The GNAC women’s basketball tournament gets underway tonight at Marcus Pavilion with a pair of games between four ridiculously evenly matched teams beginning at 5:15 PM.

Game one matches third seed Montana State Billings with sixth seed Seattle Pacific. The two teams finished just one game apart in the conference standings at 11-7 and 10-8 respectively. The game features two of the best underclassmen in the GNAC – the Yellowjackets’ Bobbi Knudsen and the Falcons’ Katie Benson.

Bobbi Knudsen

Knudsen, a junior out of Malta, Montana, was second in scoring for the second year in a row with 17.6 points per game and led the conference in assists per game with 6.1 and was a first team all-conference selection for the second year in a row.

Benson was also named first team all-conference following her 16.9 points per game, 7.8 rebounds per game effort this season. The junior forward from Snohomish was co-freshman of the year in 2010 and second team all-conference in 2012.

The two teams split their season series, the first game going to the Yellowjackets in Billings, 66-56, behind 19 points and 7 assists from Knudsen. The Falcons returned the favor in Seattle with a 76-71 win behind 25 points from Aubree Callen.

Megan Hingston

Fourth seed Alaska Anchorage takes on fifth seed Northwest Nazarene in game two scheduled to tip at 7:30 PM. The Seawolves feature one of the best guard/forward combos in the conference in Sasha King and Alysa Horn while the Crusaders have arguably the best guard combo in the GNAC with scoring leader Megan Hingston and Chelsie Luke.

Both teams finished the regular season at 11-7 in conference play and split their season series with each team taking one game on the other’s home court. Northwest Nazarene got 43 points from Hingston and Luke in the first game in Alaska as they cruised to a 76-49 win but Sasha King tied a conference record with nine three pointers in the Seawolves’ 94-82 win in Nampa.

If you can’t make it to Marcus Pavilion this evening, both games can be seen on GNACSports.com with Jeff Rosenberry and me, Brandon Sparks, on the call.

Ticket info and more can be found here.