Tuesday, February 4, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – With a pair of big road victories last week, Montana State Billings upped its Great Northwest Athletic Conference-high women’s basketball winning streak to six games and assumed sole possession of first place. The battle for one of the top six spots and a berth in the GNAC championship tournament remains tight, with four teams now tied for second and two more within just two games of the No. 2 spot.

After winning two games in a row, Alaska Anchorage will look to solidify a spot in the tournament as it takes on Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon on the road this week. The Saints currently occupy the sixth spot in the standings, and will look to hold on to their postseason contention with wins over the Seawolves and visiting Alaska Fairbanks.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene will host two teams tied for second in Western Washington and Simon Fraser, as the Crusaders sit a game and a half behind SMU in a battle for the final postseason spot.

With a top seed all but locked up, Montana State Billings returns home for a non-conference game against South Dakota Mines on Thursday before its lone GNAC bout of the week against Seattle Pacific on Saturday inside Alterowitz Gym.

NNU moved up a spot this week in terms of NCAA Division II free-throw percentage, as the Crusaders’ mark of 79.7 is second-best behind St. Cloud State’s impressive 84.3 percent. UAA continues to be one of the most prolific scoring teams in the NCAA, with its average of 84.5 points per game being the fourth-best in the land. The Seawolves rank third in turnover margin (plus-8.53), and steals per game with 15.6, thanks in large part to NCAA No. 2-ranked Kiki Robertson’s average of 4.00.

Simon Fraser is No. 4 in the NCAA in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to convert just 23.6 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. Also excelling in that category is UAF, which is No. 9 in the NCAA with an allowance of 25.2 percent from long distance.

Individually, MSUB’s Bobbi Knudsen remained a top facilitator in Division II with 5.9 assists per game to land sixth. Falling close behind are Central Washington’s Ally Schmitt, who ranks ninth with 5.5 assists per game, and UAA’s Robertson who is 13th with 5.4.

Erin Chambers of SFU, the GNAC’s current scoring leader, ranks fourth in Division II in points per game with 23.1. Seattle Pacific senior Katie Benson is the conference’s other scorer in the top-30, landing at No. 23 with 20.2 points per contest.

Janiel Olson of MSUB leads the GNAC and ranks No. 15 in the NCAA in rebounds per contest with 10.7, and Taylor Simmons of NNU, the Red Lion Player of the Week, is close behind Robertson in steals per game as her total of 3.58 ranks fourth in Division II.

RECAP

In one fell swoop MSU Billings (16-5, 9-2 GNAC) made quick work of Western Washington and Simon Fraser last week, defeating both teams on the road to become the first sole leader in the GNAC standings since Saint Martin’s led at 4-1 in Week 9. With the 71-63 win over WWU (11-8, 7-4), the Yellowjackets became the first team to defeat the Vikings inside Sam Carver Gym since Jan. of 2012, an incredible streak of 26-straight home victories.

Knudsen put forth another strong effort on the weekend, scoring 49 points and dishing out nine assists. On Saturday, senior center Chelsea Banis logged her first double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds while adding three blocks. Olson matched Banis with a team-high 23 rebounds on the weekend.

For the Vikings, Tia Briggs had back-to-back 14-point performances, while Sarah Hill logged 23 points and 16 rebounds on the weekend.

Simon Fraser (12-6, 7-4) earned a split on the weekend by defeating Seattle Pacific on Thursday before falling to the ‘Jackets on Saturday. In the Clan’s first game of the week, Chambers suffered a dislocated finger, but still managed 20 points against the Falcons. The injury appeared not to be major, as she followed with a game-high 25 in the 76-61 loss to MSUB.

Despite the loss to SFU on Thursday, Seattle Pacific (14-5, 7-4) responded with a big 68-62 win over WWU on Saturday in Bellingham. Betsy Kingma and Suzanna Ohlsen led the way with 17 and 15 points respectively, while SPU leading scorer Benson was held to just 10 points after scoring 23 in the Falcons’ 77-68 loss to the Clan.

In an incredible run down the stretch on Thursday, Alaska Fairbanks (9-10, 3-8) and Northwest Nazarene (12-7, 5-6) each scored 15 points in the final 1:23 of regulation, albeit in very different ways. The Nanooks unleashed a furious comeback effort, sinking five 3-pointers in the waning minutes against the visiting Crusaders. NNU responded however, proving why it is the second-best free-throw shooting team in the NCAA with an incredible 15 made foul shots to counter UAF’s strong effort.

The Nanooks’ total of 14 made shots from long range came up three shy of the GNAC record of 17, and NNU held on for the 86-81 win. Simmons played outstanding for the Crusaders, scoring 36 points on the weekend, while grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out 13 assists and recording 12 steals. Megan Hingston had a strong performance in the win over the Nanooks, with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Chelsie Luke had 16 points and five rebounds off the bench.

For UAF, Jordan Wilson had another strong weekend with 31 points and a dozen rebounds. The freshman from Henderson, Colo., is now leading the conference in field goal percentage at 55.9, ranks fifth in scoring (17.0) and fourth in rebounds (8.0). Wilson logged a game-high 16 points in just 19 minutes on Saturday, as the Nanooks kept their hopes for a GNAC tournament seed alive with a solid 88-68 home win over CWU.

Alaska Anchorage (14-5, 7-4) snapped a two-game losing skid as the Seawolves downed Central Washington (6-13, 1-10) 77-70 on Thursday and then held on for a narrow 72-70 triumph over the Crusaders on Saturday. Jenna Buchanan had a strong weekend for the Seawolves with 34 points on 12-of-21 (.571) from the field. Robertson continued her impressive freshman campaign with 15 points, eight rebounds and a GNAC-high 15 assists last week. 

Central Washington sophomore Hannah Shine had a career game off the bench on Thursday, scoring a game-high 19 points for the Wildcats in the loss. On Saturday, Jessica VanDyke and Daisy Burke each had 11 points for CWU, while Erika Locker led the team with 13 points off the bench and Jasmine Parker recorded three blocks.

In the teams’ lone conference game of the week, Saint Martin’s (12-7, 6-4) walked away victorious with a dramatic 59-56 win over Western Oregon (5-13, 2-9) in Monmouth on Saturday. The Saints’ Chelsea Haskey notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and WOU’s Dana Goularte was phenomenal with 16 points and 17 rebounds, her sixth double-double of the season. After Brooke Paulson converted two free throws with 11 seconds left, a last-second attempt by WOU rattled out and the Saints held on for the win.

Click here to view or download weeky report.