SEATTLE (Mar. 5) ­ For the 10th year in a row, Seattle Pacific University is sending its women's basketball team to the NCAA Division II tournament. And for the first time in four seasons, the Falcons will begin by playing on the road.

Bellingham will be the site of the women's West Regional after SPU hosted the past three years. Host Western Washington (26-1) is the top seed and ranked 7th in the nation.

Seattle Pacific is seeded No. 5 and faces UC San Diego a first-round game Friday evening (Mar. 10). The tentative game time is 5:30 at Carver Gym. The regional semifinals are Saturday night (Mar. 11) and the championship game is Monday night (Mar. 13).

The West winner will advance to the Elite Eight, which begins Mar. 22 in Hot Springs, Ark.

SPU (22-5) is the two-time defending regional champion and was the NCAA runner-up in 2005. The Falcons have won all three previous meetings with UCSD, including a first-round game in the 2004 tournament.

"We have intangibles which are a huge advantage," said first-year SPU Coach Julie van Beek. "First, we've been there before; we have seniors who know what it takes. We're also used to playing at Western."

Action starts Friday at 12:30 with No. 3 seed Cal State Bakersfield (23-4) vs. Cal State L.A. (20-7), followed by No. 2 seed Chico State (24-3) and Humboldt State (17-10) at 2:30. Western Washington meets Northwest Nazarene (17-10) at 7:30.

Four of Seattle Pacific's five losses were dealt by the West's top three seeds: Western Washington (twice), Chico State and Cal State Bakersfield.

"Our mental attitude is good and the loss (to Western Washington) has made us sharper," she said. "I like our intensity and our attention to detail is greater."

In all, 64 teams received Div. II berths nationwide. The NCAA title game will be televised live on ESPN2 Mar. 25.

Altogether, SPU has qualified for the NCAA tournament 11 times since 1996. It was regional champion in 1998, '04 and '05. The Falcons have won their tournament opening game four of the last five years.