Monday, December 4, 2023
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Montana State Billings women and the Northwest Nazarene men both opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball play with 2-0 records last week, thanks in large part to the latest GNAC Player of the Week selections.

The Yellowjackets’ Dyauni Boyce had a career performance in the team’s comeback win over Alaska Anchorage, while Tru Allen spurred the Nighthawks to a thrilling road upset of No. 6 Saint Martin’s.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Player of the Week – Dyauni Boyce, Montana State Billings

Second career player of the week, first this season.

Boyce spurred the Yellowjackets to victory over Alaska Anchorage last Thursday, pouring in a career-high 29 points on 8-for-13 shooting including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. The junior connected on 9 of 10 free throws while adding seven rebounds and four assists to help MSUB erase a deficit that reached 17 points and claim an 83-68 victory. Boyce followed it up with 11 points in 19 minutes in MSUB’s runaway 88-40 win over Alaska on Saturday. Overall she averaged 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and made 12 of 22 shots (54.5%).

“Dyauni is very deserving of this GNAC award, she is having an excellent season thus far,” said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. “She has improved her game on both ends of the court and her versatility is so important for our team. Dyauni can score from anywhere on the court and she has also improved her passing and defense. Dyauni was voted to be one of our team captains this year and I believe her added responsibility as a team leader has helped her too. I feel very fortunate to work with her daily.”

Also Nominated: Senya Rabouin, UAA; Asher Cai, CWU; Madeline Gebers, NNU; Anjel Galbraith, SMU; Hunter Beirne, SPU; Rachel Loukes, SFU; Cali McClave, WOU; Brooke Walling, WWU.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Player of the Week – Tru Allen, Northwest Nazarene

First career player of the week.

Allen propelled the Nighthawks to an overtime victory against the No. 6 Saints last Thursday, scoring 20 points while adding nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. After playing 43 minutes in the upset, Allen poured in 21 points to go along with four rebounds, five steals and two assists in NNU’s 65-62 win at Western Oregon. Allen’s five steals were the second most in a game by a GNAC player this season, with his mark of six steals on Nov. 24 against Azusa Pacific being the highest total.

“Tru right now is really impacting every possession, not just on the offensive end,” said NNU head coach Jon Hawkins. “He is doing so many things on both ends of the court right now, and it impacted the success we had last week. He’s gaining a lot of confidence and passion as a defender, and wants to guard the best players on the other end. On top of that he wants the ball in his hands to make plays for his teammates. I’ll play him 30-plus minutes and it seems like he never gets tired. He wants to steal the ball, get deflections, and disrupt the other team. It was cool to see what he is capable of doing, and he was able to gain confidence from last week’s performance.”

Also Nominated: Dillon Barrientos, UAA; Samaad Hector, CWU; Jalen Tot, MSUB; Myles Samuels, SMU; David Penney, SFU; Jason Gallant, WOU; Kai Johnson, WWU.