Box Score
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Despite a career night from redshirt senior center Nicole Bozek (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak), West Liberty shot just under 50-percent for the game and was able to fend off Alaska 80-69 in women's basketball on day two of the 2011 Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at the Patty Center.
“I think that was a great team [we played] and our team battled hard,” head coach Cody Burgess said. “We got down, fought back and that's all you can ask for. At the end of the day they shot 48-percent, we tried to counter it and convert when we needed to, but you can't be disappointed with hard work.”
Four Hilltoppers (4-2) scored in double figures, led by guard Hillary Southworth, who had a team-high 19 points. Guard Kayla Ayers got in foul trouble early, but finished strong with 16 points and eight rebounds. Forward Emily Blevins and guard Briana Kamarec contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Bozek led all scorers with 28 points, which tied a career-high and she finished one rebound shy of a double-double yet again.
“I look at the stat sheet and I get upset because I didn't get a double-double for the third game in a row by one rebound, so honestly I need to work harder on my rebounding,” Bozek said. “Someone needs to step up and lead this team and I figure if I go hard, other people will want to do what I do. I strive every game to lead by example.”
Senior forward Autumn Greene (Lewiston, Idaho/Centralia CC) and senior guard Jeni Gabriel (Stayton, Ore./Walla Walla CC) each had nine points, while freshman guard Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./El Camino Fundamental) added seven off the bench.
WLU shot 48.1-percent (25-52 FG) from the floor and converted on 23 of 30 free throw attempts (76.7%). Alaska struggled from the field, shooting just 32.3-percent (20-62) but managed to also get to the line 30 times, draining 25 of them (83.3%). The Nanooks won the rebounding battle by a slim 38-36 margin and controlled the offensive glass 16-9. Bozek led all players with four offensive boards. Both defenses pressured the opposition into 42 combined turnovers, with each team committing 21 apiece.
The 'Nooks led 24-21 just over the midway point of the first half until the Hilltoppers went on a 9-0 run to grab a 30-24 lead with 6:23 to play. The lead stretched to 10 three times, but Alaska closed the frame with four straight in the final 18 seconds to trail 39-33 at the break.
In the second half, West Liberty used an 11-4 surge that spanned 4:44 to give it the largest lead of the game at 58-41 with 12:31 remaining. A 10-2 run by Alaska got it back to single digits at 60-51 with 10:32 to go. Trailing 64-54 with just under six and half minutes left on the game clock, the Nanooks used a full-court press to force turnovers and scored 14 of the game's next 21 points to trim the WLU lead to three at 71-68 with 2:37 left. The 'Nooks would not make another field goal the rest of the way as WLU scored nine in a row to hold on for the win.
“We got fired up at one point because at one point when it starts to get down like that, people get down, but I never doubted our team,” Bozek said. “If you keep reminding everyone on your team that you're good, the closer the game got, we started saying we got this, but the game rolled away from there.”
Alaska returns to action Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against Lenoir-Rhyne, which won 76-64 earlier in session two against Western State. West Liberty and Western face off at 5:15 p.m. A Lenoir-Rhyne win would give the Bears a clean sweep and the tournament title.
“[Lenoir-Rhyne] is a tough team, but that's how I like them,” Burgess said. “I don't think anything in this tournament has been easy but we don't expect it to be easy. Our kids have a lot of passion and a lot of fire. They really want to win and play hard in front of their home crowd and I'm proud of them for that. I expect tomorrow night to be very competitive.”
