Hanson and Kane garner All-GNAC honors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Birgitta Gray O: (406) 896-5917 E: birgitta.gray@msubillings.edu March 1, 2017 Hanson and Kane garner All-GNAC honors MSUB Women’s Basketball on Facebook | MSUB Women’s Basketball on ISSUU | GNAC Release

For the first time in her career, MSUB’s Rylee Kane earns all-GNAC honors.

MSUB’s Tiana Hanson and Rylee Kane earn all-GNAC honors.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Senior Tiana Hanson and junior Rylee Kane from the Montana State University Billings women’s basketball team garnered all-conference accolades the Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced Wednesday.

Hanson, a 6-foot forward from Shepherd, Mont., was named Second Team All-GNAC while Kane, a 5-foot-6 guard from Red Lodge, Mont., was named to the Honorable Mention All-GNAC list.

“Both Tiana and Rylee had very good seasons for us,” MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. “It is nice to see them recognized by the other coaches in our league for their on-court accomplishments. I felt both of them worked extremely hard in the off-season. Rylee’s assist to turnover ratio was impressive and she did a great job of directing our team this year. Tiana definitely established herself as one of the best post players in our league. “ Hanson finished the regular season the only player in the league to be top-4 in both points (4th, 17.4 pg) and rebounds (3rd, 7.2 pg). She was also third in blocked shots at 1.2 per game and eighth in shooting percentage at 50.3 percent.

From the free-throw line, Hanson shot 157 for 181 on the season, ending the year fourth in the GNAC at 86.7 percent.

She was eighth in conference minutes played, averaging 33.0 per game.

Hanson notched seven double-doubles this year, including a career-high 29 points at home against Simon Fraser (12 rebounds). She recorded the third-best GNAC game this season with a career-high 14 rebounds (17 points) at Saint Martin’s. From the free-throw line, Hanson holds the top-2 spots in the GNAC for this season’s single-game highs. She posted 15 (18 attempts) at Western Oregon and 14 (15 attempts) during Senior Night against Northwest Nazarene. She had four perfect outings from the charity stripe with a high 10 for 10 against Concordia Ore. on Jan. 12.

Last week, Hanson posted a career-high five blocks against Central Washington, which is the second-best game total in the GNAC this season. Hanson’s seven double-doubles are the second highest in the conference this year.

Kane posted a GNAC third-best 5.4 assists per game and was fifth in assist to turnover ratio at 1.7. The point guard was 16th overall in points, averaging 11.4 and ninth in steals with 1.7 per game. The third-year starter for the Yellowjackets averaged the second-highest minutes on the court per contest with 35.2.

This season, Kane increased her scoring average by four points (7.4-11.4). She earned a career-high 25 points against Western Oregon on Jan. 14 on the third-highest field goals made in the GNAC this season at 12.

Kane recorded two games in double-digit assists this season. She notched 10 in the win over Cal Poly Pomona on Nov. 19 and tied the MSUB single-game best 13 at home against Central Washington on Feb. 23.

In career assists, Kane has amassed 384, which moves her to No. 6 all-time at MSUB and has her tied for 11th in GNAC history.

In the classroom, Kane and Hanson were both named academic all-conference honorees. With a 4.00 cumulative grade point average in elementary education, Hanson was recently named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® NCAA Division II team, becoming just the third Yellowjacket in MSUB women’s basketball history to garner the accolade.

Western Washington’s Taylor Peacocke was named the GNAC Player of the Year. Senior Autumn Williams from Alaska Anchorage was selected the Newcomer of the Year while teammate Kiki Robertson was named Defensive Player of the Year. Simon Fraser’s Ozi Nwabuko was awarded Freshman of the Year honors.

MSU Billings closed out their season with four straight home games, ending the year against Northwest Nazarene last Saturday. The Yellowjackets finished their season 8-20 and 5-15 in the GNAC.

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Tiana Hanson guarding SFU’s Ozi Nwabuko

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