University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Box Score FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Bobbi Knudsen led a quartet of Yellowjackets in double figures Saturday with 24 points and Janiel Olson tied a Great Northwest Athletic Conference season-high with 17 rebounds, as Montana State Billings defeated Alaska 83-46 at the Patty Center.
 
The Yellowjackets (6-3, 1-1 GNAC) used an 11-0 run across 6 minutes, 10 seconds, in the first half to turn a six-point game into a 17-point advantage at 37-20. They would go on two separate runs of 14-2 in the second half to grow their lead – and margin of victory – to 37.
 
Freshman forward Jordan Wilson (Henderson, Colo./Business Administration) was the Nanooks' (6-4, 0-2 GNAC) lone double-digits scorer with 10 points and eight rebounds. It was her third straight game with at least eight boards and fifth in her last six. Junior guard Kelly Logue (Fair Oaks, Calif./Journalism) led Alaska with three assists to go with eight points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
 
Even though Montana State Billings outshot Alaska 44.6 to 29.5 percent and attempted 19 more free throws, the difference was not in those numbers, but rather on the boards. The Yellowjackets outrebounded the Nanooks 54-30, including a 21-11 advantage on the offensive glass, which turned into 22 second-chance points.
 
Olson grabbed 12 of her 17 rebounds in the defensive end to help contribute to the Yellowjackets' total, which ranks as the fourth-most by a team in the GNAC this season. Olson also scored a season-high 18 points. Chelsea Banis (13) and Quinn Peoples (11) were also in double figures for MSUB.
 
Senior forward Samantha Thornton (Bremerton, Wash./Business Administration) had a season-high nine points and also grabbed two rebounds. She scored five points in a 39-second span during the first half to keep the Nanooks within single digits of the Yellowjackets. A layup by Logue at 13:28 cut it to six, but MSUB pushed its lead back to double digits with six straight points over the next 2:37.
 
Alaska would again shave down its deficit to six at 26-20 with 8:43 to play before halftime thanks six consecutive points of its own, but that was as close as it would get for the rest of the game. Montana State Billings ran off 11 unanswered points in 4 minutes of game time to take a 17-point lead at 37-20.
 
The Yellowjackets' first 14-2 run in the second half started at the 10:30 mark on a Banis layup. Olson had six points, including one of her three 3-pointers in the game, during the run. The run turned an 11-point lead into a 23-point advantage at 62-39.
 
Their second 14-2 run pushed a 25-point lead to a 37-point gap thanks to contributions from four different players. The run started with 3:30 left to play and lasted until the game's final bucket – a jumper by MSUB's Tenika Capouch with 34 seconds left on the clock.
 
Alaska now enters a 3 1/2-week holiday break before resuming GNAC play in 2014 on the road. The Nanooks travel to Central Washington on Jan. 2, 2014, then face Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 4, 2014.