FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at the Alaska Airlines Court on Thursday night, falling 99-57 to the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks. The loss drops Alaska's overall record to 2-3 and 0-1 in GNAC play, while the Nighthawks improve to 5-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference contests.

Coaches Corner
"I really liked how we played in the third quarter, I saw a little bit of resiliency from this team. NNU is a good, tough team and they took it to us tonight. We'll get better from tonight's game and we'll make some adjustments and hopefully put up a little better performance for Central Washington." – head coach Brett Sawyer said on Thursday.

Turning Point
After kicking-off Thursday's game on a four-point run, the Nighthawks came back to take the lead at the 5:00 mark of the first quarter (9-13) before heading on a nine-point run to take a 9-20 lead only 45 seconds later. The Nighthawks kept the momentum moving in their direction, as Alaska was never able to take the lead again throughout the remainder of the game.

Inside the Box Score

• Three Nanooks registered double-digit points on Thursday, led by junior forward Angela Murnion, who tallied 12.
• Murnion's 12 points marks a new season- and career-best for the Grass Range, Montana native, who shot 5-for-9 from the floor, including 2-for-5 from behind the arc.
• Junior center Josie Sewell shot 5-for-5 from the floor to register a career- and season-best 10 points on the night.
• Junior guard Emily Evans shot 3-for-8 from the floor, with all three buckets coming from behind the arc to also tally a 10-point night.
• Junior forward Ashlie Blackburn paced the Nanooks around the net, totaling a team-best six boards while redshirt-sophomore guard Sabrina Ungaro posted a team-high three steals.
• As a team, the Nanooks shot 37.9 percent from the floor (22-for-58), 35 percent from behind the arc (7-for-20) and 42.9 percent from the free throw line (6-for-14).

Next Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 2 as they host the Central Washington Wildcats in GNAC action at the Alaska Airlines Court. The Alaska women's basketball team will tip-off against CWU at 5:15pm AKST before the Nanook men's basketball team hosts Montana State Billings in double-header action at 7:30pm 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.