>>> GNAC WEEKLY NOTES
MONMOUTH, Ore.—The Western Oregon University women's basketball team will close out the regular season on the road this week with GNAC games at Seattle Pacific on Feb. 22 and at Saint Martin's on Feb. 24. Both road games are scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m.
ABOUT SEATTLE PACIFIC (19-6, 13-5 GNAC): The Falcons have clinched the No. 3 position in the GNAC tournament... With two games remaining, SPU can not move up or down in the standings.... SPU defeated WOU, 87-52 in Monmouth on Dec. 2 in the first week of conference play... The Falcons hold the league's No. 3 offense at 71.5 points per game and the GNAC's No.1-rated defense by holding its foes to 60.5 points per game for a +11.0 scoring margin... Jordan McPhee leads the team and is ranked No. 7 in the GNAC with a 14.4 points per game scoring average... Teammate Julia Haining is the conference's No. 3 rebounder at 7.5 boards per contest.
ABOUT SAINT MARTIN'S (7-19, 3-15 GNAC): The Saints enter the week in 10th place in the GNAC standings and will finish in that role no matter the outcomes in the final two games of the season... WOU defeated SU, 72-66, in Monmouth on Nov. 30... The Saints are ranked 10th in the GNAC with a 64.6 scoring average and 11th on defense by allowing 71.4 points per game... SMU has three players averaging double figures with Elin Johansson leading the way with 14.9 points per game... Saniah Simpson-Patu (14.4 ppg) and Makenna Schultz (12.8 ppg) add a scoring punch for SMU with Schultz coming off the bench for the majority of the season.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (11-13, 7-11 GNAC): The Wolves swept its two road contests last week with a 65-62 win at Concordia on Feb. 13 and a 77-65 win at MSU Billings on Feb. 17... WOU has won three of its last four games... The Wolves enter the week in a three-way toe for seventh place in the GNAC standings along with Concordia and Simon Fraser... WOU sit one game back of Western Washington for the No. 6 spot in the conference standings... WOU is ranked No. 9 in the GNAC by scoring 65.7 points per game and is No. 8 on defense by allowing 68.2 points per contest... The Wolves are second in the conference with a .795 rate at the free throw line... The Wolves hold a +1.2 in rebounding margin, good for No. 6 in the conference...
Savannah Heugly leads WOU with 11.4 points per game and is followed by
Sydney Azorr (10.4 ppg) and
Shelby Snook (10.0 ppg)... Heugly also leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
BALANCED ATTACK: Eight 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,
Shelby Snook with seven and
Sydney Azorr with six.
20-POINT GAMES: WOU players have posted five 20-point games this season with
Shelby Snook and
Savannah Heugly each posting two such lines... Four days after reaching the mark with 20 points against Concordia (Feb. 13), Snook scored a WOU season-best 25 points in a road win at MSU Billings on Feb. 17... Heugly scored 21 against Central Washington (Dec. 19) and 20 at Alaska (Jan. 13)...
Sydney Azorr's 22 points against Alaska Anchorage (Feb. 10) is the lone 20-point performance established at home this season.
FREE THROW LEADERS: WOU is ranked No. 2 in the GNAC and is ranked No. 11 in the NCAA DII with an 79.5 percent rate at the free throw line… The Wolves have converted 468-of-463 attempts from the charity stripe this season... Taisha Thomas is 20-of-21 (95.2 percent) from the line this year while
Sydney Azorr (73-of-82, 89.0 percent) and
Shelby Snook (60-of-68, 88.2 percent) are currently ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the GNAC... The team's 79.5 rate is currently the school record with the next best finish 77.1 percent during the 2009-10 season.
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.
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 113 career makes while Snook comes in at No. 6 with 84 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 .354 rate from 3-point distance while Snook holds a career percentage of .314 for No. 9 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 81-62 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.
