding title, she needs just four more boards to become SPU’s second player to reach 1000 in both points and rebounds. Tosca Lindberg (1989-93) is the rebounding record-holder (1125) and No. 7 (1463) in career scoring.

Poetic return. Jenny Poe’s (Sr., 5-8, Enumclaw, Wa.) role as a reserve was short lived. After a knee injury limited her playing time in a reserve role, Poe has flourished the past three games since returning to the starting lineup. During that span, she has averaged a team-best 12.3 points per game to go along with 6.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals. Poe is shooting 45 percent from the field and 75 percent from the foul line. At NNU, she had 12 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Kroon joins rare company. Shot-blocker extraordinaire Brittney Kroon (Sr., 6-4, Wasilla, Ak.) rejected another half-dozen attempts last week. That raised her career total to 401, making her just the fourth player in Div. II history to top 400. Kroon, who already holds school and conference records for blocks in a game (13), season (135) and career, is closing in on her second national single-season blocks title in the past three years, averaging 5.1 per game. She is on pace to break her current single-season record for blocked shots and become the first to average more than five per game. At NNU, Kroon scored four of her nine points after the Crusaders had sliced an 11-point lead to just one, midway through the second half.

Put-backs. Last week the Falcons made 19 of 23 free throws and scored 16 second-chance points off 12 offensive rebounds. SPU also had a 45-34 advantage in rebounding...The defense is holding opponents to just 53.5 points per game on 31.5 percent shooting during its current 10-game win streak...Despite recording their lowest shooting percentage of the season against NNU, the Falcons rank 14th in the NCAA at 46.0 percent and are holding opponents to 35.5 percent (24th nationally). SPU is also 19th nationally in scoring (76.5) and 22nd in scoring margin (15.0)...SPU leads the conference in rebounds (44.0) and blocks (6.1)...Mandy Wood (Sr., 5-6, Port Angeles, Wa.) scored just four points in last week’s victory, but remains the team leader in scoring (14.7, fifth in GNAC). She is also third in the league in three-pointers made (2.1) and assists (4.3)...Along with her GNAC lead in rebounding, Grant also ranks eighth in shooting percentage (.494)...Beth Christensen (So., 5-5, Enumclaw, Wa.) ranks second in assists (4.4) and ninth in steals (1.8).

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.