Friday, January 18, 2013
PORTLAND, Ore. - Northwest Nazarene and Western Washington will take seven and six-game win streaks into games this Saturday as five games are on the GNAC women's basketball schedule.
The Crusaders (12-2, 4-2) travel to Fairbanks to play Alaska Fairbanks (2-12, 0-6) after defeating Alaska Anchorage 76-49 Thursday at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Meanwhile, Western Washington (12-2, 6-0) will risk its six-game win streak and its perfect conference record at Carver Gym against Montana State Billings (11-4, 5-2).
The Viking stayed unbeaten in the GNAC Thursday rallying from an 10-0 deficit to defeat Seattle Pacific 61-44. Elsewhere in the conference, Simon Fraser (12-2, 5-1) remained one back of the Vikings with a 89-58 home win against MSUB and Central Washington used a big second half to defeat Alaska Fairbanks 69-49.
SFU hosts Seattle Pacific (10-5, 4-3), Central Washington (7-7, 2-4) plays at Alaska Anchorage (8-6, 2-4) and Saint Martin's (9-7, 2-4) visits Western Oregon (6-10, 1-5) in Saturday's other contests.
Northwest Nazarene 76, Alaska Anchorage 49
Megan Hingston and Chelsie Luke combined for 43 points in Northwest Nazarene's victory.
Hingston scored 21 of her game-high 25 points in the second-half and Luke had 18 points, including 12 on three-pointers as she converted on four of six treys.
Alaska Anchorage, which played without guard Sasha King, was led by Alysa Horn with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Alli Madison with 11.
Without King in the lineup due to a sprained ankle, the Seawolves fell behind 40-18 at halftime, making just six of 25 shots (24.0 percent). NNU, meanwhile, blitzed the nets for a 53.1 percentage (17-32).
For the game, the Crusaders shot 48.5 percent, while the Seawolves made just 26.8 percent.
The win snapped NNU's eight-game losing streak to UAA and also gave them their first win at Anchorage since 2005.
Western Washington 61, Seattle Pacific 44
The Vikings scored 13 straight points midway through the second half to break open a tight game and defeat Seattle Pacific at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
Forward Sydney Donaldson came off the bench to score 14 points and lead the league-leaders to their sixth consecutive victory. Center Britt Harris had 13 points, all in the second half.
Forward Katie Benson had game highs of 18 points and 13 rebounds for Seattle Pacific. SPU led 38-35 with 12:30 remaining, but the Vikings then went on a 22-2 run to go ahead 57-40 with 3:43 remaining. Harris had seven points and four rebounds and WWU had a 12-2 rebound advantage during that stretch,
Guard Corinn Waltrip had 11 points, including a three-pointer with 11:19 to play that put WWU in front to stay at 40-38.
The Vikings shot 54.8 percent in the second half (17-31) to finish with a 41.7 percentage, while holding SPU to five field goals in 33 attempts (15.2 percent). For the game, the Falcons shot 23.0 percent (14-61).
Simon Fraser 89, Montana State Billings 58
Guard Kristina Collins and center Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe had double-doubles as the Clan bounced back from a two-point loss last Saturday at Western Washington to hand MSUB its second conference defeat of the season.
Collins had 16 points and 10 assists, while Raincock-Ekunwe had 11 points and 10 rebounds, earning her 10th double-double of the season and the 51st of her career, extending her own GNAC record.
The Clan also got 13 points from Erin Chambers and Katie Lowen and 10 from Carla Wyman in the victory.
Bobbi Knudsen led MSUB with 18 points and eight assists. Kayleen Goggins netted 13 points and Janiel Olson scored 12.
SFU trailed 28-24 in the first half before closing the period with a 20-4 run. The second half all belonged to the Clan as it shot 62.1 percent (18-29). SFU made seven of 12 treys in the period to finish 14 of 25 from the arc.
Central Washington 69, Alaska Fairbanks 49
Jessica VanDyke scored 21 points and freshman Jasmine Parker had 11 points, 17 rebounds and five steals to lead Central Washington to a 20-point win.
VanDyke, who had 14 of her points in the second half when CWU outscored the Nanooks 42-23, made four of nine three-point shots. Parker's rebound total was the most for a CWU player since Shaina Afoa had 17 against Western Oregon in February, 2008.
Central also got 12 points each from Daisy Burke and Courtney Johnson in the victory. Taylor Altenburg and Benissa Bulaya each had 11 points for UAF.
UAF built an early 15-5 lead in the contest, but Central then went on a 16-6 run to tie the game. The game remained tight through the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Wildcats who led 27-26 at thee break, then outscored the Nanooks 25-5 over the final 10:18.