Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe's record 19th Great Northwest conference double-double was not enouth to lead Simon Fraser University past Alaska Anchorage in women's basketball Saturday.
The third-year Clan forward scored 14 points and added 14 rebounds in a 77-57 loss to the Seawolves in Anchorage.
T w o days earlier, Raincock-E k u n w e smashed her own conference mark set last year in her rookie season, leading all scorers with 31 points and a game-high 15 boards in SFU's 72-64 victory at Alaska Fairbanks.
"Overall I thought we were very inconsistent," said Clan head coach Bruce Langford, a recent Basketball B.C. hall of fame nominee. "We had some great runs but could not stop them from getting back into it. Turnovers hurt us. It took a couple of people making great plays at the end for us to get the win."
That observation proved prophetic in the Clan's second game of the week in Anchorage.
After leading the game 36-30 at halftime, the Clan were outscored 47-21 in the latter period to tumble to fourth place in conference standing with a 9-5 record.
With the score knotted at 46 points apiece and just over 13 minutes left to play, Anchorage went on a 12-2 tear and never looked back.
"We need to be able to compete for a full game against a physical team like Anchorage. They played hard from start to finish," said Langford in a Clan press release.
Kristina Collins led SFU against Anchorage with 16 points, including 12 from three-point land.
In Fairbanks, SFU got a seven-point contribution and a career-high eight rebounds from New Westminster sophomore guard Kia Van Laare to pace the Clan to its 14th win this season.
Raincock-Ekunwe leads the GNAC in seven separate categories.
The 6-2 junior leads all conference scorers, averaging 18 points per game.
Raincock-Ekunwe also tops all rebounders on both the offensive and defensive boards with a 298 total. Raincock-Ekunwe is currently averaging 13.5 rebounds per outing.
She also has a confer ence-best 36 blocked shots and leads in total minutes played.
The Clan women will host Central Washington in the West Gym on Thursday. Game time is 7 p.m.
Men split games
Simon Fraser University fell just short of a weekend sweep in men's basketball at the Burnaby campus.
The Clan opened with a 79-71 victory over Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday but were unable to make up for a poor first half in a 85-75 loss to Alaska Anchorage after an attempted comeback against the No. 17 NCAA Division II school team on Saturday.
"We didn't follow our game plan in the first half. We let guys do things that we knew they were good at," said forward Zack Frehlick in a prepared SFU press release. "In the second half, we really got back to doing what we knew we were supposed to do all along, and it worked out for us."
Justin Brown led the Clan with 28 points and seven assists, while Connor Lewis hit five three-pointers in a 17-point effort against Anchorage.
The U.S. school led by as much as 32-10 at one point in the opening half.
In the second half, SFU cut the deficit to a single bucket on a bomb by Lewis, but could get no closer.
On Thursday, guard Jordan Sergent helped SFU post its first conference win at home, scoring a gamehigh 24 points, including 10-for-11 from the freethrow line.
Brown was perfect at the charity stripe, making all nine of his second-half attempts to finish with 18 points.
The Clan is on the road this week for two important matchups against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
The two U.S. schools are currently in a showdown for the sixth and final conference playoff spot in the Great Northwest conference.
