The Warriors will spend Thanksgiving week in Fairbanks, Alaska as they take part in the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational, hosted by the University of Alaska. Stanislaus State will play three games starting on Thanksgiving Day.

Thursday
Warriors vs. Metro State (3-1), Alaska Airlines Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1 p.m. AST | [Live Stats] [Live Video]

Friday
Warriors at Alaska (3-1), Alaska Airlines Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, 3 p.m. AST | [Live Stats] [Live Video]

Saturday
Warriors vs. Newman (3-2), Alaska Airlines Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1 p.m. AST | [Live Stats] [Live Video]

This Week's Opponents

Metro State Roadrunners (3-1)
Series Notes: The Warriors and the Roadrunners are meeting for the first time.

About the Roadrunners:  Metro State (Denver) won both games last week in Portland at the Concordia Classic with wins over Saint Martin's (59-38) and Concordia (70-55) … Georgia Ohrdort (16.8 ppg) and Emily Hartegan (15.8) lead the team in scoring.
 

Alaska Nanooks (3-1)
Series Notes: Teams are 2-2 in the series with the last meeting a 102-97 Warriors overtime win last Nov. 13 in Fairbanks.

About the Nanooks:  Jaylee Mays is a sharp-shooter with 16 3-pointers (64 %) with 17.8 points per game … Jordan Wilson averages 22.8 points a game … The Nanooks have won by average margin of 19 points.
 

Newman Jets (3-2)
Series Notes: The Warriors and the Jets are meeting for the first time.

About the Jets:  The Jets have won three straight games inlcuding a 87-18 win on Oct. 14 versus Central Christian College … Bria DeGrate leads three players in double figures in scoring with 16.0 points a game … Newman is a Heartland Conference (Division II) institution located in Wichita, Kansas.

Holiday Time in Fairbanks
The team will make the trek up North starting on Tuesday and will spend the rest of the holiday week together. A few of the Warrior family members also made the trip north to Alaska. The University of Alaska is treating all participants to a banquet dinner Wednesday night.

Preseason Tournaments
Prior to earlier this month in Portland, the last time the Warriors competed in a preseason tournament was back in Dec. of 2011. In another matchup of West Region schools, the Warriors went to San Francisco to compete in the CCAA/PacWest Challenge. The Warriors went 1-1, losing to what were a fellow CCAA school, Grand Canyon, and defeating Notre Dame de Namur. 

Trip Back to Alaska
The Warriors are making a second straight trip up to Alaska in as many years. At the start of the 2015-16 season, Stan State played single games at Alaska and Alaska Anchorage, Nov. 13-14. The previous trip to The Last Frontier was in 2008.

Tough Exhibition Competition
The Warriors competed against two DI programs in preseason exhibition games earlier this season and will have three more contests against higher division programs. So far, the Warriors took on UC Davis and Nevada in early November. They will take on Sacramento State, Cal State Bakersfield and San Jose State later this season.

Holladay's Work of Art
Against Academy of Art last Wednesday, Riley Holladay had one of her better games aside from scoring. She had two steals and seven assists and tied her career-best with 11 rebounds.  She's now averaging 7.0 rebounds a game through four contests.

Freshman Starter
Freshman guard Angelica Baylon is one of three Warriors to start in all four games thus far. Alesana Whitney was the last first-year Warrior to start in the first four games (she started in the first five in 2014-15). 

Gaines Momentum with Lailoni
Another freshman, Lailoni Gaines, provided some nice spark off the bench in Friday's game against NDNU. In 18 minutes of play, she scored 7 points with six rebounds, blocked four shots and had three steals.

Against the PacWest
The Warriors had some decent success against teams from the Pacific West Conference. They posted a 7-3 record in four seasons with three wins in four match-ups in 2015-16. 

CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll
In the recently released poll taken by CCAA coaches, the Warriors were predicted to finish second in the CCAA, with one first place vote. 

Head Coach Wayman Strickland
Wayman Strickland is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Warriors. After inheriting a team in July, 2012 (and went 2-25 in his first season), he turned the program around with a very competitive 16-11 season in 2015-16. Prior to his arrival at Stanislaus, Strickland was an assistant coach at Delta College. He spent nine years as a professional player in Europe and Asia after a stellar four-year career at the University of San Diego (1988-92), where he amassed 1,040 career points and 408 assists.

Strickland Year-by Year

Year Overall CCAA

2012-13   2-25   1-21

2013-14 13-13 10-12

2014-15   9-17   7-15

2015-16 16-11 12- 8

2016-17   1-3   0-0  

Totals 41-69 30-56