Jan. 24, 2007
FAIRBANKS, AK - The Alaska Nanooks took home their first conference win in dramatic fashion with a 65-64 decision over Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho Wednesday night. Alaska came back from a six-point halftime deficit with some stiff defense and got some huge plays down the stretch from junior Kari Reabold (Fairbanks, AK) to take home their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference win.
"It was definitely a battle. But we earned it," head coach Lynne Andrew said. "We got a lead and gave it up but we worked really hard and got the monkey off our back. It feels great."
Down 33-27 at the half, the Nanooks burst out of the gates in the second half and used an 11-2 run over a three minute stretch to go up 51-40 with 12:45 left. But NNU wouldn't go quietly and battled back to tie the game four times. The last tie came when NNU's Brittany Roggenkamp made a jumper knot it at 63 with 1:31 left and set up an exciting finish.
After a miss by the Nanooks, the Crusaders had the ball with a minute left and a chance to win. Danielle Dwello missed a three with 29 seconds left but Alaska's Mia Seagraves (Long Beach, CA) turned the ball over to give the home team another chance.
Reabold finished with a game-high 17 points for the Nanooks but it was her two blocks and two late free throws that won the game for Alaska.
The 5-11 junior rejected an Ahlee Thomas jumper with 19 on the clock, recovered the loose ball and was fouled by Roggenkamp with six seconds left. Reabold sank both free throws to put the Nanooks up 65-63.
Nazarene's Lindsay Brady was blocked by Reabold with time winding down but Thomas recovered the board and was fouled by Joscelyn Shumate in ensuing confusion. That put Thomas, a senior who shoots 77 percent from the line, on the stripe alone with a chance to send the game to overtime.
The 6-foot forward made the first but missed the second enabling the Nanooks to snap their five-game losing streak. The Nanooks were playing their third road game in seven days and were winless in five GNAC contest thus far.
"It's been a long road trip but there's no better way to end it than with win," Andrew said. "We gave everything we had to win this game and the girls are exhausted. They stepped up and dug deep to get the win."
The Nanooks held Dwello and Janee Olds, NNU's two top scorers, to a combined 2-of-20 from the field. Alaska held Nazarene to just 30 percent shooting for the game. The Crusaders are winless in six games when Dwello failed to score double figures including her six point struggle against the Nanooks.
"We mixed up our defenses to stop them from getting touches and the touches they did get we got a lot of pressure on them. Every shot they took we had good pressure on them," Andrew said. "They tried to go to Dwello late in the game and have her pound it in but they just bellied up and made take tough shots."
Freshman Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, WA) scored 12 points and grabbed eight boards, while sophomore Sheena Brown (Fairbanks, AK) added 10. Senior Karen Rabung (Nikiski, AK) had nine points and seven rebounds and teamed with Shumate to shut down Dwello inside.
The Crusaders had been 7-2 on their home court including conference wins over the University of Alaska Anchorage, Saint Martin's and Western Oregon. The win over UAA handed the Seawolves their first defeat of the season.
The Nanooks return to the Patty Center for a showdown with rival UAA Saturday night. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m. AST. All UAF students and children eighth grade and younger get in free.
