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ARCATA, Calif. – Humboldt State women's basketball prepares for its first trip to Anchorage, Alaska, for the NCAA West Region Tournament. The Lumberjacks will take on No. 6 seed Seattle Pacific Friday at 1 p.m. PT.
 
For the fourth time in her HSU coaching career, and the first time since the 2009-10 season, Head Coach Joddie Gleason leads the Green and Gold back to the NCAA West Region Tournament.
 
The Jacks move on to the Round of 64 after suffering a premature end to their California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament run. Cal State East Bay eliminated HSU from the conference tournament, but its regular season success has given it an opportunity in the Big Dance.
 
"We were lucky to be in a position to extend our season after having that loss," said Gleason. "The overall breadth of our season allowed us to get that regional ranking, even after getting knocked out of the tournament. After that game we talked about playing with urgency, and come playoff time you have got to be tougher, mentally and physically – you have to bring it every night."
 
HSU lost in overtime to Seattle Pacific, 83-74, in its early-season meeting, a part of the West Region Crossover Classic. The Jacks are 2-28 all-time against the Falcons.
 
"They are a really good team," said Gleason. "Seattle Pacific has some premier guards in their program that can score multiple ways. They get out and run, and we kind of match up well. I think that we are pretty similar."
 
The Falcons rely on a pair of outstanding guards in Suzanna Ohlsen and Aubree Callen to lead their high-octane offense (73.3 points per game). Ohlsen averages 18 points a game and leads the squad with 102 assists, and Callen scored 16.3 points an outing to go with her 79 helpers. The pair was selected to the All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference First Team.
 
"I think that just really trying to contain Ohlsen and Callan is a huge task, but its got to be the focus," said Gleason. "We have to try to slow them down and not lose track of them in transition. They are prolific scorers, and hopefully we can try to not lose track of them and get them to take tough shots."
 
Slowing down Ohlsen and Callan may be easier said than done. The two scored a combined 37 points in the earlier meeting between the two teams. But HSU senior Megan Shields reminds fans that both squads have changed since the start of the season.
 
"I would say we are a completely different team than we were at the beginning of the season," said Shields. "We will watch film from their more recent games and a little bit from back then. Because we know their personnel it won't be hard to pick up on who their best players are. I definitely think playing them once already is going to help us going into that game."