Dec. 8, 2006
St. Cloud, Minn. - The Alaska Nanooks limited St. Cloud State star center Erika Quigley but couldn't overcome the No. 8 ranked Huskies in an 81-72 defeat at Halenbeck Hall. Quigley, a 6-2 center who averages 22 points and 11 rebounds, was held to 15 points and nine boards before fouling out with four minutes left. But junior Kayla Rengel, who averages 5.9 points a game, picked up the slack with 24 points and eight rebounds to lead St. Cloud (7-3) over Alaska (4-4).
Freshman forward Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds ,WA) topped the Nanooks with a career-high 17 points and eight rebounds. Senior post Karen Rabung and junior forward Joscelyn Shumate ended the game in double digits with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Both Rabung and Shumate had seven rebounds, as the Nanooks won the battle of the boards 45-39 over the bigger Huskies.
While Quigley struggled, so did the Nanooks star trio of junior guard Kari Reabold (Fairbanks, AK) along with sophomore guards Sheena Brown (Fairbanks, AK) and Cristina Bruketta (Ellensburg, WA). The Alaska threesome was held to a combined 17 points, well below the nearly 40 points they normally produce.
Sophomore post Jackie Carlson collected a double-double for the Huskies by with 13 rebounds and 10 points, while sophomore guard Heather Miller chipped in 11 points off the bench.
The Nanooks stayed close in the first half taking the lead four different times including the final time at 30-28 on a Rohrbach lay-up with 1:43 left in the first. Rengel, a 6-0 guard, answered with a three-pointer 22 seconds later to send St. Cloud into the locker room up 31-30.
A Rohrbach jumper with 17:41 left tied the game at 39 but St. Cloud respond with a four-minute long 16-6 run. The Nanooks would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Alaska edged St. Cloud in rebounds and field goal percentage (47% to 38%) but was plagued by 24 turnovers and 59 percent foul shooting in the loss.
