Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Freshman guard
Victoria Milton (Lansing, Mich./Business Administration) provided 17 points off the bench as Alaska led most the way to earn its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory with a 75-64 win at Central Washington Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Nanooks (7-4, 1-2 GNAC) ended a three-game losing skid and won for the second straight year in Ellensburg while the Wildcats (5-6, 0-3 GNAC) remained winless in league play.
"Our team defense was definitely better than it has been in the past few games," head coach
Cody Bench said. "We took away Central's three-point line, a team that averages seven a game, and held them to just one."
Milton produced the majority of her points from the free throw line, where she shot 11-of-12, while also adding four rebounds and three steals.
"Her performance is what we need day in and day out from her," Bench said. "We've encouraged her to be more aggressive offensively and less aggressive defensively, since she's prone to foul but it was a good performance all around by Victoria."
Freshman forward
Jordan Wilson (Henderson, Colo./Business Administration) scored 13 points to go with eight rebounds and senior forward
Ruth O'Neal (Fort Washakie, Wyo./Justice) added 10 points and four boards. Junior guard
Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./Communication) was also one point and one assist shy of a double-double with nine in each category.
Alaska shot 46.2 percent (24-52 FG) from the field while limiting Central to just 34 percent (18-53 FG) shooting. The 'Nooks held a 42-35 rebounding advantage and had 14 assists, to CWU's seven. They also held Central, the league's leading three-point team to just one trey.
"The game was won and lost at the free throw line and we put the ball into the hands of our best guards, Victoria and Benissa and both converted," Bench said.
Central led 6-4 in the early going but a three pointer by junior guard
Candace Prestwich (Murray, Utah/Business Administration) with 15:31 remaining in the first gave the Nanooks the lead for good at 7-6. The Nanooks later increased the margin to eight at 16-8 with 10:26 left after going on a 7-0 run spanning nearly three minutes. It was 31-19 late in the frame but a 6-0 surge by the Wildcats in the closing 2:25 trimmed the gap to six at 31-25 heading into the break.
The 'Cats opened the second with a 6-2 run to climb to within two at 33-31 and later got to within one at 38-37 with 15:05 remaining in the game but a layup by junior forward
Delisa Chapman (Palmdale, Calif./Justice), followed by an old-fashioned three-point play by Milton gave Alaska a 43-47 edge with over 14 left.
Leading 52-49, freshman forward
Autumn Childers (Dewey, Ariz./Civil Engineering) was fouled on a three-point attempt and cashed in on all three tries, sparking a 9-2 run, that was capped off by a triple by senior forward
Samantha Thornton (Bremerton, Wash./Business Administration) with five minutes left, giving Alaska a 61-51 lead. The Nanooks led by as many as 16 points late and Central never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
"It's critical to success to have others step up," Bench said of the reserve play. "Coming off three losses, I emphasized that we needed to be confident in our shooting and it transferred over tonight."
Central's balanced offense was paced by
Jasmine Parker and
Daisy Burke, who each scored 10 points in the loss. Parker also added a team-best seven rebounds and two blocks.
Alaska returns to action Saturday evening when it takes on 17th-ranked Northwest Nazarene at 7 p.m. (MST) in Nampa, Idaho. The Crusaders (9-2, 2-1 GNAC) downed Alaska Anchorage 86-80 earlier Thursday.
