SEATTLE (Mar. 4) ­ With the opportunity to become the first winner at the West Regional, Seattle Pacific University will meet an old nemesis in its NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament opener Friday.

The Falcons (19-8) are seeded No. 3 in the West and face Sonoma State (14-12) at 12 noon in La Jolla, Calif.

Host UC San Diego (23-4) is the top seed and ranked 14th in the nation. One of the Tritons' losses was to SPU in December.

Coming off its fourth Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships in five years, Seattle Pacific is making its 11th consecutive trip to the playoffs and 12th overall. The Falcons have won their tournament opening game five of the last six years.

The regional semifinals are Saturday night (Mar. 10) and the championship game is Monday night (Mar. 12). The West winner will advance to the Elite Eight, which begins Mar. 21 in Kearney, Neb.

SPU has advanced to the regional championship game each of the last four years, winning in 2004 and '05, when it was NCAA runner-up. The Falcons have been beaten by Sonoma State each of the past two regular seasons, including a 56-49 defeat at Rohnert Park, Calif., Dec. 8.

"They got better as the season went along," noted Falcons coach Julie van Beek, "but then again, we did too.

"I like the fact that our bracket has teams familiar to us, rather than someone we must scout solely off a tape, " she said. "I also like playing at noon, because if we win we would get some additional rest and an opportunity to see who we play next."

The SPU-Sonoma victor advances to meet either 13th-ranked Chico State (22-4) of Cal State San Bernardino (17-10). Chico State defeated the Falcons for the West title last season after Seattle Pacific prevailed in '05.

The evening session begins with Alaska Anchorage (22-5) versus Cal State Dominguez Hills (16-10). UC San Diego meets Western Washington (18-9) at 7:30.

The Falcons were 3-4 against playoff teams from the West. In addition to beating UCSD, they lost to Chico State and Sonoma, and split with Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington. They did not face San Bernardino or Dominguez Hills.

In all, 64 teams received Div. II berths nationwide. The NCAA title game will be televised live on ESPN2 Mar. 24.