ELLENSBURG, Wash.—Central Washington women's basketball is headed to Alaska to take on Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage in a trio of Great Northwest Athletic Conference games. The Wildcats will play Fairbanks on back-to-back nights, an effort to make up a game previously scheduled for January 8^th but was delayed out of health and safety precautions. 
 
GAME INFORMATION
Wednesday, February 2^nd
6:15 p.m. PST
Vs Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Airlines Gymnasium
Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Thursday, February 3^rd
6:15 p.m. PST
Vs Alaska Fairbanks
Alaska Airlines Gymnasium
Fairbanks, Alaska
 
Saturday, February 5^th
6:15 p.m. PST
Vs Alaska Anchorage
Alaska Airlines Center
Anchorage, Alaska
 
"I'm excited for another opportunity to play this week," said Central Washington Head Coach Randi Richardson-Thornley. "We will have a challenge in front of us as we play three games in four days on the road, but it's also a great opportunity to provide our team with some experience of how the GNAC tournament will look like."
 
SCOUTING THE NANOOKS
The Nanooks currently sit 2-12 overall and 1-8 in conference play. The Nanooks are fresh off of a pair of close games with conference opponent Montana State Billings (13-9, 7-3 GNAC). UAF split the series with the Yellowjackets, picking up a big upset win in Billings, 61-59. The Nanooks have not defeated the Wildcats under the Richardson-Thornley era.
 
"UAF is coming off a big win at Montana State Billings and is a tough team to play at home. They are a team who is a lot better than their record and we will have to come out and be our best to have success in back-to-back nights," said Richardson-Thornley.
 
UAF is averaging 57.7 points per game as a unit. The Nanooks are shooting .375 from the floor, .278 from beyond the arc and .683 from the free throw line. Most notably, the Nanooks hold the second-best three-point percentage defense in the GNAC holding opponents to shooting only .261 from deep.
 
Freshman Pearle Green leads the Nanooks averaging 15.0 points per game alongside 2.9 rebounds. Green also has 26 steals and leads the roster with 36 assists.
 
SCOUTING THE SEAWOLVES
The Seawolves are currently 12-4 overall and 5-3 in conference play. UAA enters the game off of back-to-back wins over GNAC opponent Seattle Pacific (8-10, 4-4 GNAC).
 
"UAA is one of the top teams in the country and especially difficult to play at home. They will present challenges to us in areas we need to show growth. It will be a great opportunity to compete against a top-level program and see where we are at," said Richardson-Thornley.
 
UAA is averaging 68.5 points per game alongside the second-highest scoring margin in the GNAC at +10.6. The Seawolves lead the GNAC averaging 12.3 steals per game, giving them the highest turnover margin in the conference by a mile at +7.56.
 
Leading the Seawolves is senior Tennae Voliva. The 6-0 forward is averaging 10.2 points per game shooting .471 from the field and .833 at the charity stripe. The leading scorer for the Seawolves has not yet shot from beyond the arc this season.
 
STOKING THE FIRE
The Wildcats extended their winning streak to eight last Saturday after a big win over Northwest Nazarene 71-65. Saturday's win was the first over NNU since 2018, and extends Centrals winning streak to eight. The Wildcats currently have sole possession of the second spot in the GNAC with a 13-4 overall record and 6-2 conference mark.
 
The Crimson and Black lead the GNAC in scoring averaging 73.1 points per game. Kizzah Maltezo led the Wildcats with 19 points in Saturday's win over NNU. Samantha Bowman followed just behind, scoring 15 points, and grabbing 20 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 steals, and handed out 4 assists.
 
After back-to-back 20 rebound games against Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene, Bowman has taken sole possession of leading all NCAA levels in rebounds averaging 15.6 boards per game. Bowman is also in a three-way tie for sixth nationally with 11 double-doubles, 12th in DII averaging 2.57 blocks per game, and fourth in the GNAC averaging 16.3 points per game.
Kizzah Maltezo and Kassidy Malcolm remain atop the conference, averaging 20.0 and 17.5 points per game, respectively. Maltezo's 20.0 average puts her in a tie with Wheeling University's Lauren Calhoun for 16^th in all of DII scoring.