The Alaska Nanooks women’s basketball team is set to continue its road trip this week with games against Minnesota State Moorhead and St. Cloud State. The Nanooks will face the Dragons on Friday, Nov. 28 at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minnesota, followed by a matchup against the Huskies on Saturday, Nov. 29 at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Last weekend, Alaska competed in the Westminster Classic in Salt Lake City, Utah. The team played against the Westminster Griffins and No. 21 Colorado Mesa Mavericks but lost both games with final scores of 99-74 and 102-53.
Tamai Mancuso led Alaska during the tournament, averaging 14 points per game while shooting 10-for-21 from the field and making six out of thirteen three-point attempts. She also contributed four rebounds, two assists, and one steal over the two contests.
Mancuso is currently Alaska’s leading scorer for the season with an average of 17.5 points per game, ranking her sixth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). She holds a shooting percentage of 44.4% from the field and has made 38.2% of her three-point shots; her average of 3.25 three-pointers per game places her third in the conference.
Ashlyn Waggoner is also contributing double-digit scoring for Alaska with an average of 10.8 points per game and is second on the team in rebounding with four boards per contest.
Alycia Shelley leads Alaska in assists this season with eleven total so far.
Genevieve Velasquez ranks tenth in GNAC for steals per game at two per contest.
As a team, Alaska stands third in GNAC and thirtieth nationally among Division II programs by averaging 8.8 made three-pointers each game. The Nanooks are also getting significant production from their bench players who contribute an average of thirty-five points per game—second most in their conference and twelfth nationally.
Minnesota State Moorhead enters Friday’s contest with a record of three wins and one loss overall (1-0 NSIC). Head coach Karla Nelson is now leading her twenty-sixth season with the Dragons who started their campaign at the Central Region Showcase earlier this month—losing to Missouri Western State before winning three straight games including an overtime victory over Central Missouri. Senior forward Terryn Johnson leads MSU Moorhead with averages of twelve point three points and seven point five rebounds per outing. This will be the first-ever meeting between these two teams.
St. Cloud State comes into Saturday’s matchup holding a two-and-three record (0-1 NSIC) under head coach Lori Fish’s eighteenth season at the helm. After starting their year with back-to-back wins at the Central Region Challenge, they have since dropped three consecutive games—including losses to nationally ranked Northern Michigan (#15) and Minnesota State (#8). Junior guard Alana Zarneke leads St. Cloud State offensively by averaging seventeen point four points each contest; she has posted more than any other player on her squad this year.
The last time these teams met was December eighth, two thousand six when St. Cloud State secured an eighty-two to seventy-one win over Alaska.
Following this week’s road trip through Minnesota, Alaska will begin its GNAC schedule next week remaining away from home for matchups against Western Oregon on Thursday December fourth as well as Saint Martin’s on Saturday December sixth.
