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FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Alaska did something it had not done in almost four years on Saturday at the Patty Center -- complete a week sweep of conference opponents as it downed visiting Western Oregon 69-68 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game. This win follows a 63-52 victory from Thursday against Saint Martin's.
“I'm really proud of the team, going bucket for bucket with Western Oregon,” head coach
Cody Burgess said. “At the end of the day, we got the win, the team improved we have two in row so I'm really proud of them.”
The Nanooks (6-13, 2-7 GNAC) led 67-62 with 1:09 to go, but a three-pointer by
Lorrie Clifford with 28 seconds to play trimmed the lead to a pair at 67-65. On the ensuing inbounds, it took nine seconds for the Wolves (4-15, 3-6 GNAC) to foul junior
Taylor Altenburg (Elko, Nev./College of Southern Idaho) and she converted both tries to double the lead to 69-65. On WOU's next possession, Clifford was fouled with 3.3 seconds remaining on a three-point try. She sank all three from the stripe, cutting Alaska's advantage to a single point at 69-68.
Freshman
Kelly Logue (Fair Oaks, Calif./Bella Vista) received the ball off the inbounds and was fouled with 0.9 to go. After missing her first free throw, she missed the second attempt off the back iron and senior
Nicole Bozek (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak), who was the lone Nanook amongst four WOU players, managed to sneak in and get the offensive rebound, thus running out the clock.
“We're not satisfied, we need to get some more [wins],” Altenburg said following the one-point victory. “We're going to get some more. This was a little taste of what we can do and we definitely can learn from both of these games. We'll come in Monday and practice and get prepared for the next weekend.”
Freshman
Nicole Hartzog (Beaverton, Ore./Beaverton) led all scorers with a game-high 18 points, to go with five steals, while Bozek had 14 points and Altenburg added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Altenburg also made a game-high nine free throws on 10 attempts.
“Taylor is a good shooter because she's earned it,” Burgess said. “We do competitive free throws and she's at the top of the free throw ladder.
As a team, Alaska shot just under 42-percent (25-60) from the floor and despite only making one three-pointer, it scored 18 points from the free throw line on 24 attempts (.750). WOU was 45.5-percent (25-55) from the field and controlled the boards by a 40-35 margin. They only converted two-thirds of its free throws, making 14 of 21 from the stripe. The 'Nooks outscored the Wolves 36-24 in the paint and had plenty of scoring off the bench with 27, as opposed to Western's 11 coming from reserves.
Clifford paced WOU with a team-high 17 points, while
Melissa Fowler and
Amber Reade also posted double-figure scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Rylee Peterson fell one point short of a double-double as she garnered 10 rebounds and
Jade Haas contributed seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Both teams opened the contest shooting the ball particularly well. Neither squad led by more than five points (Alaska 7-2) in a first half that saw only one lead change and four ties. A jumper by WOU's Fowler with one second left tied the game at 37-37 at halftime.
The Wolves opened the second with five quick points in 1:27 for their largest lead to that point at 42-37. Leading 57-51 with 7:22 left in regulation, Hartzog hit the lone Alaska three to spark a 9-0 run that spanned just less than two minutes, giving the lead back to the Nanooks at 60-57 with 5:05 left. After a Fowler bucket to cut the lead to one, Altenburg answered with a fast-break layup and a few free throws to extend the lead to 65-59.
The Nanooks continue their four-game homestand next Thursday when playing host to Central Washington at 7 p.m.
“Right now we want to focus on the next game and take care of business one game at a time,” Burgess said. “This is a step in the right direction, knowing we're capable. We've gone through everybody in conference, so we're expecting other teams to know what we have just as much as we are prepared for what they have, which I think will make for better competition.”
