GNAC Women's Basketball

UAA Slight Favorite, But GNAC Race Could Be Four-Team Affair


Henderson	Zack	Torland

Alaska Anchorage, coming off back-to-back 30-win seasons and Final Four appearances and a Great Northwest Athletic Conference co-championship, is a slight favorite to win the 2009-10 GNAC women's basketball title.

But, the Seawolves, who will take the court without three-time GNAC Player-of-the-Year Rebecca Kielpinski for the first team in four years, are anything but a sure bet.

The race, in fact, figures to be a four-team affair featuring the Seawolves; six-time GNAC champion Seattle Pacific; Northwest Nazarene, which has qualified for the NCAA playoffs each of the past two seasons, and perennial playoff qualifier Western Washington, which has missed the playoffs just once in 11 years since joining the NCAA.

While Alaska Anchorage outpointed the other three in the GNAC Coaches pre-season poll, the four teams divided the first-place votes almost evenly.

UAA, which earned 72 ballot points to earn the pre-season nod from the conference coaches, received three of the nine first-place votes, while Seattle Pacific (69 ballot points), Northwest Nazarene (65 points) and Western Washington (64 points) received two first-place votes each.

All four schools qualified for the NCAA playoffs a year ago. For the second year in a row, UAA beat top-seeded SPU in the regional championship game, winning the 2009 title with a 54-43 win.

All four teams return at least seven letter winners and three starters. Northwest Nazarene leads the way with 10 letter winners (Only Saint Martin's, which was picked to finish fifth in the coaches' poll, has more as it returns 11).

NNU and Western Washington are also among four GNAC teams (along with Saint Martin's and Western Oregon) with four starters back.

In fact from top to bottom every team in the GNAC has at least two players with starting experience and six of the nine have returning all-stars. Seven of last year's top nine league scorers and six of the top nine league rebounders return for another season.

Alaska Anchorage, however, is one of three teams without an all-star as 2009 GNAC Coach-of-the-Year Tim Moser starts his fourth season at the helm after leading UAA to 84 victories in his first three seasons.

Among the conference's returning all-stars are three first-teamers – SPU guard Daesha Henderson, Saint Martin's forward Dara Zack and Western Oregon forward Katie Torland.

Torland is the league's top returning scorer, finishing second a year ago with a 17.7 average. She also ranked ninth in rebounding (7.2).

Zack was the conference's No. 3 scorer (14.3) and rebounder (8.8) and also ranked fifth in field goal percentage (48.3).

Henderson averaged 11 points per game, ranked second in steals (3.0) and field goal percentage (51.4) and fourth in assists (54.1) in leading the Falcons to a conference co-championship.

Western Washington has the league's lone returning second-team all-stars in guard Amanda Dunbar and forward Jessica Summers.

Dunbar ranked sixth in scoring (13.1) a year ago, while Summers finished ninth in scoring (12.4) and sixth in rebounding (7.9).

The Vikings also have a third returning all-star in center Krystal Robinson, who was an honorable mention pick in 2006-07 before missing most of the 2007-08 season with an injury and then sitting out last season.

Other returning all-stars include Lindsay Brady, Brittney Roggenkamp and Kristin Hein, all from Northwest Nazarene; Jamey Gelhar and Roni Jo Mielke of Saint Martin's; and Kayla Ryan and Shantell Marquis of Montana State Billings. All were honorable mention picks.

AROUND THE GNAC: Gelhar, Mielke, Ryan and Marquis were all 2008-09 GNAC statistical champions. Gelhar was the GNAC and national leader in free throw percentage, making 96.9 percent including a NCAA-record 78 in a row at one stage. Mielke led the conference in three-point percentage (57.6). Ryan was the leader in field goal percentage (52.5). Marquis won a pair of statistical titles, finishing first in both assists (6.2) and steals (3.4). . .Western Oregon will get a jump of the rest of the conference this weekend, at least in counting games, competing in the Disney West Coast Classic in Anaheim, Calif. The Wolves will open the tournament on Friday against Southern Indiana. WOU will also play Fort Lewis on Saturday and San Francisco State on Sunday. . .Western Washington played Trinity Western in an exhibition game last night. On Sunday, MSU Billings plays at Montana State and Western Washington hosts Simon Fraser in exhibition contests.