Tuesday, December 17, 2013

PORTLAND, Ore. – A trio of Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball teams head to Las Vegas to compete in the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic as play winds down over the holiday break.

Western Oregon kicks off the tournament on Wednesday with a noon matchup against the Academy of Art, and Montana State Billings and Western Washington each play their first tournament games on Thursday.

Alaska Anchorage will host the four-team AT&T Hoops Classic, which runs Dec. 20-21 in Anchorage.

Central Washington plays for the second straight night on Tuesday, hosting a rematch against Hawaii Pacific after picking up a victory on Monday. Northwest Nazarene also returns to action this week, as the Crusaders head to Hawaii to play Chaminade on Tuesday and Hawaii Pacific on Thursday. 

Simon Fraser is set to meet West Texas A&M on Thursday in Seattle, while Seattle Pacific gets back into action with games on Thursday and Saturday at home against South Dakota Mines and West Texas A&M.

Saint Martin’s hosts SD Mines on Friday, and WOU returns home after the South Point Classic to host Simpson on Saturday.

SPU remained at No. 9 in the latest Women’s Basketball Coaches Association national poll, while NNU jumped four spots to No. 17 despite not playing last week.

In the latest NCAA statistics, Seattle Pacific ranked No. 8 in blocks per game with 5.5, and Saint Martin’s fell just outside the top-10 in field goal percentage defense at No. 11 with a mark of .333.

The Saints also rank No. 14 in scoring defense, as their allowance of 56.2 points per game is the lowest mark in the GNAC. Alaska Anchorage remained in the top-10 in three-point field goal defense (.147, 1st), scoring margin (25.0, 10th), scoring offense (88.1, 8th), and turnover margin (9.88, 5th).

Individually, Bobbi Knudsen of MSUB moved to No. 20 in assists per game with 5.5, and Jasmine Parker of Central Washington was No. 20 in blocks per game with 2.38. 

RECAP

Saint Martin’s (7-3) notched a pair of victories last week to stretch its winning streak to four games after beginning GNAC play 2-0. Chelsea Haskey had a big game with 18 points against Hawaii Hilo on Friday, before the SMU bench erupted for 60 points in another win over UHH on Saturday. Leading the charge in the second game was Krista Stabler, who scored a career-high 18 points and earned Red Lion Player of the Week honors.

Central Washington (5-4) also won a pair of games, defeating Evergreen State on Saturday and winning the first of a pair of games against Hawaii Pacific on Monday. Ally Schmitt dished out an impressive 16 assists over the two-game stretch, while Jessica VanDyke averaged 15.0 points to pace the Wildcats.

Montana State Billings (7-3) defeated Carroll on Friday despite its leading scorer notching just 12 points. The team-high from Annie DePuydt proved to be enough, as the Yellowjackets’ lockdown defense allowed just 45 points against UHH.