Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Offense has not been a problem for the Alaska women's basketball team this season. The Nanooks are averaging 72.4 points per game, their highest average in 13 years.
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Saturday the Nanooks scored over 70 points for the seventh straight game and 11th time this season, but it wasn't enough to overcome the fast-break offense of Western Washington, as the Vikings pulled away from the Nanooks to win 92-80 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at Carver Gym.
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Alaska (8-9, 2-7 GNAC) stayed close to the Vikings for much of the first half, including leading on two occasions midway through the opening period. The Nanooks overcame a 10-point deficit to take two separate one-point leads, marking the third time in four games Alaska stormed back from being down double digits.
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But turnovers and fouls caused by pressure from WWU's up-and-down game would allow Western Washington to slowly pull away for a nine-point halftime lead and build to a double-digit advantage in the second half. The loss was Alaska's fourth in a row and eighth in their last 10 games.
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Western Washington (11-6, 7-2 GNAC) outscored Alaska 22-8 on the fast break Saturday and attempted more than twice as many free throws, as the Nanooks were called for nearly twice as many fouls as the Vikings (23-12). The Vikings went 23 for 33 from the free-throw line compared to Alaska's 10 for 16 showing.
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Alaska got a career-high 19 points from junior guard
Candace Prestwich (Murray, Utah/Business Administration) off the bench. She hit a game-high five 3-pointers, including a go-ahead trey at the 10 minutes, 16 seconds mark of the first half to give Alaska a 21-20 lead.
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Freshman forward
Jordan Wilson (Henderson, Colo./Business Administration) poured in 17 points and had four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. Senior forward
Samantha Thornton (Bremerton, Wash./Business Administration) scored a season-high 11 points and freshman guard
Victoria Milton (Lansing, Mich./Business Administration) added 10 for the Nanooks.
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Western Washington had five players score in double figures, led by Sydney Donaldson's game-high 22. Taylor Peacocke went 7 for 9 from the floor and 4 for 6 from the charity stripe for 18 points off the bench. Jenni White had 14 and both Katie Colard and Sarah Hill had 11 each.
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Alaska went on a 17-6 run in the first half to take its first lead of the game, 21-20. The Nanooks hit three straight 3-pointers during that run, one from Prestwich and two from Milton. They would stay within three points of the Vikings for the next 5:56 before WWU went on a 10-4 run to close the first half and lead 39-30 at halftime.
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Western Washington pushed its lead to 13 out of the break, but Alaska trimmed it to seven twice on free throws from Wilson, who went a perfect 5 for 5 from the line. But a quick 9-2 run turned that lead into 14, and it would never drop below double digits again. WWU led by as many as 17 with 5:44 to play thanks to another short 6-0 run. That stretch was powered by three straight fast-break layups by Donaldson and Colard.
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Alaska returns home next week for two games against GNAC opponents Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday.
