Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University basketball teams are in action again this weekend  in a total of four games as the women hit the road with a two game winning streak, and the men return home to Burnaby in hopes of nabbing their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference win of the season.   Fans can tune into the games by following the links on the Clan's home page: athletics.sfu.ca

Women vs Northwest Nazarene
 
The Clan women embark on another road trip this weekend as they head to Idaho and Washington, following two important wins at home.

Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm they will play Northwest Nazarene University, in hopes of building their winning streak.

This will be the Clan's first meeting with the Crusaders who have been silently creeping up the GNAC standings over the past couple weeks.  NNU now sits in third spot in the conference rankings, one spot behind SFU.

NNU boasts a 5-2 GNAC record, while the Clan are 6-1 in the conference, but NNU is on a five-game win streak heading into the match.

The Clan will need to focus their attention on Crusader Megan Hinston who is the conference leading scorer, averaging 20.3 points per game.  The Clan's highest scorer is Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, with an average of 15.6 points per game.

The Crusaders follow the Clan's conference leading offence closely in second place averaging 73.1 points per game, just behind SFU's 76.4, so both teams will need to focus on the defensive side of the game to come out on top.

Men vs Alaska - Fairbanks

The Clan men return home to face the two Alaska teams, beginning with University of Alaska – Fairbanks at 7:00pm on Thursday, January 24.

The Nanooks boast a 5-2 GNAC record, while the 0-7 Clan are still looking for their first conference win of the season.

It will be a tough game for the home side as UAF are the conference leaders in defence, allowing an average of 64.9 points per game.  The Clan offence will need to be extremely productive in order to make get in the game.

UAF's Dominique Brinson averages 16.1 points per game, just ahead of Clan player Taylor Dunn with 14.6, so the two will need to lead their teams' offensive efforts.

With the home crowd on their side the Clan just might have the energy and motivation to get their first conference 'W' and send the Nanooks home with a road loss.

Women vs Central Washington

Following an important Thursday match against NNU, the SFU women will travel to Ellensburg, WA to take on the 3-4 Central Washington University at 5:15pm Saturday, January 26.

Central Washington will be the Clan's final GNAC competitor before they repeat games, so the SFU will be looking to end the first portion of the season with a big win over the Wildcats.

CWU has the third best defence in the GNAC, so it may prove to be a tougher battle for the Clan offence than the past few games.  

Jessica VanDyke will be the Clan's focus on defence, the junior averages 15.9 points per game for the Wildcats.

If the Clan can capitalize on all their opportunities and break through the Wildcat's defence, they should be able to pull off a win and head home to face both Alaska teams the following weekend with an excellent team morale.

Men vs Alaska – Anchorage

Still at home, the SFU men will be taking on University of Alaska – Anchorage Saturday, January 26 at 7:00pm.

The Seawolves are currently fourth in the GNAC and boast a conference record of 4-3.

It will be the two teams' first meeting of the season, and the Clan will be hoping to give them a loss on the road.

UAA sits just ahead of the Clan in scoring offence averaging 73 points per game to SFU's 71.9.

To win the game the Clan will have to focus on getting through the tough Seawolves defence who allow only 68.4 points per game.

The visitors only have one athlete in the top 20 GNAC scoring, so if the Clan`s top performers can work together, a team effort may be what it takes to deal UAA a loss.