Tuesday, March 3, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. – Northwest Nazarene’s game plan all season long leaned on Avery Albrecht and the senior guard was up to the task.

Albrecht was selected as the 2019-20 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year, leading the selections to the 2019-20 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball All-Conference Team. She earned First Team All-GNAC honors for the second straight year.

A unanimous preseason all-conference selection, Albrecht exceeded expectations to lead the Nighthawks to a 17-3 conference mark (22-6 overall) and the No. 2 seed in the GNAC Basketball Championships. Following Albrecht’s lead, the Nighthawks top the conference in scoring offense with 78 points per game while also leading the way with 14.4 steals per game and a +8.89 turnover margin, which ranks third in Division II.

Albrecht averaged 15 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in the regular season. She ranks eighth in the conference with a .492 field goal percentage and a .811 free-throw percentage. She was named the GNAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 10-16 after she led the Nighthawks to a pair of wins with 19.5 points and nine rebounds per game.

Leading Alaska Anchorage to its sixth straight regular-season title, Ryan McCarthy was named the GNAC Coach of the Year. In his eighth year leading the program, McCarthy led the Seawolves to a 29-2 overall record and a 19-1 conference mark. This is McCarthy’s fifth time winning the award.

For the second straight year, Simon Fraser junior forward Ozioma Nwabuko was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year. Nwabuko averaged 8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the regular season. She anchored the defensive end as the Clan ranks fourth in the conference with 8.4 steals per game and third with a +1.77 turnover margin. Nwabuko also earned Second Team All-GNAC honors for the second time in her collegiate career.

Leading the GNAC in scoring for what seemed like the entire season, Alaska junior guard Jocelyn Gandara was selected as the GNAC Newcomer of the Year and earned second-team honors. Gandara led the league with 18.5 points per game and ranks fifth with 7.1 rebounds per game. She was named the GNAC Player of the Week once this season after she averaged 30.5 points per game, which included a 34-point performance back on Dec. 7 that proved to be the top-scoring performance in the conference in 2019-20.

Dorcas Wu’s career at Concordia wasn’t long but it was nothing short of spectacular. The forward was named the GNAC Freshman of the Year and was selected as an honorable mention after she averaged 10 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while posting a .427 field goal percentage and ranking sixth in the conference with 1.8 steals per game.

One of the GNAC’s most productive duos, Alaska Anchorage senior guards Yazmeen Goo and Safiyyah Yasin both received First Team All-GNAC honors as they led the Seawolves to the No. 1 seed in the GNAC Championships. The Seawolves’ primary playmaker, Goo averaged 9.9 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game in the regular season and ranks third in the conference with a .566 field goal percentage. Yasin leads the Seawolves and ranks seventh in the conference in scoring with 14.1 points per game while also ranking third with 2.1 steals per game.

Western Washington leads the conference in rebounds, assists, blocked shots and field goal percentage, and much of that is because of senior center Anna Schwecke. Schwecke was selected to the All-GNAC First Team after earning second-team honors last year. She averaged 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while leading the conference with a .610 field goal percentage and a .869 free-throw percentage.

One of the top three-point shooters in the league, Simon Fraser junior guard Jessica Jones represents the Clan on the first team. Jones is second in the conference in scoring with 17.3 points per game. She leads the conference and ranks 27th in Division II with 79 three-pointers made while also ranking 15th in Division II with 3.16 three-pointers per game.

Selected as the Preseason Player of the Year, Central Washington senior guard Alexis Pana earned first-team honors for the second straight season. Pana leads the Wildcats and is sixth in the conference with 14.3 points per game while also averaging 5.2 rebounds per game. Her 4.9 assists per game top the league and rank 24th in Division II.

Alaska Anchorage led the GNAC with two first-team selections while Central Washington led the field with four total selections to the All-Conference Team. Of the 26 players selected, 12 were seniors.

2019-20 GNAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Player of the Year: Avery Albrecht, Northwest Nazarene
Coach of the Year: Ryan McCarthy, Alaska Anchorage
Defensive Player of the Year: Ozioma Nwabuko, Simon Fraser
Freshman of the Year: Dorcas Wu, Concordia
Newcomer of the Year: Jocelyn Gandara, Alaska

* - Unanimous Selection 
+ - First Team Selection in 2018-19
# - Second Team Selection in 2018-19
@ - Honorable Mention In 2018-19
^ - Honorable Mention in 2017-18