The Alaska Nanooks women’s basketball team lost to St. Cloud State University 101-53 on Saturday afternoon in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This defeat leaves the Nanooks with a season record of 0-6.
St. Cloud State opened the game strongly, scoring nine unanswered points in the first two minutes and outscoring Alaska 30-9 in the first quarter. Tamai Mancuso scored Alaska’s first points with a three-pointer at the 7:34 mark and added a layup later in the half.
In the second quarter, Mancuso and Marney Rees contributed layups while Emily Freeman hit a three-pointer, but Alaska could not reduce St. Cloud’s lead. Grace Gillespie completed a three-point play, yet by halftime, the Nanooks trailed 47-23.
Marney Rees started the third quarter for Alaska with two quick layups. Later in the period, Chozen Horn-Young, Mancuso, and Desiree Redfox each made three-pointers; however, St. Cloud maintained control and led 73-38 after three quarters. In the final quarter, Mancuso went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc to score nine of her team-high 22 points.
Statistically, Tamai Mancuso finished with 22 points on 8-of-21 shooting (5-of-12 from three), along with two assists and one rebound. Emily Freeman scored seven points (2-of-9 from deep), had two rebounds, and tied for a team-high four assists. Marney Rees led Alaska with seven rebounds while adding six points (3-of-5 shooting), two steals, and an assist. Alycia Shelley contributed five points and matched Freeman’s four assists.
Overall, Alaska shot 34.6% from the field (18-for-52) and made ten of their twenty-eight attempts from three-point range (35.7%). They converted seven out of fourteen free throws but were outrebounded by St. Cloud State by a margin of 59 to 26.
The Nanooks will start conference play next week when they travel to Western Oregon for a Thursday afternoon matchup scheduled for 4:15 p.m AKST.
