March 12, 2008

FAIRBANKS, AK- With their respective basketball seasons concluding last week, a host of Nanooks have been honored with post-season awards, led by Sheena Brown's selection to the Daktronics All West Region Second Team. Brown is one of six GNAC players selected for regional honors, with only Alaska Anchorage's Rebecca Kielpinski and Seattle Pacific's Jackie Hollands making the all-region first team. Cal State San Bernardino's Vanessa Wilt was named the region's player of the year.

After seeing her season cut short last season due to injury, Brown enjoyed a spectacular campaign for the Nanooks this year. The junior guard led Alaska in scoring in 14 of its 26 games, including a 34-point performance against Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 12, and a 30-point output against rival Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 26.

Brown would finish the year as the GNAC's second-leading scorer, averaging 17.3 points per game. She also tied with teammate Kari Reabold for the team lead in assists, dishing out 73 helpers (2.8 per game) on the year. Brown set a career-high with seven assists against Montana State Billings on March 6, and played a key role in helping the Nanooks to end the season strong, winning three of their last four.

Brown and Reabold also earned honorable mention spots on the GNAC All-Conference team. Reabold finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 12.5 points per game in her final season with the Nanooks. The senior guard was seventh in the conference in rebounding, averaging 6.7 per game, and had a team-high 65 steals as well.

Reabold has received all-conference honors in each of the past three seasons, while this marks Brown's secomd time on the GNAC post-season awards list: she also earned honorable mention honors as a freshman in 2006.

For the Nanook men, Mladen Begojevic also received GNAC honorable mention honors. The Serbian was outstanding in his first season in the Blue and Gold, despite battling injuries throughout most of the year. The sharpshooting forward connected on nearly half of his three-point attempts on the season, finishing third in the conference with a 46.0 shooting percentage from behind the arc. Begojevic was the team's leading shooting as well, hitting shots at a 45.8 percent clip, and finished the season averaging 11.4 points per game.