ON A ROLL: Northwest Nazarene looks to have found its early stride last week where it picked up three straight wins to improve to 3-2 on the young season. The Nighthawks opened the week with an 83-71 win over Cal Poly Humboldt in Nampa on Monday before travelling to Ellensburg where they took a 61-54 win over Westmont on Friday. They capped off the week on Saturday with an 83-58 decision over Whitworth.

Freshman guard/forward Kendall Clark was among the GNAC’s leaders last week, averaging 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 57.1% from the field and knocking down 7 of 8 from the free throw line. On the season, Clark leads NNU and ranks ninth in the conference with an average of 14.2 points per game. Northwest Nazarene will head south this week for the CUI Thanksgiving Tournament where it will face Point Loma on Friday and host Concordia (Calif.) on Saturday.

BELLINGHAM BECKONS: After improving to 3-1 last week with a 62-46 win at No. 12 Azusa Pacific, Western Washington returns home this week to host Lynda Goodrich Classic. Central Washington will also make the trip to Bellingham for the tournament after moving to 4-3 on the season. The two GNAC teams will face MSU Moorhead and Hawaii Pacific across the tournament.

With both the Vikings and Wildcats in the tournament, fans in Bellingham will have the chance to see two of the most exciting players in the conference in action. Western Washington senior forward Brooke Walling has averaged a double-double of 19 points and 10.8 rebounds per game through the early portion of the season to rank second in the conference in scoring and first in rebounding. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Asher Cai has been electric for CWU, leading the GNAC and ranking seventh in Division II with 22.7 points per game.

IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH: The northern-most state will see its fair share of activity on the holiday weekend as the Nanooks host the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational and the Seawolves host Adams State for a pair of games. Alaska will face Cal State San Bernardino on Friday before closing out the tournament against Covenant College on Saturday.

Senior forward Emma Wass has been brilliant on the boards for UAF to start the season and leads Division II with 78 total rebounds while averaging 8.3 points per game. Junior guard Destiny Reimers has been the Nanooks’ leading scorer through the early portion of the season, averaging 10.7 points per game.

Alaska Anchorage comes into the week after hosting a pair of exhibition games last week during the Great Alaska Shootout and will face Adams State for a pair of counting contests as it aims to improve its 2-1 record. The Seawolves offense has been led by junior Jazzpher Evans with 15.7 points per game while shooting 52.9% from the field. Junior Tori Hollingshead has been the most efficient shooter in the conference to start the season, leading the GNAC and ranking seventh in Division II with a .692 field goal percentage.

TURKEY DAY APPETIZER: Simon Fraser and Saint Martin’s will both begin the Thanksgiving weekend early with games on Tuesday. The Red Leafs will host MSU Moorhead while Saint Martin’s plays host to Evergreen State. Simon Fraser will then travel to the CUI Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday and Saturday while SMU will head to California to face Cal State San Marcos on Saturday.

Simon Fraser comes into week riding a four-game win streak, the second longest of any team in the conference, after taking wins over Cal State East Bay, 67-65, and Stanislaus State, 78-59, last week. Junior forward Gemma Cutler has been among the league’s best defenders this season and leads Division II with 25 total blocks while her 3.57 blocks per game rank seventh in the division.

Saint Martin’s junior guard Lauryn Morris also put her name among the Division II leaders last week by recording back-to-back double-doubles to lift herself into a tie for second in the division with two on the campaign. Morris has been the top rebounding player in every game of the season for SMU and also ranks fourth on the team with an average of 9.8 points per game.

DUELING IN DENVER: Both Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific will head to Denver, Colo., this week with each team competing in a tournament across Friday and Saturday. The Yellowjackets will be participating in the Colorado Mines Thanksgiving Classic while the Falcons will take the court for the Metro State Thanksgiving Tournament.

Montana State Billings will face Regis on Friday before taking on host Colorado Mines on Saturday. The MSUB offense has been led by senior forward Kola Bad Bear with an average of 15.7 points per game to go with 5.2 rebounds per contest and a .533 field goal percentage. Bad Bear also leads the team from beyond the three-point arc with a .500 percentage.

Seattle Pacific it set to take on Colorado Christian on Friday before facing host MSU Denver on Saturday. The Falcons have been led by junior forward Olivia Mayer with 11.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Mayer notched her second straight double-double last week in SPU’s game against No. 12 Azusa Pacific with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The WBCA Division II rankings and the D2CSC rankings are released every Tuesday throughout the season and are the two leading polls nationally. The WBCA top-25 is voted on by a panel of coaches, while the D2CSC top-25 is a poll constructed by sports information directors at Division II schools.

MSUB jumped five spots from its preseason ranking of No. 15 in the WBCA poll, elevating into the top-10. The Yellowjackets also jumped up seven spots in the D2CSC poll, overtaking WWU as the top-ranked GNAC team. The Vikings cracked into the WBCA national poll at No. 21 after receiving votes in the preseason rankings, and moved down seven spots to No. 17 in the latest D2CSC poll.

The 2023-24 GNAC Women’s Basketball Championships will be held March 7-9 at Nicholson Pavilion on the campus of Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash. The top-six teams in the final GNAC regular-season standings will advance to the single-elimination tournament. The winner of the event will earn the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA West Region Championships.

 Points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.