Thursday, October 23, 2014

2014-15 GNAC Preseason All-Conference Team

 
PORTLAND, Ore. – The GNAC coaches have unanimously chosen Simon Fraser’s Erin Chambers as the GNAC Women’s Basketball pre-season Player of the Year.

The senior forward led the conference and ranked sixth in the nation in scoring last year with 22.9 points per game.

Chambers (6-1, Sr., Mission, BC – Heritage Park) also ranked in the top 20 in the GNAC in field goal, free throw and three point percentage, assists, three-pointers made and minutes played.

Chambers was one of three members of the Clan to make the pre-season team and one of seven unanimous selections.

Of the 15-member team, 11 of the players are seniors while 10 were selected to one of the three GNAC end-of-season teams last year. Four players have made the all-conference team for the second year in a row as well.

Simon Fraser placed three athletes on the list, more than any other school, including Meg Wilson and Katie Lowen along with the pre-season Player of the Year in Chambers.

Wilson (F, 6-1, Jr., London, ON), was the Clans leading rebounder last year while leading the GNAC in field goal percentage. Lowen (G, 5-6, Sr., Lethbridge, AB) and Chambers are the Clan’s only seniors. The SFU guard was a GNAC honorable mention selection in 2013-14, leading the team from the three-point line making the fifth most three’s in the conference.

Western Washington, the pre-season No. 1 team on the GNAC coaches poll, had two players voted in the top four. First-team GNAC selection Katie Colard (G, 5-9, Sr., McCleary, WA) helped lead the Vikings to the conference tournament title averaging a team-high 14.7 points while making 78 of 198 three-pointers. Colard was a unanimous selection on the pre-season team and the second highest vote getter.

The 2013-14 GNAC tournament MVP, Jenni White (G, 5-5, Sr., Spokane, WA), ranked second in the conference in assists last season with 4.7 each contest while garnering honorable mention GNAC honors.

Last year’s regular season champions Montana State Billings placed two unanimous selections on the all-conference team.

Janiel Olson (F, 5-10, Sr., Billings, MT) was the GNAC’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2013-14, bringing in a conference-high 11.5 rebounds and making 1.3 steals each game.

Kayleen Goggins (F, 6-1, Sr., Shepherd, MT) did a little bit of everything last year, averaging 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on her way to an honorable mention GNAC selection last year.

Seattle Pacific’s Suzanna Ohlsen (G, 5-7, Sr., Monroe, WA) was third place in the balloting.  The senior guard was the nation’s fourth-ranked free throw shooter, making 91.7 percent of her foul shots.

Another Falcon joining Ohlsen on the list is Aubree Callen. After redshirting in what was supposed to be her senior year last season due to a season-ending knee injury, Callen (G, 5-9, RSr., Jerome, ID) brings back another starting presence to a team picked fourth by the GNAC coaches in the pre-season poll. Callen was leading the Falcons in scoring at 14.7 points per game before going down with the knee injury.

Dana Goularte of Western Oregon and Kiki Robertson of Alaska Anchorage were also unanimous selections to the team.

Goularte (F, 6-0, Sr., Port Orchard, WA) ranked in the top five in the GNAC in points, rebounding, steals and blocked shots in 2013-14 while Robertson (G, 5-5, So., Honolulu, HI) was the only non-senior to be selected unanimously after her 9.5 points per game effort for the Seawolves.

Fellow Seawolves teammate Alli Madison (G/F, 5-8, Sr., Seattle, WA) joins Robertson on the team as the senior was 13th and 14th in scoring and assists last season in the GNAC.

Four teams had one selection on the list. Along with Western Oregon’s Goularte, Northwest Nazarene guard Taylor Simmons, Alaska forward Jordan Wilson and Saint Martin’s guard Angela Gelhar made the all-conference team.

Simmons (G, 5-8, Jr., Middleton, ID) was tied for fourth nationally in steals as a sophomore with 3.27 takeaways per game. She and was also 10th in the conference in scoring.

Wilson (F, 5-11, So., Henderson, CO) is the second sophomore to make the team. The 2013-14 GNAC Freshman of the Year ranked fifth in the conference in scoring, putting up 15.3 points each game, while also ranking in the top 10 in rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage.

The Saints' Gelhar (G, 5-6, Sr., Vancouver, WA) is one of four starters returning for coach Tim Healy’s team. She was Saint Martin’s second leading scorer last season at 11.6 each contest while ranking seventh in the conference in free throw percentage.

The 2014-15 GNAC women’s basketball season will begin with exhibition play at the end of October when Western Washington hosts Fraser Valley on the 26th while MSUB and Western Oregon take the court on the 28th.