Tuesday, February 11, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – With three weeks remaining on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball regular season schedule, the hunt for the six coveted postseason berths is in full swing.

GNAC leader Montana State Billings (18-5, 10-2 GNAC) is set to host Northwest Nazarene (12-9, 5-8) and Central Washington (6-15, 1-12) this weekend with hopes of distancing itself from a pair of close second-place teams.

Western Washington (13-8, 9-4) and Simon Fraser (14-6, 9-4) are currently in a deadlock for the No. 2 spot in the conference standings, and the travel partners will each host Western Oregon (6-14, 3-9) and Saint Martin’s (14-7, 8-4) this weekend. The Saints revived their postseason hopes and threw themselves back into the heat of the playoff battle with wins over the Alaska schools last week, and SMU has won three games in a row overall.

Close behind SMU in the standings is Alaska Anchorage (15-6, 8-5), which sits in fifth place and will face in-state rival Alaska Fairbanks (9-12, 3-10) on Saturday in Anchorage.

Seattle Pacific (14-6, 7-5) is clinging to the No. 6 position in the standings, with big home games against NNU and CWU this weekend that could have major playoff implications. The Crusaders are 2.5 games back of the Falcons, and need to snap a 3-game losing streak and finish the season strong in order to earn a postseason bid.

UAA remained in the top-10 in Division II in several statistical categories, including steals per game (15.4, 3rd), turnover margin (7.85, 3rd), and scoring offense (82.6, 8th). NNU ranks No. 4 across the NCAA in free-throw percentage at 79.4, while MSU Billings ranks No. 3 in fewest turnovers per game with just 12.2. The Yellowjackets are also among NCAA leaders in fewest fouls per contest, averaging just 15.0.

In terms of 3-point percentage defense, only Clark Atlanta (21.6) ranks higher than No. 2 Simon Fraser (23.4) among Division II competition. Alaska Fairbanks is also in the top-10 in that category, holding opponents to just 24.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Individually, SFU’s Erin Chambers totaled 46 points last week to keep her scoring average at 23.1 and rank her No. 6 in the NCAA. Bobbi Knudsen of MSUB remained in the top-10 in assists per game at 5.7 (8th), and Kiki Robertson of UAA is No. 2 in Division II in steals per game (3.85). NNU sophomore Taylor Simmons ranks fourth in steals per game (3.57).

RECAP

After snapping a 3-game losing skid two weeks ago, Saint Martin’s kept its foot on the gas with two big wins over Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Fairbanks last week to rekindle its hopes for a GNAC tournament berth. On Thursday, SMU held the No. 8 offense in the NCAA to just 46 points in a 56-46 triumph inside Marcus Pavilion. Red Lion Player of the Week Chelsea Haskey was instrumental in the victory with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and a pair of blocks. Angela Gelhar also came up big with a dozen points for the Saints.

Saturday’s game was more dramatic for SMU, which overcame a 37-26 halftime deficit to defeat visiting UAF 67-66. Krista Stabler (14) and Jordyn Richardson (13) each scored in double figures off the bench for the Saints, and Haskey added 15 more points and seven rebounds.

The Nanooks suffered the one-point loss two days after a tough 62-51 defeat at the hands of Western Oregon. UAF scoring leader Jordan Wilson logged 15 points in the first game of the week, and Victoria Milton led the way on Saturday with 15 points and five rebounds.

Snow delayed Western Oregon’s matchup with UAA until Monday, but it didn’t detract from the play of junior Dana Goularte who scored 14 points, had five rebounds, one assist, two steals and a game-high five blocks in a 73-47 setback. On Thursday Goularte’s conference-leading seventh double-double of the season pushed WOU to victory, as she scored 25 points and added a dozen rebounds, two blocks and seven steals.

The Seawolves recovered from the defeat at SMU with a big win over WOU, as Jessica Madison logged 15 points and Kylie Burns grabbed 11 rebounds for the second-straight game.

Simon Fraser took to the road last week, coming away with a 75-61 win over CWU on Thursday and a 75-57 triumph over NNU on Saturday. Chambers scored a conference-high 46 points in the victories, and Meg Wilson logged back-to-back double-doubles with 12 points and 12 rebounds on Thursday and 13 points and 14 rebounds Saturday.

The Wildcats’ Courtney Johnson had 22 points in their setback against SFU, and Amber Moser (13) and Daisy Burke (12) were CWU’s top scorers in an 82-61 loss to WWU on Saturday.

NNU’s Megan Hingston notched her seventh double-double of the season in the Crusaders’ 94-81 loss to the Vikings, and Chelsie Luke was excellent in both games with 19 points Thursday and 17 more on Saturday in her role off the bench.

WWU righted its ship with the wins as Katie Colard knocked down 11 3-pointers on the weekend and had a game-high 26 points in Thursday’s victory. The 94 points was the highest total of the season for WWU, as Sydney Donaldson (12), Tia Briggs (12), Taylor Peacocke (10) and Kiana Gandy (10) joined Colard as double-figure scorers.

MSUB’s Knudsen paced all scorers with 21 points against SPU on Saturday, and also had seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in the 74-59 win in Billings. Janiel Olson led the Yellowjackets with a dozen rebounds, and Chelsea Banis came up just short of a double-double with 16 points and nine boards. MSUB has now won eight games in a row and remained a perfect 11-0 at home this season.

SPU’s top scorers in the team’s lone game of the week were Suzanna Ohlsen and Katie Benson with 11 points apiece, and Betsy Kingma who added 10 more in the loss.