Rachelle Tau collected a team-high four rebounds during Multnomah's 90-42 loss at NCAA D2 Alaska Fairbanks Saturday night.
ALASKA FAIRBANKS 90, MULTNOMAH 42: Hot Nanooks Give Cold Shoulder to Lions
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – In the first of a back-to-back series with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, the visiting Multnomah University Lions could not cool off the hot-shooting Nanooks and dropped a 90-42 decision in a non-conference women's basketball game Saturday night here at the Alaska Airlines Court.
Fairbanks jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a basket by Lexi Carpenter and a three-pointer by Sabrina Ungaro and led wire-to-wire. Faith Kraatz put the Lions on the board with a layup at the 7:41 mark, but the Nanooks continued to pull away, hitting a double-digit lead for the first time at 5:34 when Ungaro's layup made it 15-4. Fairbanks led 25-9 at the end of the first quarter and 47-20 at the half.
The Lions were never able to slow down the Nanooks, who shot 50 percent or better in every quarter and only improved as the game went along. UAF finished with a .574 field goal percentage (35-61), including .583 (14-24) from three-point range. The biggest damage was done by Cassi Williams, who set a school record with nine threes on the way to a game-high 29 points.
--- By the Numbers: Valerie Wakefield led the Lions with 14 points and Kraatz finished with 11. Multnomah was held to a .280 shooting percentage (14-50) and was out-rebounded 41-25 by the NCAA Division II Nanooks, who are members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Rachelle Tau had a team-high four rebounds, and Paris Sanders made three steals. Five different Lions had one assist apiece.
In addition to Williams' 29 points, Carpenter had 11 and Angela Murnion 10 for UAF. All 13 Nanooks who played scored. Ashlie Blackburn and Sanni Salonen had seven rebounds each, Ungaro passed out six assists, and Murnion and Kylie Wallace had three steals apiece.
Multnomah is now 0-12 on the season, while Alaska Fairbanks improves to 3-5.
--- Next: Multnomah and Alaska Fairbanks square off again Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Alaska time … This will be the final game for the Lions before returning to Cascade Collegiate Conference play on Dec. 29 at the Oregon Institute of Technology.