Tuesday, February 10, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – Saint Martin’s will be hosting the first, and only, ROOT SPORTS doubleheader of the season Wednesday and it leads off with the Saints and the Vikings.

With only five games remaining in the regular season, this is an important game for both Saint Martin’s and Western Washington.

Featuring two of the last three Red Lion Team of the Week winners, both SMU and WWU are finishing the second half strong after having slow starts to the year.

Saint Martin’s has won four of its past five games after starting the season 4-11. Two weeks ago it surprised an eighth-ranked SPU team at home led Krista Stabler’s 21 points.

Last week the Saints earned an important win at Alaska as they jumped above the Nanooks in the standings, currently holding the sixth, and final, spot in the GNAC tournament.

The Vikings are coming off two last-second wins over Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington. Senior Sydney Donaldson scored the game-winning jumper against NNU while junior Kayla Bernsen put back a last second rebound for the victory against CWU.

Western Washington has won nine of its last 11 games after starting the season 6-5 and 0-2 in the GNAC. In the last 11 games the Vikings have only faltered in road contests against the top two teams in the conference in No. 2 Alaska Anchorage and No. 21 Seattle Pacific.

One key factor for both teams in this game will be stopping Saint Martin’s Stabler and Western Washington’s Bernsen. Over the past four conference games these two rank in the top 10 conference wide in scoring at 15.8 and 17.0 points per game respectively. The juniors also have shown their toughness at the end of games by both hitting clutch shots, Stabler against SPU and Bernsen verse CWU.

Tip-off will be at 6 p.m. Pacific. ROOT SPORTS will air the SMU verse Western Oregon men’s game immediately after the conclusion of the women’s game.

Notes:

• The first official NCAA West Region Poll will be released Wednesday, Feb. 18. This poll is the first of three that will determine the five West Region at-large teams that will make the NCAA tournament along with the GNAC, Pac-West and CCAA champions.

• Wednesday’s game against SMU will be WWU head coach Carmen Dolfo’s 700th leading the Vikings. Since the GNAC’s foundation in 2001, her 276 victories are more than any other coach in conference history. Dolfo currently holds a 509-190 career record.
   
• With the Seawolves two wins over SMU and WOU last week, they clinched a berth to the GNAC Championship tournament. They are the first GNAC team to do so. UAA currently holds the top seed and a first round bye.
   
• Simon Fraser’s Erin Chambers is closing in on a few scoring records. She is two free throws away from being the GNAC’s all-time leader in made free throws. She is also a mere 49 points away from becoming the conference’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing MSUB's Bobbi Knudsen's 1,831 career points set last season.
   
• Central Washington’s Courtney Johnson is three points away from becoming the eighth active player to record 1,000 points in a career. She would become only the seventh Wildcat to record 1,000 points in the history of the GNAC. 

• SFU's Chambers was selected as the GNAC Player of the Week. She scored 57 points and recorded 12 assists in the Clans two wins over CWU and NNU.