MONMOUTH, Ore.—Opening up the second half of the GNAC schedule, the Western Oregon University women's basketball team will host Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University this week inside the NPE Gymnasium. opening tip off for both games is set for 7 p.m.
ABOUT NORTHWEST NAZARENE (12-3, 8-2 GNAC): The Nighthawks closed out the GNAC's first half tied for second place along with Seattle Pacific with 8-2 marks in conference play... NNU won both games at home last week with margins of at least 20 points after defeating WWU, 82-62, on Jan. 18 and Simon Fraser, 88-65, on Jan. 20... NNU posted a 94-67 win over Western Oregon in the first meeting in Nampa on Dec. 30... The Nighthawks hold the GNAC's top-ranked offense at 79.7 points per game and are settled in at No. 4 defensively by allowing 66.0 points per contest for a +13.7 scoring margin... NNU leads the GNAC with a .448 field goal percentage... Lexi Tubbs (13.3 ppg) and McKenna Walker (12.7 ppg) lead the team in scoring while Danielle Jardine (10.9 ppg) has averaged double digits in scoring while coming off the bench in all 15 contests... Jardine leads the GNAC with a 57.6 field goal percentage... The Nighhawks have three of the league's top threats from 3-point range in Avery Albrecht (No. 1, 48.4), Walker (No. 2, 46.7) and Tubbs (No. 6, 41.0).
ABOUT CENTRAL WASHINGTON (10-8, 6-4 GNAC): The Wildcats open the week in fifth place in the GNAC standings with a 6-4 record in conference action... The Wildcats have rattled off three straight wins to finish the first half of conference play above .500... CWU defeated WOU, 72-65, in Ellensburg on Dec. 19... CWU is ranked No. 4 in the conference by averaging 71.4 points per game but are ranked last on defense by allowing 70.2 points per contest for a +1.2 scoring margin... The Wildcats lead the GNAC with 3.8 blocks per game... Jasmin Edwards and Sadie Mensing share the team lead in scoring with 235 points (13.1 ppg) on the season... Edwards is No. 3 in the GNAC with 4.4 assists per game... Taylor Baird is the No. 8 rebounder in the GNAC at 6.7 boards per game.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (8-8, 4-6 GNAC): The Wolves have split its last three weeks and last six GNAC games to move into seventh place in the GNAC standings... WOU defeated Concordia, 68-51, on Jan. 16 before falling to MSU Billings, 65-56, on Jan. 18... WOU is ranked No. 9 in the GNAC by scoring 69.8 points per game and is No. 8 on defense by allowing 67.8 points per contest... The Wolves lead the conference with a .801 rate at the free throw line, but 11th from 3-point range at 27.0 percent... The Wolves are +2.4 in rebounding margin and No. 2 in the GNAC with 28.0 defensive rebounds per game...
Savannah Heugly leads WOU with 11.4 points per game and is followed by
Sydney Azorr (10.5 ppg) and
Shelby Snook (8.0 ppg)... Heugly also leads th eteam with 5.8 rebounds per game.
BALANCED ATTACK: Seven different Wolves have either led the team or tied for the team lead in scoring in games this season with Heugly leading the team with six such occasions, including three of the last four games... Heugly has WOU's only two 20-point efforts this season after scoring 21 at Central Washington on Dec. 19 and 20 at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 13...
Kennedy Corrigan has the next highest total with a 19-point outburst at CWU on Dec. 19.
FREE THROW LEADERS: WOU is ranked No. 1 in the GNAC and is ranked No. 11 in the NCAA DII with an 80.1 percent rate at the free throw line… The Wolves have converted 241-of-301 attempts from the charity stripe this season... Taisha Thomas is a perfect 15-of-15 from the line this year while
Sydney Azorr (88.9 percent) and
Shelby Snook (85.3 percent) are currently ranked No. 2 and No. 5 in the GNAC... The team's 80.1 rate is currently the school record with the next best finish 77.1 percent during the 2009-10 season.
NCAA DII RANKS: Alaska Anchorage (13-1) was ranked No. 6 in the latest WBCA NCAA DII Coaches' Poll on Jan. 9… The Seawolves collected 470 points and dropped four spots in the rankings after previously holding the No. 2 position… Also representing the West Region was Azusa Pacific at No. 18.
WOU ENTERS REGIONAL RANKINGS: Following the 4-0 start, Western Oregon broke into the top 10 in the NCAA DII SIDA West Region Media Poll on Nov. 27… The Wolves tallied five points in the poll to come in at No. 10… The Wolves fell just outside the top 10 (11th) with three votes in the poll released on Dec. 11.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Wolves will return to the road with games at Western Washington (Feb. 1) and at Simon Fraser (Feb. 3) next week.
3-POINT WATCH: Seniors
Sydney Azorr and
Shelby Snook both reside in the school's all-time DII-era top-10 list for career 3-point makes... Azorr is ranked No. 4 all-time with 101 career makes while Snook comes in at No. 7 with 70 conversions from distance... Sara Zahler (2007-11) holds the DII-era school record with 172 career 3-pointers... Azorr is ranked No. 4 in school history with a .359 rate from 3-point distance while Snook holds a career percentage of .317 for No. 8 all-time.
FAST STARTS: The Wolves 5-0 start to the season was tied for the second best in program history (since 1976-77) and the best since the program transitioned to NCAA DII (2000)… WOU got off to a school record 6-0 start to open the 1983-84 season while the 1986-87 team went 5-0.
WINNING STREAKS: The 1980-81 team won 18 straight contests following a season-opening loss to Portland State while the 1995-96 team won a school record 20 contests en route to winning the NAIA DII National Championship… WOU's longest winning streak during the NCAA era reached nine games during the 2001-02 season.
AZORR'S FREE THROW STREAKS: Sydney Azorr connected on 9-of-9 from the free throw line on Dec. 12 against Southern Oregon and duplicated the effort with nine makes at home against Concordia on Jan. 16… The totals were one shy of the GNAC single-game best this season... After going 6-for-10 from the free throw line in the opening game of the season, Azorr did not miss an attempt from the stripe for more than 13 full games... Azorr's streak ended on Jan. 18 against MSU Billings after 45 straight makes... The streak is a WOU school record and the No. 3 longest in GNAC history.
CALI TRIP: The Wolves played their first road game of the season at Notre Dame de Namur on Nov. 17, coming away with an 8-1-62 win over the Argonauts… The Wolves outrebounded NDNU 48-to-32 with
Kaylie Boschma grabbing a game-high 10 boards.
HAMPTON INN RECAP: The Wolves went 2-0 to start the year for the second straight season with an 81-70 win over Dixie State in the season opener followed by a 70-50 victory against Cal State San Bernardino while hosting the Hampton Inn DII Shootout on Nov. 11-12…
Sydney Azorr led the team with 13.- points per game in the opening weekend and was immediately followed by
Shelby Snook (12.5 ppg).. Snook also grabbed 8.0 rebounds per game over the weekend while
Kaylie Boschma posted an even 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in the two contests… The Wolves were steady at the free throw line in the opening weekend, hitting 48-of-58 for an 82.8 percent conversion rate.
SEVEN RE-UP: The Wolves top seven scorers from the 2016-17 season all return to the club this year with
Shelby Snook (13.6 ppg) and
Sydney Azorr (10.0) averaging double figures… Snook's average was good for No. 8 in the GNAC listings… Overall, WOU returns 1,438 of the 1,660 points (86.6 percent) from last year's team.
HIGH SCORERS: Six different players led the team or tied for the team lead in points in games last season…
Shelby Snook led the team with 13 games where she led the team in scoring and was followed by
Kaylie Boschma (5),
Jasmine Miller (5),
Savannah Heugly (3),
Sydney Azorr (3) and
Ali Nelke (2).
FOR STARTERS: Of the 135 starting spots from last year over the course of the team's 27 games, 128 are returning this season (94.9 percent)… The lone senior last season, guard
Launia Davis, started seven contests and averaged 3.3 points and 1.2 rebounds per game… Four players started at least 20 games a year ago:
Shelby Snook (24),
Kaylie Boschma (23),
Jasmine Miller (22) and
Ali Nelke (22) while
Sydney Azorr was called on for 19 starts.
SNOOK GOES FOR 30: Shelby Snook recorded 31 points against Saint Martin's on Dec. 3, 2016 for a WOU single-game high a year ago… The total tied for the fourth most in a single game by a GNAC player last season… Snook connected on 10-of-17 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range in the 70-56 win over the Saints... Snook reached the mark again with 30 points at MSU Billings on Jan. 14 where she converted 8-of-15 attempts from deep… Her eight makes from beyond the 3-point line was a GNAC single-game high… Snook was one of only four players in the GNAC to record multiple 30-point games last season.
AZORR FOR THREE: Sydney Azorr made at least two 3-pointers in 10 separate games a year ago, including at least four makes on three occasions… Azorr hit a season-best five 3-point attempts at home against Concordia on Feb. 7.
PRESEASON ALL-GNAC: Senior guard
Sydney Azorr was one of 15 players selected to the 2017-18 Preseason All-GNAC Team... Nine guards were chosen out of the top 15 players in the league with all but three honorees entering their senior season.
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2017-18 GNAC Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll |
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Team (1st Place Votes) |
2016 Record (Finish) |
Points |
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1. Alaska Anchorage |
30-2 (20-0, 1st) |
106 |
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2. Seattle Pacific (2) |
19-11 (10-10, T-4th) |
103 |
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T3. Central Washington (2) |
15-15 (9-11, T-6th) |
85 |
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T3. Northwest Nazarene (1) |
12-15 (10-10, T-4th) |
85 |
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5. Simon Fraser |
26-8 (15-5, 3rd) |
78 |
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6. Western Washington |
26-6 (18-2, 2nd) |
76 |
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7. Montana State Billings |
8-20 (5-15, 9th) |
66 |
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8. Concordia |
12-16 (9-11, T-6th) |
55 |
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9. Western Oregon |
9-19 (4-16, 10th) |
33 |
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10. Alaska |
13-14 (9-11, T-6th) |
21 |
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11. Saint Martin's |
5-23 (1-19, 11th) |
18 |
2017-18 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to finish in ninth place according to the GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll… Picking up six first-place votes, Alaska Anchorage was chosen to repeat as conference champions after going 30-2 overall and 20-0 in GNAC play a year ago… Also picking up first-place votes were: Seattle Pacific (2), Central Washington (2) and Northwest Nazarene (1).
2016-17 REVIEW: The Wolves ended last year with an 8-19 overall record and a 4-16 record in GNAC play to place 10th in the league standings… were ranked ninth in the GNAC after scoring 61.5 points per game while also ranked ninth by allowing 69.9 points per contest.
