FAIRBANKS – It's Thanksgiving Week. That means it's time for the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at the Patty Center! The Nanooks women's basketball team will, once again, host three teams for the three-day, six-game tournament.
Last Time Out
The Nanooks are coming off of their season-opener at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the Seawolf Classic. They faced-off with the University of Texas Permian Basin and Hillsdale. In game one against UTPD, the Nanooks snuck-out with a 71-69 win. They blew past the Falcons late, outscoring them 18-5 in the fourth quarter. They were led by 18 points from
Pearle Green and
Destiny Reimers. In game two, Green led the way with 24 points, but it was not enough to grab the win as Hillsdale defeated Alaska 69-81.
Meet the Teams
Northwood Timberwolves
The Northwood Timberwolves are off to a 3-0 start in the 2021-22 season. After facing-off with Michigan State in an exhibition game, they won their season-opener against Findlay, 84-74. Following their home-opener, they took on Hillsdale and defeated the Chargers, 79-70. Their last game was on Thursday, Nov. 18 and it was a 64-60 OT win over the University of Indianapolis. Through the three games, the Timberwolves have been led by Alana Nelson and Makenzie Todd. Nelson is averaging 20.3 points per game and Todd is averaging 17.0 points per game. Todd was the leading scorer in their regular-season opener, scoring 20 points and Nelson has since taken the lead in the scoring. She posted 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Hillsdale before posting 29 points and nine rebounds in the OT win over UIndy. Northwood is coached Autumn Haggadone, who was named the eighth head coach in program history during the summer of 2021.
Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm
The Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm are off to a 4-0 start in their 2021-22 season. They opened with an exhibition game at Oklahoma State before officially beginning their season with Oklahoma Wesleyan. In their opener, the Crimson Storm won in commanding fashion, 86-38. They continued their dominance with back-to-back double-digit wins over Central Oklahoma, 69-53, and St. Mary's University, 70-56. They ended the Lubbock Tournament 2-0, wrapping-up with a 52-43 win over Angelo State. Through four, the Crimson Storm are led by Jaycee Soap. She is averaging 13.3 points per game, including shooting 52.8% from the field and 40% from deep. SNU is led by Trent May, who is entering his fourth season at his alma matter. Last March, May led the Crimson Storm to the program's first Great American Conference Tournament title and first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Tampa Spartans
The Tampa Spartans enter this week's action riding a four-game winning-streak. They find themselves 5-2 with their two losses coming at the DII Tip-Off Classic in Billings, Mont. earlier in the month. They started the season with a win against Seton Hill, 75-48, before dropping the next two to Montevallo and #1-ranked Lubbock Christian. Following the trip to Big Sky country, Tampa defeated West Alabama, 71-51, #19-ranked Union, 77-67, Southern Wesleyan, 64-36 and finally Nova Southeastern, 74-66. Through seven, the Spartans are led by Dori Nagy. The senior forward is averaging 15.7 points per game while shooting 63.9% from the field and grabbing 7.4 rebounds per game. Tampa is led by Tom Jessee, who is entering his 20th season. He has guided the Spartans to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances in the previous 15 seasons, including a run to the NCAA South Region semifinal in 2019.
Stats
Pearle Green is the leading-scorer for the Nanooks through the first two games of the season. After her performance in Anchorage, the freshman from Galena, Alaska is averaging 21.0 points per game, having posted 42 in the opening-weekend. Just behind with 14.5 points per game is
Destiny Reimers, fellow-freshman from Anchorage.
Emma Wass leads the way in field goal percentage. She's shooting 63.6% from the field, going 7-11 on the weekend.
Olivia Kraska is leading the way in rebounds, as the Fairbanks-native is averaging 8.5 rebounds per game with 17 on the season.
Destiny Reimers leads the way in assists with 11 on the season and an average of 5.5 per game and
Paola Perez-Mendoza leads the team in steals with seven and an average of 3.5 per game.
Tournament Schedule
The Nanooks will play in the 3:00 p.m. game all three days with the first game of each day being played at 1:00 p.m. Northwood and Southern Nazarene will start the tournament off tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and Alaska will start their tourney off with Tampa. After that, Southern Nazarene and Tampa will face off on day two with the Nanooks seeing Northwood in the second game. On the final day, Tampa and Northwood will square-off in game one and the Nanooks will end the week with Southern Nazarene.
Masks
Masks are required by all in attendance.
Tickets
Tickets are available
here.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team, follow @NanooksWBB on Twitter, @NanookWBB on Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Women's Basketball team page on Facebook.
