FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Despite a hard-fought game, the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team fell to the Western Washington Vikings 54-100 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season-opener on Thursday night at the Alaska Airlines Court. The Nooks fall to an overall record of 4-4 and 0-1 in conference play, while the Vikings improve to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in GNAC play.
"They played great defense on our inside game, you know, they made it incredibly tough for Jordan and Kaillee to get shots, as well as having a lot of scrambled possessions," head coach Cody Bench said following Thursday's game. "Our shot selection wasn't very good and they contested them. They played great defense, which took away our ability to score and therefore, we weren't in the game anymore."
Senior forward Kaillee Skjold led the Nooks with 13 points on the night, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-4 from behind the free throw line. Skjold also picked up six assists, four defensive rebounds and two steals on the night.
Senior forward Jordan Wilson and senior guard Jaylee Mays followed up Skjold performance with a 12-point performance each, Wilson's lowest point total in a single-game all season. Wilson shot 6-of-12 from the field, while Mays went 4-of-10 from the floor, 2-of-6 from behind the arc and 2-of-2 from the free throw line, while also registering two rebounds and two steals.
Senior guard Victoria Milton posted a game-high seven assists, the most of any individual player throughout the entire conference on Thursday, while also tallying a team-high six rebounds.
As a team, the Nooks shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor, 17.6 percent (3-of-17) from behind the three-point line and 81.8 percent from the free throw line (9-of-11). Alaska picked up 25 rebounds and 13 assists and five steals from their 11 players who saw the floor. The conference match saw three lead changes, with the Nooks outshooting the Vikings 21-19 after the first quarter. Alaska scored 11 points off of turnovers, six points off of second chances and received 20 points from the bench.
Western Washington had six players register double-digits in scoring on Thursday, led by Hannah Stipanovich, who posted 21 points for a game-high. The Vikings shot 35-of-55 from the field (63.6%), 6-of-15 (40%) from the three-point line and 24-of-26 (92.3%) from the free throw line to seal their first conference win of the season.
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 3 to host the Simon Fraser Clan in another GNAC matchup at the Alaska Airlines Court. Tip-off is slated for 7pm AKST.
"Looking ahead to Simon Fraser, their point guard position is solid, mixed with quite a bit of height," Bench concluded. "They only have two losses so far this season so I'm sure they're going to be geared up and ready for us. I think it's a different team we're facing on Saturday than who we faced tonight, so I'm really hoping our team responds and bounces back for Saturday."
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.
