University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The Alaska women's basketball team plays its first home games in three weeks as it hosts the 2013 Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Dominican University of California, Lees-McRae College (N.C.) and Wayne State College (Neb.) will all participate in the 12th installment of the tournament.
 
The round-robin tournament will be composed of three two-game sessions, one each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sessions begin at 2 p.m. each day with a neutral site game between two of the three visiting teams, then close with an Alaska Nanooks game at 4 p.m.
 
Alaska (4-1) opens tournament play Thursday against Dominican (Calif.) at 4 p.m. The Nanooks take on Lees-McRae at 4 p.m. Friday, and then close the tournament at 4 p.m. Saturday against Wayne State.
 
Alaska has never won the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational, though it has finished second in six of the previous 11 tournaments. The Nanooks were the runner-up three times when the invitational was still an NCAA Division I competition from 2001-04.
 
Alaska returns to the Patty Center after its four-game road trip to Hawaii, where it went 3-1 en route to its best start since 2007-08. The Nanooks ran their record to 4-0 for the first time since 2000-01 before suffering their first loss of the season on Nov. 19 60-58 at Hawaii Hilo.
 
Freshman forward Jordan Wilson (Henderson, Colo./Business Administration) has been the Nanooks' go-to player out of the gate this season. She's the only player on the team averaging double-digit scoring with 18.6 points per game – fourth-best in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. She's also pulling down a team-high 7.4 rebounds a game.
 
But the Nanooks have had plenty of other contributors through the season's first five games, both in the starting lineup and off the bench. Junior guard Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./Communications) and freshman guard Victoria Milton (Lansing, Mich./Business Administration) are both averaging 7.6 points per game and have combined for 23 assists and 20 steals.
 
Junior guard Kelly Logue (Fair Oaks, Calif./Journalism) has collected 12 steals and 10 assists, both second-best on the team, while averaging 6.6 points per game. Junior forward Delisa Chapman has been a consistent contributor down low, starting all five games and averaging 5.0 rebounds and 5.4 points per contest.
 
Alaska has outscored opponents this season by an average of 12 points, holding them to 58.4 points per game while scoring 70.4 itself. The Nanooks have held opponents to 20.6 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line and 34.7 percent overall.
 
Game #6: Dominican (Calif.) vs. Alaska – Thursday, Nov. 28 at 4 p.m. (AKST)
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The Penguins (0-3) have opened the 2013-14 season with three straight losses, all to teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. After a season-opening loss to then-No. 17 Chico State, Dominican (Calif.) dropped two games at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge hosted by San Francisco State.
 
Salonika Quewon-Owens is averaging a double-double with 12.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. She also leads the team in steals (8) and blocks (3). Danielle Yamauchi has dished a team-high 11 assists. The Penguins are averaging 56.7 points a game while allowing 83.0, a scoring margin of -26.3.
 
Game #7: Lees-McRae vs. Alaska – Friday, Nov. 29 at 4 p.m. (AKST)
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The Bobcats (2-3) are off to one of their best starts in the last five seasons with two wins in their first five games. Only their 4-0 start in 2011-12 tops that. Lees-McRae has yet to win away from home, going 2-0 in Williams Gymnasium and taking two losses on opponents' courts and one on a neutral court.
 
All five starters return from last year's Lees-McRae squad that went 9-16, including leading scorer Layana De Souza, who averaged 11.9 points per game last season. Lauren Lewis is the Bobcats' current leading scorer with 14.8 points per game. Kerri Belcher returns as the team's top rebounder from a year ago (7.2 rpg) after starting all 25 games last season. Alyssa Munson and Kabrina Truesdale also return.
 
Game #8: Wayne State College vs. Alaska – Saturday, Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. (AKST)
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The Wildcats (5-0, 1-0 NSIC) are coming off an upset 70-65 win over No. 11 Augustana Monday. Wayne State was just outside this week's WBCA Top 25 Poll, receiving 64 votes, which would unofficially rank them No. 29 in the country.
 
Wayne State is averaging 86.2 points per game while allowing a league-low 49.6 points per
contest so far this season. The Wildcats are shooting 49.5 percent from the field, 32.7 percent behind the 3-point line and 79.1 percent from the free throw line. Jordan Spencer leads Wayne State in scoring at 22.0 points per game to rank third in the NSIC. Millie Niggeling (11.6) and junior guard Ashton Yossi (11.2) also average in double digits for the Wildcats.