SEATTLE — Early in a Dec. 6 game against Alaska Anchorage, Seattle Pacific University guard Suzanna Ohlsen drove to the basket for a left-handed lay-in. The shot got tipped away and Ohlsen fell, slamming the back of her head against the court.
Ohlsen got up and prepared to throw the ball in-bounds — except she couldn’t remember the in-bounds play. Two days later, she was diagnosed with a concussion, which caused her to miss one game and 10 days of practice.
The game against Alaska Anchorage, which SPU lost 85-58, is easily the most forgettable outing of the season for Ohlsen — and literally so because she remembers little about the game. She had nine turnovers, which equaled her combined total of points (four), assists (three) and steals (two).
“It’s funny,” said Ohlsen, a 2011 graduate of Monroe High School, “but I felt like I was playing great when I was actually stinking it up. I was not as sharp as I should’ve been … and I had no clue because I was unaware.”
The good news is, Ohlsen is fine now and so is Seattle Pacific. The Alaska Anchorage loss was the only defeat of the season for the high-flying Falcons, who are 11-1 overall and ranked 19th nationally in the most recent NCAA Division II poll, announced in mid-December. SPU is sure to climb when a new poll is announced today.
The 5-foot-7 Ohlsen, the team’s point guard, is SPU’s leader in scoring (17.7 points a game), assists (3.9), steals (3.2) and minutes (29.0). She has led the team in scoring eight times, assists seven times (three ties) and steals seven times (two ties).
This past weekend, on the road against Western Washington and Simon Fraser (two teams that played in last season’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament championship game), Ohlsen led the Falcons to two victories. Against WWU on Thursday, she had 24 points, six assists and five steals in a 74-64 outcome, and she followed up two nights later with 19 points, four steals and two assists in a 61-56 win against Simon Fraser.
“I tell Suzanna all the time that she’s a difference maker,” SPU coach Julie Heisey said. “She has the ability to influence nine other people on the floor. She can influence what the defense is doing when she’s on offense, and if she’s really on her game she can change things defensively, too. She’s just a catalyst.
“If our team can be successful this year,” Heisey added, “she should be an All-American.”
Ohlsen — her teammates call her Sue — arrived at SPU after an outstanding high school career at Monroe. She had 14 NCAA Division I scholarship offers, but instead opted for Seattle Pacific, “the only Division II school that was recruiting me,” she said.
Ohlsen, a committed Christian, said she knew early in her weekend recruiting visit “that SPU was the place God was leading me to. The girls (on the team) were amazing. They genuinely loved each other and (Heisey) was so much more than just a boss. She was someone who really cared about us as individuals. Also, I loved the Christian atmosphere.”
As a freshman, Ohlsen made a few late-season starts, and then became a full-time starter the next season. An All-GNAC second-team pick a year ago as a junior, she is SPU’s career leader in free throw percentage at .895 (through last season), including a program-best .917 mark in 2013-14, which included 42 consecutive free throws from January to March.
Though Ohlsen is a tenacious defender, “I’d say she’s a better offensive player,” Heisey said. “She has a great pull-up jumper, a nice 3, she’s really quick so she can get to the hole, and she can find people (with passes). … She can just do a lot of things that kind of make you go ‘Wow.’”
“My pull-up jumper is my bread and butter,” Ohlsen said. “It’s my favorite thing to do on the court. But nothing gives me more joy than getting a no-look pass to a teammate for an assist. That’s probably the thing I love the most.”
For all her individual success at SPU, there is still one missing piece for Ohlsen — the Falcons didn’t reach the NCAA tournament her first three seasons. Team members “are sick and tired of not getting what we’re working for,” she said. “The seniors all have a chip on our shoulders from not making it the last three years. We feel like it’s on us this year and we have to do it.”
The team’s chances?
“I don’t want to speculate too much because I don’t want to jinx us,” Ohlsen said. “But I do think we have a really great shot of making it this year, and of actually making some noise in the tournament as well. And honestly, that would mean everything to me. It would just make the season and my whole experience at SPU if we could make it to the NCAA tournament and hopefully make a run.”
But in more ways than just basketball, her years at Seattle Pacific have “honestly flown by,” she said. “It seems like just yesterday that I was here on my recruiting visit. But then I look back and see how much I’ve grown in the last 3½ years and I realize that couldn’t have just happened overnight. It really was a process.
“It’s crazy to see where I was when I started and where I am now. My academic growth, my spiritual growth, my growth in relationships, everything. And I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way.”
Fun facts about Suzanna Ohlsen
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