OPENING TIP

• The Western Oregon University women's basketball team continues its charge for the Great Northwest Athletic Championships in The Last Frontier with a pair of road games. WOU will go to the University of Alaska on Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Alaska time (8:30 p.m. Pacific) and the University of Alaska Anchorage on Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. Alaskan to continue GNAC play.
• The Wolves sit tied for eighth in the league standings with Montana State Billings and Central Washington entering the week. Western Oregon is currently 3 games behind the sixth spot held by Alaska and Northwest Nazarene. The top six teams at the end of the regular season will play in the GNAC Championship in early March.
• Both games will have coverage on WOUWolves.com/Live with video and stats.

 
LAST TIME OUT
Playing two home games against ranked teams in the D2SIDA ranked teams, Western Oregon lost to Western Washington (65-45) and Simon Fraser (60-49). The Wolves got 19 points from Shelby Snook in the loss to the Vikings while Ali Nelke and Sydney Azorr led the team with 10 points each in Saturday's matchup with the Clan.
 
MILESTONES AND COMEBACKS
With a win at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, Jan. 21, head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter posted her 25th win in her fourth season at Western Oregon. Howard-Carpenter is one victory away from tying a single-season high for wins (eight in 2014-15.)
 
The victory at NNU featured the largest WOU comeback in a game under Howard-Carpenter. Down 14 points early in the fourth quarter, the Wolves took the lead for good at the 1:24 mark with a Sydney Azorr layin. The comeback effort surpassed a nine-point deficit overcome by WOU against Seattle Pacific nearly two years to the day prior on Jan. 22, 2015.
 
PROBABLE STARTING FIVE

• Shelby Snook scored 19 of the team's 45 points in the loss to Western Washington, making 7 of 13 shots from the field and 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. Snook now leads the Wolves with 15.2 points per game this season, which ranks fifth in the GNAC.
• Sydney Azorr was named WOU Female Athlete of the Week for her performances on the road. She has scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games including a season-high 20 points in a home win over Alaska (Jan. 6).
• Ali Nelke has a string to 11 games of having at least three rebounds. Nelke came off the bench for the first time this season against WWU.
• Savannah Heugly has started in the last three games averaging 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in that span.
• Jasmine Miller had the only two double-doubles on the season for the Wolves (12/3 vs. SMU, 12/10 vs. SOU), until Azorr's game at NNU. Miller ranks 11th in the conference in field-goal percentage, making 75 of 152 shots from the field this season.

 
ABOUT ALASKA
Alaska bounced back from a tough loss to Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday to defeat Montana State Billings, 66-42, on Saturday. Kailee Skjold has a conference-best eight double-doubles this year, giving her 16 in her career. That is the most by a Nanook in the last decade. She is averaging 9.4 rebounds per game this year, which leads the GNAC. Jordan Wilson became the GNAC's eighth all-time leading scorer last week with 1,628 career points. She needs just 17 more to equal Katie Benson from Seattle Pacific and 26 more to reach Amanda Dunbar from Western Washington. In the last 17 games, either Skjold or Wilson has recorded the game-high in rebounds or points. Jaylee Mays has recorded 2.24 steals per game in her career, which ranks 14th in GNAC history. She had four steals last week against the two GNAC teams with the least turnovers per game.
 
ABOUT ALASKA ANCHORAGE
 The Seawolves increased their GNAC-best winning streak to 15 games, beating Alaska and Montana State Billings by a combined margin of 80 points. The winning streak is tied for the eighth longest in conference history. The Seawolves' longest streak since joining the GNAC is 22 wins in the 2008-09 season. Alaska Anchorage is ranked No. 2 in both the WBCA Coaches Poll and the D2SIDA Media Poll. The Seawolves also remained the unanimous No. 1 in the D2SIDA West Region rankings. Alaska Anchorage has the nation's leading defense, allowing just 51.3 points per game and 17 steals per game, which both lead Division II. The Seawolves also rank second in scoring margin, beating opponents by an average of 32.3 points per game. Autummn Williams is averaging 19.2 points per game, which ranks 21st in Division II. She also ranks 32nd in steals with 2.6 and 35th in field-goal percentage at 52.6 percent. Kiki Robertson was named GNAC Player of the Week after recording 13 assists and seven steals last week to move into the top 10 in the nation in both categories. Robertson also started her 116th career game on Thursday, which is now tied for second most starts in a career. She is 10 starts away from the all-time record with eight regular season games left on the schedule.