PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second year in-a-row, Montana State University Billings senior Alisha Breen has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year, as the conference office announced its 2017-18 preseason all-league team on Thursday.
 
Breen was a unanimous selection to the preseason all-conference team, and received 7 of 11 votes for the league's top honor from the coaches. Fellow senior Rylee Kane was also named to the preseason all-conference team.
 
"It's very special that Alisha was able to get this award again, and it shows great respect for her abilities from the other schools in our league," said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. "She has worked so hard to return to action at a high level with her rehab over the past year, and I have been very impressed with her progress. Sitting out a year enabled her to see the game from a different view, and she has the potential to be even better this year."
 
Breen is the first player in GNAC history to be named Preseason Player of the Year twice, since the award's inception prior to the 2012-13 season. She is the second Yellowjacket to garner the honor, after former All-American Bobbi Knudsen was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year in 2013-14.
 
GNAC Preseason Player of the Year History

Season	Player	School	Actual	School
2012-13	Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe	Simon Fraser	Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe	Simon Fraser
2013-14	Bobbi Knudsen	MSU Billings	Bobbi Knudsen	MSU Billings
2014-15	Erin Chambers	Simon Fraser	Erin Chambers	Simon Fraser
2015-16	Megan Mullings	Alaska Anchorage	Megan Mullings	Alaska Anchorage
2016-17	Alisha Breen	MSU Billings	Taylor Peacocke	Western Washington
2017-18	Alisha Breen	MSU Billings	--	--

 

2016-17 marked the first year in GNAC history that the Preseason Player of the Year did not go on to win the regular-season Player of the Year award.

Breen missed the entire 2016-17 season with a knee injury, which she suffered during the team's second exhibition contest last November. She was a first-team all-conference selection in 2015-16 as a junior, after leading the GNAC with 17.4 points per game while also averaging 5.4 rebounds. She was named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association preseason All-American before sustaining her injury last fall.
 
The Choteau, Mont., native enters this season with 1,210 career points, 15th most in MSUB history. She has played in 93 games and is a career 43.9 percent shooter from the field, and helped the 'Jackets to NCAA regional tournament appearances as a freshman in 2013-14 and as a junior two years ago.
 

One of the top point guards in the conference, Kane is coming off an honorable mention all-GNAC season after averaging a career-best 11.4 points and tying for the second most assists in the league with 5.4 per game. Entering her final year with the 'Jackets, Kane is No. 6 in school history and No. 11 in GNAC history with 384 career assists.
 
"Rylee has established herself as a top point guard in our league, and is now in her fourth year as a starter," Woodin commented on the Red Lodge, Mont., native who has started all 88 games in her career. "I am most proud of the leader she has become, in addition to becoming a better player. I look for her to have an outstanding senior season leading our team on and off the court."
 
The Yellowjackets begin their 2017-18 season with a pair of games in San Francisco on Nov. 10-11 against the Academy of Art University and Holy Names University. MSUB will play an Alumni Game on Thursday night at Alterowitz Gym at 7 p.m., before an exhibition game against University of Montana Western on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and an exhibition matchup at Rocky Mountain College on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. View the team's full 2017-18 schedule online here.
 
MSUB went 8-20 in 2016-17 and finished in ninth place in the GNAC with a league record of 5-15.