Jan. 18, 2007
Seattle, WA - The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team lost a shootout to Seattle Pacific 85-73 at the Brougham Pavilion in Seattle Thursday night. The Nanooks (5-10 overall, 0-4 GNAC) trailed by just three points at the half but the Falcons (10-4, 4-0) took control with a second half surge to earn a Great Northwest Athletic Conference win.
Sophomore guard Sheena Brown (Fairbanks, AK) led three Nanooks in double figures with 19 points but was limited to just two in the second half. Junior wing Kari Reabold (Fairbanks, AK) tallied 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while junior post Joscelyn Shumate (Fairbanks, AK) added 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting and five boards.
Guard Jackie Hollands scored a game-high 21 points and dished out seven assists to pace SPU. Forward Jessie Christensen added 13 points off the bench, while post Rachel Strand and guard Autumn Fielding chipped in 10 apiece. Strand also had seven boards and four blocks, while frontcourt mate Kelsey Hill finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
The Falcons, who rode the hot-hand of Hollands (5-of-7 on threes), used runs of 8-2 and 6-0 to break the game open in the second frame. The latter run put the home team up 76-57 after a Fielding lay-up with 8:32 to go.
Alaska chipped away by outscoring SPU 16-7 over the next seven minutes to pull within 83-73. The Falcons turned the ball over and missed the front-end of two bonus free throw situations but the Nanooks went cold and missed their final five shots.
The first half was back and forth as both teams held leads before the Falcons took a 41-38 lead into the break. Alaska used a 6-0 run to take a 34-32 lead with 3:40 left in the half. Reabold started the run with an and-one lay-up and, after a Mia Seagraves (Long Beach, CA) steal, Brown nailed a triple. Brown kept Alaska in the game with 17 first half points.
Alaska continues their first GNAC road trip with a match-up at Central Washington in Ellensburg, WA 6:00 p.m. AST Saturday night. Live stats are available on the web for the game at WildcatSports.com.
