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| Rory Blanche |
The win, coupled with Saint Martin's 74-65 come-from-behind victory at previously unbeaten Western Oregon, moved the Vikings (15-3, 6-1) into a first-place tie in the conference standings with the Wolves (13-3, 6-1).
Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific (14-3, 6-2) climbed into third place one-half game back of the co-leaders with a 71-66 road win at Northwest Nazarene.
Elsewhere, Central Washington (8-7, 2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak outscoring Montana State Billings 115-107 and Simon Fraser (6-9, 1-6) earned its first conference victory of the season rallying to beat Alaska Fairbanks 65-61.
Taylor Rohde had game-highs of 26 points and eight rebounds for Alaska Anchorage (11-4, 5-2). The Vikings, however, trailed just once in the second half at 66-65 after two Rohde free throws with 1:49 to play.
A Blanche three-point play at the other end put the Vikings up by two with 1:35 to go.
After UAA missed a three-pointer, Western Washington worked the shot clock and Allen iced the game with a three-point shot, banking one in from the top of the key, to give WWU a 71-66 advantage with 20 seconds left.
Richard Woodworth had 11 points and eight assists for the Vikings, who shot 54.0 percent (27-50) from the floor. Blanche made eight of 14 shots and Allen converted on six of nine, including three of five from the arc.
Western trailed 31-29 at halftime before opening the second half with nine straight points, seven of them by Allen, to take a 38-31 lead just 2:05 into the period.
The Vikings led by 11 (53-42) with 10:52 to play, but the Seawolves rallied to tie the score at 59-59 on a Abebe Demissie three-pointer with 5:28 left.
Travis Thompson had 11 points for UAA, and Kyle Fossman added 10. Blanche's 18 points took him to 990 for his career.
Saint Martin's 74, Western Oregon 65
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| Bond |
Bond came into the game averaging 5.1 points per game, but made three three-pointers and a layup to help key the comeback.
His first trey jump-started the comeback cutting WOU's lead to 56-47 with 9:31 remaining.
Later he started a 15-0 Saint run with his layup, then tied the game at 60-60 with his second trey and gave SMU a 66-60 lead with his third.
“Will Bond came off the bench and gave us a lift,” SMU coach Keith Cooper said. “He hit some big shots for us.”
Two free throws by Brady Bomber with 57 seconds remaining capped off the scoring spree giving Saint Martin's a 68-60 lead. The Saints then made six of seven free throws during the final 45 seconds to clinch the victory.
Also in double figures were Brok Pendleton with 15 points and Roger O'Neill with 13. Bomber had nine assists and was not charged with a turnover as he orchestrated the Saint offense that shot 51.9 percent (27-52).
“Brady (Bomber) did a great job of running the team (and handling their pressure),” Cooper said.
Blair Wheadon led Western Oregon with 20 points and four steals. The Wolves, who were outrebounded 39-29, also got 12 points from Kolton Nelson and 10 from Kyle Long.
Seattle Pacific 71, Northwest Nazarene 66
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| Andy Poling |
Poling made eight of 11 shots from the field for the Falcons, who shot 54 percent (22 of 41) as a team cruising to to their fifth straight win.
The 6-foot-11 post player converted seven of eight free throws, helping his team outscore the Crusaders 23-4 from the line.
Poling also grabbed eight rebounds to lead SPU's 32-27 advantage on the boards. Cory Hutsen contributed 12 points and Jobi Wall had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Anthony Golden tallied 16 points to pace NNU (8-7, 2-5), which also got 12 apiece from Jonathan Hawkins and Keith Moilanen and 11 from JB Pillard.
The Crusaders scored the game's first six points while forcing the visitors into a turnover and two missed shots on its first three possessions.
SPU tallied the next eight points, six of them from the free throw line, to go ahead 8-6 with 15:49 left in the first half. That was the first of 17 lead changes, all of them during the opening period.
The Falcons forged what proved to be the game's final lead change on a three-pointer by Scott Morse two minutes before intermission. Hutsen followed with a basket at 1:04 for a 35-31 advantage.
Hawkins converted a three-point play with 40 seconds on the clock to draw NNU within 35-34 at halftime.
After taking its largest lead of the game at 65-53 on a layup by Wall with 2:03 left in the game, SPU missed four of its next six free throws, one miss each by four different players.
That enabled the Crusaders to close within 67-63 when Golden converted two of three free throws with 35 seconds remaining.
The Falcons found their stroke from the line and got a pair of free throws from both Wall and Morse to stretch the lead to a secure 71-63 with 17 seconds to play.
Seattle Pacific won for the 11th time in the last 13 meetings against the Crusaders, improving its lead in the all-time series to 47-22.
Central Washington 115, Montana State Billings 107
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| Haddock |
Each team had three 20-point scorers. In addition to Haddock who had the highest total for a CWU player since Matt Penoncello scored 36 three years ago, the Wildcats were led by Toussaint Tyler with 23 and Jody Johnson with 20.
Central also got 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Kevin Davis and 14 points from Jordan Coby. Johnson also had 10 rebounds.
Antoine Proctor led MSUB (9-7, 4-4) with 35 points, 26 of them in the second half before he fouled out with 2:03 left. Jaxon Myaer netted 25 points and Taylor Stevens had 20.
Myaer helped shoot MSUB into an early 27-9 lead making four consecutive three-point shots, but he was just one of six from the arc the rest of the way.
CWU dug itself out of the early hole outscoring the Yellowjackets 17-6 over the final 4:45 of the first half to climb within one (52-51) at the break.
Their were eight second-half ties, including the final one at 98-98 with 3:27 when Johnson made the first of two foul shots.
Johnson made the second as well and Haddock then scored CWU's next 10 points including three free throws with 2:03 left to put the 'Cats ahead 104-100.
Proctor fouled out on that play and CWU then put the game away at the free throw line making six straight during the final 29 seconds.
The 2 hour, six minute marathon featured 58 fouls and 83 free throws. MSUB converted on 37 of 46 (Proctor was 17 of 20) and CWU made 28 of 37.
Central also shot 53.2 percent from the floor (41-77) though they were just five of 19 on treys. The 'Jackets shot 45.3 percent (29-64), making 12 of 30 three-pointers, but only four of 13 after the break.
Simon Fraser 65, Alaska Fairbanks 61
Simon Fraser used a 12-2 run in the final 3:23 to rally for a four-point win at the Patty Center.
Jordan Sergent scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including seven points in the last 74 seconds to lift the Clan to their first conference win of the season.
Sergent's layup with 3:23 to go sparked the SFU run and after a pair of free throws by Justin Brown with just over two minutes remaining, the Clan took their first lead since 2-0 when Sergent slashed through the lane and completed a three-point play with a bucket and a free throw with 1:16 to play.
Sergent drained a jumper with 32 ticks remaining to up the lead to 62-59 and the Nanooks (4-13, 1-6) had a chance to tie, but three-point attempts by Stefan Tica and Dominique Brinson were both off the mark.
Simon Fraser then got one free throw from Connor Lewis and two from Sergent to twice open up four-point leads in the final 11 seconds.
“We had two good three looks to tie from our two best shooters, so it's unfortunate those didn't go in,” UAF coach Mick Durham said.
Other key contributors for the Clan included Justin Brown, who had 19 points with four assists and three steals and Lewis (12 points, 7 rebounds) and Ibrahim Appiah (11 points, 9 rebounds).
The Nanooks were paced by Sergej Pucar, who tallied a team-high 16 points.
Tica contributed 12 points on four triples, while freshman Daniel Shaw added 10 points. Guard Nico Matthews led all players with 10 rebounds and six assists.
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| Alyssa Horn |
The loss dropped the Vikings (11-4, 5-2) one game back of the nationally eighth-ranked Seawolves (15-3, 6-1).
WWU is one of three teams with two league losses including Seattle Pacific (12-4, 6-2) which moved one-half game ahead of the Vikings and stayed one-half ahead of Simon Fraser (10-5, 5-2) with a 72-58 home win over Northwest Nazarene.
Simon Fraser kept pace cruising past Alaska Fairbanks 91-66. In other games, Central Washington overcame a 17-point first-half deficit to defeat Montana State Billings 65-59 and Western Oregon won at Saint Martin's 67-53.
Hanna Johansson paced Alaska Anchorage scoring 18 points on eight of 11 shooting. The Seawolves also got 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds from Alysa Horn, 12 points from Haley Holmstead and seven points, seven assists and seven steals from Sasha King.
WWU, which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, was led by Britt Harris with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Vikings also got 10 points each from Corinn Waltrip and Trish Williams.
UAA opened the contest by not missing a shot for more than seven minutes and jumping to a 17-7 lead.
The Vikings used a 7-2 run to pull within five at 19-14 with 10:44 left in the first half, but never got that close again, as the Seawolves, who shot 61.3 percent (19-31) from the floor in the opening period, extended the margin to 18 (46-28) at halftime.
WWU, which committed 25 turnovers and was held to a season-low point total, was never closer than 19 points in the final 17 minutes. UAA's biggest lead was 26 points.
Seattle Pacific 72, Northwest Nazarene 58
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| Benson |
Seattle Pacific maintained a double-digit lead for all but 15 seconds of the remainder of the game leading by as many as 17 in the first half and by 25 in the second period.
Aside from the 11 blocked shots – which was just two shy of the team record set in 2004 and matched in 2005 – the Falcons also put the defensive clamps on NNU guard Megan Hingston, who came into the game averaging a GNAC-leading 17.3 points.
Hingston was limited to just six points on two of 13 shooting before fouling out with 2:44 left in the game.
SPU also kept Crusader forward Briaunna King in check with 12 points, four below her 16.4 average that ranked No. 5 in the conference.
Northwest Nazarene (9-6, 3-4) shot just 33.8 percent for the game, making 24 of 71 and just two of 11 treys. Meanwhile SPU shot 41.9 percent, making 26 of 62.
Chelsie Luke led NNU with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Alli Dzhidzhiyeshvili had 16 points for the Crusaders, while King had 11 boards to go with her 12 points.
Simon Fraser 91, Alaska Fairbanks 66
Simon Fraser shot over 50 percent from the floor and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe posted a double-double en route to a 25-point win against Alaska Fairbanks Saturday at West Gymnasium.
Raincock-Ekunwe tallied game-highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds as the Clan completed a sweep of the Alaska schools.
She also contributed three assists and four steals. Kristina Collins and Chelsea Reist also scored in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively, while Collins dished out a game-best six dimes.
SFU shot 54.4 percent for the game (31-57), and hit eight of 16 treys. The Clan also dominated the boards by a 40-26 count.
Freshman Nicole Hartzog led the Nanooks (4-13, 0-7) with 19 points and a career-best five steals. Nicole Bozek had 15 points and six rebounds.
The Clan opened the contest with nine of the game's first 11 points for an early seven-point lead two minutes in. Leading 11-6, SFU scored eight straight to up the lead to 19-6 with 13:31 left.
UAF didn't allow the deficit to grow until a 7-1 surge in the final 90 seconds gave the home team a 48-32 at the break.
The Clan took over early in the second with a 14-3 run to grab a commanding 66-41 lead with 14:39 left. The Nanooks never got any closer than 20 as SFU led by as many as 29 points three times down the stretch.
Central Washington 65, Montana State Billings 59
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| Russell |
Russell had all but nine of CWU's 25 first-half points keeping the Wildcats (5-9, 2-5) within eight points (33-25) at the break. Central, however, didn't catch the 'Jackets (12-7, 4-4) until a layup by Albrecht at 11:42 knotted the game at 44-44.
Central gained its first lead (53-52) of the game with 7:46 remaining on a free throw by Melanie Valdez. That was part of an 8-0 run (including six points by Russell) that turned a 52-50 deficit into a 58-52 lead.
The Wildcats led the rest of the way as MSUB (12-7, 4-4) pulled to within three points just once - on a three-pointer by Quinn Peoples with 58 seconds left.
VanDyke, however, then hit three free throws in the final minute to clinch CWU's first road win of the season after four losses. On the day, VanDyke made five of six foul tosses.
Albrecht joined Russell, who made nine of 20 field goal attempts and seven of eight free throws, and VanDyke in double figures with 11 points. Albrecht and Dunn each had seven rebounds as the Wildcats controlled the backboards 51-37.
Bobbi Knudsen led MSUB with 17 points and Peoples had 12. Janiel Olson led the 'Jackets, who made just nine of 29 second-half shots (31.0 percent), with 11 rebounds.
Western Oregon 67, Saint Martin's 53
Jade Haas scored 15 points and Lorrie Clifford, Rylee Peterson and Melissa Fowler each scored 10 to lead Western Oregon to a 67-53 win at Marcus Pavilion.
The Wolves (4-13, 3-4) made 50 percent of their shots (24-48), while holding the Saints to 34.1 percent (15-44) including five of 20 in the first half.
Western Oregon jumped out to a 6-0 lead, holding the Saints (7-10, 2-5) scoreless for nearly the first three minutes of the game. Saint Martin's answered with a 7-0 run, taking a 7-6 lead on Angela Gelhar's three-pointer.
But Western Oregon then went on a 10-0 run and led 31-22 at the break.
In the second half, Saint Martin's closed to 44-38 on Gelhar's layup with 10:03 left. But that's as close as the Saints could get as Western Oregon went on an 11-1 run.
Kelsey Baker led the Saints with 13 points, but no one else made more than eight.
Both teams struggled controlling the basketball as they combined for 67 turnovers – 34 by SMU and 33 by WOU. Haas had five of WOU's 18 steals and Erika Wilson had six steals for the Saints.
| GNAC News |
