Simson Garcia | Sports Editor
Two foes head into town on Jan. 25 and 27 to play the women’s basketball team. Enter first the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks who don a 12-3 overall record and 8-2 conference mark, both good for third place in the GNAC.
Enter the Central Washington Wildcats who are in the middle of the pack of the GNAC, presenting a 10-8 overall mark while creating a 6-4 conference figure.
Historically since entering the NCAA-DII era in 2000, Western’s been unable to gain advantage when facing these two opponents. The Nighthawks have produced a dark cloud over the Wolves via the 10-7 record through visits to the campus. And the head-head battle favors the Nighthawks overall at 23-12.
To show for it this season, Northwest Nazarene has been an offensive juggernaut, sporting the highest points per game average in the GNAC at 79.7. The rain over Monmouth may remain if the Wolves can’t hone in on NNU’s field goal percentage, another league best at .448. And two markswomen from the perimeter for Northwest Nazarene are number one and two in the league. In that category, Avery Albrecht is shooting at 48-percent and while Mckenna Walker is making 46-percent of her attempts.
In their past encounter on Dec. 30, Northwest Nazarene displayed this feat draining three-pointers throughout to get the blowout victory, 94-67.
The previous Wolves’s confrontation with Central Washington on Dec. 19 also included difficulty. They dealt with the Cats’s full court press defense unsuccessfully and turnovers turned in a final score of 72-65 which made it eight straight games in favor of the ‘Cats. Central Washington looks to front that defense again as they lead the league with 3.8 blocked shots per game.
Western has a few things in store to fight off their opponents. The 8-8 Wolves have a balanced offensive attack and get to the free throw line with efficiency, where they lead the GNAC in that shooting category. They also fare better playing at home at 6-3. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
