FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team dropped their second-straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest on Saturday night, as the Nooks fell 72-81 to the Central Washington Wildcats at the Alaska Airlines Court. The loss drops the Nanooks to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play, while the Wildcats improve to 4-4 on the season and 1-1 in league matchups.
"We've got a young team and I'm proud of how they played tonight. They still bought in and executed our defense really well and I really liked our energy on the floor tonight," head coach
Brett Sawyer said on Saturday. "Central Washington's Jasmin Edwards is a great point guard and I thought we held her off well. Overall, it's loss, but we're going to build from this. I'm proud of the way this team came together tonight."
Sophomore guard
Lexi Carpenter had a monster night on the floor, collecting a season- and career-best 32 points in 35 minutes on the court. Carpenter went 12-for-18 from the floor, including 5-for-10 from behind the arc and 3-for-3 from the free throw line to lead all players in scoring on Saturday night. The Yakima, Washington native was the only Alaska player to score double-digit figures.
Alaska outdid their opponent around the net, posting 45 boards to CWU's 40. Both junior center Josie Sewell and junior forward
Sanni Salonen tallied a team-best three offensive rebounds while sophomore forward Brittany Richards posted a team-best six on the night.
Junior forward Angela Murnion and junior guard Emily Evans tallied a team-best three assists for the Nanooks, while redshirt-sophomore guard
Sabrina Ungaro tallied a game-high five steals.
As a team, the Nanooks shot 39.4 percent from the floor (26-for-66), 42.1 percent from three-point range (8-for-19) and 63.2 percent from the free throw line (12-for-19). After a rough first quarter, only scoring six points, the Nanooks came back and outscored their opponent 22-20 before tying the Wildcats in scoring in the third quarter 23-23. Despite sinking three three-point shots in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were able to edge the Nanooks in scoring 24-21 to seal the victory.
Four players from Central Washington tallied double-digit points on Saturday, led by Sadie Mensing who tallied a team-best 17 points. The Wildcats shot 41.9 percent from the field (26-of-62), 31.6 percent from behind the arc (6-for-19) and 71.9 percent from the free throw line (23-for-32).
The Alaska Nanooks return to competition next Saturday, Dec. 9, when they take on in-state rival Alaska Anchorage in a GNAC matchup at the Alaska Airlines Court 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.
