Tuesday, December 1, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. – Episode 76 of GNAC Insider aired Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Pacific time and featured Western Washington defender Delanee Nilles, Northwest Nazarene head men’s basketball coach Scott Flemming and Alaska forward Jordan Wilson.

Nilles is a senior defender for the Western Washington women’s soccer team. She was named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and was just selected to the First Team All-West Region. Nilles has led the Vikings to the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Final Four with three wins in the national tournament over Seattle Pacific, Azusa Pacific and Dallas Baptist. Western Washington faces Grand Valley State in the semifinals match on Thurs., Dec 3 in Pensacola, Fla. The Vikings enter the Final Four with a 21-1-1 record and a 20-match unbeaten streak. Grand Valley State represents the Vikings’ toughest challenge with a 22-1-1 record this year. Nilles spoke about the trip to Pensacola, the lead up to the Final Four and the upcoming match against Grand Valley State.

Flemming is in his first season as head coach for the Northwest Nazarene men’s basketball team. The Crusaders are off to a 3-0 start to the season heading into conference play. Flemming coached previously at his alma mater Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) and Nyack College (New York), totaling 440 career coaching wins entering his tenure with NNU. He was named the National Coach of the Year twice at Mount Vernon Nazarene, leading them to the NAIA National Tournament eight times, while winning the NCCAA National Championship in 2000. The Crusaders opened their season with a 95-73 victory over Bethesda, an 80-75 win over Cal State Los Angeles and an 87-71 victory over Eastern Oregon. They will be on the road at Alaska and Alaska Anchorage to start their conference season. Flemming spoke about his knowledge of the GNAC and NNU before joining the Crusaders, the strong start to his first season and what he expects from the conference.

Wilson is a junior forward for the Alaska women’s basketball team. She leads the Nanooks this season with 16.9 points per game and shooting 57 percent from the field. Wilson was named the GNAC Freshman of the Year during the 2013-14 campaign and was selected Honorable Mention All-GNAC. This season, Alaska is 5-3 through non-conference play with GNAC contests beginning this week. The Nanooks will be on the road in their first two conference games, at Western Washington on Thursday and at Simon Fraser on Saturday. Wilson spoke about why she chose to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks as a Colorado native, her continual improvement heading into her junior season and the upcoming conference season.

GNAC Insider is hosted by Rob Lowery airing live at 7 p.m. Pacific and is produced by the conference office. All episodes become available as free podcasts via iTunes. To listen to archived episodes go to GNAC.TV. This is the last episode of GNAC Insider for 2015. It will return in the new year on Jan. 5.