Sunday, March 10, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS – Two teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference were selected to the 2019 NCAA Division II West Regional field during Sunday's NCAA Selection Show. Both Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Anchorage earned berths after splitting the conference's regular-season and championships titles.

The No. 2 seed Nighthawks enter the tournament as the GNAC's automatic qualifier following their first-ever GNAC Championships title on Saturday night at Carver Gymnasium. They represent the highest GNAC seed at the NCAA Division II Championships while the Seawolves follow closely behind at No. 3.

The opening round will commence on Friday at UC San Diego's RIMAC Arena in La Jolla, Calif. Northwest Nazarene will face No. 7 seed Humboldt State with Alaska Anchorage taking on No. 6 Hawaii Pacific.

The Nighthawks will be appearing in their sixth NCAA Tournament in program history. The No. 2 seed in the GNAC Championships, the team enters the regional having won three consecutive contests. The highlight of that streak came earlier this weekend when NNU outlasted the Seawolves in a thrilling GNAC Championships title game for a 70-64 victory.

Making its seventh appearance in the tournament after winning its fifth consecutive GNAC regular-season title is UAA. The team enters the regional with a record of 28-2 and had won 21 straight games before running into Northwest Nazarene in Saturday's title tilt.

Paced by a balanced offensive attack, the Nighthawks have a trio of players currently averaging in double figures scoring-wise. The team has been led by guard Avery Albrecht, who is averaging 13.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. No one in the GNAC has dialed it up from long distance better than the junior as Albrecht paces the league in three-point percentage at a clip of 47.5 percent.

Standing out on an Alaska Anchorage roster already stacked with talent is senior Hannah Wandersee. The forward/center leads the Seawolves into the regional averaging team-highs in points (14.5 per game), rebounds (5.2) and blocks (29). Wandersee was named the GNAC Player of the Year earlier this week.

If both of the conference's representatives take care of business in their first round games, a rematch will be set for the West Region semifinals. The other side of the bracket is headlined by top-seeded UC San Diego, which enters the tournament with a perfect 29-0 record.

NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP WEST REGIONAL
At RIMAC Arena, UC San Diego, La Jolla, Calif.
Fri., Mar. 15 – Quarterfinals
No. 3 Alaska Anchorage vs. No. 6 Hawaii Pacific, Noon
No. 2 Northwest Nazarene vs. No. 7 Humboldt State, 2:30 p.m.
No. 8 Dominican at No. 1 UC San Diego, 5 p.m.
No. 4 Azusa Pacific vs. No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona, 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Mar. 16 – Semifinals
Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 5 p.m.
Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7:30 p.m.

Mon., Mar. 18 – Championship
NCAA West Region Title Game, 7 p.m.