Saturday, March 7, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. -  Sophomore point guard Kiki Robertson had 21 points and six assists Saturday to lead nationally top-ranked Alaska Anchorage to a 71-58 win over Western Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship game at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

Robertson earned Tournament MVP honors for the Seawolves (29-1), who ran their winning streak to 17 games and captured the league’s automatic NCAA tournament berth.

The Vikings (21-9) were led by 14 points and five assists from forward Sydney Donaldson, but the tournament’s No. 3 seed was held to 33.3 percent shooting (22 of 66) and outrebounded 39-27.  Donaldson scored 12 of her points in the first 11 1/2 minutes when WWU built a 24-21 lead, a lead it later stretched to 29-21.

Saturday’s game was a matchup of the only two teams ever to win the GNAC tournament women’s title, with UAA having taken the first two crowns in 2011 and 2012, and WWU winning in 2013 and 2014.

Coming off an overtime win against Seattle Pacific in the semifinals, the Vikings appeared energized and raced to a 29-21 lead on Taylor Peacocke’s jump shot with 6:30 left in the first half. But Robertson scored four straight points to start a 20-1 Seawolf run to end the period as UAA made seven straight shots.

UAA kept its advantage between five and 12 points for the majority of the second half until the Vikings sliced it to 61-58 on two free throws by Tia Briggs with 4:42 left. Robertson delivered the answer again for the Seawolves, pulling up for a 19-foot jumper, then converting a layup off an offensive rebound by forward KeKe Wright.

Junior guard Jessica Madison sealed it with four straight free throws to push UAA’s lead to 69-58 with 1:12 remaining.  UAA later got  free throws from Robertson and Jenna Buchanan to close out the game on a 10-0 run.

“I’m really proud of this group’s effort and their ability to focus, especially late in the season when things get tougher and you’re seeing an opponent for the third time,” said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, who improved to 65-20 in his three seasons.

“They did a great job of following our game plan on defense and being patient with our offensive sets. Kiki was outstanding – like’s she’s been all season. She certainly played like an All-American today.”

Robertson shot 8 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 6 at the charity stripe to surpass her season-best scoring total by six points. The GNAC Defensive Player of the Year also dished at least five assists for the 14th straight game and made a pair of steals. With 94 swipes, she is just one shy of tying the Seawolves’ single-season record.

Buchanan keyed the Seawolves' first-half offense, hitting all four of her three-point attempts and tallying 14 of her 15 points before the break.   Madison finished with nine points and eight rebounds, and Wright tied for game-high honors with nine boards.

First Team All-GNAC forward Megan Mullings scored nine points to see her streak of 15 consecutive double-figure efforts end, but the junior shot 4 of 5 from the field and accounted for four rebounds and three steals.

In addition to Donaldson, WWU was also led by Jenni White with 12 points and Taylor Peacocke with 10.

UAA will return to Anchorage on Sunday in time to watch the 2015 NCAA Div. II Women’s Basketball Selection Show, which starts at 6 p.m. Alaska time (7 p.m. Pacific) on ncaa.com. As the No. 1 team in the West Regional rankings, the Seawolves could earn the right to host the eight-team NCAA West Regional Championships, March 13-16 at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Seattle Pacific, which was ranked fifth in this week's regional poll, will be hoping to be awarded one of the five at-large berths and join UAA and the PacWest and CCAA champions in the eight-team field.