GNAC Release
PORTLAND, Ore. – On Wednesday, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference unveiled their 2018-19 Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches Poll, which tabbed the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team to finish 11th at the conclusion of the upcoming season.
The Nanooks, who are coming off a 4-22 overall mark from the 2017-18 season, earned 12 points to place 11th in the conference. The rank in this year's Preseason Coaches Poll drops Alaska back one spot from their 10th-place ranking in the 2017-18 Preseason Poll.
After finishing last season in 11th place in the GNAC with a 0-20 conference record, the Nanooks return 10 players from the 2017-18 roster, including three starters in senior guard
Emily Evans, senior guard
Angela Murnion and junior guard
Kylie Wallace.
The Nanooks will look to make an improvement this season under first-year head coach
Kerri Nakamoto with help from second-year assistant coach
Jessie Craig. The Nanooks welcome back the majority of last year's roster, including junior forward
Ashlie Blackburn, sophomore guard
Kaylyn Kelly, redshirt-sophomore
Markie Miller, junior guard
Brittany Richards, sophomore forward
Samantha Saccomen, junior guard
Sabrina Ungaro and senior forward
Marian Wamsley.
Alaska has one newcomer on the roster in freshman guard Julie Amaktoolik.
Only two teams earned first-place votes in the Preseason Coaches Poll including Northwest Nazarene (6) and Alaska Anchorage (5). NNU edged UAA for first place in the Coaches Poll 116 points to 115 points. Simon Fraser and Western Washington tied for third place with 83 points each, while Central Washington rounded-out the top-five with 77 points.
Closing out the GNAC Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches Poll was Concordia (76 points), Seattle Pacific (55 points), Montana State Billings (46 points), Saint Martin's (36 points), Western Oregon (27 points) and Alaska.
Points are awarded on an 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with each head coach submitting a vote.
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team host their annual Alumni game this Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Alaska Airlines Court at 3pm AKDT. The event is free and open to the public.
Unofficially, Alaska will kick-off the 2018-19 season on Tuesday, Nov. 6 as they host NCAA Division I opponent, the University of Oregon Ducks at the Alaska Airlines Court at 7pm AKDT. Tickets are available at the Alaska Nanooks Ticketing Office located in the lobby of the Patty Center or online here >>
http://bit.ly/2PCWbir.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Women's Basketball team page on Facebook.
