Simon Fraser University’s women’s basketball team beat the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks 75–73 on Thursday night at SFU’s West Gym, but going by their respective records, SFU should’ve won the game handily. Yet barely five minutes in, the previously 2–5 Nanooks looked like the better team, and looked like they might run away with the contest building a 19–3 lead over the 4–3 Clan early in the contest.
Kia van Laare opened the scoring for the home side, but sloppy turnovers and poor shooting allowed the visitors to go on a 19–1 run.
“We weren’t ready,” said senior guard Marie-Line Petit post-game. “Like [head coach Bruce] Langford says, it looked like we were in la-la land.
“But when we get some stops on defense, and when we stop turning the ball over, we can do good things.”
Better ball control and tighter defense helped the Clan rack up nine straight points of their own, highlighted by a three from captain Erin Chambers and a coast-to-coast layup from Wilson that left one Nanook defender looking silly. Both players were just getting started.
The Clan continued to creep back into it, trailing by just six at the half, 35–29, setting up one of the best halves of basketball so far this season.
The two teams traded baskets to start the half; five minutes into the second, the Nanooks lead grew slightly to 44–37, but seven straight from SFU would tie the game at 44 — the first tie since the opening minutes.
Neither SFU nor UAF could get on any real run, with neither team’s lead growing larger than four points after the Clan tied the game — but it was Chambers and Wilson who gave the home team more than one chance to win.
Chambers, who poured in another casual 30 points, was fouled on a layup with 40 seconds to go, and hit the free throw to complete the three-point play to put her team up three. But on their next possession, the Nanooks hit a shot from downtown to tie it.
With under 30 seconds to play after UAF tied it, SFU had the last shot, but Wilson, who had a double-double with 10 assists and a career-high 24 points, was fouled as she took it.
She hit both shots, the Nanooks Hail Mary fell well short, and the Clan won, just barely, to improve their conference record to 5–3.
The narrow victory over a now 2–6 squad shows the incredible parity in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
“There’s a one-game difference in the records between first place and sixth,” explains Petit. “Every game is a battle for a playoff spot,” she said, and this one went the full 12 rounds.
