Women's Basketball Weekly Report

Dec. 10, 2014 Contact: Nathan Webber (503)305-8756/[email protected] 3 Teams Come Out of Conference Opening Week Undefeated PORTLAND, Ore. – Three GNAC teams came out unscathed in the first week of the conference season. Standings and Schedule Alaska Anchorage, which is ranked ninth in the USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 this week, improved to 7-0 overall after two road victories. The Seawolves took down the defending GNAC champions Montana State Billings 76-60 on Thursday then gave No. 21 Seattle Pacific its first loss of the season Saturday in route to its largest defeat of SPU ever, 85-58. Team #9 Alaska Anchorage Central Washington Simon Fraser #21 Seattle Pacific MSU Billings Northwest Nazarene Western Oregon Western Washington Alaska Saint Martin’s Central Washington is 2-0 in the conference for the first time since the 2005-06 season after wins against Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon. Coach Jeff Harada has the Wildcats streaking, winning five of their last six games while only losing to Division I Eastern Washington in that span. Simon Fraser has only played one conference game so far, but it beat the defending GNAC tournament champions Western Washington 74-71. Forward Erin Chamber had a game high 23 points in the win. Chambers leads the nation in scoring at 25.6 points each game. These three teams will hold the top spots in the GNAC rankings for the remainder of December as conference play doesn’t begin again until the New Year. Even though the Falcons lost to ninth ranked Alaska Anchorage, SPU still moved up two spots in the top 25 poll to No. 21. The Falcons hosted Alaska on ROOT SPORTS opening night and handled the Nanooks 75-47. Montana State Billings bounced back from an opening night conference loss to Alaska Anchorage with a 10 point win over Alaska. Kayleen Goggins and Alisha Breen combined for 25 of the teams 71 points. Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon each recorded their first conference wins of the year last week. Western Oregon beat NNU 70-68 while the Crusaders outscored Saint Martin’s 73-67. GNAC Overall W 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 W 7 5 5 6 6 3 2 5 6 2 L 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 L 0 2 2 1 3 4 5 3 4 6 UPCOMING GAMES FRIDAY, DEC. 12 Saint Martin’s at Eastern Washington, 11 a.m. Northwest Nazarene at Academy of Art, 5 p.m. SATURDAY, DEC. 13 McKendree at Alaska Anchorage, 2 p.m. Northwest Nazarene at Dominican, 2 p.m. Northwest at Seattle Pacific, 2 p.m. Western Oregon at Cal Baptist, 5:30 p.m. Jamestown at Montana State Billings, 7 p.m. Concordia at Central Washington, 7 p.m. SUNDAY, DEC. 14 Western Washington at Portland State, 2 p.m. (Exh) Concordia at Saint Martin’s, 5 p.m. McKendree at Alaska Anchorage, 5 p.m. MONDAY, DEC. 15 Montana State Billings at Montana State, 7 p.m. (Exh) WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17 Holy Names vs. Western Oregon, 12 p.m. Dixie State vs. Seattle Pacific, 5 p.m. Around the GNAC  Alaska Anchorage has won 10 straight home games dating back to last season. Even though Western Washington and Alaska remain winless in conference, each team is above .500 overall.  With Saturdays win against SPU, the Seawolves extended their streak to five straight games with wins over the Falcons. The last month of non-conference games is upon us this holiday season as eight of the ten teams will be playing in tournaments next week.  Seven of the 10 GNAC teams started conference play with .500 or better records