FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Alaska's three seniors,
Nicole Bozek,
Jeni Gabriel and
Autumn Greene, will play in their final two home games this week as the Nanooks (6-17, 2-11 GNAC) host Simon Fraser and Western Washington in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.
Thursday's game against the Clan (13-7, 8-4 GNAC), which tips off at 7 p.m., will also be the team's Play 4Kay game to raise awareness of breast cancer. The team will wear pink warm-up shirts as well as a pink lapel pin on their jerseys.
Burgess Video Preview
Alaska will honor its senior trio prior to Saturday's 3 p.m. start against the Vikings (15-5, 9-3 GNAC), as Bozek, Gabriel and Greene will be playing in their final game at the Patty Center.
“The season's coming to an end and we want to play together as a team and be competitive in front of our fans,” head coach
Cody Burgess said. “Obviously we want to recognize breast cancer awareness with our pink game on Thursday night and honor our seniors on Saturday. We want to finish strong, be a team and show how much we've improved.”
Last week, the 'Nooks dropped an 88-72 decision at Montana State-Billings, before falling just short in their upset bid on Saturday at Seattle Pacific, 69-62.
Nicole Bozek led the team with 17.5 points per outing, including a game-high 21 points at SPU. She got to the free throw line 25 times in the two games, converting on 21 attempts.
Nicole Hartzog averaged 12.5 points per game and was a perfect from the charity stripe, making all 11 free throw tries.
Taylor Altenburg also contributed double figures with 12.0 points per game and led the team with 7.0 rebounds.
In the GNAC rankings, Bozek is the league's fourth-leading scorer (16.2 ppg), while ranking fifth in free throw percentage (.817), sixth in blocks (0.9 bpg) and eighth in rebounding (7.9 rpg). Hartzog is the top-scoring freshman in the conference with 11.0 points per game as well as ranking second in the entire league in steals (2.5 spg) and eighth in free throw percentage (.807).
Altenburg ranks fourth in free throw percentage (.819) while
Kelly Logue is 10th in steals (1.7 spg), 13th in assist-turnover ratio (1.1) and 15th in assists (2.3 apg).
Jacqueline Lovato also makes the cut in 12th in three-point percentage (.366).
Game 24: Alaska (Game Notes) vs. Simon Fraser
When: Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m.
Where: Fairbanks, Alaska (Patty Center)
Live Stats
Video: NMTVSports (Free Streaming)
About Simon Fraser: Located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, Simon Fraser University was founded in 1965 and has an enrollment of 30,000 students. Known as the lone NCAA-affiliated school in Canada, the Clan enters this week with a 13-7 record and 8-4 mark in the GNAC.
SFU averages 66.2 points per game while allowing 62.2 points in its 20 games this season. As a team, it shoots 41.7-percent from the floor, while its opponents shoot 39.4-percent. The Clan holds a slim 36.5 to 35.2 rebounds advantage on average.
Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, the league's leading scorer and rebounder, leads three SFU players in double figures with 17.6 points and 13.5 rebounds per game.
Kristina Collins (11.4 ppg) and
Chelsea Reist (10.3 ppg) also average double-figure scoring.
Coach: Bruce Langford is in his 11th season at the helm of the SFU women's basketball program. He led the Clan to a 7-17 record (4-14 GNAC) in the team's initial NCAA season last year as they advanced to the first round of the GNAC Tournament. Prior to SFU's transition, he led his squad to a two consecutive CIS national titles.
Game 25: Alaska (Game Notes) vs. Western Washington
When: Saturday, Feb. 11 at 3 p.m.
Where: Fairbanks, Alaska (Patty Center)
Live Stats
Live Audio (KCBF 820 AM)
Video: NMTVSports (Free Streaming)
About Western Washington: Located in Bellingham, Wash., Western Washington University was founded in 1893 and has an enrollment of 14,979 students. The Vikings enter Thursday with a 15-5 overall record and a 9-3 mark in conference play.
WWU averages 73.4 points per game while allowing 64.0 points through 20 games this season. As a team, it shoots 45.4-percent from the floor while allowing opponents to shoot 37.4-percent. The Vikings are dominant on the boards, holding a rebounding edge of 42.0 to 33.6 rebounds per game.
Two players score in double figures for this very balanced offense.
Kristin Schramm leads the team with 12.7 points per game, while
Corinn Waltrip scores 12.4 points per game. Three others score between 7.0 and 9.8 points per outing.
Britt Harris is the squad's leading rebounder with 6.3 per contest.
Coach: Carmen Dolfo (Western Washington '86) is in her 21st season at her alma mater and is the winningest coach in school history with a career record of 439-166 entering this week. She has directed the Vikings to 15 20-win seasons and 19 post-season appearances, including one national semifinal appearance.
