MONMOUTH, Ore. – Despite outscoring their opponent 20-4 in the first quarter, the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team fell victim to a second-half comeback by Western Oregon University to fall 72-67 to the Wolves in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest at the New PE Building on Friday night. The Nanooks drop their overall record to 6-7 and 2-4 in conference play, while the Wolves improve 6-7 overall and 2-4 in GNAC play.
"This was a very disappointing game for us," head coach
Cody Bench said following Friday's game. "We gave up an early lead and couldn't connect defensively for the remainder of the game."
Senior forward
Jordan Wilson led the Nanooks offensively, connecting on 13 of 21 shots from the floor and converting on 4-of-5 free throws to tie her season-high of 30 points on the night. Wilson's 30-point performance marks the Thornton, Colorado native's fourth game this season of posting 30 points, only five points shy of her career personal-best. Furthermore, Wilson chipped in 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block.
"
Jordan Wilson played exceptional for us once again," Bench concluded. "She did everything for us but unfortunately, it wasn't enough."
Senior guard
Jaylee Mays connected on 6-of-8 shots from the field, including five three-point attempts to tally a 17 point night, while also posting two rebounds, two assists and three steals in 30 minutes on the court. Fellow-senior
Kaillee Skjold, hot off of her 1,000th career point at Concordia, posted nine points on the night, collecting a team-high 13 rebounds for the Nanooks.
Alaska outscored their opponent 20-4 in the first quarter before Western Oregon made a quick comeback and outscored the Nooks 26-9, heading into intermission only one point shy of Western Oregon 29-30.
The third quarter proved to be more of an even playing field, as Western edged the Nooks in scoring by only two points in the third quarter (12-14) and the fourth (26-28).
As a team, Alaska shot 40.0 percent from the floor (26-of-65), 33.3 percent from behind the arc (5-of-15) and 66.7 percent from the free throw line (10-of-15). The Nooks collected 45 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals on the night.
Western Oregon was led by Shelby Snook, who shot 8-of-17 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line to register 23 points against the Nooks. Fellow Wolf Sydney Azorr posted 20 points for the Wolves, while the team only shot 37.1 percent from the field (26-of-70).
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team will host Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington at the Alaska Airlines Court next week, facing NNU on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 7pm AKST before taking on the CWU Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7pm AKST.
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.
