Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Dixie State shot over 50-percent from the floor and had four players score in double figures en route to a 77-62 women's basketball victory over Alaska in the season opener for both teams on Friday night at the Patty Center.
Sheila Adams scored a game-high 21 points and garnered a team-high six rebounds to lead the Red Storm (1-0). Erica Hayes and Becca Thomas each scored 14 points, while Chanel Maxey had 10, respectively.
For the Nanooks (0-1), redshirt senior center
Nicole Bozek (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak) fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine boards. Junior guard
Taylor Altenburg (Elko, Nev./College of Southern Idaho) tied Bozek with 14 points and added six rebounds. Senior forward
Autumn Greene (Lewiston, Idaho/Centralia CC) also tallied double figures with 10 points.
Dixie State shot 53.7-percent for the game, compared to Alaska's 28.3-percent. DSC won the rebounding war by a narrow 40-39 margin, but committed one more turnover (19) than Alaska (18). The 'Nooks shined from the free throw line, making 27-of-32 attempts (84.4%), while Dixie struggled from the charity stripe, missing nine of 24 attempts (60.9%).
“The aggressiveness is important, we're in a very competitive conference and there's a lot of things we need to do to get to that line,” head coach
Cody Burgess said. “It really helped us stay in the game. When we weren't hitting buckets, we were still getting to the free throw line, so that's a positive thing. If we continue that effort and aggressiveness, our shots wills start dropping and the game will come to us a little bit easier.”
Alaska led 13-8 early in the first half before Dixie State went on an 8-1 run, capped off by a Hayes' 3-pointer, to take a 16-14 advantage with 12:19 to go in the half. The Red Storm took their biggest lead of the frame at 34-22 with just under five to play before halftime, but the Nanooks got to within single digits as they trailed 43-34 heading into the locker room.
DSC extended its lead back to double digits by opening the second with an 8-3 run in the first 3:30. Trailing 59-44 with 10:40 to go, the 'Nooks scored eight in row to trim the lead to seven at 59-52 with a little less than eight minutes remaining.
A 10-2 Dixie run over the next four minutes gave the visitors back the 15-point lead at 69-54 and Alaska never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
The Nanooks return to action tomorrow evening at 5 p.m. when they welcome in Minot State to the Patty Center.
“[Minot] runs a lot of different offense and they'll probably zone us a little bit more [than Dixie State],” Burgess said. “What matters is that we bring our game, we execute our game plan and I think we're going to have a lot more determination especially after tonight .”
