Ellen Silva
Ellen Silva’s fingerprints were all over a 2-0 weekend for the UAF women’s basketball team.
The Fairbanks native on Friday grabbed 16 rebounds in a 70-62 win over Cal State San Bernardino and on Saturday hit two free throws with 8 seconds left to ice a 59-55 victory over Covenant in the annual Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational.
Her performance propelled the Nanooks to their first two wins of the season, ending a 21-game losing streak dating back to last season. UAF and Multnomah each finished the tournament 2-0, with Multnomah winning the title on a tiebreaker.
Silva, of West Valley High fame, ranks second in the GNAC with 84 total in rebounds and seventh with a career-high average of 8.4.
Her 16 rebounds were a career high – she had 15 boards vs. Multnomah last year – and represented the second-highest total by an Alaska player at UAF since 2001.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS
17 – Heidi Arts (Valdez) 2002
17 – Kylie Wallace (Petersburg) 2019
16 – Kaillee Skjold (Soldotna) 2016
16 – Ellen Silva (Fairbanks) 2023
Teammate Emma Wass grabbed 14 rebounds as the Nanooks enjoyed a 51-37 advantage over San Bernardino.
With the game tied 45-45, Silva assisted on a 3-pointer and later hit back-to-back layups as the lead swelled to 54-45.
In the win over Covenant, a trio of Alaskans came up clutch for the Nanooks in the decisive fourth quarter. Fairbanks native Tristian Martin got the party started with a jumper for a 43-41 lead, Anchorage’s Taylor Tiulana hit two free throws to make it 53-49 with 2:46 left and Silva iced the win with a pair of free throws to give UAF a 57-54 lead in the closing seconds.
Fairbanks’ Tristian Martin of UAF with the box out. Photo by Miles Jordan/UAF Athletics
Tiulana (ACS) started at guard and finished with a season-high 10 points, her first double-digit effort in 22 games.
Wass recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Wass leads the GNAC with 10.6 rebounds per game.
Nanooks’ guard Destiny Reimers of Anchorage leads the team and ranks 18th at 10.7 points per game. The 2020 Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year out of ACS missed last weekend’s games.
In Anchorage, UAA dropped a pair of one-point decisions to Adams State over the weekend at the Alaska Airlines Center, losing 83-82 on Friday before suffering a 66-65 setback on Saturday after a late comeback attempt fell short.
Trailing 62-57 with two minutes left, Jaisa Gamble’s three-point play coupled with two free throws by Senya Rabouin and a 3-pointer by Elaina Mack of King Cove ignited a run that pulled the Seawolves within striking distance.
Elaina Mack
Mack, the only Alaska player on the team, drilled a 3 to make it a 66-65 score with 46 seconds left.
Rabouin led the way with 19 points while Tori Hollingshead added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Hollingshead ranks in the top 10 in the GNAC in points (15.4) and rebounds (8.0) per game.
UAA has four of the top 27 scorers in the league – Hollingshead (7th), Jazzpher Evans (8th, 14.4), Rabouin (22nd, 10.2) and Mack (27th, 9.4).
Mack, a former Alaska Class 1A Player of the Year, ranks third in 3-point percentage (.483) on 14-of-29 shooting, one point behind No. 2.
Both Alaska schools begin GNAC play this week with road games at Seattle Pacific and Montana State-Billings.
GNAC Women’s Basketball
| TEAM | CONF | OVERALL |
| Western Washington | 0-0 | 5-1 |
| Mont. St-Billings | 0-0 | 6-2 |
| Simon Fraser | 0-0 | 7-3 |
| Central Washington | 0-0 | 6-3 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 0-0 | 3-4 |
| Western Oregon | 0-0 | 3-4 |
| Alaska Anchorage | 0-0 | 2-3 |
| Saint Martin’s | 0-0 | 2-4 |
| Alaska Fairbanks | 0-0 | 2-8 |
| Seattle Pacific | 0-0 | 1-5 |
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