Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

A shakeup in the starting lineup and maybe a little misfortune made a big difference for the Alaska Nanooks women’s basketball team on Thursday night.

Coach Lynne Andrew went to a lineup that included Anna Simmons, Sheena Brown, Sara Herrin, Nicole Bozek and Amonda Francis and it paid off with a 67-63 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over the Central Washington Wildcats in Ellensburg, Wash.

“I came up with two different lineups this week and made them compete against each other in practice for three days,” Andrew said in a telephone interview following the game. “Whichever team won the most and competed the hardest would start.”

The Nanooks had to overcome a 10-point deficit in the second half to pull out the win that snapped a three-game losing streak and improved their record to 2-6 in the GNAC and 9-7 on the season.

The new starting lineup meant that senior captains Kari Reabold and Joscelyn Shumate and junior captain Cristina Bruketta were on the bench for the opening tip.

“Even though some of those who had to sit out didn’t like it, I went with the team that had given the most effort in practice,” Andrew said. “When I made the first substitution, I put in the entire bench.”

The Nanooks trailed 38-32 at halftime and Central Washington (2-6, 10-6) scored the first four points of the second half to go ahead by 10. Alaska responded with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 44-43 with 15:12 remaining.

Trailing 50-45 with 14 minutes to play, the Nanooks went on an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Alaska eventually upped its lead to 66-58 with 1:16 to go, before settling for the four-point win.

“At the end, the original starters we’ve had for the entire season were on the floor, but this game was a total team effort,” Andrew said. “The first stat we looked at after the game was assists and we had 16 tonight, which is huge for this team.”

In addition to the 16 assists, the Nanooks had just 14 turnovers. Alaska also outrebounded Central by a 36-29 margin, including a 12-6 advantage in offensive rebounds.

Reabold and Bruketta led the Nanooks with 12 points apiece, Herrin chipped in 10, Brown finished with nine and Francis and Shumate registered eight apiece.

Shumate led the rebounding effort with nine, while Brown had eight and Reabold gathered in seven, all at the offensive end of the floor.

Brown, Simmons, Reabold and Caitlin Simmons had three assists apiece. Brown led the defense with three steals and Shumate came up with a pair of blocked shots.

Colony grad Kristina Klapperich registered a game-high 15 points for Central Washington, while Hanna Hull tallied 13, Elyse Maras knocked down 12 and Ashley Pennimore chipped in 10.

The other part of the Nanooks’ success on Thursday may have been due to Andrew’s own misfortune — at least that’s what some of the players thought.

The Nanooks flew into Seattle on Wednesday, packed up their bags and drove over the Cascade Mountains to Ellensburg. The players are responsible for making sure Andrew’s bags get picked up and put in the team van.

Upon arriving in Ellensburg, Andrew discovered that nobody had picked up her bag, so she only had the clothes she was wearing. There was no way to get the bag delivered because all roads were closed due to a severe winter storm, so Andrew had to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.

“When we discovered what happened I wasn’t too happy about that and the players were all pointing fingers at each other,” she said. “I wound up wearing black pants and a white shirt and my white Jordan’s (shoes) for the game — not exactly coaching attire.”

Andrew said the players are saying it was the basketball shoes that made the difference and they want Andrew to keep wearing them.

“I don’t know about that, but we did win,” Andrew said.

By the way, Andrew’s luggage was safe in Seattle with the parents of Reabold, Shumate and Simmons, but they couldn’t make it to Ellensburg because the roads were closed.

The Nanooks hope build on their win Saturday against Western Washington, but that will depend on whether they can get to Bellingham before the scheduled 3 p.m. game.

“We’ll just have to see what happens,” Andrew said. “We’ll get there the safest way and as soon as we can.”

Western Washington suffered a 52-48 loss to Alaska Anchorage on Thursday.

Sports Editor Bob Eley can be reached at 459-7581.