Monday, February 18, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - Corinn Waltrip of Western Washington and Katie Benson of Seattle Pacific have been selected the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Red Lion Women's Basketball Players  of the Week for their performances during the Week of Feb. 11-17.

David Arnold of Montana State Billings earned the GNAC Red Lion Men's Basketball Player of the Week award.

Also earning Red Lion Player of the Week honors this week are Central Washington baseball second baseman Kasey Bielec and Wildcat pitcher Skye Adams and Simon Fraser softball shortstop Danielle Raison and Clan pitcher Kelsey Hawkins.

Women's Basketball: Corinn Waltrip, Western Washington (G, 5-6, Sr., Tigard, OR) and Katie Benson, Seattle Pacific (F, 6-1, Jr., Snohomish, WA) ... Both Waltrip and Benson netted 50 points in a pair of contests.  Waltrip had a GNAC season-high 36 points in a 80-76 overtime win over Seattle Pacific Saturday.  She made 11 of 19 shots against the Falcons, including eight of 13 three-pointers.  Her eight treys equaled the fourth highest single-game total in GNAC history.  In her two contests, she shot 59.3 percent (16 of 27), converting on 10 of 15 three-pointers and was perfect from the foul line (8 of 8).  She also had 10 assists ...  Benson made 17 of 30 shots and 13 of 14 free throws as SPU nearly pulled off a sweep of two nationally Top 10 ranked teams.  Benson had 32 points and 10 rebounds Thursday in a 70-60 win over No. 8 Simon Fraser. She then tallied 18 points and had nine rebounds in an overtime loss to No. 9 Western Washington.  Benson, who joined the 1,000-point club Thursday, also had five steals and was perfect from the three-point line (3 of 3) in the two contests.  She now ranks 49th in GNAC history with 1,040 points. Honorable Mention: Sasha King, Alaska Anchorage; Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, Simon Fraser; Megan Hingston, Northwest Nazarene; Whitney Rodriguez, Western Oregon.

Men's Basketball: David Arnold, MSU Billings (G, 6-2, 195, Sr., Highlands Ranch, CO) scored 46 points, including 35 in a 83-78 win over Central Washington Saturday.  Arnold made seven of 11 three-pointers and all eight of his free throw attempts against the Wildcats.  Including Thursday’s 87-63 win over Northwest Nazarene, Arnold made 10 of 17 three-point shots.  He also had seven rebounds and six assists in the two victories as the Yellowjackets moved into fifth place in the GNAC standings. Honorable Mention - David Downs, Seattle Pacific; John Allen, Western Washington; Teancum Stafford, Alaska Anchorage.

Baseball:  Player – Kasey Bielec, Central Washington (2B, 5-11, 205, So., Port Orchard, WA – North Mason) batted .500 as the Wildcats reached the championship game of the Guardian Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning tournament at Lewiston, Idaho.  Bielec  had seven hits in 14 at bats, including two doubles.  He also scored a team-high six runs as the Wildcats split four games.  Defensively, he was charged with just one error in 22 chances at second base.  Pitcher – Skye Adams, Central Washington (6-0, 195, Jr., Vancouver, WA – Columbia River & Lower Columbia) pitched a two-hit, nine-inning complete game defeating Lewis-Clark State 2-1 handing the NAIA national power its first loss of the season.  It was just the fourth time since 1999 LCSC has been held to two hits and the first time it has happened in Lewiston since 2001.  Honorable Mention -  Brady Muller, MSU Billings; Logan Parker, Northwest Nazarene.

Softball: Player – Danielle Raison, Simon Fraser (SS, 5-7, So., Langley, BC – Garibaldi) had seven hits in 19 at bats and drove in six runs as the Clan won four of six road games in Hawaii.  Raison scored a team-high seven runs and also hit two home runs, both in a 8-0 shutout of Chaminade.  Pitcher – Kelsey Hawkins, Simon Fraser (5-8, Jr., Victoria, BC – Oak Bay) tossed a pair of shutouts.  Hawkins blanked BYU-Hawaii 8-0 on Wednesday, allowing six hits in six innings.  She walked two and fanned nine.  She then shutout Chaminade on Friday by the same score, allowing just three hits in five innings.  She didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven.  For the week, she posted a 2.19 earned run average, allowing 16 hits and five runs and fanning 18 in 16 innings.