Women's basketball heads to California for a pair of road contests

November 15, 2012

University Relations

Jamie Foland
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The Alaska women's basketball team hits the road for a pair of games this week as it will take on Academy of Art and Cal State East Bay this Friday and Saturday.

The Nanooks (1-1) first hit the court with the Urban Knights (2-0) Friday at 4 p.m. (AKST) at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco, Calif., before going up against the Pioneers (1-1) Saturday at 1 p.m.

Alaska is coming off an 87-73 loss in its season opener at home last Saturday against Colorado School of Mines. Four Nanooks scored in double figures, led by senior guard Taylor Altenburg (Elko, Nev./Criminal Justice) and sophomore guard Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./Business Administration).

Altenburg finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while Bulaya had 15 points and eight steals. Junior guard April Fultz (Rialto, Calif./Political science) added 14 points, eight boards and three steals and junior guard Destini Lewis (Beaumont, Texas/Psychology) chipped in 12 points on four three-pointers.

Game #2: Alaska at Academy of Art – Friday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. (AKST)
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The Urban Knights went 2-0 last week, notching wins over Humboldt State (86-65) and Cal State East Bay (59-56) in Hayward, Calif., at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge.

Jordan Rogers leads the team with 13.0 points per game while also averaging 7.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per outing. Other key contributors in the two wins were Sha'Nice Storey (12.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0 spg) and Katy Wade (9.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.0 bpg).

LaNay Larson is in her second season at the helm of the program. In her first season, ArtU went 16-10 with a 12-6 mark in PacWest conference play to mark the winningest season in program history.

Game #3: Alaska at Cal State East Bay – Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. (AKST)
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The Pioneers split at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge last week at home with a 58-36 win over Dominican and a 59-56 loss to Academy of Art.

Micah Walker, who only played in one game last week, leads the team in scoring with 14.0 points per game as well as 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals per outing. Lauren Lucchesi is the only other double-figure scorer as she's averaging 12.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.0 steal per game. Rachel Finnegan controls the boards for CSUEB with 10.5 rebounds.

Suzy Barcomb is in her third year as head coach for the Pioneers and is 17-40 entering the week. After winning only four games in her first year, she guided East Bay to a 12-17 record and seventh-place finish in the CCAA. Prior to her coming to Hayward she was head coach at the University of Puget Sound, where she went 237-87 and was WBCA West Region Coach of the Year in 2010.