By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score
Fairbanks, AK - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team came back in thrilling fashion Saturday night, defeating the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks 69-67, coming back from a 13 point deficit.
"In the first half we didn't shoot the ball very well," said Head Coach Bruce Langford. "We let them post way to easily and we did a poor job taking away their quarter flashes which really hurt us. I thought we showed a lot of grit. We didn't give up, we battled through it. We found five kids who wanted to compete."
Trailing 36-32 at the half, the Nanooks would go on a 7-0 run to extend their lead 47-36 after continuing their hot start from the three point line. The Fairbanks lead reached 13 points before, midway through the final half, the Clan would start to find their groove.
After starting the game 1-for-22 from the three point line, junior Katie Lowen (Lethbridge, AB) would dial up a three pointer to make the score 61-55 Nanooks. Then senior Kia Van Laare (New Westminster, BC) would follow up with a three-pointer on the Clans next possession to cut the deficit to five points.
Lowen would finish with 12 points, five assists and three rebounds in the game.
With the score at 63-60 Fairbanks, Lowen again hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 63 with under two minutes to play in the game. Lowen was not done as she hit her second consecutive three to give the Clan their first lead since the first half, 66-63.
Then with the score 67-66 Nanooks, Lowen again came through with her fourth three-pointer to give the Clan the 69-67 lead with seconds left on the clock. Alaska Fairbanks would inbound the ball and get off a desperation shot, but it came up short giving the Clan the come from behind victory.
After shooting 1-for-14 in the first half from behind the arc, the Clan went on to make five in the final minutes of the game to finish the second half at around 30 percent. Overall the Clan shot 40.9 percent from the field.
Senior Chelsea Reist (Mission, BC) had a strong offensive game scoring 14 points and grabbing four rebounds, while Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) led all scorers with 22 points and added six rebounds.
With the split in Alaska, the Clan's record will be 17-7 overall and 12-5 in conference play heading into the final week of the regular season. SFU will face Western Washington at 3:00 pm Saturday March 1 in Bellingham, WA.
