Tuesday, January 14, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – With a full slate of games set for this weekend, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball standings remain a wide-open race moving through the middle of the conference schedule.

The conference-leading Saints of Saint Martin’s are set to host a pair of games this week, welcoming Simon Fraser on Thursday and a Western Washington team on Saturday that has won two-straight games.

Central Washington also hosts a pair of games this week, as the Wildcats challenge Montana State Billings on Thursday and Seattle Pacific on Saturday after picking up their first win of the season over SFU last weekend.

Northwest Nazarene, looking to shake off a two-game losing skid, will also host the Yellowjackets and Falcons, while Western Oregon hosts WWU and SFU after a big road win at Alaska Fairbanks last week.

The Nanooks welcome in-state rival Alaska Anchorage on Saturday in the teams’ lone game of the week.

Ally Schmitt of CWU remained among NCAA leaders in assists per game with 6.2, ranking fourth across Division II. Two other GNAC players – Bobbi Knudsen of MSUB and Kiki Robertson of UAA – also rank in the top-10 in that category, with 6.0 (6th) and 5.8 (7th) assists per game, respectively. Knudsen also ranks third in the NCAA in free-throw percentage, as she has converted 50-of-53 attempts for a mark of 94.3. Robertson is the NCAA leader in steals per game with 4.36, and Taylor Simmons of NNU ranks No. 8 in that category with 3.36. Erin Chambers of SFU ranks No. 11 in Division II in points per contest with 22.5, and Katie Benson of SPU is the other GNAC player in the top-30 in the NCAA in scoring with an average of 21.1 per game (19th).

As a team, Saint Martin’s remains in the top-5 in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 33.2 percent from the field (4th). Northwest Nazarene is the top GNAC school from the free-throw line, ranking third in Division II with a percentage of 78.6. The Seawolves of UAA boast the top scoring offense in the conference, and their 86.9 points per game is the fifth-best total in the NCAA. UAA also ranks in the top-5 in turnover margin at plus 9.14 (3rd), and fellow Alaska school UAF ranks No. 7 in 3-point field goal defense with a stingy mark of 23.4.

RECAP

Behind the outstanding play of Red Lion Player of the Week Sydney Donaldson, Western Washington (7-6, 3-2 GNAC) was the only team to win both of its games last week, and extended its home winning streak to 24-straight in Bellingham. Donaldson helped the Vikings pull away from Central Washington (6-8, 1-5) in the closing minutes of a 71-64 win on Thursday, and then led the way with a 15-point 15-rebound double-double in a solid 81-68 win over Northwest Nazarene (10-4, 3-3) on Saturday.

It hasn’t been unusual this season for a player named Jordan to post a big game in Fairbanks, but on Saturday it was two players by the same name – from different teams – that led the way for their respective schools. Western Oregon (5-8, 2-3) freshman Jordan Mottershaw came off the bench with a team-high 19 points in 28 minutes as the Wolves downed Alaska Fairbanks (8-6, 2-4) 81-77 in the Patty Center on Saturday evening. Nanook freshman Jordan Wilson, who ranks fourth in the GNAC in scoring with 16.9 points per game this season, led UAF with 22 points and came up one rebound shy of recording her second-straight double-double, as she scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds in the Nanooks’ 78-64 win over SMU on Thursday.

In the first ROOT SPORTS Game of the Week, Seattle Pacific (9-4, 2-3) downed Montana State Billings (10-5, 3-2) 63-57 in Seattle behind Benson’s GNAC-leading sixth double-double of 2013-14. Betsy Kingma shot 5-of-7 from long distance to account for all 15 of her points, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 16 in the victory.

Despite a career weekend from Chambers that pushed her back into the top spot among GNAC scoring leaders, Simon Fraser (9-4, 3-2) could not overcome an early deficit against CWU on Saturday as the Clan split their two games last week. Overall, Chambers recorded 57 points, including a game-high 32 in the 63-54 defeat against the Wildcats. 

CWU’s Jasmine Parker continued a strong season, leading her team with 21 points on Saturday in the Wildcats’ first conference victory of the season.

After approaching the century mark in a 97-71 win over WOU on Thursday, Alaska Anchorage (11-3, 4-2) stumbled against Saint Martin’s (10-4, 4-1) on Saturday as the Saints notched a huge 85-78 win in Anchorage to recapture the No. 1 spot in the conference standings. Angela Gelhar posted a career-high 36 points for SMU, shooting 9-for-15 from the field and 12-for-14 from the foul line.