Friday, January 4, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. - Simon Fraser, Western Washington, Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific will all by trying to improve to 4-0 and stay perfect in the GNAC Saturday when they complete two-game road trips.

Simon Fraser (10-1, 3-0 GNAC), which won at Alaska Fairbanks 71-56 Thursday, completes its road swing at Anchorage against Alaska Anchorage.  Western Washington (9-2, 3-0) will also be going for a sweep in Alaska as it heads to Fairbanks.  The Vikings defeated defending GNAC champion UAA 70-60 Thursday.  Both Alaska games tip off at 7 p.m.

Montana State Billings (9-2, 3-0) will be gunning for its eighth consecutive win as it plays a 1 p.m. game at Western Oregon.  The Yellowjackets beat Saint Martin's 67-49 Thursday at Lacey.

Seattle Pacific (9-2, 3-0), meanwhile, will go for their third win this week in a 5:15 p.m. game at Saint Martin's.  The Falcons beat Dixie State 76-66 Monday before winning Thursday night at Western Oregon 72-65.

Completing Saturday's schedule will be a contest at Nampa between Central Washington (5-5, 0-2) and Northwest Nazarene (8-2, 0-2).  That game will tipoff at 5:15 p.m.

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe led nationally ninth-ranked Simon Fraser in its victory at Fairbanks scoring 23 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, recording her 48th career double-double to tie the GNAC record set by Rebecca Kielpinski of Alaska Anchorage between 2005 and 2009.

Raincock-Ekunwe is also closing in on another milestone.  She needs eight rebounds to become the 11th player in GNAC history to record 800 career rebounds.

In addition to Raincock-Ekunwe, SFU was also led at Fairbanks by guard Kristina Collins with 14 points and seven rebounds.  The Nanooks (2-8, 0-2) were paced by Jacqueline Lovato.

Center Britt Harris had 16 points to lead Western Washington, which is ranked 20th, past UAA.  Guards Corinn Waltrip and Katie Colard each had 13 points for the Vikings.   UAA (7-3, 1-1), which had a four-game win streak snapped, got a career-high 26 points from Alysa Horn in its loss.

Guard Bobbi Knudsen had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists to pace MSUB, which hasn't lost since Nov. 17, to its victory. Knudsen now has 985 career points and needs 15 more to become the 50th player in GNAC history to score 1,000 career points.

Chelsea Haskey led the Saints (7-6, 0-3) with 16 points.  The loss ended a five-game home win streak for the Saints dating back to last season.

Seattle Pacific got 17 points from Suzanna Ohlsen and 14 from Katie Benson in defeating Western Oregon (5-8, 0-3).  Aubree Callen, who had 13 rebounds Monday against Dixie, had 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists.  Lorrie Clifford and Mariah Durian each scored 14 points and Chantel Divilbiss had 13 points and six assists to pace the Wolves.