>>> GNAC WEEKLY NOTES
MONMOUTH, Ore.—After back-to-back weeks at home, the Western Oregon University women's basketball team will return to the road this week to face Western Washington and Simon Fraser.
ABOUT WESTERN WASHINGTON (8-13, 4-8 GNAC): The Vikings split their week's games last week with a 66-59 loss at Alaska Anchorage followed by a 46-38 win at Alaska Fairbanks... WOU defeated WWU, 54-50, at home on Jan 6... The Vikings were picked to finish sixth in the GNAC's preseason poll after taking runner-up honors a year ago... WWU is ranked ninth ni the GNAC by averaging 65.2 points per game and fourth defensively buy allowing 64.6 points per game... Hannah Stipanovich leads the team with 12.6 points per game and is followed by Gracie Castaneda (10.3 ppg) and Dani Iwami (10.1 ppg)... Anna Schwenke is ranked fourth in the GNAC with 7.5 rebounds per game and third in the league with 1.2 blocks per game.
ABOUT SIMON FRASER (9-11, 4-8 GNAC): SFU has lost four of their last five games with their win a 77-61 victory at Alaska on Jan. 25... The Clan defeated Western Oregon, 81-67, in Monmouth on Jan. 4... Simon Fraser has the GNAC's No. 5-ranked offense at 70.3 points per game and 11th defensively after allowing 69.9 points per game for a +0.4 scoring margin... Sophie Swant leads the team and is ranked No. 5 in the GNAC with 14.5 points per game... She is followed by Nicole VanderHelm (12.9 ppg) and Tayla Jackson (11.3 ppg)... Swant also leads the team with 5.8 rebounds per game.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (8-10, 4-8 GNAC): The Wolves have dropped three straight games but remain tied for seventh place in the GNAC standings and just one game back for sixth... WOU is ranked No. 8 in the GNAC by scoring 65.4 points per game and is No. 8 on defense by allowing 68.7 points per contest... The Wolves are second in the conference with a .797 rate at the free throw line, but 11th from 3-point range at 26.4 percent... The Wolves hold a +1.3 in rebounding margin...
Savannah Heugly leads WOU with 12.1 points per game and is followed by
Sydney Azorr (9.9 ppg) and
Shelby Snook (8.6 ppg)... Heugly also leads the team with 6.0 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 eight such occasions, including five of the last six 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. 2 in the GNAC and is ranked No. 11 in the NCAA DII with an 79.7 percent rate at the free throw line… The Wolves have converted 267-of-335 attempts from the charity stripe this season... Taisha Thomas is a perfect 15-of-15 from the line this year while
Sydney Azorr (89.3 percent) and
Shelby Snook (85.0 percent) are currently ranked No. 2 and No. 5 in the GNAC... The team's 79.7 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 remain at home next week with games versus Alaska (Feb. 8) and Alaska anchorage (Feb. 10)... Saturday's game against the Seawolves will be the final home game of the season for the Wolves as the team closes out the regular season with four road games.
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. 6 with 74 conversions from distance... Sara Zahler (2007-11) holds the DII-era school record with 172 career 3-pointers... Azorr is ranked No. 5 in school history with a .349 rate from 3-point distance while Snook holds a career percentage of .318 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.
