FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Juniors Jaylee Mays and Kaillee Skjold combined for nearly half of the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball point total on Saturday afternoon, as the duo led the Nanooks to their first victory of the 2015-16 season by defeating Dixie State, 83-73, at the Alaska Airlines Court.
Mays followed up her 26-point outing against Stanislaus State with another 20-plus point effort on Saturday, as the Hardesty, Oklahoma native scored 22 points and nailed 10-of-11 free throws to help Alaska capture its first win of the season. Skjold in the meantime, enjoyed her first double-digit scoring game of the 2015-16 season, as she hit 7-of-13 from the floor to turn in a 19-point performance.
The pair of juniors did most of their damage in the third and fourth quarters, as Skjold scored 15 while Mays collected 14 in the final two frames. Their efforts sparked Alaska to a come-from-behind victory on Saturday, as the Nanooks erased a four-point deficit out of the break to collect a 10-point win over the Red Storm. Head coach Cody Bench's team shot a blistering 53.6% in the second half to mount the comeback and forced Dixie State into 21 second half turnovers.
"Our second half defense really pushed the pressure, which led to some easy baskets," said Bench. "We came out with a lot of fire and energy in the second half and that was the difference in the game. We told the girls at half that our defense was going to dictate our offense in the final quarters and they stepped up and made plays."
Senior Arinesha Smith also ended with double-digits in the scoring category, as she scored 15 points. Like Mays, most of her damage came at the charity stripe, as she scored 11 of her points from the free throw line. The 5-f5 Mays tied the 6-1 Stephanie Toumson for the team lead in rebounds, as they each collected nine. Sjkold also collected seven boards in the win, but Dixie State outrebounded the Nanooks 50-46, as Taylor Mann grabbed a game-high 16 caroms.
Alaska held an 11-10 lead after the first period, but the Red Storm took a 10-point lead early midway through the second after a Sandria Bolden 3-pointer. The Nanooks closed the gap to two points after a Cassi Williams trifecta, but Mann netted the last shot of the frame to give DSU a four-point lead at half.
Skjold gave the Nanooks their first lead of the third quarter with a layup at the 4:49 mark. The two teams battled back and forth over the next few minutes before Alaska used a 6-0 run to take 46-40 advantage. In the fourth quarter, Skjold went on a personal 11-0 run half way through the fourth to extend Alaska's lead to 10. Alaska would keep its lead around the 10-point mark for the remainder of the quarter as they sealed the 83-73 victory.
The Nanooks open a three-game, four-day road trip to Hawai'i next weekend, as they'll take on BYU-Hawai'i, Chaminade University and Hawai'i Hilo next Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Alaska opens with a 7 p.m. contest against BYUH on Wednesday.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter.
