By: Van Williams, Alaska Sports Report
When it comes to scoring, nobody from Alaska does it better than Alissa Pili. In fact, few players do it better in the NCAA than the Utah All-American from Anchorage.
Her 22.5-point average ranks seventh in women’s Division I basketball.
Pili’s 37-point gem against South Carolina is the highest single-game total for a player from Alaska this season, and the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year owns five of the top six high games. Only former Dimond High teammate Angelline Nageak’s 27 points for Adams State prevented a clean sweep.
One of those premier Pili performances came at the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, where the homecoming queen pumped in 28 points against Eastern Kentucky in the tournament title game en route to winning MVP honors.
Pili, Nageak and Wasilla’s Sheridan Green are the only three Alaska women to score at least 25 points in a game this season, although Cantwell’s Rachel Cockman of Western Colorado has furnished two 22-point games.
Top 10 Women
AVG | PLAYER | TEAM |
22.5 | Alissa Pili | Utah |
17.6 | Rachel Cockman | Western Colorado |
11.7 | Sheridan Green | Thomas |
11.1 | Ashlyn Parduhn | Clark |
10.7 | Destiny Reimers | UAF |
9.9 | Angelline Nageak | Adams State |
9.1 | Elaina Watson | Adams State |
8.8 | Mia ‘Uhila | Portland State |
8.5 | Elaina Mack | UAA |
8.4 | Skye Miller | Utah State |
The men’s race is much tighter.
Former West High standout Jamari Lawrence of Southwestern Christian leads the way with a 21-point average while Damarion Delaney (19.5) of Spokane and Brayden Maldonado (18.3) of Metro State are close behind.
Lawrence has a season high of 30 points, meanwhile Delaney has bagged three 30-point games, including a pair of 32-point breakouts.
East High has become a college factory under coach Chuck Martin as four of Alaska’s top five scorers are former T-birds in Delaney, Maldonado, Kaeleb Johnson (16.4) of Vancouver Island and Jahbez Sellers (16.3) of Spokane.
In fact, East has nine of the 31 players on the list and produced seven of the top eight single-game highs.
It explains why Martin has compiled a 119-16 record at the school entering his sixth season.
Top 10 Men
AVG | PLAYER | TEAM |
21.0 | Jamari Lawrence | Southwestern Christian |
19.5 | Damarion Delaney | Spokane |
18.3 | Brayden Maldonado | Metro State |
16.4 | Kaeleb Johnson | Vancouver Island |
16.3 | Jahbez Sellers | Spokane |
15.2 | Orion Dybdahl | Centralia |
13.8 | Sullivan Menard | Whitworth |
13.2 | Isaiah Moses | UC Riverside |
13.0 | Patrick McMahon | Montana State |
13.0 | Bishop Tosi | UAA |