FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team fell to the No. 2-ranked team in the nation on Saturday night, as the Nooks dropped a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest 88-56 to in-state rival Alaska Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines Court in Fairbanks. The loss drops the Nooks' overall record to 2-5 and 0-3 in conference play, while the Seawolves remain undefeated with a 9-0 overall mark and 3-0 record in league games.
"Well, we knew having Northwest Nazarene and Anchorage in the first couple weeks of the conference season was going to be tough with a new team," head coach
Brett Sawyer said on Saturday. "We felt prepared for the push they were going to give but it's hard to replicate that in practice leading up to tonight so it took a while before we really got the 'deer-in-headlights' look gone. I am happy with how we played in certain stretches and that's a very good team we faced tonight and they deserve that national ranking, hopefully next time we'll be a little bit more prepared."
Only three players in Saturday's game scored double-digit points, with sophomore guard
Lexi Carpenter being the lone Alaska representative with 18 points. Carpenter shot 6-for-12 from the floor, 3-for-8 from behind the arc and 3-for-4 from the free throw line in her 37 minutes on the court. The Yakima, Washington native also chipped in two rebounds, two steals and one steal for the Nanooks.
Junior forward Ashlie Blackburn and junior center Josie Sewell tied for a game-high six rebounds, while Blackburn led all players with four assists and Sewell was the second-highest scoring Nanook with eight points.
As a team, Alaska shot 43.8 percent from the floor (21-for-48), 35.0 percent from three-point range (7-for-20) and 46.7 percent from the free throw line (7-for-15). The Nooks also collected 33 rebounds, 14 assists, five steals and two blocks.
The Seawolves were led by Shelby Cloninger, who shot 10-for-14 from the floor to register a game-high 22 points. As a team, UAA shot 45.0 percent from the field (36-for-80), 25.0 percent from behind the arc (6-for-24) and 76.9 percent from the free throw line (10-for-13).
The Alaska Nanooks will be back in action next weekend, as they host the Multnomah Lions next Saturday, Dec. 16 and Sunday, Dec. 17 in nonconference play at the Alaska Airlines Court. Saturday's game is scheduled for 7pm AKST, while Sunday's contest is slated 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.
