Women's Basketball | 1/11/2017 5:59:00 PM

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – After splitting on the road last weekend, the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team welcomes Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington to the Alaska Airlines Court for a two-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference Series this Thursday, Jan. 12 and Saturday, Jan. 14. Tip-off for both games is scheduled for 7pm AKST.

Alaska Projected Staters
#1 Victoria Milton (5.2 PPG, .392 FG%, 4.5 APG)
#12 Jaylee Mays (12.6 PPG, .455 3FG%, .477 FG%)
#22 Lexi Carpenter (2.8 PPG, 1.9 RBPG)
#23 Jordan Wilson (22.7 PPG, .598 FG%, .902 FT%, 6.1 RBPG)
#32 Kaillee Skjold (14.5 PPG, .381 FG%, 9.5 RBPG, 4.1 APG)

Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks pulled off a last minute comeback on Thursday, Jan. 5 to defeat Concordia 79-74 in Portland. The Nooks continued their GNAC road trip by taking on the Western Oregon Wolves on Friday, Jan. 6, falling 72-67 to the Wolves in Monmouth.

Wilson Continues to Lead
Senior forward Jordan Wilson combined for a GNAC-best 50 points over the course of both games last week, including a 30-point game in Friday's loss to Western Oregon. Wilson's 30-point performance ties her season-best, which she's accomplished four times already throughout the 2016-17 season. Additionally, Wilson's 13-field goals-made against WOU becomes the new single-game high within the GNAC this year.

Entering this week, Wilson remains ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring, averaging 22.7 points per game. The Thornton, Colorado native sits in eighth place in all of NCAA DII in field-goal percentage at 59.8 percent. In free throw percentage, Wilson fell to No. 12 in the nation after making 14-of-18 last week.

Double-Double Dominant
In addition to recording her 1,000th career point at Concordia last week, senior forward Kaille Skjold posted a conference-best sixth double-double of the season with a 26-point, 10-rebound performance. She didn't stop there, as the Kasilof, Alaska native recorded an impressive 13 rebounds against Western Oregon to continue leading the conference in rebounding, averaging 9.5 per game.

May(s) the (Three-Point) Force Be With You
Senior guard Jaylee Mays' back-to-back three-point buckets sparked Alaska's 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to start the Nanooks' comeback win at Concordia last Thursday. Mays shot 9-of-16 from three-point territory last week and now leads the GNAC in three-pointer-made with a per game average of 3.1. Additionally, the Hardesty, Oklahoma native ranks second in the conference in three-point percentage (45.4) and posted a single-game season-best performance knocking down 5-of-6 three-pointers.

Free Points
So far this season, the Nanooks have made 80.6 percent of their free throws this season, ranking third in all of NCAA Division II.

Scouting the Opponent – Northwest Nazarene (7-5 overall, 4-2 GNAC)
The Crusaders suffered their first two losses of the season last week, falling to Western Washington 86-81 on Thursday before falling 101-89 to Simon Fraser on Saturday. As a team, NNU is averaging 78.7 points per game, which ranks second in the conference and 21st in the nation. Of the teams outside the top-four in the conference standings, NNU is the only team to beat a team in the top-four, defeating SPU 73-66 on New Year's Eve.

The Crusaders are led by Kate Cryderman, who only averages 16.5 minutes per game, leads the NNU offense with 10.9 points per game.

Scouting the Opponent – Central Washington (6-8 overall, 1-5 GNAC)
Like their travel partner, the Central Washington Wildcats dropped both of their home conference games last weekend, falling to Western Washington 77-60 on Thursday before dropping Saturday's game 60-53 on Saturday. CWU's Taylor Baird tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds against Western Washington for her sixth double-double of the season, tying Alaska's Kaillee Skjold for the conference-high this season. In total, Baird has collected 125 rebounds already this season which is the most in the GNAC.

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.