FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team earned their first victory of the 2017-18 season on Saturday afternoon, as the Nooks posted a 56-50 win over the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans in the finale of the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at the Alaska Airlines Court. The victory is also the first for first-year head coach
Brett Sawyer.
The Nanooks improve to 1-1 overall on the season, while the Vulcans drop to 1-1 after they defeated Alaska in yesterday's nonconference matchup.
"We got away from our buzz-defense a little bit today, we were running it in spurts rather than relying on it too much but I did feel like we had better energy tonight which allowed us to get the ball inside a little more," Sawyer said on Saturday. "We weren't hitting very many outside shots, they really packed it in and our goal today was to force the ball inside and try to get the posts involved early. But coaching this team is a lot of fun. We're trying to play physical and make people pay for trying to get into the lane, if we give up a couple extra free throws, that's okay, but the intensity comes from our players."
For the second-straight game, sophomore guard
Lexi Carpenter led her teammates offensively, shooting 7-for-18 from the field, including 3-for-9 from behind the arc, to tally a game-high 19 points. The Yakima, Washington native's 19 points in a single game marks a new career-high for the second-year Nanook. Carpenter also shot 2-for-4 from the free throw line and chipped in two offensive rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes on the court.
Sophomore forward Ashlie Blackburn and junior forward
Marian Wamsley were extremely close to posting double-doubles against the Vulcans, as each of the two registered nine rebounds and eight points. Blackburn shot 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free throw line while recording a game-high four steals and one assist.
Around the basket, junior forward
Sanni Salonen tied Blackburn and Wamsley with nine rebounds against the Vulcans, pulling down seven offensive camrons on the day. Salonen shot 4-for-4 from the free throw line to tally four points and one assist on Saturday.
Both Alaska and Hawaii-Hilo made 60 attempts from the field on Saturday but it was the Nanooks who sunk 21 baskets to Hilo's 19, giving the Nanooks the better field goal percentage of .350 to UHH's .317. As both team's tallied four three-point shots on the day, it was the Vulcans who held a better three-point field goal percentage of 18.2 (4-for-22) to Alaska's 16.0 (4-for-25).
Alaska dominated the rebound game on Saturday, pulling down 18 offensive and 35 defensive for 53 total to Hilo's combined 33. The Nanooks forced Hilo to produce 18 turnovers with the Nanooks capturing eight steals.
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team will head to Anchorage next week, taking on Western State and Holy Names in the Seawolves Hoops Classic at the Alaska Airlines Center. The Nooks will face Western State on Friday, Nov. 17 before facing off against Holy Names on Saturday, Nov. 18. Tip-off for both games is scheduled for 3pm 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.
