HILO, Hawai'i -- The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team concludes its three-game, four-day trip to Hawai'i with an 87-55 win over Hawai'i-Hilo this afternoon. The Nanooks finish the trip with a 2-1 record, as they got a pair of 20-point performances from senior Stephanie Toumson and junior Jordan Wilson.
The pair of forwards followed up their double-double effort against Chaminade with a pair of season-high performances in points. Toumson scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The 6-1 forward had a strong performance from the charity stripe, as she hit eight of her 12 attempts and grabbed a game-high nine caroms. As for Wilson, the All-GNAC preseason selection hit all 11 of her field goal attempts to collect a season-best 23 points.
"They are pretty relentless," said head coach Cody Bench of her post players. "It was good to see how aggressive they were being. They both got in a good position and opened themselves up to allow the guards to feed the post. They are both really hard workers, so it was nice to see our guards reward them for all their effort."
The duos performance helped Alaska to a 36-22 advantage in points in the paint and led to a 55 percent shooting performance on the night. The Nanooks defense forced 22 Hilo turnovers, which led to 29 points. Junior Kaillee Skjold had a career-high five steals in the 32-point victory.
"Our goal was to win early, and that meant stepping up the defensive effort and getting off to a good start," stated Bench. "We had 14 points in the first two minutes of the game thanks to some tips and steals."
Alaska got production from its entire roster on Saturday, as all but one of the 10 players who played scored.
"We got to see a lot of different combinations out there today. We took advantage of the opportunity to get everyone some minutes," expressed the head coach.
The Nanooks return to action next Thursday, as they'll host the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at Alaska Airlines Court. The three-day tournament opens on Thursday afternoon and will feature Alaska, Northwood University (Mich.), Sonoma State and Wisconsin-Parkside. The Nanooks will open the Invitational with a 3 p.m. contest against Sonoma State.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter.
