A MONTANA STATE OF MIND: Montana State Billings will be one of just two teams to play multiple games this week as it hosts NAIA Montana Western on Friday and Rocky Mountain College for a rivalry game on Saturday. The Yellowjackets come into the week on the back of opening the conference slate with an 83-68 win over Alaska Anchorage last Thursday and an 88-40 victory over Alaska on Saturday.

The dominant form of MSUB in the early season sees the Yellowjackets with an 8-2 record. They sit at No. 16 in the WBCA national rankings and No. 2 in the D2CSC regional rankings as they approach the holiday break. Reigning GNAC Player of the Week Dyauni Boyce has been among the team’s offensive leaders this season and is second on the team with an average of 16.2 points per game while also pulling in 5.4 boards per contest. Boyce surpassed that scoring average last week when she put up an average of 20 points per game, including a career-high 29 against UAA.

Senior transfer Kola Bad Bear has been nothing short of impressive for the Yellowjackets since joining the team and ranks sixth in the GNAC with 16.2 points per game. She has also been a dominant force on the boards, leading MSUB and ranking 11th in the conference with 6.5 rebounds per contest.

ONE & DONE: Western Washington and Simon Fraser each played just one conference game last week as the two teams met in Bellingham for the start of GNAC play. The Vikings came out on top in that contest, taking a 64-57 win over the Red Leafs. Western Washington senior forward Brooke Walling led all players in the game with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds to go along with five assists, three steals and two blocks. On the season Walling leads the conference and ranks second in Division II with five double-doubles so far.

Simon Fraser was led by freshman guard Rachel Loukes in the contest as she narrowly missed out on a double-double of her own with 12 points and nine rebounds on an efficient 5 of 7 from the field and 2 for 3 from the free throw line. Loukes also finished with one assist and one steal.

Both teams also faced Biola last week with SFU narrowly falling 69-63 while WWU took a 70-54 win. Both Western Washington and Simon Fraser will take the next week off from competition with the Vikings playing next at Dominican on Thursday, Dec. 14 and the Red Leafs back in action on Monday, Dec. 18 at Sonoma State.

BACK IN THE SEAWOLVES DEN: Alaska Anchorage will be back home this week after opening GNAC play with road losses at No. 16 Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific. The Seawolves will host Clarion for a pair of non-conference games on Friday and Saturday.

Junior guard Senya Rabouin was the top scoring threat for UAA last week, a role she has maintained since the start of the season. Rabouin led the Seawolves with 27 points, four assists and three steals against the nationally-ranked Yellowjackets and followed that up with another 17 points, two assists and a steal against the Falcons on Saturday. On the season, leads the team and ranks eighth in the conference with 13.6 points per game

Junior Tori Hollingshead has also been a key member of the Seawolves’ offense to start the year and is among Division II leaders in terms of efference. Hollingshead averages 12.7 points per game while shooting an impressive 60% from the field to rank 22nd in the division.

OFF TO A FLYING START: Seattle Pacific opened the conference slate with a pair of wins over Alaska and Alaska Anchorage and is one of four teams to start the GNAC season undefeated. The Falcons took a 70-43 win over the Nanooks last Thursday before defeating the Seawolves 62-59. Seattle Pacific will also be one of just four teams to play this week as it hosts George Fox for a non-conference game on Saturday.

Junior guard Hunter Beirne was a key part of the offense that propelled SPU to its 2-0 GNAC start, knocking down 20 points on 8 of 12 from the field and 4 of 5 from long range in Thursday’s win over UAF. Beirne followed that up with another strong performance on Saturday, tacking on another 13 points while pulling in 13 rebounds against UAA. On the season she ranks second on the team with an average of 9.3 points per game.

RAINING ‘CATS, WOLVES & BUCKETS: Central Washington and Western Oregon kicked off the GNAC schedule facing each other in Monmouth where the Wildcats took a 77-67 win on Thursday before defeating Saint Martin’s 69-48 on Saturday. The Wolves bounced back from Thursday’s loss to put themselves in the conference win column with a 78-74 win over Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.

Central Washington’s offense has been led by the dynamic duo of sophomore guard Asher Cai and junior guard Sunny Huerta with 21.2 and 19.6 points per game respectively. The pair lead Division II in field goals made, with Huerta’s 77 edging out Cai by one, while Cai ranks fifth in the division in points per game. Freshman forward Capri Sims has also been a key player for CWU, pulling in 4.3 offensive rebounds per game to rank 19th in Division II.

Senior guard Cali McClave has led the pack for the Wolves, averaging 16.3 points per game while also ranking 22nd in the division with 22 field goals made. McClave scored a game-leading 20 points in Saturday’s win over the Nighthawks to go along with six rebounds, two assists and two steals for her seventh-straight double-digit scoring performance.

Western Oregon will be back in action on Saturday as it hosts Oregon Tech while Central Washington will have to wait until Saturday, Dec. 16 for its next game against Linfield in Ellensburg.

ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD: Northwest Nazarene and Saint Martin’s opened the GNAC schedule facing each other in Lacey last Saturday with the Nighthawks coming out on top, 69-51. Both teams dropped their Saturday contests and will be looking to get back in the win column with one more road game in for the year after taking this week off from competition. Both teams will be in action next on Dec. 19 in Idaho when NNU will host Lincoln (Calif.) and Saint Martin’s will face Division I University of Idaho.

Junior Madeline Gebers has established herself as a key player for Northwest Nazarene early in the season, pacing the team with 13.2 points per game while shooting 50% from three-point range to rank 15th in Division II. The volume of long-range scoring has been consistent for Gebers as well as she ranks 12th in the division with 23 three-pointers in nine games.

Saint Martin’s has been led by the strong play of senior guard Anjel Galbraith and sophomore forward Sarah Lamet with 12.4 and 12.3 points per game respectively. Along with putting up her own points, Galbraith leads the conference with 4.1 assists per game and is dangerous even without the ball, snagging 2.1 steals per contest.

HOLIDAY HIBERNATION: The Nanooks capped off their 2023 schedule with a pair of losses in GNAC competition last week and will not play again until Jan. 4 when they resume conference play against Simon Fraser in Fairbanks. Alaska’s Emma Wass remains the top rebounding player in Division II with 123 total boards to go along with her 8.2 points per game. Sophomore Kayla Johnson has been the top scoring threat for the Nanooks, averaging 10.3 points per contest while shooting a team-high 45% from the field.

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.

Western Washington maintained the No. 1 spot in the D2CSC regional rankings after taking a pair of wins last week, including its conference opener, 66-57, over Simon Fraser. The Vikings’ 7-1 overall record also saw them rise two places up to No. 13 in the WBCA national rankings. Montana State Billings also stayed put at No. 2 in the D2CSC regional rankings while rising one place in the WBCA national rankings after opening GNAC play with a sweep of the Alaska schools. Both WWU and MSUB also climbed in the D2CSC national rankings with the Vikings rising to No. 9 and the Yellowjackets moving up to No. 16.

Central Washington climbed one place higher to No. 7 in the regional rankings after the Wildcats took two road wins of their own at Western Oregon and Saint Martin’s to open the conference season. Simon Fraser, meanwhile, continues to earn votes despite slipping out of the top 10 In the region with a pair of losses last week.

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.

2023 Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational
Nov. 24-25 at Fairbanks, Alaska (Alaska, Host)
Alaska: Ellen Silva, F; Emma Wass, F

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