Basketball - W | 2/24/2015 12:14:00 PM
BURNABY, BC. – Simon Fraser University senior
Katie Lowen from the women's basketball team has been named to the 2014-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Basketball Academic all-conference team for the second straight year.
Lowen carries a 3.29 grade point average and is working towards her Bachelor of Business Administration degree. The senior guard from Lethbridge, AB, is one of 21 SFU student-athletes who have been named to Academic All-Conference teams to date during the 2014-15 season.
Lowen has started all 25 games for the Clan this season and is third on the team in scoring averaging 12.1 points per game. She has scored 73 three-pointers this season and ranks 14
th in NCAA Division II averaging 2.92 threes per game.
SFU will play its final conference game before playoffs on Feb. 28 in Bellingham against Western Washington. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. Both teams have already secured spots in the GNAC tournament which starts next Wednesday with the quarterfinal rounds.
Simon Fraser is locked-in to the fourth seed with a 10-7 conference record while WWU still has a chance to clinch a first-round bye at 12-5. The Vikings, who cannot finish below the third seed, are a half game behind Seattle Pacific for a first-round bye.
This border battle is against two of the top three scoring teams in the GNAC.
The Clan is led by the GNAC's all-time leading scorer in
Erin Chambers. The senior forward averages 23.7 points per game, which also ranks second nationally.
Meg Wilson is the force underneath, making 55 percent of her shots while collecting 8.5 rebounds each game.
Ellen Kett leads the GNAC, and ranks fourth nationally, in assist/turnover ratio.
Western Washington has one of the more balanced offenses in the GNAC. Six players have led the Vikings in scoring in 26 games this season while four average at least 11.1 points per game. The Vikings also rank in the top 10 in the country in field-goal percentage, three-point efficiency and free throw percentage.
This contest is a rematch of the first conference game of the season back on Dec. 6 where Simon Fraser held on for a 74-71 win in Burnaby, BC.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament will be held March 4-7 in Billings, Montana. No. 1 ranked Alaska (15-1), Seattle Pacific (12-4), Western Washington (12-5) and Simon Fraser (10-7) have qualified for post-season heading into the final week of the GNAC conference schedule. Two more teams will qualify to bring the conference tournament playoff field to six, with the top two teams earning opening round byes.
The GNAC, PacWest and California Collegiate Athletic Association champions earn berths into the NCAA tournament along with five West Region at-large teams that will make the regional field. The NCAA will announce the West Region participants, as well as the regional host, on Sunday, March 8. NCAA Region play will begin Friday, March 13 at a site to be determined.
