Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Bellingham, Wash. – Clinching its ninth conference tournament appearance in the event’s nine-year history, Alaska Anchorage enters as the No. 1 seed in the 2019 GNAC Women’s Basketball Championships, beginning Thursday at Western Washington University’s Carver Gymnasium.

The top-seeded Seawolves enter the postseason as the hottest team in the conference after winning their fifth consecutive regular-season championship. The team has won 20 straight games, finishing with a 19-1 record in GNAC play. Its only defeat came against a nationally-ranked Northwest Nazarene back on the first day of December, a loss that UAA would avenge in the regular season’s final week to help clinch the league title.

Looking to build on last season’s co-regular season championship, Alaska Anchorage came out of the gates with plenty of momentum to start the 2018-19 campaign. Winners of its first seven games, the team was rarely tested and posted a pair of victories away from home by 40 and 32 points in its first two contests of the year. It entered the final week of the regular season tied at the top of the GNAC standings with Northwest Nazarene but was able to seize control of the league with a 64-55 victory over the Nighthawks last Thursday.

A balanced offensive attack helped lead the No. 1 seed to one of its most successful seasons in school history. Senior Hannah Wandersee tops the Seawolves in scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game at the conclusion of the regular season. The forward/center ranks inside the top-five in the GNAC in both scoring and field goal percentage. Bolstering the backcourt is senior Sydni Stallworth, who ranks second on the team at 10.2 points and 3.1 assists per game.

Northwest Nazarene, the other co-regular season champion a year ago, is the No. 2 seed after finishing the 2018-19 campaign with a record of 26-2 (18-2 GNAC). It’s been a streaky year for the regular-season runners-up after tallying separate winning streaks of 17 games and eight games over the course of the year. Included in that longest run to start the season was an 84-68 victory over eventual No. 1 seed Alaska Anchorage.

A pair of upperclassmen in the backcourt have paced the Nighthawks offense. Junior Avery Albrecht ranks second in the league in free throw percentage (.914) and tops the team in scoring at a clip of 13.8 points per game. Senior Ellie Logan is following closely behind at 11.3 points per game. Guard Marina Valles has assisted her team on both ends of the floor. She is currently fourth in the GNAC in both assists (4.4 per game) and steals (2.3 per game).

Simon Fraser has been a member of the GNAC for nine years and is back in the GNAC Championships for a ninth straight season. The Clan will be the tournament’s No. 3 seed after finishing 17-10 (13-7 GNAC). They were one of just two teams to knock off Northwest Nazarene this season, topping the Nighthawks for a 76-73 win back on January 26. The victory came in the middle of a stretch of 10 wins in 11 games. Simon Fraser opens the tournament against No. 6 seed and host Western Washington.

The Clan has been led offensively by senior Sophie Swant, who is averaging 14.4 points per game. That figure has the forward ranked fourth in the conference. The backcourt has been carried by point guard Tayler Drynan, whose 4.7 assists per game was only topped by one other GNAC player during in the regular season.

Central Washington (17-10, 12-8 GNAC), the No. 4 seed, is back in the tournament for the fifth time in school history. It is led by a high-powered and balanced offense that boasts five players averaging in double figures while ranking third in the GNAC in points per game. Guard Alexis Pana carries the team into Bellingham, leading it in points (14.2 per game), assists (5.0 per game) and steals (2.1 per game). The assists figure currently leads the conference.

The Wildcats began the season with five straight victories and improved on both their overall and league records from a year ago. Their interior defense shined throughout the 2018-19 campaign, tallying 4.5 blocks per game to lead the GNAC and rank inside the top-30 nationally. Offensively, a red-hot field goal percentage carried CWU on the other end of the floor. Its 46.2 percent clip from the field ranks second in the conference.

Winners of its last five games, No. 5 seed Concordia (16-12, 11-9 GNAC) enters the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the conference. It will meet Central Washington in what figures to be a competitive quarterfinal matchup after the two teams split the season series with a pair of road wins. The Cavaliers are paced by a strong group of seniors in addition to sensational sophomore Olivia Vezaldenos, who won the conference’s regular-season scoring title with an average of 15.9 points per game. This will be the program’s first-ever appearance in the GNAC Championships.

Finishing the regular season strong with back-to-back victories, Western Washington (16-12, 11-9 GNAC) ended in a tie for fifth-place and enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed. One of those victories, an 18-point win against Simon Fraser last Tuesday, punched their ticket to the postseason while setting up a border battle showdown in Thursday’s second quarterfinal. The program is back in the GNAC Championships for the eighth time in nine years after a brief absence in 2018. Leading the team back to the postseason is sophomore Kelsey Rogers, who is averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game the Vikings.