Monday, January 5, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - Guards Ashton Edwards of Alaska, Brian McGill of Alaska Anchorage and Suzanna Ohlsen of Seattle Pacific have been selected GNAC Basketball Players of the Week for the period ending Jan. 4.

Following is a recap of their performances and a list of honorable mention honorees:

Men’s Basketball -  Ashton Edwards, Alaska (G, Jr., Compton, CA – Long Beach CC) and Brian McGill, Alaska Anchorage (G, 6-2, Jr., Clackamas, OR – Western Oregon) …  Edwards scored 53 points including 30 in Thursday’s 64-60 home win against Western Washington and 23 in Saturday’s 121-111 victory against Simon Fraser.  Edwards made 16-of-32 field goal attempts including 7-of-12 three-pointers and 14-of-15 free throws.  He also had seven rebounds and four assists.  His point total against the Vikings represented nearly 47 percent of the Nanooks’ team total … McGill had 48 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as the Seawolves also swept SFU (108-86) and Western Washington (62-60).   McGill scored 28 points and had six rebounds in 26 minutes against the Clan Thursday and had a game-high 20 points, including the game-winning shot with 6.5 seconds left, in Saturday’s win against Western Washington. In that contest, McGill was perfect from the foul line, converting on 8-of-8 attempts.

Honorable Mention – Momir Gataric, MSU Billings (G/F, 6-5, Jr., Sunnyvale, CA – West Valley College); Erik Kinney, Northwest Nazarene (G, 6-4, Jr., Fairfield, CA – Cal State Bakersfield); Matt Borton, Seatttle Pacific (G, 6-5, Sr., Yakima, WA – Idaho); Sango Niang, Simon Fraser (G, 6-0, Sr., Paris, France – Chaffey CC); Andy Avgi, Western Oregon (F, 6-6, 260, Jr., Woodburn, OR).

Women’s Basketball - Suzanna Ohlsen, Seattle Pacific (G, 5-7, Sr., Monroe, WA) scored 43 points in road victories at Western Washington and Simon Fraser. She had 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting (3-of-6 from the arc) in a 74-64 win Thursday at WWU.  She also had six assists and five steals and didn't commit a turnover in 34 minutes.  Ohlsen added 19 points (7-of-14) and also had four rebounds, four steals and two assists in a 61-56 win Saturday at Simon Fraser.  She rallied her team from 11-point deficits in both games, scoring 16 points in the second half of each while stealing the ball nine times.  Ohlsen currently ranks third in the GNAC in scoring, averaging 17.7 points per game.

Honorable Mention -  Daron Mainville, Alaska (C, 6-1, Fr., Barnum, MN); Kayleen Goggins, Montana State Billings (F, 6-1, Sr., Shepherd, MT); CoCo Gall, Northwest Nazarene (G/F, 5-11, Fr., Pasco, WA); Erin Chambers, Simon Fraser (G/F, 6-1, Sr., Mission, BC); Dana Goularte, Western Oregon (F, 6-0, Sr., Port Orchard, WA); Katie Colard, Western Washington (G, 5-9, Sr., McCleary, WA).