FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team is hitting the road for a three-game week at Seattle Pacific and a pair of games against Montana State Billings. 
 
Thursday, Jan. 27 at Seattle Pacific
Live Video >> https://bit.ly/3tTF0Av
Live Stats >> https://bit.ly/3IFs6KR
Royal Brougham Pavilion, Seattle, Wash., 6:30 p.m. AKT
 
Saturday, Jan. 29 at Montana State Billings
Live Video >> https://bit.ly/3Iz5bk3
Live Stats >> https://bit.ly/3tVxpl2
Alterowitz Gymnasium, Billings, Mont., 3:15 p.m. AKT
 
Sunday, Jan. 30 at Montana State Billings
Live Video >> https://bit.ly/3Iz5bk3
Live Stats >> https://bit.ly/3tVxpl2
Alterowitz Gymnasium, Billings, Mont., 11:00 a.m. AKT
 
Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks women's basketball team fell to the Western Washington Vikings on their home-court on Saturday, Jan. 22. The Vikings used a big first quarter to run away with a 79-67 victory. 
 
The Nanooks moved to 1-10, 0-6 GNAC on the season after battling the #11 Vikings. After falling behind by 16 in the first quarter, the Nanooks answered with a big second quarter, cutting the lead to seven at the break. After a high-scoring third quarter the Vikings pulled away with a 20-17 fourth. 
 
In the first quarter, the Nanooks needed two minutes to grab their first bucket of the game. WWU jumped ahead 2-0 before Pearle Green connected on a turnaround jumper from just within the three-point line. WWU used a pair of free throws and a three from Emma Duff to quickly extend their lead to five. Olivia Kraska answered with a pair of buckets to pull Alaska back within three at 11-8, but the Vikings turned the momentum shift around and went on a 13-0 run to make it 24-8 before the end of the quarter.
 
The second quarter was a swing-quarter for Alaska as their offense came alive. They outshot WWU on the floor 40% to 25% and outscored the Vikings 20-11, pulling within seven at the break. They were led by six and five points from Paola Perez-Mendoza and Claudia Diez Marti. They also forced 10 turnovers and collected four steals. 
 
Heading into the third, the Nanooks were able to pull within three off of Pearle Green three-pointer near the midway point of the quarter. This big shot forced WWU to take a timeout and regroup. WWU maintained their lead the rest of the quarter, but Alaska stayed in striking distance heading to the fourth. Unfortunately, the Vikings used an early offensive-attack in the fourth to push ahead by 14. That lead grew into 16 and the 'Nooks were not able to get it back to single-digits as Western grabbed the win 79-67.
 
Claudia Diez Marti led the way for women's basketball, posting 15 points and grabbing a steal. Both Olivia Kraska and Paola Perez-Mendoza scored a dozen points. Kraska finished with three rebounds and one steal while Perez-Mendoza grabbed four steals and had six assists with two rebounds. Green was the final Nanooks in double-digits with 11, three rebounds and two assists.
 
Quick Hitters

• Pearle Green is leading the way on the offensive end for the Nanooks. She's posting an average of 15.7 points per game while shooting 38.9% from the field and 34.3% from deep. 
• Green is a prolific deep-threat. The freshman from Galena is the only Nanook with more than 10 made three-pointers on the season. She's made 37 through 11 games.
• Claudia Diez Marti has continued to score for the Nanooks, after two games with seven and six points, she's riding a four-game streak of 10+ points. She posted a season-high of 17 at Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 6 on 5-11 shooting. 
• Destiny Reimers and Olivia Kraska are the staple in the paint for the Nanooks and the glass. Reimers, the freshman from Anchorage is grabbing a team-high 6.5 boards per game while Kraska, the sophomore from Fairbanks is picking up 5.5 per game. 
• Ellen Silva is leading the way. The rim-protector from Fairbanks is averaging 1.1 blocks per game as she's picked up 12 through 11 games. Reimers follows with nine total.
• Paola Perez-Mendoza is leading the way for the Nanooks in the steals and assists departments. The freshman from Phoenix has 43 assists for an average of 3.9 per game while also picking up 29 steals through 11 games for an average of 2.6 per game. 
• Green is the lone-Nanooks who sees more than 30 minutes on the court per game. She's averaging 34:34 minutes per game while Reimers follows at 29:38 per game. 
• Seattle Pacific leads the all-time record against the Nanooks. Alaska is 18-62 when facing SPU and is looking for their first win since the 2016-17 when they swept the Falcons. They picked up a win in Fairbanks on 1/21/17 72-59 and followed up the win with a win in Seattle on 2/16/17, 63-61.
• The Nanooks first win against SPU came on Jan. 22, 1975 in Seattle. Alaska won the matchup 63-51. 
• Montana State Billings leads the all-time record against Alaska. The Nanooks are 14-57 against MSUB with their last win coming on Jan. 28, 2017 in Fairbanks. The 'Nooks took the win 66-42. Their last win in Billings came during the same season, 2016-17, and came on Dec. 29, 2016 with a final of 71-53. 
• The first matchup between these two teams came on March 10, 1978 and the Nanooks took the win in the inaugural meeting, 68-57.
• The last time the Nanooks and Jackets met on back-to-back days was Jan. 25, 1988 and Jan. 26, 1988. The Nanooks won both meetings at home. Night one was a 75-67 victory followed by a 61-53 win. 

 
Scouting the Opponents 
 
Seattle Pacific Falcons (7-8, 3-2 GNAC, T-5th)
Seattle Pacific enters this week's matchup sixth in the GNAC standings. They're 3-2 in GNAC play with conference wins over Central Washington on Dec. 2, 2021 (69-65), Alaska on Jan. 1 (67-45) and Simon Fraser on Jan. 6 (66-64 OT). Their two losses came against Northwest Nazarene on Dec. 4, 2021 (54-63) and Montana State Billings on Jan. 22 (55-81). In non-conference play, the Falcons defeated Multnomah, Corban, Humboldt State, Westminster and Puget Sound. Their losses came to Hawaii Pacific, Cal State San Marcos, Azusa Pacific, Metro State, Stanislaus State and Cal State East Bay. 
 
SPU is led by Ashley Alter on the offensive side of the ball. Alter is shooting 40% from the floor while scoring 12.1 points per game. Next is Natalie Hoff, the only other Falcon averaging double-digit points. Hoff is posting 11.5 points per game and grabbing a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game. In 14 games she is shooting 47.1% from the floor while posting an 80% free-throw percentage. 
 
Montana State Billings (11-8, 5-2 GNAC, T-2nd) 
Montana State Billings enters the two-game weekend riding a three-game win-streak. Before facing the Nanooks, they are scheduled to face-off with Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 27. The Jackets opened their season with a win over Minot State at their hosted D2CCA Tipoff Classic. They won 72-66 before falling to the #1 team in the country, Lubbock Christian 67-61. They returned and beat Kutztown 66-55 before winning the next three for a four-game win-streak. That streak was snapped by #6 Carroll College and was followed by a three-game losing-streak. After opening GNAC play with a win over NNU, the Jackets went on another three-game losing-streak before ending it with a win over Wisconsin Parkside. They then went 1-1 to open up 2022 before riding a three-game win-streak into this week with wins over SMU, SPU and #9 UAA in Anchorage. 
 
MSUB is led by Taryn Shelley and Cariann Kunkel. Shelley is scoring 12.8 points per game, grabbing 7.4 rebounds per game and shooting 47.5 from the field through 19 games. She's also shooting 80% from the free-throw line. Kunkel is just behind with 12.3 points per game. She's shooting a team-high 52.1% from the field, adding 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game. 
 
Shelley is a two-time GNAC Player of the Week this season, winning the first for the week of Nov. 1-7, 2021 and again for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2021. MSUB was named this week's GNAC Team of the Week following their win at Anchorage. 
 
GNAC Standings
 
1. Western Washington, 12-1, 4-1 GNAC
2. Northwest Nazarene, 11-4, 5-2 GNAC
3. Montana State Billings, 11-8, 5-2 GNAC
4. Central Washington, 11-4, 4-2 GNAC
5. Alaska Anchorage, 10-3, 3-2 GNAC
6. Seattle Pacific, 7-8, 3-2 GNAC
7. Western Oregon, 7-7, 3-4 GNAC
8. Simon Fraser, 5-8, 1-3 GNAC
9. Saint Martin's, 9-6, 1-5 GNAC
10. Alaska, 1-10, 0-6 GNAC
 
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.