Tuesday, December 2, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – The first ROOT SPORTS broadcast of the season will be shown Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific when undefeated Seattle Pacific hosts 6-2 Alaska at Brougham Pavilion.

This is the first of 10 GNAC “Game of the Week” broadcasts that ROOT SPORTS will air, showing five women’s basketball games and five men’s games.

These two teams rank in the top 10 in the latest D2SIDA West Region poll, Seattle Pacific coming in at No. 1 while Alaska is ninth.

The Falcons are coming off an 84-54 win over San Francisco State in Seattle Wednesday. Alaska is also coming off a win, narrowly defeating Colorado Christian 66-63 Saturday.

Not only is it the first ROOT SPORTS game of the year, but it’s also the first GNAC conference contest.

Alaska will need to overcome a tough 5-0 SPU team in Seattle for its first conference win in seven games dating back to last year. Since the 2007-08 season, the Falcons are 86-14 playing in Brougham Pavilion and 7-0 in home conference openers.

This is the only time either of these teams will play on ROOT Sports this season. The next GNAC women’s basketball game to air on the network will be Jan. 8, 2015 when Simon Fraser takes on Northwest Nazarene.

In tournament play last week, Western Washington took the 18th annual Lynda Goodrich Classic on Saturday after beating Northwest 92-53 in Bellingham.

GNAC co-Player of the Week Katie Colard was named the tournament MVP after scoring 38 points while shooting 60 percent from the field. WWU’s Kayla Bernsen and Sydney Donaldson and Saint Martin’s Krista Stabler were also named to the all-tournament team.

The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves reached the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout for the third straight year after beating the Ivy League’s Yale 72-63 on Tuesday. The Seawolves couldn’t handle Long Beach State however, losing 69-60 for a second place finish. The loss won’t count in UAA’s overall record as it was played as an exhibition. 

Notes:

• Western Washington coach Carmen Dolfo won her 499th career game last week over Northwest. With a win over Simon Fraser Saturday, Dolfo will become the first four-year college coach in the Pacific Northwest to win 500 games at one university.

• Montana State Billings’ Kayleen Goggins reached the 1,000 point mark last week in an 89-64 win over Hawaii Hilo. She is just the fourth Yellowjacket to reach this milestone, joining Kayla Ryan (’11), Alira Carpenter (’09) and last year’s GNAC Player of the Year Bobbi Knudsen (’14). Goggins ranks 55th on the GNAC all-time scoring list with 1,029 points.

• Seattle Pacific’s Suzanna Ohlsen is only 13 points away from reaching this landmark as well. Goggins and Simon Fraser’s Erin Chambers and are the only active players with 1,000 career points.
   
• Simon Fraser's Erin Chambers and Western Washington's Colard were named co-Players of the Week. The pair scored a combined 123 points last week while recording 38 rebounds and 21 assists.