Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Despite a career-high night that saw senior center
Nicole Bozek (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak) surpass the 1,000-point career mark, it wasn't enough for Alaska to overcome Western Washington, as it fell 93-80 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball matchup Thursday at Carver Gymnasium.
“Our team played substantially better than they had been in the past couple games,” head coach
Cody Burgess said. “Unfortunately Western shot the lights out in the first half and the lead got away from us pretty good, but we fought back.”
Bozek tied game-high honors with a career-best 29 points and by doing so, she became the 47th GNAC women's basketball player and just the eighth Nanook since the conference was born to achieve 1,000 points in a career. She now stands at 1,027 points, which is 44th on the all-time list.
“
Nicole Bozek had an outstanding game and she fought very hard,” Burgess said. “Congratulations to her for breaking the 1,000 points barrier.”
The Vikings (11-3, 5-1) had five score in double figures, led by
Kristin Schramm, who tied Bozek with 29 points after making six of seven three-point attempts. She also posted a double-double with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Corinn Waltrip had 21 points for WWU, while
Trishi Williams (14),
Katie Colard (13) and
Kayla Bernsen (10) also contributed double-figure scoring. Bernsen was a rebound shy of a double-double, while Williams was two off 10 boards.
As a team, Western shot 46.5-percent (33-71) for the game, including a remarkable 62-percent from long range, having made 13 triples, 12 of which came in the first half. It also dominated the boards by a 52-33 margin, including 17-11 on the offensive glass which allowed for 24 second-chance points.
The Nanooks (4-12, 0-6 GNAC) shot 37-percent (26-70) from the floor and drained eight treys to shoot 40-percent from the beyond the arc. They were also 20 of 24 from the free throw line.
Aside from Bozek, who was one rebound away from a double-double, three others scored in double figures. Freshman
Nicole Hartzog (Beaverton, Ore./Beaverton) continued her nice rookie campaign with 17 points and four steals, while senior forward
Autumn Green (Lewiston, Idaho/Centralia CC) returned from a hand injury for 11 points and junior forward
Jacqueline Lovato (Gunnison, Colo.McCook CC) contributed 10 points, respectively.
It looked as if the rout was on early as Western used a 22-5 run in less than a span of five minutes to grab a 33-15 lead. Alaska surprised the hosts as it answered with 19 of the game's next 24 points to bring the Nanooks to within four at 38-34 with just over four minutes to go. WWU came right back with a mini-run and took a 53-43 lead at halftime.
“When Western started hitting its outside shots, we changed up our defense and the women responded,” Burgess said of the team's run to close the gap in the first. “They caused and created turnovers, which essentially gave us open looks.”
UAF got the deficit down to seven twice, but with the score standing at 61-54, the Vikings tallied seven straight to double the lead at 68-54 with 14:22 left. Teams traded baskets but the Nanooks never climbed closer than 10 the rest of regulation.
The 'Nooks are back in action Saturday night at 6 p.m. Pacific when they visit Burnaby, B.C., for a meeting with Simon Fraser. The Clan are coming off a stunning 77-69 victory against eighth-ranked Alaska Anchorage on Thursday.
“The league's a mess right now with so many different teams beating each other,” Burgess said. “It's time for us to contribute to that. Saint Martin's upset Simon Fraser last weekend and it hadn't won a conference game yet so I think there's a lot of opportunity in this conference. With tonight's effort, we proved we can compete with some of the better teams and hopefully we carry that through this weekend.”
