Women's Basketball | 11/17/2016 2:25:00 PM

PUEBLO, Colo. – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team continues the nonconference portion of their schedule this weekend, with a pair of games at the Al Kaly Shrine Classic at the Massari Arena on the Colorado State University at Pueblo campus this Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19. The Nooks will take on CSU-Pueblo on Friday at 3pm AKST, before facing Western State on Saturday at 11am AKST.

Tournament	Al Kaly Shring Classic (Hosted by CSU-Pueblo)
Opponents	Colorado State Univ. at Pueblo | Western State
Dates & Times	Friday, Nov. 18 at 3pm AKST | Saturday, Nov. 19 at 11am AKST
Location	Massari Arena | Pueblo, Colorado
Follow Along	Live Stats (Both Days): HERE | Live Stream (Friday Only): HERE
Social Media	Twitter | Facebook

Alaska Projected Starters:
#1 Victoria Milton (Sr./G/Lansing, Mich.)
#21 Sanni Salonen (So./F/Littoinen, Finland)
#23 Jordan Wilson (Sr./F/Thornton, Colo.)
#24 Autumn Childers (Sr./G/Dewey, Ariz.)
#32 Kaillee Skjold (Sr./G/Kasilof, Alaska)

Last Time Out
Last weekend, the Nanooks hosted the Academy of Art and Cal State LA at the Alaska Airlines Court for the West Region Challenge in accordance with Alaska Anchorage. The Nanooks kicked off the 2016-17 season with a sweep against the West Region teams, defeating Academy of Art 93-69 on Friday before downing Cal State LA 75-59 on Saturday.

Nanooks WBB Ranked in DII West Region Poll
For the first time in program history, the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team has been ranked in the DIISIDA West Region Poll after a pair of wins against West Region opponents last weekend. The Nanooks received 14 votes to rank ninth in the poll, alongside five other Great Northwest Athletic Conference teams (UAA, WWU, SFU, SPU and CWU).

Nooks Named Red Lion/GNAC Team of the Week
Since the beginning of the 2014-15 season, the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team was named the Red Lion/GNAC Team of the Week after their two wins last weekend over Academy of Art and Cal State LA. The Nanooks are off to a hot start in the early season, after posting a 12-18 overall record last year.

Al Kaly Shrine Classic
Alaska is one of six participating teams in CSU-Pueblo's Al Kaly Shrine Classic Nov. 18-19, alongside the CSU-Pueblo Thunder Wolves, the Western Stats Mountaineers, the Tarleton Texans and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Mountain Lions. The Nooks and the Texans will never face one another in the four-game tournament, as they take on CSU-Pueblo and Western State and flip-flop opponents the following day. The CSU-Pueblo men's basketball team will face UCCS on Friday night in accordance with the Classic.

Shooting High
The Alaska Nanoosk currently rank first in the conference in free throw percentage with .862 (56-of-65), 3-point field goal percentage with .560 (14-of-25) and offensive rebounding with a 25.0 average per game (50 total).

Skjold Makin' Noise Early
Senior forward Kaillee Skjold is off to a hot start to her senior season, as the Kaskilof, Alaska native ranks in the GNAC top-three individually in four startistical categories. Skjold leads the conference in defensive rebounds with 12.0 average per game and rebounding in general, averaging 12.5 per game. Additionally, Skjold ranks third in scoring (18.0 point per game) and second in the GNAC in minutes, averaging 36.0 per game. Last weekend, Skjold recorded two back-to-back double-doubles, unofficially extending her double-double streak to three-straight games including the exhibition against Boise State on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Wilson Chipping In
Senior forward Jordan Wilson is also ranked high in the early 2016-17 individual conference statistics, tying for third in rebounding (8.0 rebs/GP), tying for first in free throw percentage (1.00, 13-of-13) and fifth in defensive rebounds per game (6.0 rebs/GP).

Senior Leadership
Besides Wilson and Skjold, three other Nanook seniors have made their names noticeable on the scoresheet, with Jaylee Mays leading the conference in field goal percentage (.750), Victoria Milton ranking third in assists (6.0 A/GP) and Autumn Childers tying for first in free throw percentage (1.00, 6-of-6) and tying for third in 3-point FG percentage (.667).

Scouting the Opponent – Colorado State University at Pueblo (0-0 overall)
The Thunderwolves are currently on a two-game winning streak, sweeping Texas A&M at Commerce 81-58 on Friday, Nov. 11 before defeating Lubbock Christian (Texas) 65-61 on Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Denver Cherry Creek Classic.

Sophomore Molly Rohrer is currently leading CSU-Pueblo's offense, averaging 16.0 points per game, with senior guard Jaszymn Johnson and Tuileise Anderson following closely behind averaging 14.5 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. Junior guard Katie Cunningham leads the team in rebounds, averaging 10.0 per game, while also posting a 5.0 assist per game average as well.

Scouting the Opponent – Western State (0-0 overall)
This weekend's games will be the first of the 2016-17 season for the Mountaineers, as they have only played two non-conference exhibition games thus far. Last week, Western fell 48-71 to Air Force on Sunday, Nov. 6 before falling to Grand Canyon 48-68 on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The Mountaineers were led by Brianna Wilber and Kaylynn Bush, who each registered 20 points in the two contests. Sydnie Lengyel currently leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game, while a trio of players have recorded three assists thus far.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Women's Basketball team page on Facebook.