Feb. 22, 2007
Box Score
Fairbanks, AK - The Alaska Nanooks couldn't fully overcome an early Northwest Nazarene run in a 76-62 loss in the final game of the season at the Patty Center Thursday night. Behind by double digits early, the Nanooks (9-16 overall, 4-10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) battled back to within striking distance on multiple occasions but the bounces never went the home team's way and the Crusaders (15-10, 9-5) never let the lead fully slip away.
The loss put a damper on the final game in blue-and-gold for Alaska's two seniors: four-year post Karen Rabung (Nikiski, AK) and two-year point guard Mia Seagraves (Long Beach, CA).
Rabung scored a career-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, grabbed six rebounds, ripped three steals and handed out two assists before fouling out with a 1:39 left. The effort earned Rabung Toyota Player of the Game honors. Seagraves had seven points, a game-high four assists, three boards and three steals while playing the whole 40 minutes.
Freshman Caitlyn Rohrbach (Edmonds, WA) continued her solid play in GNAC games to finish with 16 points and six rebounds, while junior Kari Reabold (Fairbanks, AK) picked up a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Post Kristin Hein scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead NNU. Wing Lindsay Brady and forward Nicole Schutte came off the bench to grab six boards each and score 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Crusaders bench outscored the Nanooks back-ups 33-7.
With the score 6-4 Nazarene a little more than three minutes in, the Crusaders forced 10 Alaska turnovers during a ten-minute, 20-7 run. A three-pointer by Krista Oliver made it 26-11 with 6:52 in the half.
Just when it looked like things might get out of hand, Alaska rattled off a 17-9 spurt that closed it to single digits at the half. Rabung scored six in the half-closing run to make 35-29 at the break.
The momentum carried over in to the second-half as the Nanooks tallied six straight to tie the game on a Rabung jumper. After an NNU bucket, Rabung answered with a lay-up to make it 37-37 with 17:22 left.
That would be the closest Alaska would get, as the Crusaders rattled of a 9-0 run to take control. The Nanooks made it a two-possession game twice but NNU used runs of 9-2 and 11-0 to answer each call. The latter run put the visitors up 74-58 with 39 seconds left.
The Nanooks will have almost a full week off before heading to the Northwest to finish GNAC play on the road at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. Alaska and the Wolves will tip-off Thursday at 4:30 p.m. AST in Monmouth, Oregon. Then the Nanooks close the year by squaring off against Saint Martin's at 6:00 p.m. AST in Lacey, WA.
