ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team fell shot in their opening game of the Seawolves Hoops Classic on Friday afternoon, falling to the Western State Colorado University Mountaineers 49-41 at the Alaska Airlines Center. The nonconference loss drops Alaska's overall record to 1-2 while Western State earns their first victory of the season and improves to 1-2 overall.
"We struggled with our shooting once again today and it showed," head coach
Brett Sawyer said. "They out-worked us on the defensive-end of things and turned it over too many times to stay in the game. We're still learning as a group and going into tomorrow, we'll regroup and move forward."
Junior forward
Marian Wamsley led Alaska's offensive efforts in Friday's matchup, as the Valdez, Alaska native shot 8-of-14 from the field to tally a single-game, career-best and a game-high 16 points. Wamsley also tied for a team-high eight rebounds, while also chipping in two steals, one assist and one block in 20 minutes on the court.
Sophomore guard
Lexi Carpenter connected on 4-of-15 shots from the field, including 2-of-5 from behind the arc and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to produce 13 points for her third-straight game scoring double-digit figures. In a team-best 32 minutes, the Yakima, Washington native also tallied two rebounds and one assist.
Junior forward Ashlie Blackburn tied Wamsley for a team-best eight assists, while junior center Josie Murnion tallied three assists and a game-best four blocks.
As a team, Alaska shot 18-of-56 from the floor for a shooting percentage of 32.1, while only connecting on 2-of-11 shots from three-point range for an 18.2 average.
On the other end of the court, Western State was led by Tammarrah Gothard who shot 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-4 from the free throw line to post 10 points. Gothard also chipped in a game-best five assists while guard Carra Jackson-Brown posted a game-high nine rebounds.
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team will be back in action again tomorrow (Saturday), Nov. 18, as they take on the Holy Names Hawks in day two of the Seawolves Hoops Classic at the Alaska Airlines Center. Tip-off 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.
