GNAC Women's Basketball

March 6

Seattle Pacific Wins GNAC Title, Earns Top Seed In Regional Playoffs

Henderson

Daesha Henderson scored 21 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer from deep in the left corner with 3:06 to play as Seattle Pacific won the GNAC women's basketball championship Saturday with a 67-60 road victory against 13th-ranked Alaska Anchorage at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The win earned the Falcons (24-3, 15-1) the No. 1 seed in next week's NCAA Division II West Regional as UC San Diego, the No. 1 ranked team in the latest West Region poll, lost Friday to Humboldt State.

Northwest Nazarene, meanwhile, closed its regular-season with a 81-45 victory at Alaska Fairbanks The Crusaders (19-8, 9-7) lost out on a playoff berth when unranked Humboldt State defeated Chico State 85-55 Saturday to win the CCAA's automatic berth in the tournament.

Elsewhere Saturday, Saint Martin's (12-15, 6-10) closed out its season with a 72-69 win at Western Oregon (11-19, 6-10) and Central Washington (7-19, 4-12) defeated Montana State Billings 64-60.

Seattle Pacific 67, Alaska Anchorage 60

Henderson's 21 points and another stellar defensive effort by the Falcons led Seattle Pacific to its fourth consecutive GNAC title and its sixth in the nine-year history of the conference. All but one have been outright.

The 18th-ranked Falcons, who shared the title with Alaska Anchorage last season, finished the regular season on an 11-game winning streak.

SPU built a 15-point lead at 34-19 with 19:01 left in the game. But in less than five minutes, the Seawolves (23-4, 13-3) went on a 20-2 run to go up 39-36.

Anchorage stretched it to a seven-point margin at 53-46 with 6:49 left. But the Falcons went on an 11-0 run. They tied it at 53-53 on a three-pointer from the top of the key by forward Caitlyn Rohrbach with 5:01 left then went in front to stay on Henderson's trey at the 3:06 mark.

SPU eventually outscored the Seawolves by a 21-7 margin to wipe out that seven-point deficit and turn it into a seven-point victory.

Henderson also handed out five assists and pulled down four rebounds. She was the only Falcon player in double figures. Rohrbach added nine points and seven rebounds, and guard Nyesha Sims also had nine points.

Kelsie Gourdin led Alaska Anchorage with a career-high 26 points, but she and Hanna Johansson who had 12 points were the only players with more than seven points as SPU, which made 10 of 22 three-point shots, held UAA to a 32.8 shooting percentage (21-64). The Seawolves were just four of 16 from the arc.

Northwest Nazarene 81, Alaska Fairbanks 45

Brittney Roggenkamp scored 17 points increasing her career point total to 1,006 in leading four players into double figures in the Crusaders' victory.

Joining Roggenkamp in the scoring parade were Janee Olds and Lindsay Brady with 12 points each. Kristin Hein had 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Alaska Fairbanks (2-25, 1-15) got more than half its points from Lakeshia Levi who had 24. Levi, who made nine of 22 shots, also led her team with eight rebounds and four steals. UAF's Jessica Harrison also had eight rebounds.

Northwest Nazarene held UAF to just 16 field goals in 60 attempts while shooting 40.8 percent on 29 of 71. The Crusaders also finished with a 55-38 rebounding advantage and had seven fewer turnovers (24-17).

Defensively, NNU got three steals each from Hein and Falissa Smith.

Saint Martin's 72, Western Oregon 69

Saint Martin's, which never led by more than two points until the final minute, got a free throw by Krissy Bassett with 39 seconds left to snap a 69-69 tie and went on to beat Western Oregon 72-69.

Following Bassett's free throw, WOU turned the ball over and the Saints added two more points on free throws by Jamey Gelhar with 13 seconds remaining.

Sara Zahler, who had already made five treys, threw up her 12th attempt of the game, inside of the final 10 seconds. But it was unsuccessful and SMU held on to finish the season at 12-15, including 6-10 in the GNAC.

The Saints, who trailed 22-8 early in the contest, were led by Gelhar with 19 points. She also had a game-high four steals. Bassett finished with 13 points and Dara Zack and Katie Hawkins each had 11.

Hawkins also had a game-high eight rebounds as SMU, which shot 48.9 percent (23 of 47), finished with a 34-29 lead on the backboards.

Zahler and Katie Torland each scored 19 points for Western Oregon (11-19, 6-10). Torland matched Zahler's three-point total making five of nine. Shayla Corder and Danielle Bellando had nine points each.

Central Washington 64, Montana State Billings 60

Sophie Russell scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the second half leading Central Washington to a 64-60 victory over Montana State Billings at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wildcats (7-19) snapped an eight-game losing streak with the four-point victory. Central also finished tied for seventh in the GNAC with MSU Billings (11-16) as both teams had 4-12 records in conference play.

Central spent most of the first half in the lead, taking a 10-point advantage with eight minutes to go and holding the edge until 3:31 remained in the period when Montana State Billings took a 21-20 lead as part of a 12-1 run.

The Wildcats regained the edge on a basket by Russell two minutes later, but the Yellowjackets then scored seven straight points before a Jenn Jacobs basket with 14 seconds left made it a 28-24 halftime margin.

Central didn't take the lead again until late in the second half, when it went ahead on a fast-break three-pointer by Russell with 5:38 remaining to go in front 51-48.

CWU, which itself had trailed by 10 points on three separate occasions earlier in the period, did not trail again the rest of the way, and seniors Brooke Fernandez and Sara Bergner each iced the game with a pair of free throws in the closing seconds.

Success at the free throw line, and a significant advantage in takeaways, keyed Central in its victory. The Wildcats made 18 of 20 free throws and outscored the Yellowjackets by 13 at the stripe, while committing just 13 turnovers to Montana State Billings' 27 miscues.

Those two categories helped the Wildcats overcome a 48-26 disadvantage in rebounding.

Russell made four three-pointers overall as part of her 20-point outing, while Bergner and Shaina Afoa scored in double figures. Bergner totaled 17 points and made five of nine shot attempts, while Afoa had 12 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots.

Montana State Billings had four players score in double figures, led by Sarah McNamee, who had 16 points and six assists. Rachel Hansen added 14 points, Kalli Stanhope had 11, and Mandy Jacobs finished with 10, while Kayla Ryan led all players with 18 rebounds.

March 4

GNAC Race To Be Decided Saturday

The 2010 GNAC women's basketball champion will be decided Saturday.

With Seattle Pacific, Alaska Anchorage and Western Washington all earning wins Thursday night, the Falcons and Seawolves will square off Saturday in Anchorage with the title on the line.

SPU (23-3, 14-1) clinched at least a tie for the crown and the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs with a surprisingly close 59-47 win at Alaska Fairbanks (2-24, 1-14).

Alaska Anchorage (23-3, 13-2) kept its title hopes alive with a 62-50 home victory over Northwest Nazarene (18-8, 8-7). UAA can earn a share of the title with a victory Saturday.

A UAA win would create a three-way tie - the first in GNAC history - as Western Washington (23-4) defeated Montana State Billings 85-43 to finish its campaign with a 14-2 record, clinching no worse than second. The victory was the Vikings 400th at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Meanwhile Thursday, Saint Martin's also earned a victory defeating Central Washington 76-64 at Ellensburg.

Seattle Pacific 59, Alaska Fairbanks 47

Daesha Henderson scored 12 points and Megan Hoisington grabbed eight rebounds to go along with nine points as Seattle Pacific secured the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament with a 59-47 victory at Alaska Fairbanks.

The Falcons, who have won 10 straight, used a 15-2 first-half scoring run to turn a 16-15 deficit into a 30-18 lead and never trailed again in beating the Nanooks for the 17th time in a row.

SPU coach Julie van Beek had praise for her two senior starters after the victory.

“Daesha and Megan are playing like seniors,” van Beek said. “Daesha gave us a great performance, shot 50 percent (5 of 10), had seven rebounds and was super-solid. Megan was solid. They did things you don't see on the scoresheet.”

SPU's first five baskets in the contest were three-pointers. Ironically, though, it was their first two-pointer -- an eight-footer from straight in front by Maddie Maloney that put them in front for good at 17-16.

Seattle Pacific, which is ranked 18th nationally, was up by nine points at halftime (32-23) and the Nanooks never came closer than that during the second half. It, however, was still a nine-point contest at 49-40 with 6:11 left when Seattle Pacific's reserves effectively closed the deal.

Sophomore Nyesha Sims started it with a pair of free throws. Freshman Rachel Murray hit a fast-break lay-in off a nice feed from sophomore McKayla Gorman.

Then Gorman buried a three-pointer from just beyond the top of the key to the right side, and Sims finished the surge with a lay-in, making it 57-40 with just 3:30 to play.

"Our bench gave us a huge lift,” said van Beek, whose reserves outscored their Fairbanks counterparts, 21-6, and out-rebounded them 12-3.

“When we had about six minutes left, I subbed in five for five, and they put us back up. Nyesha (Sims) and Rachel (Murray) and McKayla (Gorman) gave us some good points.”

Lakeshia Levi led the Nanooks with 16 points, and Jessica Harrison added 13 and a game-high nine boards. Ronisha Edwards, who came in averaging 12.6 points per game and pumped in 20 for the Nanooks in SPU's 86-44 win at Seattle in January, was limited to just four.

The Falcons, who rank No. 13 in all of Division II for fewest points allowed (coming in at 54.5) kept an opponent below 50 points for the 10th time this season.

Alaska Anchorage 62, Northwest Nazarene 50

Nicci Miller had 20 points and eight rebounds and Hanna Johansson sparked a second-half run to lead Alaska Anchorage to a 62-50 victory over Northwest Nazarene at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

UAA, ranked No. 4 in the West Region and 13th in the nation, also got 12 points and four steals from guard Tamar Gruwell, plus eight points and six assists from guard Nikki Aden to secure its ninth straight win and sweep the season series from the Crusaders.

NNU, ranked No. 6 in the West, was led by 14 points from forward Brittany Roggenkamp, but the nation's second-leading three-point percentage club made just three of 17 (.176) from beyond the arc, while committing 30 turnovers.

Those turnovers offset a huge NNU rebounding advantage (41-32) as the Seawolves piled up 21 steals.

Miller, a 5-9 senior forward from Denver, had five of those steals and shot eight of 15 from the field, bringing the Seawolves back from an early 18-9 deficit.

UAA gained the lead at 21-20 on Aden 's layup with 7:29 remaining in the first half, and Miller gave the Seawolves a 31-30 halftime edge on their final possession of the stanza.

Johansson – who was scoreless with two fouls in the first half – then took over to start the second. The 6-2 Swede scored eight points and accounted for two more off one of her steals, sparking a 10-0 run.

That spurt would eventually decide the game as the lead fluctuated between six and 13 points the rest of the way. Before fouling out with 6:23 remaining, Johansson finished the second half with six of eight shooting and three of her four steals.

Western Washington 85, Montana State Billings 43

Nationally ranked and post-season bound Western Washington picked up its 400th all-time home victory defeating Montana State Billings 85-43. The Vikings are 400-69 in 38 seasons at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Center Jessica Summers led five WWU players in double figures with a game-high 20 points and also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds as Western, ranked No.20 in this week's national poll and No.3 in the West Region, concluded its regular season.

MSUB(11-15, 4-11). which has lost 10 of its last 12, was led by Kayla Ryan with 15 points and nine rebounds and guard Sarah McNamee with 11 points.

MSUB shot just 27.3 percent (15 of 55) from the field, missing 27 of 28 attempts in a 21-minute stretch that lasted into the first seven minutes of the second half.

Forward Willow Cabe had 13 points for Western, as did guard Amanda Dunbar. Guard Corinn Waltrip came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points while hitting all three of her three-point attempts, and forward Megan Pinske added 10 points.

Dunbar was two of four on three-pointers, giving her 88 for the season, breaking the school single-season record of 87 set by K.C. Mattingly during the 1995-96 campaign.

The Vikings never trailed, but led by just three (13-10) six minutes into the game. McNamee had six of the Yellowjackets' first 10 points as MSUB hit five of its first eight shots from the field.

But Western then held MSUB without a field goal for the next 13 minutes, opening up a 45-16 lead before a Ryan layup and free throw with 58 seconds left in the half.

The Vikings held a 47-19 lead at halftime, and extended the lead to 64-23 before McNamee notched the Yellowjackets' first field goal of the second half with 12:27 to play.

Saint Martin's 76, Central Washington 64

Dara Zack and Jamey Gelhar had big second halves to power Saint Martin's to a 12-point road win over Central Washington at Nicholson Pavilion.

Both players had 17 points in the period as the Saints (11-15, 5-10) built upon a three-point first-half lead to beat Central 76-64.

Gelhar made four of four three-point shots and 11 of 14 free throws and finished with 25 points, while Zack had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Roni Jo Mielke chipped in with 11 points and Krissy Bassett had 10.

Central Washington was led by Sara Bergner with 21 points, including nine from the arc where she made three of six. Sophie Russell had 12 points, 10 in the second period. Shaina Afoa finished with 10.

CWU (6-19, 3-12) led by one point inside the final eight minutes before Zack had back-to-back layups at 7:34 and 7:10 to give SMU the lead the good.

Zack's two baskets fueled a 13-3 run to give SMU a nine-point advantage at 61-52.

Central finished the contest with a 41-33 rebounding advantage as Russell and Bergner led the way with eight and seven.

CWU, however, was outshot 43.4 (23 of 53) to 38.3 (23 of 60) and also had four more turnovers (19-15).

February 27

Henderson's 30 Keys Seattle Pacific Victory

Daesha Henderson poured in a career-high 30 points making six of nine three-point shots as Seattle Pacific stayed on top in the GNAC race with a 74-48 win over Central Washington Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.

Elsewhere, Jessica Summers scored 21 points to lead three players in double figures as Western Washington (22-4, 13-2) defeated Northwest Nazarene 76-68 at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa, Alaska Anchorage pounded Alaska Fairbanks 98-46 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage and Montana State Billings defeated Western Oregon 69-64 at Alterowitz Gym in Billings.

Western Washington's victory enabled the nationally 21st ranked Vikings to keep pace with the No. 17 Falcons, who closed out their home season with a perfect 12-0 record.

WWU is also 12-0 at home this season where it finishes up its regular-season next Thursday against Montana State Billings.

SPU (22-3, 13-1) is one-half game ahead of Western Washington and one ahead of 13th ranked Alaska Anchorage (22-3, 12-2).

The Seawolves host SPU next Saturday and a UAA win could conceivably create a three-way tie for the conference title depending on what happens in Thursday's contests at Bellingham, Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Henderson topped her previous career high of 26 becoming the first Falcon to record a 30-point game since Michelle Beaumont tallied 35 against Cal State L.A. on Dec. 28, 2002.

Henderson, whose previous career-best came last year at Central Washington, joins Summers and WWU point guard Amanda Dunbar as the only players in the GNAC to score 30 points this winter. Dunbar has done it twice.

Henderson got support from center Melissa Reich who pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds and also had 12 points as SPU ran its win streak to nine heading to Alaska.

Forward Megan Hoisington also had a double-double scoring 15 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. It was her second straight double-double and her seventh of the season.

Henderson scored 23 of her points during the second half, draining five shots from three-point range. She tied her career high on a trey from the left of the lane with 7:26 left in the game, then set a new high when she hit another trey, this one from the right of the lane on a broken play with 6:38 to go. Her 30th and final point came on a free throw with 2:43 left.

Central Washington (6-18, 3-11) was led by the 16 points of Sophie Russell. The Wildcats also got 10 points from Brooke Fernandez. Russell and Shaina Afoa each had seven rebounds and Afoa had four steals.

Western Washington 76, Northwest Nazarene 68

Summers combined with teammates Willow Cabe and Amanda Dunbar to account for 55 of their team's 76 points. Cabe scored 18 points and Dunbar had 16 points and a game-high six assists.

Brittney Roggenkamp had 16 points and Janee Olds chipped in with 15 for the Crusaders (18-7, 8-6) who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Also in double figures for NNU were Lindsay Brady with 12 points and Heather Adams with 10. Adams also had five assists.

Western held a 35-26 lead at halftime, then opened the second half with nine straight points, the first seven by Summers, to take a 44-26 advantage with 17 minutes left.

The Vikings scored on seven of their first eight possessions of the period and were still up by 18 (50-32) with 14 minutes left.

But NNU rallied, scoring the next 10 points to close the gap to 50-42 with 11:40 left, and eventually climbed to within four (55-51) on a three-pointer by Roggenkamp with 8:39 to play.

The Crusaders got within four once more (72-68) on two Adams free throws with 1:17 remaining, and had a chance to get closer, but turned the ball over on their following possession, and the Vikings hit four free throws in the final 30 seconds to put the game away.

Summers hit her first eight shots from the field and finished nine of 11 and Cabe was seven of 10 helping the Vikings, who rank fourth nationally in field goal percentage (48.2), shoot 56.9 percent (29-51).

NNU also was efficient, shooting 52.1 percent (25-48), the best mark for any WWU opponent this season. Olds made six of 10, including three of five from the three-point line.

Alaska Anchorage 98, Alaska Fairbanks 46

Nikki Aden had 11 assists and Alaska Anchorage dominated throughout in a 98-46 victory over Alaska Fairbanks at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The Seawolves also got 16 points apiece from forwards Kelsie Gourdin and Nicci Miller to post their largest margin in 81 all-time meetings against their rivals. The previous mark was set in a 77-29 win in 1991.

The Nanooks (2-23, 1-13) were led by 17 points and seven rebounds from forward Lakeshia Levi.

Tied 2-2 after one minute, the Seawolves went on a 13-0 run to blow the game open, establishing a 34-13 lead just midway through the first half.

A steal and layup by Miller made it 51-20 with 2:48 showing and UAA led by at least 30 the rest of the way.

The 58-25 halftime advantage was UAA's largest ever in a conference game and marked the eighth-most points scored by a Seawolf team in the opening stanza.

Center Hanna Johansson had 11 points on five of nine shooting as 14 of 15 Seawolves found the scoring column.

Aden also had a career-high-tying four steals and committed just one turnover as she had the most assists for a Seawolf since Tiffany Massey's 13 against Saint Martin's, Jan. 6, 2001.

Gourdin led UAA's 50 percent shooting with seven of 11 marksmanship, while Miller made seven of 10 from the field. No Seawolf played more than 21 minutes.

MSU Billings 69, Western Oregon 64

McNamee converted on six of nine field goal attempts and all six of her free throws as the Yellowjackets (11-14, 4-10) ended a five-game losing streak.

MSUB also was led by Kalli Stanhope with 17 points, 10 after intermission, and Callie Kautzmann with 13.

Katie Torland, who had a game-high eight rebounds, and Hannah Whitsett scored 11 points each for the Wolves (11-18, 6-9), who shot only 31.7 percent (20-63) compared to 52.3 by MSUB (23-44).

The 'Jackets, who got seven rebounds apiece from Kayla Ryan and Mandy Jacob, were 12 of 19 in the second half when they stretched a 34-31 lead to as many as 14 (59-45 with 7:24 left).

MSUB was still ahead by 13 (69-56) with 2:01 left before WOU scored the final eight points, six on a pair of three-pointers by Lorrie Clifford.

February 25

Northwest Nazaene Goes on 46-3 Run In Victory

Trailing by three points late in the first half, Northwest Nazarene outscored Western Oregon 46-3 over the next 17 minutes in defeating the Wolves 76-40 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game Thursday at Nampa.

Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific (21-3, 12-1) remained on top of the GNAC standings by defeating Saint Martin's 66-55 at Lacey. Western Washington (21-4, 12-2) stayed one-half game back with a 70-48 home win over Central Washington. Idle Alaska Anchorage (11-2) trails by one game.

NNU (18-6, 8-5) scored the final four points of the first half to go ahead 30-29 at the break, then started the second half with a 15-0 run before a three-pointer by WOU's Jamie Richardson momentarily stopped the bleeding.

The Crusaders, however, then ran off 27 more points to go ahead 72-32 inside the four-minute mark.

Lindsay Brady led the second-half onslaught scoring 12 of her game-high 16 points in the final 20 minutes. NNU was also led by Kristin Hein with 14 points and Kat Schulte to Buhne with 13 points.

Katie Torland had 11 points and 12 rebounds for WOU, while Shayla Corder had 10, including six of the Wolves' 11 second-half points when it was outscored 46-11.

WOU (11-17, 6-8) was just two of 18 in the period, while the Crusaders made 17 of 28.

For the game, NNU had a 40-31 rebound advantage and 15 fewer turnovers (31-16). Hein had nine rebounds, five at the offensive end, and Brady had five of her team's 21 steals.

Seattle Pacific 66, Saint Martin's 55

Forward Megan Hoisington scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and Daesha Henderson led the way with 14 points as Seattle Pacific retained its hold on narrow hold on first place with an 11-point victory

The 17th-ranked Falcons have won eight straight and are 11-0 at home this season.

For Hoisington, it was her seventh game of the season with double-digit rebounds.

Center Melissa Reich scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and handed out a career-high eight assists. The assist total was double her previous career high of four, which she set on Jan. 30 against Alaska Fairbanks.

“I loved the fact that Megan had a double-double, and Melissa was really solid -- eight assists, and I love to see that she's scoring, too,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said.

“Katie Thralls did a great job coming off the bench (four points, two assists, one rebound in 16 minutes). And Daesha was Daesha. There were a lot of bright spots.”

Saint Martin's (10-15, 4-10) was led by Krissy Bassett with 15 points. Dara Zack had 14 points and Jamey Gelhar finished with 11 points. Zack also had a team-best nine rebounds.

SPU, however, controlled the backboards 43-33 and outshot the Saints 45.9 percent (28-61) to 33.3 percent (19-57).

The Falcons trailed just once, that when Saint Martin's scored the initial basket of the game. The Falcons led by as many as 14 during the first half before taking a 36-24 lead into halftime.

Western Washington 70, Central Washington 48

Center Jessica Summers had a game-high 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds as Western Washington defeated Central Washington 70-48 on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, No. 21 in this week's USA Today ESPN WBCA national poll, also got a career-high 19 points from forward Megan Pinske, making her first start since early in the season.

Central (6-17, 3-10), which has lost six straight, was led by forward Sophie Russell with 17 points. Forward Sara Bergner added 13.

Western pulled ahead quickly as the Wildcats hit their first shot of the game, then missed 16 of the next 17 over a 14-minute span, enabling the Vikings to take a 28-8 lead with 5:35 left in the first half.

Western held a 37-21 advantage at halftime. Central scored the first five points of the second half to pull to within 11 at 37-26 but the Vikings responded with a 10-1 run to take a 49-27 lead with 13:27 to play. The Wildcats never got closer than 16 after that.

Forward Willow Cabe had 11 points for Western and center Lauren Hefflin came off the bench to contribute eight points and 10 rebounds. The Vikings had a 48-28 advantage on the boards, and held the Wildcats to 27.5 percent field goal shooting (14-51).

Western is now 12-0 at home this season and 399-69 all-time. It was the Vikings' 13th victory in the last 14 meetings against their long-time rivals.

February 24

UAA Edges MSUB 65-63

Hanna Johansson scored a career-high 25 points, including two key buckets in the late-going as Alaska Anchorage fended off an upset bid by Montana State Billings defeating the Yellowjackets 65-63 Wednesday at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Seawolves (21-3, 11-2) also got nine points from forward Kelsie Gourdin and seven assists from guard Nikki Aden to earn their seventh straight win and sweep the season series from the Yellowjackets (10-14, 3-10).

MSUB was led by 19 points from guard Sarah McNamee, while center Kayla Ryan delivered 15 points and 13 rebounds.

UAA led 36-26 at halftime and Johansson scored on the opening possession of the second half to give the Seawolves their largest advantage.

Later she gave UAA a 50-41 lead at the 10:53 mark, but the Yellowjackets answered with an 8-0 run.

Gourdin, a 5-10 forward, responded with a personal 7-0 spurt to seemingly regain the momentum for UAA, but MSUB rallied again tying the game 59-59 on two free throws from McNamee with 3:04 left.

After a pair of missed opportunities for both sides, Johansson converted on a back-to-back feeds from Nicci Miller to make it 63-59.

Aden then swished two free throws with 49 seconds left to give UAA its final points, and the Seawolves hung on despite missed front ends of one-and-one opportunities by Aden and Tamar Gruwell – both 90 percent free-throw shooters.

After Gruwell's miss with 8 seconds left, Ryan grabbed the rebound and sprinted down court for a final shot – an 18-foot, straightaway jumper that clanged off the front rim at the buzzer.

The win gave UAA its sixth straight victory against MSUB and a final GNAC road record of 7-2.

Aden also scored seven points to go with her career-best assist total, while Miller and Gruwell tallied eight points apiece. Johansson, a 6-2 post from Gothenburg , Sweden , also tied her career rebounding high for the third time with nine.

Johansson surpassed her previous career scoring high of 17 points as she netted the most points for a Seawolf this year.

The victory puts the Seawolves, who finish their season with three home games, in a tie for second place with Western Washington (11-2), just one-half game behind GNAC Seattle Pacific (11-1).

February 20

Seattle Pacific Beats WWU To Take Over First Place

Daesha Henderson scored 19 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer with 2:12 left and three free throws in the final 1:03 lifting Seattle Pacific past Western Washington in a GNAC women’s basketball showdown game Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.

The 70-67 win enabled the nationally 18th ranked Falcons (20-3, 11-1) to move past No. 21 Western Washington (20-4, 11-2) into first place in the conference. SPU has four games left while the Vikings have three.

Alaska Anchorage (20-3, 10-2), the highest of the nationally ranked GNAC teams at No. 14, also stayed in the title hunt defeating Saint Martin's 83-49 at Marcus Gymnasium.

The UAA game was one of three lop-sided contests in the GNAC on Saturday as Northwest Nazarene (17-6, 7-5) cruised to a 85-47 win at Montana State Billings and Western Oregon (11-16, 6-7) blitzed Alaska Fairbanks 102-61.

Henderson, coming off a scoreless night in Wednesday’s 62-47 victory at Montana State Billings, pulled down seven rebounds, handed out six assists and had four steals in addition to leading SPU in scoring.

Forward Megan Hoisington added 14 points and reserve forward Caitlyn Rohrbach chipped in with 11, including a pair of free throws with 10.7 seconds left that made it 70-65.

Western Washington closed it to 70-67 on a lay-in by Willow Cabe with 1.4 seconds remaining. The Vikings then tied up the ensuing inbounds pass for a jump ball, and had the possession arrow in their favor with three-tenths of a second on the clock.

Amanda Dunbar, who pumped in 31 points and hit five shots from beyond the three-point arc, got one more try - her 14th of the night - from the right corner, but it bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Seattle Pacific, which is now 11-0 at home, led by as many as 12 in the first half after getting off to an 8-0 lead. Western climbed within 39-32 by halftime and took its first lead at 55-54 on a pair of free throws by Dunbar with 8:57 left.

From there, the lead changed hands five more times, the last time on Henderson’s trey from 23 feet away on the right side to put SPU up 63-61 at the 2:12 mark.

In addition to Dunbar, the Vikings were also led by Cabe with 14 points and seven rebounds and Jessica Summers who had eight points and team highs for rebounds (15) and steals (5).

Seattle Pacific, which has won seven straight, had 13 steals in the game, including six by Hoisington. The Falcons also got three blocks from Melissa Reich.

Alaska Anchorage 83, Saint Martin's 49

Tamar Gruwell and Nicci Miller combined for 37 points as Alaska Anchorage posted a wire-to-wire victory over Saint Martin's (10-14, 4-9) at Marcus Pavilion.

The Seawolves shot 54.1 percent from the field (33-61) in earning their fourth straight 20-win season under head coach Tim Moser.

The Saints were led by 12 points from reserve guard Megan Busch, but the managed just 29 percent shooting (12-42) and was outrebounded 45-28. Dara Zack was also in double figures with 10 points.

UAA also got 13 points from forward Kelsie Gourdin, plus 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists from center Hanna Johansson. UAA point guard Kaitlin McBride, playing just an hour from her hometown of Bothell, Wash., tallied a career-high 10 points, along with four rebounds and four assists.

The victory was the Seawolves' sixth straight overall and completed the third straight season sweep of the Saints. It was also UAA's largest margin in 27 all-time meetings with SMU, topping a 73-40 win in Anchorage last year.

Gruwell, a 5-8 guard, started the game with a three-pointer and added four more before halftime, staking the Seawolves to a 47-22 advantage. UAA then held the Saints scoreless for the first seven minutes of the second half, building its largest lead eventually at 83-45 with 2:36 remaining.

Gruwell shot six of nine from three-point range and made her only two-point shot, finishing with a game-high 20 points. She also totaled six rebounds, four assists and career-high-tying five steals.

Miller, meanwhile, scored 17 points on seven of nine shooting, including two of three from long range.

UAA's 10-of-18 (.556) three-point shooting was a season-high, topping the 14-of-27 (.519) performance in last month's 78-62 home win over the Saints.

Northwest Nazarene 85, Montana State Billings 47

The Crusaders got 16 points from Janee Olds, 14 from Kat Schulte to Buhne and 11 each from Brittney Roggenkamp and Lindsay Brady in a 85-47 win at Montana State Billings (10-13, 3-9).

Olds hit on six of eight shots and four of six three-pointers, increasing her career point total to 1,010 points. She's the 41st player in conference history to score 1,000 or more points.

Schulte to Buhne was also efficient making six of seven shots including a pair of three-pointers. Roggenkamp and Brady were each four of eight.

Sarah McNamee was the lone player in double figures for MSUB, finishing with 11 points. The Yellowjackets made just 16 of 62 shots, including seven of 27 from the three-point line.

MSUB was also outrebounded by the Crusaders 48-31. Olds led NNU with seven.

Northwest Nazarene led 43-17 at halftime when it made 15 of 32 shots, while holding MSUB to seven of 30. The Crusaders then got even hotter in the second half converting on 17 of 25.

For the game, Nazarene shot 56.1 percent from the floor (32-57) and 62.5 from the three-point line (10-16).

Western Oregon 102, Alaska Fairbanks 61

Lorrie Clifford led six players in double figures with 18 points as Western Oregon pinned a 41-point defeat on Alaska Fairbanks (2-22, 1-12).

Joining Clifford in double figures were Katie Torland with 14 points, Sara Zahler and Hannah Whitsett with 13 each, Meaghan White with 12 and Shayla Corder with 10.

Clifford made eight of 12 shots, including her only two three-point attempts. Torland was six of nine, White made five of six and Whitsett converted on five of nine.

For the game, WOU missed only 27 times, shooting 57.8 percent (37-64). The Wolves were 10 of 17 on three-point shots (58.8) and 18 of 20 from the foul line (90 percent).

Ronisha Edwards paced Alaska Fairbanks with 19 points. Alexandra Melonson had 15 points and Jessica Harrison added 11.

While WOU was firing away at a 57.8 percent pace, UAF made only 19 of 52, including three of 14 on three-pointers. The Nanooks were also outrebounded 39-26 though no WOU player had more than five. Lakeshia Levi had eight for UAF.

Defensively, Western Oregon got four steals from Zahler and two from Clifford.

February 18

Seawolves Pull One Out at WOU

Nicci Miller produced a double-double and Tamar Gruwell hit the game-winning free throws with 31 seconds left Thursday lifting No. 14 Alaska Anchorage to a 62-60 victory against Western Oregon at the New P.E. Building in Monmouth..

Elsewhere, Northwest Nazarene (16-6, 6-5) protected its No. 5 West Region ranking with a 79-58 road at Central Washington and Saint Martin's scored the final six points of the game in the last 57 seconds to defeat Alaska Fairbanks 80-74 at Lacey.

The Seawolves (19-3, 9-2) got 11 points apiece from Gruwell and center Hanna Johansson, while Miller had 15 points and 10 rebounds to fight off the upset bid and earn UAA's fifth straight win.

Western Oregon (10-16, 5-7) was led by a game-high 20 points from forward Katie Torland, but the Wolves were outscored 8-4 after its star fouled out with 3:04 remaining.

The victory was UAA's 13th straight over WOU – tying the program record for consecutive wins against an opponent ( Metro State ) – but the Seawolves had to fight all night to earn this one.

After forging a 23-18 lead with 5:28 left in the first half, UAA fell behind 32-31 at halftime. The game eventually featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than six points.

That was WOU's advantage at 51-45 when Shayla Corder (15 points) nailed a fast break layup with 7:18 left. UAA responded with a bank shot from Johansson to start a 5-0 spurt, and the Seawolves tied it at 54-54 on Miller's putback of her own miss at the 3:27 mark.

Trailing 56-54 on their next possession, forward Kelsie Gourdin made a strong drive and drew the fifth foul on Torland, who also had five rebounds and three assists. Gourdin converted both free throws to tie it, but WOU came back with four straight charity shots of its own to make it 60-56 with 2:16 remaining.

The Wolves would not score again, however, and Miller started UAA's game-ending 6-0 run by drawing a double-team and dishing to Gourdin for a layup. Miller then stole a pass from Zahler and hit a jumper on the other end to knot it with 1:10 showing.

Gourdin grabbed the rebound of Corder's missed three-pointer on the other end, and Sara Zahler was whistled for an off-ball foul, knocking Gruwell to the floor at the top of the key.

Gruwell – a 90 percent free throw shooter – drained both shots, leaving the home team one last chance.

The Seawolves clamped down on the last possession, knocking the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds left and then forcing a tie-up with 2.3 seconds on the clock.

Trying to inbound under their own basket, the Wolves' pass was deflected and the ball wound up in a scramble as the buzzer sounded.

UAA is now 4-1 in games decided by three points or less and 17-0 when outrebounding its opponent.

Northwest Nazarene 79, Central Washington 58

Four players scored in double figures as Northwest Nazarene jumped off to an 8-0 lead and never trailed in defeating Central Washington 79-58 at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Crusaders stretched their lead to 15-3 in the opening minutes and had a double-digit lead the final 33 minutes. Their biggest lead was 29 (79-50) with 2:34 remaining.

Brittney Roggenkamp and Lindsay Brady each scored 12 to lead the Crusaders, while Kristin Hein and Janee Olds had 11 each. Olds now has 994 points and needs six more to become the 41st member of the GNAC 1000-Point Club.

Hein also grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to post the only double-double effort for NNU. Heather Adams made three of five three-pointers and had nine total points.

Sara Bergner led the Wildcats (6-16, 3-9) with 15 points, while Stacy Albrecht had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double. Sophie Russell scored 10. Bergner was three of three on three-pointers as the Wildcats made eight of 16.

Northwest Nazarene forced 26 Wildcat turnovers and finished with a plus 12 takeaway ratio. The Crusaders got six steals from Falissa Smith, who played just 15 minutes. Offensively Jennifer Williams led the way with four assists.

NNU also made 15 of 16 free throws (93.8). The Crusaders came in ranked eighth nationally shooting 77.3 percent.

Saint Martin's 80, Alaska Fairbanks 74

Dara Zack scored 16 points to lead five players in double figures as the Saints (10-13, 4-8) edged Alaska Fairbanks 80-74

The game was tied 11 times before Saint Martin's took the lead for good with 57 seconds left on a jumper by Katie Hawkins. Jamey Gelhar, who uncharacteristically had missed three of her first six foul shots, then put the game away with four straight free throws in the final 19 seconds

Also in double figures for SMU were Hawkins and Roni Jo Mielke with 14 each. Gelhar had 12 and Krissy Bassett finished with 10 points

Adrian Bean hit six of 10 three-pointers to lead Alaska Fairbanks (2-21, 1-11) with 18 points. She took all but one of her shots from beyond the arc.

Alaska Fairbanks was also led by Ronisha Edwards with 23 points and 14 rebounds The Nanooks also got 14 points and eight rebounds from Jessica Harrison. Alexandra Melonson had eight points and seven assists.

In addition to her 16 points, Zack also had 12 rebounds, while Bassett and Hawkins had eight and six, respectively.

There were nine ties in the first half before Bean provided the Nanooks with a 37-36 halftime lead on a three-pointer with 1:50 left in the period

SMU then scored the first seven points of the second half and eventually built up a 12-point lead at 67-55, but UAF came back to tie the game at 72-72 on the last of Bean's six treys

Edwards converted a rebound into two points to give the Nanooks a 74-72 lead with 2:02 left, but Hawkins tied it with a jumper with 1:42 remaining before providing the decisive points 45 seconds later.

February 17

Sims Leads Seattle Pacific to 62-47 Win over MSU Billings

Sophomore guard Nyesha Sims came off the bench for a career-high 17 points as Seattle Pacific survived a Montana State Billings rally and pulled away to a 62-47 GNAC women’s basketball victory Wednesday at Alterowitz Gym.

Sims hit seven of 11 from the floor, including a putback with 13:37 to play after the Yellowjackets had whittled a 17-point SPU lead all the way down to 35-33.

That shot ended a string of nine straight misses and started a 10-2 scoring run for the 18th-ranked Falcons (19-3, 10-1). Billings (10-12, 3-8) was never closer than nine points the rest of the night.

Sims surpassed her previous career high of 13 points, which she set in last year’s regular-season finale at Northwest Nazarene. Led by her 17 total and seven from forward Caitlyn Rohrbach, SPU’s bench outscored the Billings reserves 31-2.

Forward Megan Hoisington added 11 points, for the Falcons and center Melissa Reich chipped in 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Montana State Billings was led by Sarah McNamee with 19 points. McNamee was eight of 15 from the floor, but her teammates made only 10 of 38. Kayla Ryan was also in double figures with 10 points. Mandy Jacobs had a team-best eight rebounds.

Seattle Pacific will take a six-game winning streak into Saturday’s Brougham Pavilion battle against GNAC-leading Western Washington. Tip off is at 7.

February 13

Henderson, Hoisington Key SPU Victory

Daesha Henderson scored 13 points and collected a career-high eight rebounds and Megan Hoisington led the way with 14 points powering Seattle Pacific to a 64-44 victory against Western Oregon at Brougham Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

Alaska Anchorage, Western Washington and Saint Martin's also earned easy victories Saturday.

Tamara Gruwell scored 21 points, converting on five of 10 three-point shots, to lead UAA to a 76-52 home win against Central Washington.

Amanda Dunbar also was five of 10 from the arc and netted 28 points in Western Washington's 104-54 thrashing of Alaska Fairbanks.

Saint Martin's got 19 points each from Jamey Gelhar and Krissy Bassett in outscoring Montana State Billings 73-56.

Henderson surpassed her previous career high of seven rebounds, which she had hit three times. She also had two assists, one steal and no turnovers in 25 minutes of action.

Melissa Reich also had eight rebounds and had six steals and a block to lead a SPU defense which recorded 17 steals. The Falcons also won the rebound battle 35-27.

Seattle Pacific (18-3, 9-1) had one of its best shooting days of the season, making 50.9 percent (28 of 55).

The Falcons, who are the 10th toughest team to shoot against in all of NCAA Division II, limited Western Oregon (10-15, 5-6) to just 32.6 percent (15 of 46).

They also threw a defensive blanket on WOU's Katie Torland. The senior forward came in averaging 16.9 points per game, but got just six, hitting two of 11 from the floor.

No WOU player was in double figures as Sara Zahler led the Wolves with nine points. Lorrie Clifford and Hannah Whitsett each had eight. Torland had a team-high seven rebounds.

Alaska Anchorage 76, Central Washington 52

Gruwell scored 21 points and Leah Stepovich and Nicci Miller tallied 11 points apiece off the bench as UAA earned a 24-point victory over Central Washington at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

It was the fourth straight victory for the Seawolves (18-3, 8-2), who tied the school record for free throw percentage knocking down 18 of 19 (.947) from the stripe.

CWU (6-15, 3-8) was led by 16 points and six assists from guard Brittany Duerr, who made five of seven three-pointers. The rest of the Wildcats shot just 35 percent from the field and the visitors were forced into 25 turnovers.

The Seawolves, who collected a season-high nine blocks , fell behind 5-0 and 13-11 in the early going.

However, a three-pointer by Nikki Aden and a pair of free throws from Miller kick-started an 11-0 Seawolf run and the home team did not trail again.

Gruwell made eight of 13 shots and had a pair of blocks, tallying 21 points for the second time in four games. The Fairfield , Calif. , native's third trey of the night was the 100th of her career.

Stepovich, meanwhile, finished three of seven from long range and grabbed three steals. Her 11 points were just one shy of her career-high.

Guard Kaitlin McBride, getting her second straight start in place of the injured Kiki Taylor, delivered the best all-around game of her Seawolf career with eight points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

Hanna Johansson was the fourth Seawolf in double figures with 10 points. The 6-2 sophomore from Sweden also collected four of UAA's 15 steals and dished three assists.

UAA's victory was its seventh straight over CWU, extending its longest string of success against Wildcats.

Western Washington 104, Alaska Fairbanks 54

Guard Amanda Dunbar led five players in double-figure scoring with a game-high 28 points as Western Washington cruised to a season-high 50-point win at the Patty Center .

The Vikings secured their 14th 20-win season in 19 years under head coach Carmen Dolfo. WWU also reached the century mark in scoring for the first time since early in the 2006-07 season when they beat Northwest 100-48 and for just the second time in seven years.

Forward Jessica Summers had 19 points on nine of 14 floor accuracy and game highs of nine rebounds and six assists. Megan Pinske and Kristin Schramm came off the bench to score 15 and 13 points, respectively, and forward Willow Cabe contributed 10.

Dunbar was 10 of 17 from the floor, including five of 10 from the arc. She has hit five or more treys in eight games this season.

Dunbar had 17 of her points in the first half including 12 in the first seven minutes as Western opened up a 20-6 lead. Pinske also had a big opening making five of six shots and scoring 13 in the first period.

Western Washington led by as many as 29 before settling for a 50-23 lead at the break. The Vikings then scored the first 14 points of the second half to lead 64-23 and the Nanooks never got closer than 36 the rest of the way.

UAF got 15 points each from Ronisha Edwards and Lakeshia Levi, and Alexandria Melonson had 10.

Western shot 56.8 percent (42-74) from the field, 52.4 percent (11-21) from three-point range. UAF hit just 36.2 percent (17-47) and was outrebounded 41-24.

Saint Martin's 73, Montana State Billings 56

Jamey Gelhar was perfect from the three-point line (3 of 3) and the foul line (4 of 4) and Krissy Bassett had a team-best nine rebounds in leading Saint Martin's to a 73-56 home win over Montana State Billings.

Both players tallied 19 points and were joined in double figures by teammate Dara Zack with 14.

The trio combined to shoot nearly 60 percent, making 18 of 31 shots as Bassett was seven of 14, Gelhar made six of nine and Zack was five of eight.

Overall, Saint Martin's outshot MSUB 52.1 percent (25-48) to 35.6 percent (21-59). The difference was even more pronounced from the three-point line where the Saints made six of 10 compared to five of 23 for the 'Jackets.

MSUB got most of its production from Kayla Ryan who had 21 points and 12 rebounds, nine off the offensive glass. MSUB also got four steals from Sarah McNamee and six assists from Callie Kautzmann.

February 11

Seawolves Edges Western Washington 71-69

Nicci Miller scored 21 points, including the game-winning jumper with 3.3 seconds left as nationally 17th ranked Alaska Anchorage knocked off league-leading Western Washington 71-69 Thursday at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

Elsewhere in the GNAC Northwest Nazarene got 21 points from Lindsay Brady and shot 52.7 percent in defeating Saint Martin's 79-60, Alaska Fairbanks snapped a 19-game losing streak beating Central Washington 72-62 and Western Oregon leveled its conference record at 5-5 with a 66-48 win over Montana State Billings.

Alaska Anchorage (17-3, 7-2), which also got 13 points and four rebounds from center Hanna Johansson, snapped No. 20 Western Washington's 10-game winning streak.

The Vikings (19-3, 10-1) were led by 22 points and five assists from guard Amanda Dunbar, but she scored just six of her points after halftime.

Western Washington, which beat UAA 78-58 in Bellingham last month, jumped to a 29-17 lead with 3:44 left in the first half.

UAA, however, got a jump shot by Miller and a three-pointer by guard Leah Stepovich to pull within 35-29 at the break and the game turned into a knock-down, drag-out affair in the second half.

Trailing 57-53, UAA forward Kelsie Gourdin hit a pair of free throws and Stepovich nailed a corner trey to give the Seawolves their first lead of the night with six minutes to play.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Dunbar, who made six of 10 treys, and Willow Cabe restored the Vikings to a 65-62 advantage before the Seawolves forged another tied on Tamar Gruwell's three-pointer with 2:16 left.

Knotted at 69, Miller was called for traveling and WWU's Ashley Fenimore, who finished with 18 points, missed a three-pointer, giving UAA the ball with 52 seconds showing.

Johansson's attempt with the shot clock winding down went wide, but the ball with tipped out of bounds, giving UAA possession with under 30 seconds.

After a timeout, WWU nearly stole a sideline inbounds pass with 10 seconds left, but Miller picked up the loose ball and drove through a phalanx of Viking defenders, kissing a six-foot jumper off the glass.

Miller made seven of 11 shots and seven of seven free throws to earn her highest career point total in a GNAC game. It was her fourth 20-plus outing of the season, but the first time she had reached that scoring mark since Dec. 3 against Nyack.

Miller also had three of UAA's 10 steals, and Gourdin accounted for a team-high four assists.

Northwest Nazarene 79, Saint Martin's 60

Brady scored 17 of her game-high 21 points in the second half as Northwest Nazarene defeated Saint Martin's at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

The Crusaders (15-6, 5-5) took a four-point lead into the half (35-31) and led by just five (57-52) with 8:51 remaining, but treys by Janee Olds and Brittney Roggenkamp and an three-point-play by Brady fueled an 11-2 run that pushed the NNU lead into double-figures for the first time at 66-54 with 6:13 left to play.

Olds finished with 16 points and Julianne Bazzi added 10. Olds made six of seven shots including four of five three-pointers.

Saint Martin's (8-13, 2-8) was led by Roni Jo Mielke with 17 points, while Krissy Bassett scored 13 and Jamey Gelhar added 11.

Zack finished with five points and seven rebounds, leading the Saint's efforts on the glass. She also became the 40th player in GNAC history to score 1,000 career points increasing her total to 1,001. Olds ranks 41st on the all-time list with 983.

In addition to making 29 of 55 shots, including 11 of 22 three-pointers, the Crusaders outrebounded Saint Martin's 36-23. NNU also handed out 23 assists as Hein had seven.

Western Oregon 66, Montana State Billings 48

Trailing 17-7, Western Oregon (10-14, 5-5) outscored Montana State Billings 20-2 over a nine minute, eight second span to take command against the Yellowjackets.

Six different players contributed to the surge as Danielle Bellando scored five of her eight points, Lorrie Clifford and Sara Zahler each had four, Jamie Richardson had a three-pointer and Lindsay Shearer and Katie Torland each had baskets,

WOU led 33-24 at halftime and led by at least seven throughout the second half, closing the game with a 9-0 run over the final four minutes to establish its biggest lead of the contest.

Torland finished with a team-high 18 points, while Zahler had 12 and Clifford finished with 10 plus a game-high three steals. Torland and Zahler also had seven rebounds a piece as the Wolves finished with a 32-29 rebounding advantage.

Sarah McNamee led MSUB (10-10, 3-6) with 18 points. Kalli Stanhope and Kayla Ryan had eight each. Ryan also had eight rebounds.

Alaska Fairbanks 72, Central Washington 62

The Nanooks (2-19, 1-9) earned their first conference win since Mar., 2008 ending a 25-game conference losing streak in addition to a 19-game overall losing streak.

Lakeshia Levi led UAF with 21 points and also had 13 rebounds, while Ronisha Edwards had 20 points. Alexandra Melonson had 16 points and Jessica Harrison eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Central Washington (6-14, 3-7) was led by Sophie Russell with 17 points. Sara Bergner chipped in with 14. Shaina Afoa had 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Brittany Duerr had 10 points.

February 6

SPU Hands NNU One-Point Loss

Megan Hoisington tied her career high with 17 points and also grabbed 15 rebounds and Maddie Maloney pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds as Seattle Pacific overcame an early 11-point deficit and hung on for a 63-62 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory against Northwest Nazarene Saturday afternoon at Brougham Pavilion.

The Falcons (17-3, 8-1), however, remained 1 1/2 games back of GNAC-leader Western Washington (19-2, 10-0) which got 26 points from Willow Cabe in remaining unbeaten in the conference in a 77-64 home win against Saint Martin's.

In other games, Western Oregon completed a season series sweep of Central Washington beating the Wildcats 69-58 at the New PE Building in Monmouth and Montana State Billings overcame a six-point deficit in the final minute to edge Alaska Fairbanks 61-60 on a rebound basket by Kayla Ryan at the buzzer.

Western Washington 77, Saint Martin's 64

Cabe's 26 points came on 10 of 16 shooting as the Vikings, who began the weekend tied with Seattle Pacific for 19th place in the WBCA national poll, extended their win streak to 10 with a 13-point victory. WWU is now 11-0 at home this season.

Forward Dara Zack had 19 points for Saint Martin's (8-12, 2-7) which has lost nine of its last 11 games.

Western took the lead for good less than eight minutes into the contest, but was ahead by just seven (60-53) with seven minutes remaining before breaking the contest open.

The Vikings scored seven points in 51 seconds to start a 13-3 run that gave them a 73-56 advantage with 3:40 to play. The margin was never less than 11 points after that.

Forward Jessica Summers had 15 points for the Vikings, who shot 51.6 percent (32-61) from the field, including 57.7 percent (15-26) in the second half. Western entered the game ranked No.6 nationally in NCAA II in field goal percentage at 48.1 percent.

Krissy Bassett had 11 points for Saint Martin's, which was six of 10 (60.0 percent) on three-pointers and 20 of 23 (87.0 percent) on free throws.

The 10 consecutive Western victories are the 20th double-figure winning streak in school history, and all 10 of the triumphs have been by double digits. Both of the Viking losses have been to nationally ranked teams.

Seattle Pacific 63, Northwest Nazarene 62

Seattle Pacific (17-3, 8-1) yielded the first 11 points of the game in its win, then turned that all the way around to lead Northwest Nazarene by 11 at 57-46 in the second half.

It was the second time this year SPU and NNU (14-6, 4-5) went down to the wire. The Falcons won 63-61 on a buzzer-beater by Daesha Henderson on Jan. 16 in Nampa, Idaho.

Five of NNU's defeats this season have been by six or fewer points and four have been by margins of three or less.

Its only double-digit defeat came Thursday at Bellingham to Western Washington (76-63) and the Crusaders had a 13-point first-half lead in that contest.

Hoisington came within one rebound of her career high of 16, while Maloney easily eclipsed her previous career high of six rebounds, which she set twice. Guard Nyesha Sims joined the two in double figures scoring 11 points.

The Crusaders were led by the 22 points of Brittney Roggenkamp. Roggenkamp made nine of 16 shots, including two of three treys.

Kristin Hein produced a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. She also had two steals and two blocks.

NNU, which led 36-29 at halftime, held Seattle Pacific to just 18 field goals in 59 attempts (30.5 percent), but was outrebounded 50-40.

The Crusaders shot 35.8 percent (24-67) but had 15 fewer points from the foul line where they made only seven of 13. NNU began the week ranked third nationally shooting at a 79 percent clip.

Western Oregon 69, Central Washington 58

Katie Torland scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in the second half leading Western Oregon to a 69-58 home victory over Central Washington.

Torland made eight of 13 shots, including four of seven three-pointers as the Wolves (9-14) improved to 4-5 in the GNAC.

WOU, which led by a 45-38 count before Torland hit two three-pointers and one of two foul shots to stretch its seven-point margin to 12 at 52-40 with 7:14 remaining, led by a double-digit margin the rest of the way except for a few seconds.

In addition to Torland, Sara Zahler was also in double figures contributing 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds, four at the offensive end. Lorrie Clifford chipped in with seven points.

Sophie Russell led Central Washington (6-13, 3-6) with 17 points, 11 in the opening 20 minutes. The Wildcats also got 16 points on seven of 10 shooting from Shaina Afoa. Afoa was held scoreless Thursday by Seattle Pacific.

Central finished the game with a narrow 36.8 (21-57) to 36.4 (20-55) shooting advantage over Western Oregon, but the Wolves made seven of 24 three-pointers, while CWU was just one of eight.

The series sweep for the Wolves is their second over the Wildcats in the past three seasons.

Montana State Billings 61, Alaska Fairbanks 60

Only a 8-0 run in the final 44 seconds by the Yellowjackets kept Alaska Fairbanks from winning its first conference game since Mar. 8, 2008.

Trailing 59-53 after Jessica Harrison made two foul shots with 52 seconds left, MSUB cut that deficit in half with 44 seconds remaining on a three-point shot by Kalli Stanhope.

Alexandra Melonson then made one of two free throws, however Mandy Jacobs nailed a three with 35 seconds on the clock to cut the Nanook lead to one.

MSUB got the ball back with 13 seconds left after a miss by Ronisha Edwards. The 'Jackets missed two short shots before Ryan got the final offensive rebound and put the ball in the hoop for the game-winner.

Alaska Fairbanks (1-19, 0-9) has now lost 19 consecutive games this season and has a 25-game conference losing streak.

Ryan was one of two MSUB players to have double-doubles, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Callie Kautzmann led the 'Jackets with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Also in double figures were Stanhope with 13 points and Sarah McNamee with 10. Edwards paced UAF with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Lakeshia Levi had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and Melonson had 13 points.

Alaska Fairbanks (1-19, 0-9) bounced back from a 28-17 first-half deficit putting itself in position to win its first conference game since defeating Seattle University nearly two years ago.

The Nanooks scored the last seven points of the first half to climb within 32-29 at the break and then outscored MSUB 15-3 to start the second half in opening up their biggest lead at 44-35.

February 4

Vikings, SPU Post GNAC Victories

Western Washington and Seattle Pacific, which came in tied for 19th place in the latest WBCA national poll, both posted victories Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

The Vikings, who improved to 9-0 in the GNAC, overcame a 13-point first half deficit getting 26 points from Amanda Dunbar to defeat Northwest Nazarene 76-63.

Meanwhile the Falcons beat Central Washington at Ellensburg 60-43 coming back from a three-point deficit late in the first half. Daesha Henderson led the Falcons with 17 points and matched her career-high with seven rebounds.

Saint Martin's beat Western Oregon 80-67 as Dara Zack had 26 points and seven rebounds in the final game of the night in the conference.

Western Washington 76, Northwest Nazarene 63

Dunbar had 16 of her game-high 26 points in the first half as Western Washington overcame an early 13-point deficit and defeated Northwest Nazarene 76-63 on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings (18-2, 9-0) remained unbeaten in the GNAC with their ninth consecutive victory. The Crusaders (14-5 overall) saw their conference record dip to 4-4

Forward Kristin Hein and guard Heather Adams each had 13 points to lead NNU, which shot 50.0 percent (23-46) from the field, the first team to achieve that mark against Western this season.

Western trailed as late as 90 seconds into the second half and led by just two (60-58) with less than nine minutes to play before putting the defensive clamps on the Crusaders, holding them to just five points the rest of the game.

The Vikings used a run of nine consecutive points in a 1:32 span to take a 69-58 lead with seven minutes left and never led by less than nine points after that.

NNU shot 68.2 percent (15-22) from the field in the first half, including five of six on three-pointers, and were 22 of 37 overall (59.5 percent) with eight minutes left in the game, but made just one of its final nine attempts.

Guard Ashley Fenimore had 13 points for Western, hitting all three of her three-point attempts, and forward Willow Cabe added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

NNU hit seven of its first eight shots from the field in jumping to an 18-5 lead less than five minutes into the contest.

Western gradually chipped away at that margin, taking its first lead of the game at 34-33 on a Dunbar layin with 1:51 left in the half, but the Crusaders took a 38-37 lead at halftime as Lindsay Brady hit a jumper from the right corner at the buzzer.

The Vikings have won every game in their nine-game run by double figures, and are 10-0 at Carver Gym. The 63 points are the most Western has allowed in a GNAC game this season.

Seattle Pacific 60, Central Washington 43

Henderson scored 17 points, including five during a 13-0 second-half run that broke open the game, leading Seattle Pacific to a 60-43 victory against Central Washington in Nicholson Pavilion.

The Falcons (16-3, 7-1 ) won their third straight game and have kept their opponent below 50 in all three.

Ranked 19th in all of NCAA Division II for fewest average points allowed (55.3), Seattle Pacific has yielded just 42 to Alaska Anchorage, 44 to Alaska Fairbanks and now 43 to Central Washington (6-12, 3-5) in its last three outings. Jenn Jacobs with 12 was the only Wildcat to reach double figures.

Henderson also matched her career high with seven rebounds. She came up with five steals and handed out two assists. Forward Megan Hoisington added 13 points and seven boards, and forward Sydney Benson came off the bench for 10 points.

The Falcons were down 13-10 in the first half, but then scored the next 10 points -- the first seven of those by Henderson -- to go ahead for good.

It was still a seven-point margin at 28-21 with 15:55 left in the game when Seattle Pacific went on its game-breaking 13-0 run. Henderson got it started with a three-pointer from the top of the key.

Saint Martin's 80, Western Oregon 67

Zack scored 26 points and Jamey Gelhar had a perfect shooting night on the way to joining the 1,000 Point Scoring Club to lead Saint Martin's to a 80-67 win over Western Oregon at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.

Zack, who also had seven rebounds, made 10 of 15 shots including her only two three-point attempts as the Saints (8-11) earned their second conference win in eight starts.

Gelhar had 18 points, making two three-pointers, two two-pointers and eight free throws without a miss. She now has 1,013 career points and is the 39th player in GNAC history to reach that plateau.

Also in double figures were Krissy Bassett with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Sara Zahler led Western Oregon (8-14, 3-5) with 23 points, canning seven of 12 shots, four of eight from the three-point line. Lorrie Clifford added 11 points and Katie Torland had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Saint Martin's scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed. SMU was up by 11 at halftime (36-25) and led by as many as 20 in the second half. WOU never got the margin in single digits in the final 20 minutes.

February 3

Miller, Aden Key UAA Victory

Nicci Miller and Nikki Aden led a balanced scoring effort Wednesday as Alaska Anchorage earned an 81-48 road victory over Alaska Fairbanks at the Patty Center .

The Seawolves (16-3, 6-2 ), ranked No. 18 nationally and No. 4 in the NCAA Division II West Region, also got a nice effort from Hanna Johansson with 12 points and six rebounds, while guard Kaitlin McBride tallied a career-high nine points.

The Nanooks (1-18, 0-8) were led by forward Lakeshia Levi with 20 points and nine rebounds, but UAF was outshot .493 to .333 and was forced into 25 turnovers. UAF has now lost five in a row to its rivals, including the last three games in Fairbanks by a combined 87 points.

Johansson – who shot five of six from the field and sank both of her free throws – started the game with a personal 6-2 run, and the Seawolves slowly stretched their advantage.

Leading 23-12 with 4:34 on the clock, Aden then powered a 20-3 spurt to end the half, scoring 10 of her 13 points in the blitz, including a put-back layup just before the buzzer.

The Seawolves substituted liberally in the second half as they maintained their advantage, putting 13 of 14 players in the scoring column.

Miller shot seven of 11 from the field and grabbed three steals, while McBride was perfect on four shots, along three steals, three assists and no turnovers.

Meanwhile, senior guard and Fairbanks native Leah Stepovich tied her best rebounding total as a Seawolf with six boards, getting her first career starting assignment.

In addition to Levi, UAF, which has lost 18 straight since opening the season with a win over Hawaii Hilo, got nine points from Ronisha Edwards and seven points and five rebounds from Jessica Harrison.

January 30

UAA Rallies To Beat Crusaders

Hanna Johansson scored 14 points, including a pair of free throws with 4.3 seconds remaining lifting Alaska Anchorage to a 66-65 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over Northwest Nazarene at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa Saturday night.

Elsewhere 21st-ranked Seattle Pacific, Central Washington and No. 22 Western Washington all posted victories. The Falcons cruised to a 86-44 rout of Alaska Fairbanks in their annual Homecoming game at Brougham Pavilion.

Central Washington earned its first-ever win at Alterowitz Gym defeating Montana State Billings 83-64 in Billings and Western Washington completed the first-half of its conference season unbeaten with a 70-40 home victory against Western Oregon.

Alaska Anchorage (15-3, 5-2) was led by guard Tamar Gruwell with 21 points.

Northwest Nazarene (14-4, 4-3), meanwhile, got a 21-point effort from guard Lindsay Brady and 18 points from reserve guard Kat Schulte to Buhne, who combined to shoot 14 of 23 from the field, including eight of 13 from three-point range.

But it was UAA's hot shooting and pressure defense that helped the nationally 13th ranked Seawolves set a program record for their largest-ever halftime comeback on the road, rallying from down 33-22.

The Crusaders took a 39-27 with 18:37 remaining when UAA found its stride.

Guard Kaitlin McBride started the blitz with a three-point play, and Nikki Aden drained two three-pointers in the next two minutes to pull within 40-38. Gruwell – who made eight of 13 shots and five of 10 on treys – then sank a long bomb to give the Seawolves the lead.

NNU regained the lead at 58-53, but the Seawolves fought back and the game remained a one-possession affair for the final six minutes.

After NNU missed a pair of free throws with a 65-62 lead, Aden found Johansson in the lane for layup with 1:01 on the clock. Brady was then called for traveling with 28 seconds remaining, setting up UAA's final possession.

With the clock winding down, Gruwell launched a three-pointer from the corner that clanged off and fell into the arms of Johansson. The 6-2 Swede went up strong and drew a foul on Schulte to Buhne, setting up the winning free throws.

Johansson – who entered with a .615 free throw percentage and had missed her first two charities of the night – swished both tries, and Nicci Miller poked the ball away from Brady at midcourt, preventing a final Crusader attempt.

Aden finished with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block, while Johansson shot five of eight from the floor and grabbed five rebounds. Miller had eight points, six rebounds, three assists and five steals.

Brittney Roggenkamp had 10 points for NNU to join Brady and Schulte to Buhne in double figures. Janee Olds was credited with nine assists.

Seattle Pacific 86, Alaska Fairbanks 44

Sydney Benson scored a career-high 22 points and Jordan Harazin handed out a career-best six assists leading Seattle Pacific to an 86-44 rout of Alaska Fairbanks on Homecoming Saturday in Brougham Pavilion.

Benson easily surpassed her previous high of 16 points, which she set on Jan. 14 against Saint Martin's. She hit 10 of 11 shots from the floor -- most of those from underneath after hitting a career-high three shots from three-point range in Thursday's 57-42 victory against Alaska Anchorage.

Harazin topped her best assist total by one. She had dished out five assists on three previous occasions, most recently against Montana State Billings on Jan. 21 in Brougham.

Altogether, the Falcons (15-3, 6-1) had assists on 28 of their 34 baskets. They came into Saturday's contest leading the GNAC at 17.8 assists per game, and ranked No. 15 among Division II schools nationally in that department.

Guard Daesha Henderson added 10 points for the Falcons, who had 13 different players produce points handing Alaska Fairbanks (1-17, 0-7) its 17th straight loss.

Ronisha Edwards accounted for nearly half of the Nanooks' points, scoring 20. She also had a game-high 10 rebounds.

Central Washington 83, Montana State Billings 64

Guard Brittany Duerr scored 24 points and forward Sophie Russell added 19 as Central Washington defeated Montana State Billings 83-64 earning its first-ever win as Alterowitz Gym.

The Wildcats (6-11, 3-4) had lost their six previous contests in Billings to the Yellowjackets (9-9, 2-5).

Duerr scored 14 second-half points, twice getting the first basket during a pair of 6-0 runs as CWU, which never trailed, stretched a six-point lead to 12 and later increased a nine-point lead to 15.

The Wildcats had another brief run late in the contest scoring seven consecutive points to go up by 19 with 1:29 left.

Duerr made nine of 13 shots, including two of four treys. Russell connected on seven of 12. Both players were four of four from the foul line.

Also in double figures were Sara Bergner with 11 points and Stacy Albrecht with 10. Bergner also had six assists. Shaina Afoa had seven points and 12 rebounds as the Wildcats controlled the backboards 43-30.

Callie Kautzmann paced MSUB with 20 points and seven rebounds. The Yellowjackets also got 18 points on six of 10 shooting from Mandy Jacobs and 11 points from Sarah McNamee.

Central outshot MSUB 49.2 percent to 37.9 cashing in on 29 of 59 field goals, while holding MSUB to 22 of 58.

Western Washington 70, Western Oregon 40

Forward Willow Cabe had a game-high 20 points and guard Amanda Dunbar added 16 as Western Washington (17-2, 8-0) rolled past Western Oregon at Sam Carver Gymnasium remaining unbeaten in nine home contests this season.

Forward Katie Torland led the Wolves (8-13, 3-4) with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Torland scored the first four points of the game, but WOU then went scoreless for more than eight minutes as the Vikings opened up a 12-4 lead midway through the first half.

Despite shooting just 31.0 percent (9-29) in the first half, WWU still led 23-14 at halftime. The Vikings then were red-hot in the second half, shooting 68.0 percent (17-25) from the floor and holding WOU without a field goal in the first 5:38 of the period opening up a 42-16 lead.

Forward Jessica Summers had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Vikings, and center Lauren Hefflin grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

WWU made eight of 13 three-pointers as Cabe made four of four and Dunbar, who entered the game No.5 nationally in three-point percentage at 49.2 percent, converted on three of four.

January 28

Western Washington Stays On Top In GNAC

Amanda Dunbar scored 20 points, including 18 from the three-point line, to lead Western Washington a a 66-49 road victory at Montana State Billings Thursday night.

The Vikings (16-2) stayed unbeaten in the GNAC posting their seventh straight conference victory to remain 1 1/2 games ahead of Seattle Pacific (14-3, 5-1).

SPU took over sole possession of second place with a 57-42 home win against Alaska Anchorage (14-3, 4-2).

Elsewhere in the conference Lindsay Brady scored 12 of her team-high 20 points in the first half as Northwest Nazarene (14-3, 4-2) ripped off 29 points in a row on the way to a 91-56 home win over Alaska Fairbanks (1-16, 0-6).

Meanwhile, Central Washington (5-11, 2-4) earned a 78-69 road victory against Saint Martin's (7-11, 1-6) at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.

Dunbar made six of 10 three-pointers to lead WWU, which led by just two points at halftime (32-30) before holding MSUB to six second-half field goals in 23 tries.

In addition to Dunbar, WWU, which is ranked 22nd in the latest national poll, was led by Jessica Summers with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds and Ashley Fenimore with 12 points. Fenimore also had a game-high five assists.

Callie Kautzmann paced MSUB (9-8, 2-4) with 12 points, while Mandy Jacobs and Kayla Ryan had 11 each. Ryan also had eight rebounds.

The Vikings used a 26-8 run in the second half to go ahead by 20 (58-38) with 8:23 remaining. Dunbar, who had 14 second-half points, hit three three-pointers during that stretch.

WWU's biggest lead was 22 (62-40) with 4:38 to go and MSUB never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.

Western's Krystal Robinson came off the bench to score eight points on four of seven floor accuracy and blocked three shots. Dunbar also had four steals.

WWU shot 43.9 percent for the game (25-57), while holding MSUB to 34 percent on 18 of 53 shooting. The Vikings also turned the ball over only 12 times to 18 by MSUB.

Seattle Pacific 57, Alaska Anchorage 45

Sydney Benson scored 13 points and drained a career-high three shots from behind the three-point arc and Jordan Harazin added 11 points leading 21st-ranked Seattle Pacific to a 57-42 win over No. 13 Alaska Anchorage.

The victory in Brougham Pavilion helped the Falcons snap a second-place tie with the Seawolves. Those two schools shared last year's conference crown with identical 14-2 records and have squared off in the past two NCAA West Regional championship games.

Benson, playing her first and only season for the Falcons, had hit just one three-pointer all year, but drained three of four from long range. Harazin, last year's GNAC Freshman of the Year, added five rebounds and two assists to her scoring output.

Seattle Pacific trailed just once, that at 3-0 when Nicci Miller drained Anchorage's first shot of the game. But the Seawolves, who were led by Kelsie Gourdin with 13 points, missed their next 11 shots.

The Falcons scored the next five points, saw Alaska Anchorage climb into one more tie at 5-5, then scored five more to take a 10-5 lead and never trailed again.

Up just 19-15 after a low-scoring first half, SPU went on a 17-3 run to take a 39-22 lead with 7:48 left. It was 41-24 for the Falcons when Anchorage went on a 13-2 surge to get within 43-37.

But Seattle Pacific scored the next eight points -- back-to-back shots by forward Megan Hoisington and a 22-foot trey from Harazin to make it 51-37 with just 1:48 left.

Gourdin was the only UAA player in double figure and only Miller, who had nine points, had more the six as the Seawolves shot a frigid 24.6 percent (14 of 57), including 20.7 percent (6 of 29) in the opening half. UAA was just three of 17 from the arc.

SPU made only 34.7 percent of its shots (17-49), but did cash in on eight of 22 treys.

Northwest Nazarene 91, Alaska Fairbanks 56

Leading by a 10-6 count, Northwest Nazarene built its lead to 39-6 before Alaska Fairbanks got on the board again. UAF did manage to crawl back to within 22 points (45-23) at halftime, but the Crusaders rebuilt their lead to 38 in the second half.

In addition to Brady's 20, NNU also got 18 points on perfect nine of nine shooting by Beth Johnson, 14 from Brittney Roggenkamp and 10 each from Kristin Hein and Kat Schulte to Buhne.

Jennifer Williams had a team-high eight rebounds and Hein had a game-high five steals to also lead NNU, which outboarded UAF 50-31.

Ronisha Edwards scored more than half of Fairbanks' points, tallying 29 on 11 of 30 shooting, including six of 11 from the three-point arc. Edwards also tied Williams for game rebounding honors with eight. Her 30 shot attempts were four off the GNAC single-game record of 34.

In addition to its plus 19 rebounding advantage. NNU also had 11 fewer turnovers (30-19) and earned 19 steals.

Central Washington 78, Saint Martin's 69

Sara Bergner scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half, including a key three-pointer with 4:13 left, to power Central Washington to a 78-69 win at Marcus Pavilion.

The game was tight throughout - CWU led by one (32-31) at halftime - before a jumper by Shaina Afoa with 5:04 left gave the Wildcats the lead for good at 60-59.

Nineteen seconds later, Brittany Duerr knocked down a three - her only points of the game - to extend CWU's lead to 63-59. Then Bergner gave the 'Cats even more breathing room with 4:13 remaining with another trey to make it 66-61.

Later, baskets by Sophie Russell and Mandy Jacobs and two foul shots by Jacobs doubled CWU's advantage to 12 at 74-62 with 1:09 remaining.

Jacobs finished with a team-best 19 points, converting on six of 11 shots and all six on her foul shots. Colleen Betteridge was also in double figures with 10 points.

Dara Zack had a big second half for the Saints scoring 20 of her 24 points after the break. Krissy Bassett had 10 of her 16 in the final period. Jamey Gelhar had 12 points for the Saints.

CWU had outstanding percentages, making 55.1 percent from the floor (27-49), nine of 18 on threes (including three of five by Betteridge) and 15 of 18 foul shots (83.3). Saint Martin's, meanwhile, shot at a 40.6 clip (26-64).

The Saints did outrebound the Wildcats 35-27 as Zack had nine and Bassett and Gelhar had seven, but couldn't overcome CWU's hot shooting.

January 23

Western Washington Hands Seattle Pacific First Loss

Megan Pinske

Western Washington used stifling defense and an offensive burst in the second half to defeat nationally 18th-ranked Seattle Pacific 54-40 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball contest Saturday evening at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The win left the Vikings (15-2, 6-0), who have won six straight, as the only remaining unbeaten team in the GNAC. Seattle Pacific (13-3, 4-1) is now tied for second place with two-time defending West Region champion Alaska Anchorage (14-2, 4-1). Both teams trail WWU by 1 1/2 games.

UAA earned its share of second place by defeating Western Oregon 68-54 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene (13-3, 3-2) and Saint Martin's (7-10, 1-5) also earned league victories. Lindsay Brady and Kristin Hein each scored 16 points to lead NNU to a 78-60 home win against Montana State Billings (9-7, 2-3).

Dara Zack had 18 points and seven rebounds to lead Saint Martin's to a 82-48 win at Alaska Fairbanks (1-15, 0-5). The win was SMU's first conference victory of the season, snapping a seven-game losing streak.

Western Washington held Seattle Pacific to 15 points less than its previous season low and guard Megan Pinske had a team-high 16 points on six of nine field goal shooting as the Vikings remained perfect in eight home contests this season.

Guard Daesha Henderson led Seattle Pacific, which shot just 31.3 percent (15-48) from the field, with a game-high 17 points. The loss snapped the Falcons' six-game winning streak.

The Vikings led by just four points (23-19) with 17 minutes to play, but went on a 12-2 run in a 2:52 span, capping the charge with back-to-back three-pointers by Pinske and guard Amanda Dunbar to take a 35-21 lead with 14:04 to play.

Forward Willow Cabe finished with 13 points and Dunbar added 11 as the Vikings maintained a double-digit lead the remainder of the way.

Both teams were very cold in the opening half. Western shot 32 percent (8-25) and Seattle Pacific made just six of 22 shots (27.3 percent). The Vikings held a 21-15 lead at halftime.

Western, which entered the game ranked in the Top 10 nationally in all three shooting percentage categories, was well below each of its season marks for the game, hitting 39.6 percent (21-53) from the field, including 25.0 percent (4-16) on three-pointers, and 61.5 percent (8-13) on free throws.

The Vikings were outrebounded 40-27, but had just 12 turnovers to SPU's 23.

Alaska Anchorage 68, Western Oregon 54

Nikki Aden led a balanced scoring effort with 13 points as Alaska Anchorage earned a 14-point victory over Western Oregon at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The Seawolves, who are ranked 13th nationally, completed a sweep of their three-game home stand, getting 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals from center Hanna Johansson along with 11 points from forward Nicci Miller.

The Wolves (8-12, 3-3) were led by 13 points from reserve guard Jamie Richardson and 11 points from forward Katie Torland.

WOU came out with a strong defensive effort and took a 12-11 lead with 8:41 left in the first half when Richardson drained a three-pointer. But UAA turned up its own defensive pressure and ended the half on a 19-5 run.

The Seawolves stretched their lead to 38-19 on Miller's only three-pointer of the night at the 15:29 mark, and UAA held on for the win despite seeing its margin trimmed to as low as nine points.

Guard Tamar Gruwell scored 10 points on eight of eight free throw shooting, while adding three assists, three steals and no turnovers.

UAA forced the visitors into 31 turnovers – 19 in the first half – and racked up 20 steals, led by Aden 's career-high-tying four swipes.

Northwest Nazarene 78, Montana State Billings 60

Lindsay Brady scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half and became the 38th player in GNAC history and the 20th in NNU history to reach the 1,000 point career milestone as the Crusaders improved to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in the GNAC.

Hein, who made eight of 14 shots, had 10 rebounds in earning her third double-double of the season. Joining Brady and Hein in double figures was Jennifer Williams with 10 points.

Kayla Ryan paced Montana State Billings with 12 points, while Sarah McNamee had 10 points.

NNU trailed early by a 12-7 count before the Crusaders took control scoring 11 straight points. Up by nine at the break at 38-29, Hein got the first basket of the second half and NNU led the rest of the way by double digits, opening up a 23-point lead at one point.

Northwest Nazarene outshot MSUB 41.1 percent to 31.4 and outrebounded them 53-32 in the win, getting 10 rebounds by Janee Olds in addition to Hein, who had six offensive caroms.

Defensively, the Crusaders had 13 steals, including four by Julianne Bazzi and three by Brady. Ryan had five blocks for MSUB.

Saint Martin's 82, Alaska Fairbanks 48

Joining Dara Zack in double figures in Saint Martin's victory were Krissy Bassett with 16 points, Jamey Gelhar with 12 and Megan Teade with 10.

Jessica Harrison led the Nanooks with 18 points. Lakeshia Levi earned a double-double, her league-best ninth of the season, with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Caitlin Hamsley netted 13 points.

The Saints used an 8-0 run, capped off by a Zack three-pointer, midway through the first half to open up a 31-19 lead on the way to a 41-27 halftime advantage. SMU then led by as many as 39 in the second half.

Zack hit on eight of 14 shots, including two of three treys, as the Saints outshot the Nanooks 49.3 percent (33-67) to 29.8 percent (17-57).

SMU also outrebounded UAF 47-31 and had five fewer turnovers (15-10). The loss was the 15th straight for the Nanooks.

January 21

UAA Ties School Three-Point Record

Nikki Aden, Kiki Taylor and Hanna Johansson posted impressive all-around stats in leading Alaska Anchorage to a 78-62 victory over Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage Thursday.

Seattle Pacific, Western Washington and Western Oregon also posted victories. The Falcons defeated Montana State Billings 68-52, Western Washington cruised to a 80-46 road win over arch-rival Central Washington and Western Oregon earned a 91-40 win at Alaska Fairbanks.

Aden led Alaska Anchorage (13-2, 3-1) with 18 points as five players were in double figures including guard Tamar Gruwell, who netted five of UAA's school-record-tying 14 three-pointers and scored 17.

UAA, which is ranked 13th nationally, nailed a season-best 52 percent of its treys as it built a 44-25 halftime lead and never looked back.

The Saints (6-10, 0-5) were led by a game-high 19 points on seven of 12 shooting from forward Krissy Bassett, while forward Dara Zack had 12 rebounds and nine assists in her team's seventh straight defeat.

UAA took control of a tight game midway through the first half when guard Sarah Herrin came off the bench to spark a 12-2 run as the Seawolves built a 23-12 lead.

Herrin nailed all six of her shots in the first 20 minutes – including three three-pointers – and finished with 15 points.

Johansson, meanwhile, had all seven of her career-high assists in the first half and also had 13 points and seven rebounds. Taylor was also near triple-double territory as the point guard had 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. The GNAC steals leader had two swipes as well, extending her streak of multiple-steal games to 10.

Aden came two points shy of her career high on four of six three-point shooting. She also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and had four of UAA's 22 assists. Gruwell and Herrin also had three steals each.

The Seawolves' 14 three-pointers tied the school single-game record for the third time – all under fourth-year head coach Tim Moser. UAA canned the same number last year against Kuyper College and in 2006-07 against SMU.

Western Washington 80, Central Washington 46

Guard Amanda Dunbar scored 13 of her game-high 22 points in the first seven minutes of the game as Western Washington defeated Central Washington at Nicholson Pavilion on the CWU campus.

The Vikings (14-2) stayed atop the GNAC standings at 5-0 with their fifth consecutive victory. Western claimed the triumph despite being without forward Jessica Summers, who averages a team-high 17.5 points a game and is out indefinitely because of a partially torn plantar fasciitis in her right foot.

Central (4-11, 1-4), which has lost three straight, was led by Stacy Albrecht, who came off the bench to tally 11 points.

Dunbar, who entered the game ranked sixth nationally in three-point accuracy at 50 percent, knocked down four of five treys and added a free throw to help the Vikings jump to a 20-2 lead seven minutes into the game.

Western extended the lead from there, going ahead by as many as 25 points before having a 39-19 advantage at halftime. Central shot just 17.9 percent (5-28) from the field in the opening period.

The Vikings then held the Wildcats scoreless for more than six minutes to open the second half to take a 50-19 lead, and never led by less than 24 points after that.

Center Lauren Hefflin scored 12 points on six of seven field-goal shooting for the Vikings and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, and forward Willow Cabe added 10 points.

Western, which ranks in the Top 10 nationally in all three shooting categories, hit 49.1 percent (28-57) from the field, including 39.1 percent (9-23) on three-pointers, and was 83.3 percent (15-18) on free throws.

CWU, meanwhile, made only 15 of 52 shots (28.8 percent), including two of nine three-pointers. The Wildcats were 14 of 19 from the foul line (73.7 percent).

Seattle Pacific 68, Montana State Billings 52

Megan Hoisington scored 16 points and Caitlyn Rohrbach added 10 points off the bench as Seattle Pacific used an 18-4 first-half scoring surge to take charge on the way to a 68-52 home victory against Montana State Billings.

The 18th-ranked Falcons (13-2, 4-0) won their sixth straight game, setting up a showdown at Western Washington Saturday night to determine which of them will be the last unbeaten team in conference play.

Hoisington also pulled down four rebounds and blocked one shot, while forward Sydney Benson added nine points and three rebounds.

After scoring the first seven points of the game, Seattle Pacific found itself up just 11-9 near the midpoint of the first half. That's when the Falcons scored 18 of the next 22 points, capped by an 11-0 run that made it 29-13 with 1:32 left before halftime.

It was 29-17 at the intermission, and the Yellowjackets (9-6, 2-2) never got the margin below 10 the rest of the night.

Kalli Stanhope led Montana State Billings with 11 points, and Mandy Jacobs added 10.

The Yellowjackets made just 17 of 45 shots and turned the ball over 30 times as SPU stole the ball 21 times, including five times by Henderson, four by Maddie Maloney and three by Hoisington.

Western Oregon 91, Alaska Fairbanks 40

Katie Torland scored 22 points and Meaghan White had 10 of her 12 points in the first half as Western Oregon (8-11, 3-2) handed Alaska Fairbanks (1-14, 0-4) its 14th consecutive loss.

Torland, who made four of seven treys, also had 11 rebounds, while White had eight as the Wolves controlled the backboards 51-37.

WOU had four players in double figure getting 11 from Jamie Richardson and 10 from Sara Zahler. Led by White and Richardson, the Wolves' bench produced 50 points.

Lakeshia Levi had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double for the Nanooks. Alexandra Melonson scored 11 points.

The game was close in the early going with WOU clinging to a one-point lead at 9-8 and ahead by five at 17-12.

Western Oregon, however, then outscored UAF 34-6 the remainder of the half to lead 51-18 at the break and maintained leads of between 29 and 52 throughout the second period.

January 16

Seattle Pacific Wins on Buzzer Beater

Daesha Henderson hit an 18-footer from the right of the lane at the buzzer Saturday afternoon lifting Seattle Pacific to a 63-61 GNAC road win at Northwest Nazarene.

Elsewhere Western Washington (13-2, 4-0), Western Oregon (7-11, 2-2) and Montana State Billings (9-6, 2-2) also posted road victories.

The Vikings stayed on top the conference - one-half game ahead of SPU (12-2, 3-0) - with a 67-50 win at Saint Martin's. Western Oregon defeated Central Washington 71-49 at Ellensburg. Montana State Billings earned a 67-49 win at Alaska Fairbanks.

Henderson's shot capped a wild final seven minutes of the game. For that matter, it capped a wild final few seconds as the 21st ranked Falcons who raced to a 14-2 lead at the outset, found themselves down 61-56 with 2:49 to play -- then scored the last seven points.

“All I can say is it was wonderful to win,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said. “NNU is a very good team. We got down by five and found a way to win.”

Henderson, who finished with 13 points, had tied the game at 61-61 on a pair of free throws with 36.3 seconds left.

The Falcons' defense then forced a turnover with six seconds remaining as sophomore guard Nyesha Sims came up with a steal before the Crusaders (12-3, 2-2) could get off a shot.

Henderson, thinking time was almost out, threw up a shot from just over the mid court line that fell way short, giving NNU the ball back with 3.8 seconds remaining.

“You don't see the scoreboard there very easily because it's overhead,” van Beek said. “Daesha heard the crowd and thought there were just two seconds left.”

The ensuing inbounds pass from under the Seattle Pacific hoop got away from Northwest Nazarene's Beth Johnson, and the Falcons regained possession with 2.6 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, SPU inbounded from back court. Henderson took it down the right side, pulled up just inside the three-point arc, and launched a shot that went in at the buzzer, handing the Crusaders their first home loss in nine games this season at the Johnson Sports Center.

In addition to Henderson, SPU was also led by Megan Hoisington with 10 points and eight rebounds. Maddie Maloney, whose three-point play with 1:58 remaining started the Falcons' game-winning seven-point rally, also wound up with 10.

Olds led Northwest Nazarene with 13 points, while Brittney Roggenkamp and Lindsay Brady, who now has 995 career points, had 10 each. Kristin Hein, who came into the contest with a team-best 12.4 scoring average, was kept off by board.

The Falcons got off to a torrid start, hitting 10 of their first 13 shots, including six of seven from behind the three-point arc on the way to a 30-16 at exactly the midpoint of the first half.

But Seattle Pacific missed its next 12 shots from the floor, hitting only a pair of free throws as Northwest Nazarene put together a 12-2 run to get within 32-28. It was 34-28 at halftime, and the Falcons gradually pushed its lead back to nine at 42-33 with 15:17 left.

SPU was still up nine at 51-42 when the Crusaders started a 17-3 run, capped by nine straight points including the first six by Brady to move ahead 59-54 with 3:29 left.

Down 61-56 after Olds' two free throws, Maloney pulled the Falcons within two at the 1:58 mark when she hit spun around for a two-footer under the hoop, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw.

The teams traded one missed shot and one turnover apiece. Hoisington then stole the ball with 42 seconds left and got it to Henderson, who was fouled and, after an NNU timeout, swished both free throws to tie it at 61-61.

SPU, which has won five straight against the Crusaders and 21 of 23 in the all-time series, hit a season-best 85.7 percent at the free throw line, draining 12 of 14. Northwest Nazarene, the GNAC's best team at the line (79.8 percent) got just six free throws, hitting five.

After the hot start, the Falcons wound up shooting 44.9 percent for the game (22 of 49). They limited the Crusaders to 40.6 percent (26 of 64).

Western Washington 67, Saint Martin's 50

Guard Amanda Dunbar had 20 points and forward Willow Cabe added 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead Western Washington to a 17-point win over Saint Martin's at Marcus Pavilion.

Aided by a pair of three-pointers by guard Jamey Gelhar, Saint Martin's (6-9, 0-4) took an 8-2 lead 4:39 into the game. But Western responded with an 18-2 blitz, with seven different players scoring in a five-minute span, to grab a 20-10 lead with 5:07 left in the half and led the rest of the way.

The Vikings were ahead 30-23 at halftime, and never led by less than eight points in the final 17 minutes.

Western shot 48.2 percent (27-56) from the field and had a 38-34 edge in rebounds. Dunbar made eight of 12 shots and Cabe was seven of 12.

Dara Zack led Saint Martin's with 16 points and 17 rebounds, including 10 at the offensive end. The Saints, who have lost six straight, also got 13 points from Gelhar and 12 from Krissy Bassett.

Western Oregon 71, Central Washington 49

Sara Zahler made four of five three-point shots and scored a game-high 16 points to lead Western Oregon to a 71-49 win over Central Washington at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wolves also got 14 points from Katie Torland on 12 of 12 free throw shooting and 10 points from Jamie Richardson.

Central Washington was led by Sara Bergner with 12 points. Stacy Albrecht added 11 points and Brittany Duerr had 10 plus a team-high four assists.

The Wolves had a 22-6 edge in free throws and also controlled the backboards 47-32, dropping the Wildcats (4-10) to 1-3 in the GNAC. Meaghan White led WOU on the boards with eight, while Lorrie Clifford had seven. Torland and A.J. Hawk had six each.

Western Oregon, which got a three-pointer from Zahler to end the first half and then scored the first seven points of the second half to stretch a two-point lead to 12, also had a 27-9 advantage on three-pointers, making nine of 22.

After opening up a 35-23 lead early in the second half, WOU built its lead to 26 points at 64-38 and then again at 71-45 and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

Montana State Billings 67, Alaska Fairbanks 49

Callie Kautzmann scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half and Kayla Ryan and Sarah McNamee had 10 of their 16 and 15-point totals in the second half leading Montana State Billings to a 67-49 win over Alaska Fairbanks at the Patty Center.

The Yellowjackets trailed as late as 4:56 left in the opening period before grabbing a three-point lead at the break. McNamee, who had six rebounds, four assists and four steals, then hit back-to-back three-pointers and Ryan, who had a game-high 13 rebounds, had a basket to start the second half.

MSUB went on to outscore the Nanooks 17-4 to start the period, eventually opening up leads as much as 24 points.

UAF (1-13, 0-3), which sustained its 13th consecutive loss, was led by Lakeshia Levi, who had a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double. Jessica Harrison had nine points.

Neither team reached the 40 percentile shooting percentage mark. MSUB, which had nine fewer turnovers (23-14) and five more steals (9-4) than UAF, finished at 36.9 percent, making 24 of 64. The Nanooks converted on one third of their shots (20-60).

January 14

Dunbar Scores 32 in WWU Win; Joins 1,000 Point Club

Guard Amanda Dunbar scored 32 points, including 24 in the first half to lead Western Washington to a 79-53 win over Western Oregon in a GNAC women's basketball contest Thursday at the New P.E. Building in Monmouth.

All four of Thursday's games in the conference were decided by 20 or more points as Northwest Nazarene, Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage each earned 20-point home wins.

The Crusaders defeated Central Washington 76-53, the 21st ranked Falcons outscored Saint Martin's 80-54 and No. 11 Alaska Anchorage beat Montana State Billings 85-63.

Western Washington (12-2, 3-0) also got 18 points from forward Willow Cabe and forward Jessica Summers added 13 points and had game highs of 10 rebounds and five assists in its win.

Western Oregon (6-11, 1-2), which has lost seven of its last nine games, was led by Lorrie Clifford with 12 points. Meaghan White had 11.

Dunbar, who entered the contest ranked No.9 nationally among NCAA Division II leaders in three-point shooting at 48.1 percent, tied her career best for three-point makes connecting on seven of 10, including five of seven in the first half.

Dunbar, who was 11 of 16 overall, upped her season three-point percentage to 50.6 (44-87). She also became the 21st player in WWU school history and the 37th in GNAC history to score 1,000 points, increasing her career total to 1,010.

WWU scored the first nine points of the game, led by 17 (30-13) with 6:12 remaining in the first half and maintained that advantage at halftime, 43-26. During one stretch of nearly 13 minutes, Dunbar scored 24 of the Vikings' 28 points.

WWU increased its lead to 33 (63-30) with 14:17 left in the contest and never led by less than 23 the rest of the way.

The Vikings shot just 42.9 percent (27-63) from the floor, but were 45.0 percent (9-20) from behind the arc and 80.0 percent (16-20) at the free throw line.

WWU also had a 45-33 advantage in rebounds and held WOU to 32.1 percent (17-53) field-goal accuracy.

Northwest Nazarene 76, Central Washington 53

Lindsay Brady scored eight of her team-high 15 points during a 12-0 run to end the first half as Northwest Nazarene broke away from a 27-27 tie and went on to beat Central Washington 76-53.

CWU grabbed an early 11-5 lead and earned six ties before Brady and Jennifer Williams combined for all of NNU's final 12 points in the last 3:32 of the opening period.

The Crusaders (12-2, 2-1) remained in control throughout the second half closing the period by outscoring the Wildcats (4-9, 1-2) 20-7 over the final 9:28.

In addition to Brady, NNU was led by Williams with 14 points, Kristin Hein with 12 and Julianne Bazzi with 11. Both Williams and Hein had seven rebounds as the Crusaders controlled the backboards 41-36.

Sophie Russell accounted for 14 of Central Washington's 26 second-half points and finished with a game-high 20 points. Sara Bergner had 14 points and Shaina Afoa had 11 rebounds.

Brooke Fernandez had five steals for the Wildcats, but NNU won the takeaway department forcing 29 CWU turnovers and coming up with 20 steals, including four by Hein.

The Crusaders, who made six of 12 three-pointers, had only 17 turnovers and outshot CWU 41.8 percent (28-67) to 38.9 (21-54). NNU, which twice (2006-07 and 2008-09) has won NCAA national team free throw percentage statistical titles, also made 14 of 16 foul shots.

Seattle Pacific 80, Saint Martin's 54

Sydney Benson scored a career-high 16 points and Seattle Pacific shot 53.1 percent for the game on the way to a 26-point win against Saint Martin's in its home opener at Brougham Pavilion.

Benson connected on seven of nine shots and was the only SPU player in double figures. Forward Megan Hoisington added nine points and pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds. Benson had four boards for the Falcons.

SPU (11-2, 2-0) hit 34 of 64 shots from the floor, topping the 50 percent mark for the second game in a row with a season-best percentage. The Falcons also finished the contest with a 36-32 rebounding advantage and had six few turnovers than the Saints (6-8, 0-3).

Defensively, Seattle Pacific got five blocks from Hoisington and three steals each from Jordan Harazin and Daesha Henderson.

Saint Martin's was led by the 10 points apiece of Krissy Bassett and Roni Jo Mielke. Dara Zack, who came in averaging 17.6 points per game, was limited to just four points on one of 10 shooting.

Alaska Anchorage 85, Montana State Billings 63

Nikki Aden scored a career-high 20 points and Alaska Anchorage used a swarming defense to post a 22-point victory over Montana State Billings at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The Seawolves (12-2, 2-1) also got 16 points from center Hanna Johansson and 14 points from guard Tamar Gruwell, while forward Nicci Miller delivered UAA's first double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Yellowjackets (8-5, 1-1) were led by 18 points and five blocks from center Kayla Ryan, but the visitors lost despite excellent shooting numbers of 47.6 percent from the field (20 of 42), 53.8 percent on three-pointers (7 of 13) and 88.9 percent at the free throw line (16 of 18).

UAA, which shot just 38 percent from the field itself, pulled off the win by forcing 34 turnovers and posting a GNAC conference-game record 26 steals. The Seawolves also committed the fourth-fewest turnovers – eight – in school history.

Tied 20-20 after 14 minutes, the Seawolves used back-to-back layups from Miller and guard Kiki Taylor to start a 7-0 run and take the lead for good. Taylor 's layup just before the buzzer made it 39-30 at halftime, and UAA's full-court press forced nine turnovers in the first four minutes of the second half as the advantage stretched to 56-34.

Taylor was the sparkplug for UAA, grabbing a GNAC season-best eight steals and dishing a team-high six assists. Gruwell added five swipes and guard Torle Nenbee had four.

Aden tallied 10 points in each half, shooting six of 14 overall and four of five from three-point range. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished five assists with only one turnover in 30 minutes.

January 9

Western Washington Outscores UAA 78-58

Guard Ashley Fenimore more than tripled her season average scoring a game-high 17 points and also adding five assists as Western Washington beat two-time defending West Region champion Alaska Anchorage 78-58 in a GNAC women's basketball contest Saturday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Meanwhile, Daesha Henderson scored 17 points and ignited a decisive 13-1 scoring run at the outset of the second half with a three-pointer to lead Seattle Pacific to a 75-62 victory against Western Oregon at the New PE Building in Monmouth, Ore.

Elsewhere in the GNAC, Northwest Nazarene rebounded from a loss Thursday at WOU to beat Saint Martin's 77-65 and Central Washington defeated Alaska Fairbanks 82-72.

Forwards Willow Cabe and Jessica Summers joined Fenimore in double figures in WWU's victory adding 16 and 15 points, respectively. Summers also had 11 rebounds.

UAA (11-2, 1-1), which was ranked No. 8 in this week's WBCA NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, was led by guard Kiki Taylor and reserve forward Kelsie Gourdin with 14 points each.

Tamar Gruwell was also in double figures with 10 points. Taylor also had seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

The win was Western's first victory over a Top 10 team since it beat No.10 Cal Poly Pomona in the 2000 NCAA West Region championship game.

The Vikings (11-2, 2-0), who are 7-0 at home this season, took control midway through the contest, closing the first half on a 9-2 run to take a 38-25 lead, then scoring the first six points of the second half to open up a 44-25 advantage with 18:30 to play. The Seawolves never got closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

UAA entered the game allowing an NCAA Division II best 48.0 points a contest, but the Vikings reached that plateau less than four minutes into the second half.

Western shot 54.0 percent (27-50) from the field and 89.5 percent (17-19) on free throws. UAA shot just 32.8 percent (20-61) from the field, including just 27.6 percent (8-29) in the first half.

“We played good defense the whole night staying focused at the defensive end for 40 minutes,” said WWU coach Carmen Dolfo . “The other key was that we moved the ball well. We found the open person; we didn't force things and we took what they gave us.”

The Seawolves played most of the second half without starting center Hanna Johannson, who suffered a hard fall early in the period and was taken to the hospital with an apparent concussion.

The win was Western's first victory against the Seawolves in their last seven meetings over the last four seasons.

Seattle Pacific 75, Western Oregon 62

Seattle Pacific (10-2, 1-0) opened its conference season with a win for the ninth year in row and extended its win streak against Western Oregon (6-10, 1-1) to 25.

Henderson made seven of 10 shots, including two of three three-pointers to lead the Falcons to a season best 52.8 shooting percentage (28-53).

Forward Megan Hoisington added 16 points, just one short of her season and career high, and pulled down six rebounds. Reserve forward Sydney Benson chipped in with nine points and six rebounds.

The Falcons led from start to finish, jumping to a 6-0 lead. SPU built a 29-19 lead in the first half, but had to settle for a 35-30 halftime edge.

WOU's Lorrie Clifford hit a 17-footer from the right of the lane to open the second half, cutting the lead to just three at 35-32. But the Falcons scored 13 of the next 14 points to make it 48-33. Western Oregon never got closer than nine the rest of the day.

Northwest Nazarene 77, Saint Martin's 65

Northwest Nazarene made 11 of 22 three-point shots, including eight of 12 in the opening half, on the way to a 12-point win over Saint Martin's at Marcus Pavilion.

The Crusaders (11-2, 1-1) snapped a 33-33 tie with a 14-5 run late in the first half and led the entire second period, including by at least five points over the final 12 1/2 minutes.

Lindsay Brady led NNU with 17 points, including 12 in the opening period. The Crusaders also got 16 points from Janee Olds and 15 from Brittney Roggenkamp.

The trio combined for nine of 15 three-pointers as Olds made four of seven, Brady converted on three of five and Roggenkamp made two of three.

NNU also got 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds from center Briaunna King. Kristin Hein had four assists and Brady had four steals.

Dara Zack paced the Saints (6-7, 0-2) with 20 points. Krissy Bassett contributed 19 points and matched King's game-high eight-rebound total. Jamey Gelhar chipped in with 10 points and also had three steals. The loss was the first home defeat for the Saints in six games this winter.

Central Washington 82, Alaska Fairbanks 72

Sara Bergner scored a career-high 25 points to lead five players in double figures as Central Washington earned a convincing victory over Alaska Fairbanks at Nicholson Pavilion.

CWU (4-8, 1-1) led by 19 at halftime (48-29) and opened up a 23-point lead early in the second half. The Wildcats were still up by 18 with 90 seconds left before surrendering the game's final eight points.

Joining Bergner, who made eight of 14 shots, including two of four treys, in double figures were Sophie Russell and Colleen Betteridge with 15 points each, Shaina Afoa with 11 and Brooke Fernandez with 10. Betteridge's total was also a career high.

Afoa had a double-double also grabbing 10 rebounds. Stacy Albrecht, who had 11 rebounds, had CWU's only bench points, contributing six in 17 minutes of action.

Lakeshia Levi led the Nanooks (1-12, 0-2), who have lost 12 straight, with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Ronisha Edwards had 19 points and Caitlin Hamsley scored 14.

Alexandra Melonson had nine points, nine rebounds and six assists, leading UAF in the latter category.

January 7

Western Oregon Ends Northwest Nazarene Win Streak At Nine

Katie Torland tied a Great Northwest Athletic Conference single-game record for most free throws made leading Western Oregon to a 67-61 win over Northwest Nazarene Thursday at the New PE Building in Monmouth.

In other GNAC league openers, forward Nikki Aden scored 17 points as Alaska Anchorage debuted with a 77-42 victory over Central Washington, Montana State Billings edged Saint Martin's 72-67 and Western Washington clobbered Alaska Fairbanks 92-46.

Torland netted 24 points, connecting on 16 of 20 foul shots to tie the conference record for most free throws made and setting a GNAC single-game record for most attempts.

She also had a three-pointer to start the second half as Western Oregon (6-9) outscored the Crusaders 18-4 in the first 10 1/2 minutes of the half to break away from a 30-30 tie.

Northwest Nazarene (10-2), which hadn't lost since losing 57-54 to Cal State Monterey Bay on Nov. 21, was able to claw back to within four points at 62-58, but Zahler then connected on four free throws in the final minute to clinch the victory.

Torland, who had a game-high 11 rebounds, scored 13 of her points in the second half. The Wolves also got 11 points from Lindsey Shearer, who made five of six shots.

Brittney Roggenkamp led Northwest Nazarene with 14 points. Kristin Hein scored 12 points and Heather Adams added 11. The Crusaders made six more field goals (25 of 55) than the Wolves (19 of 50), but were outscored 26-9 from the free throw line.

Alaska Anchorage 77, Central Washington 42

In addition to Aden, Alaska Anchorage (11-1) got 10 points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists – with no turnovers – from center Hanna Johansson, while guard Leah Stepovich added a career-high 12 points off the bench on four of four three-point shooting in handing Central Washington its eighth loss in 11 games.

The Wildcats were led by forward Sophie Russell with 14 points and by center and Anchorage native Shaina Afoa with 11. The rest of the Wildcats combined to shoot just seven of 28 from the field and were outrebounded 50-25 by the Seawolves.

UAA took control from the start with a 6-0 lead and held a 23-13 advantage when Afoa knocked down a jumper with 2:45 left in the first half. The Seawolves answered quickly with a fast break layup by Aden on a feed from point guard Kiki Taylor, closing the stanza with an 8-0 run.

UAA's first-half defensive effort marked the second-fewest points allowed in a road game in school history. The Seawolves held Alaska Fairbanks to nine first-half points on Jan. 26, 2008.

An early 7-0 run by the Wildcats in the second half made it 40-25 with 16:24 left, but UAA then held the home team scoreless for the next seven minutes as the lead ballooned back to 57-25.

Aden came one point shy of her career-high on five of six shooting, including three of four from long range. The Portland , Ore. , native also grabbed six rebounds and dished three assists.

Taylor finished with six points, three assists and three steals, and forward Nicci Miller managed eight points and six rebounds despite playing only 17 minutes due to foul trouble.

It was the Seawolf bench that made the biggest difference, though, outscoring their Wildcat counterparts 33-2. Along with Stepovich, Sarah Herrin notched nine points and guard Torle Nenbee had six points and a career-high seven rebounds.

Forward Kelsie Gourdin overcame a 0 for 5 shooting night to produce career-high numbers in rebounds (8), assists (5) and blocks (2).

Montana State Billings 72, Saint Martin's 67

The Yellowjackets used the three-point shot to overcome a nine-point deficit late in the first half and went on to post a five-point win.

For the game, MSUB made 11 of 27 treys, including five of nine by Kalli Stanhope and four of six by Sarah McNamee.

Both players finished the contest with 17 points. MSUB also got 16 points and team highs of seven rebounds and three steals from Callie Kautzmann.

The Yellowjackets trailed 34-25 before closing the opening half with a 12-1 run. McNamee had two treys and Stanhope had one to account for nine of the points.

MSUB then opened the second half with a 9-2 run as Stanhope had another three and led the remainder of the way though Saint Martin's did close to within two points at 67-65 with 1:45 left.

The Saints, however, managed just two points - two fouls shots by Jamey Gelhar - the rest of the way and MSUB pulled away to the five-point win.

Dara Zack led the Saints with 20 points and nine rebounds. SMU also got 11 points from Gelhar and Megan Teade and 10 from Katie Hawkins. Hawkins also had 10 rebounds.

Western Washington 92, Alaska Fairbanks 46

Forward Willow Cabe had 19 of her game and career-high 25 points in the first half as Western Washington (10-2) doubled Alaska Fairbanks' score in a game at Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Cabe, who connected on 10 of 15 shots including three of five treys, also had a game-high 10 rebounds. Forward Jessica Summers had 12 points and guard Amanda Dunbar added 10.

Alaska Fairbanks (1-11), which has lost 11 straight, was led by Alexandra Melonson with 12 points and Caitlin Hamsley with 11.

The Vikings never trailed, jumping to a 10-0 and extending the margin to 33-9 with 7:37 in the first half.

Western, which shot 54.1 percent (20-37) from the field in the first half, held a 53-22 lead at halftime, and never led by less than 29 in the second half.

The Vikings held the Nanooks to 24.6 percent (15-61) field-goal shooting, and had a 55-31 advantage in rebounds.

January 3

Ryan Records Seventh Double-Double To Key MSUB Victory

Kayla Ryan recorded her league-best seventh double-double of the season as Montana State Billings closed out its non-conference schedule with a 68-41 win at Chadron State Sunday.

The Yellowjackets improved to 7-4, including 5-3 in West Region counting games.

“Any time you can go on the road and get a win, it's big,” MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin said. “Our offense was very balanced today and was able to take care of the ball. The defensive communication today was tremendous which led to a lot of scoring opportunities.”

Ryan finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Joining her in double figures were Kalli Stanhope and Ashley Reed with 12 points and Many Jacobs with 10. Callie Kautzmann had six points, 14 rebounds, nine assists and four steals, leading MSUB in the latter three categories. Her rebound and assist totals were career highs.

MSUB started the game on a 9-0 run and led 39-24 at halftime. In the second half, the Yellowjackets stretched their lead to as many as 29 points before finishing with the 27-point win.

MSUB ended up shooting 44.3 percent (27-61), while holding Chadron State to 27.6 percent (16-59). Kaitlin Petri led the Eagles with eight points.

January 2

Central Washington Beats Dominican 86-69

Sophie Russell led four players in double figures with 19 points as Central Washington closed out its pre-conference schedule with a 86-69 win over Dominican, Calif., in a NCAA West Region game Saturday at Nicholson Pavilion.

Elsewhere Saturday, Colorado Mines doubled Western Oregon's shooting percentage in a 60-49 win at Golden, Colo. Meanwhile, Northwest Nazarene clobbered Walla Walla 88-20.

Russell was three of five on three-pointers and also had five assists, four steals and two blocks to lead Central to its third win in 10 starts.

Also contributing offensively were Sara Bergner with 17 points and eight rebounds, Brittany Duerr with 16 points and five assists and Shaina Afoa with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Afoa also blocked two shots increasing her career total to 100. She is the ninth player in conference history to block 100 shots.

Alisha Flaaten was the only player in double figures for Dominican (3-8). She had 24 points and also had a team-high four assists.

CWU, which shot 50.0 percent from the floor (37-74), used a 9-0 run, including a three-pointer by Russell, in building a 23-13 lead on the way to a 47-28 halftime advantage.

After falling behind by 23 at 53-30 early in the second half, Dominican outscored CWU 30-13 to pull within six. The Wildcats, however, then regained control with eight consecutive points.

Angie Charchalis scored 18 points and Emily Dalton had 16 as Colorado Mines (8-2) won its sixth straight game beating Western Oregon (5-9). The Orediggers held the Wolves to just 14 field goals in 62 attempts (22.6 percent), while making 22 of 50 (44.0 percent).

Colorado Mines also dominated the backboards outrebounding WOU 55-23. Brecca Gaffney led the Orediggers with 11.

Two players - Katie Torland and Sara Zahler led Western Oregon with seven points and three others - Hannah Whitsett, Courtney Martin and Danielle Bellando - had six each.

WOU made just four field goals in 29 attempts in the first half. The Wolves gave up the first eight points in each half, falling behind 34-18 early in the second period and trailing by as many as 18. WOU never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Ten different players scored between seven and 10 points in Northwest Nazarene's victory. The Crusaders (10-1), who gave won nine straight, got 10 each from Kristin Hein and Kat Schulte to Buhne and nine from Lindsay Brady.

Six different players had eight points apiece, including Julianne Bazzi, who also had eight assists. Schulte to Buhne had nine rebounds as NNU controlled the backboards 41-21.

The Crusaders, who led 55-9 at halftime, shot 52.9 percent from the floor (37-70), including nine of 18 on three pointers.

January 1

WOU's Torland Reaches 1,000 Career Point Total

Katie Torland became the 36th member of the GNAC 1000-Point Club Friday as Western Oregon dropped a 69-57 decision to Adams State in a neutral site game at Golden, Colo.

Torland scored nine points to increase her WOU career total to 1,003 points and her overall collegiate total to 1,152.

The Wolves (5-8) also got 12 points from Hannah Whitsett, but couldn't overcome a 16 1/2 minute stretch in which they were outscored 40-4 by the Grizzlies.

Leading 19-12, WOU managed only field goals by Sara Zahler and Whitsett over the next 16 minutes, 34 seconds. Meanwhile, Adams State put together runs of 13, six and 21 points. The latter included the final 11 points of the first half and the first 10 of the second half.

WOU then bounced back outscoring the Grizzlies 23-8 over the final 9:44, but never got closer than the final 12-point margin.

Adams State (9-2) was led by Vera Jo Bustos with 17 points. Kendra Coveal scored 16 points and Kelsie Kruger finished with 12 points.

December 31

Falcons Beat Azusa Pacific 71-62

Megan Hoisington scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Daesha Henderson poured in 16 points leading Seattle Pacific to a 71-62 win at Azusa Pacific Thursday.

Hoisington, coming off an 11 point, 16 rebound performance Tuesday against Grand Canyon in the Triton Holiday Classic at UC San Diego, posted her team-leading fourth double-double of the season. Henderson hit six of 11 shots, including four of seven three-pointers.

The Falcons (9-2) led virtually from start-to-finish, taking an early 15-4 lead with a string of 10 consecutive points.

The Cougars got as close as six at 29-23. SPU had a 35-24 lead at halftime, saw Azusa Pacific score the opening basket of the second half, then ran off the next nine points to make it an 18-point bulge at 44-26 with 16:57 to play.

The lead remained in double digits until Azusa Pacific hit a pair of free throws with just 17 seconds remaining.

The Falcons hit 48.1 percent for the game (25 of 52), and limited the Cougars to just 30.2 percent shooting (19 of 63). Seattle Pacific had a 44-36 advantage on the boards, with center Melissa Reich pulling down seven.

Forward Sydney Benson added 11 points for SPU and forward Caitlyn Rohrbach handed out a team-leading five assists.

Azusa Pacific was led by the 19 points of Alex Moore-Porter. C.J. Hill added 14. No one else was in double-digits for the Cougars, who came into the game with four of their five starters averaging in double digits.

December 30

Gruwell's 24 Points Pace Alaska Anchorage Over Chaminade

Guard Tamar Gruwell netted a career-high 24 points as fifth-ranked Alaska Anchorage earned its first road win of the season with a 90-43 rout of Chaminade at McCabe Gymnasium in Honolulu Wednesday.

The Seawolves (10-1) also got 13 points and three assists from guard Sarah Herrin and 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists from forward Nicci Miller as they rolled to a 48-20 halftime lead.

The Silverswords (1-6) were led by nine points from reserve guard Kellene Costello, but the home team had more turnovers (29) than field-goal attempts (28).

UAA, meanwhile, connected on half of its 62 shots, including 13 of 32 from the three-point link. Gruwell sank six of those treys as UAA wound up one short of the single-game school record.

It was the most ever threes-pointers in a road game for the Seawolves, who got three apiece from Herrin and guard Leah Stepovich, who had 11 points and three steals.

Point guard Kiki Taylor had seven points and four steals to help UAA earn its seventh victory of at least 30 points this year.

MSUB Uses Big Second Half To Beat Rocky By 20

Sarah McNamee scored 17 points and Callie Kautzmann had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead Montana State Billings to a 78-58 win over Rocky Mountain (2-10) Wednesday at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The victory was the 11th straight for MSUB over its cross-city rivals dating back to the 1997-98 season.

MSUB (6-4) trailed 26-23 at halftime, but got double-digit point totals from four different players in the second half. McNamee scored 13 of her 17 points in the final 20 minutes, while Kautzmann had 11 of her 16.

Mandy Jacobs scored 10 of her 14 points and Kalli Stanhope had 11 of her 12 in the second period. Joining that quartet in double figures for the game was Kayla Ryan with 14 points. Ryan also had eight rebounds.

Trailing 26-23, MSUB opened the second half on a 12-2 run to go up 35-28. The Yellowjackets led the rest of the way closing out the game with a 19-8 run.

“Offensively, we moved the ball much better in the second half,” MSUB coach Kevin Woodin said. “It was nice to see a few shots go in. We attacked the glass better in the second half on both ends and made some critical free throws down the stretch.”

The Yellowjackets shot 40.3 percent (27-67) during the game, but were 52.8 percent in the second period (19-36), including nine of 16 on three-pointers. For the game, MSUB made 11 of 29 treys, including four of 10 by McNamee. MSUB also outrebounded Rocky 49-37.

December 29

Seattle Pacific Beats Grand Canyon 58-53

Forward Megan Hoisington scored 11 points and pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds to lead Seattle Pacific to a 58-53 win over Grand Canyon Tuesday in the final night of the UCSD Triton Holiday Classic at the RIMAC Arena.

The host Tritons beat Western Washington 89-82 to finish the tournament as the only unbeaten team. Both SPU and WWU ended up 1-1.

Seattle Pacific scored the first 14 points of its game, then fended off a comeback by Grand Canyon to even its season series with the defending PacWest Conference champions.

The Antelopes handed the Falcons a 69-55 loss earlier this month in a tournament at Nampa, Idaho.

Forward Sydney Benson scored 10 points and had six rebounds and center Melissa Reich pulled down eight rebounds as SPU improved to 8-2.

Hoisington, who was named to the all-tournament team, passed her previous career high of 11 rebounds when she collected her 12th with 1:37 left in the first half.

SPU built a 14-0 lead by hitting five of its first nine shots while the Antelopes (5-5) missed their first nine. Grand Canyon didn't get on the board until Shareka Purnell converted a steal into a lay-in with 12:46 left in the first period.

Down 27-17 at halftime, the Antelopes opened the second half on a 17-7 scoring run to climb into a 34-34 tie.

But the Falcons scored the next seven points -- a three-pointer by guard Maddie Maloney and back-to-back lay-ins by Benson to take a 41-34 lead, and never trailed again.

In the nightcap, guard Chelsea Carlisle scored 26 points as UC San Diego (8-0) remained unbeaten and snapped Western Washington's four-game win streak.

Carlisle made eight of 14 shots, including three of six treys. Point guard Annette Ilg also had a big night, scoring 15 points, dishing out nine assists and also contributing six steals and six rebounds.

Also in double figures for the CCAA school were Tiffany Hunter and Charity Smith with 10 each. Smith also had nine rebounds.

Jessica Summers led Western Washington (9-2) with 27 points and 12 rebounds to join Hoisington on the all-tournament team. The Vikings also got 19 points from Amanda Dunbar, 12 from Ashley Fenimore and 11 from Willow Cabe.

Dunbar made five of 11 three-pointers, while Cabe pulled down seven rebounds. Megan Pinske and Fenimore had eight and six assists, respectively.

WWU trailed by just five points (20-15) with eight minutes left in the first half, but UCSD closed the period with a 21-8 run to go up 41-23 at the break.

The Vikings, who trailed by as many as 25 in the second half, closed the gap to seven (80-73) with 2:05 left on a three-pointer by Fenimore, but that was the closest it got.

Western Oregon Loses To George Fox 59-53

George Fox, the defending NCAA Division III national champions, outscored Western Oregon 14-5 over the final five minutes to pull out a 59-53 win in a non-conference game Tuesday at the New PE Building in Monmouth.

Keisha Gordon and Hannah Munger dominated inside for the Bruins, combining for 38 points and 19 rebounds. Gordon had 20 points and nine boards, while Munger scored 18 points and had 10 caroms.

Western Oregon (5-7) was led by Katie Torland with 16 points and six rebounds. Torland, who now has scored 994 points in her three seasons at WOU (1,143 overall in four collegiate campaigns), also had three assists and three steals.

The Wolves, who led 48-45 with five minutes remaining, also got 13 points from Meaghan White.

Trailing 48-45, George Fox grabbed the lead for the final time with 3:02 left on a basket by Gordon. Gordon later converted on three of four free throws in the final 18 seconds to stretch a three-point lead to the final six-point margin.

George Fox (7-2) used big advantages on the backboards (33-22) and at the foul line (23-6) to earn the victory.

WOU was perfect at the foul line for the second game in a row, but was awarded just six opportunities. As a team, the Wolves have now made 25 in a row.

December 28

Vikings Win, Seattle Pacific Loses In Overtime

Guard Amanda Dunbar and forwards Willow Cabe and Jessica Summers combined for 69 points as Western Washington edged Grand Canyon 81-78 in Game 1 at the UC San Diego Triton Holiday Classic Monday at the RIMAC Arena.

The host Tritons nipped Seattle Pacific 82-80 in double overtime in the nightcap.

Dunbar tied her season high with 28 points, hitting five of nine three-pointers and converting nine of 11 foul shots as Western Washington won its fourth straight to improve to 9-1.

Meanwhile, Cabe matched her career high of 24 points and Summers contributed 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Grand Canyon (5-4) was led by the 23 points of guard Samantha Murphy, who entered the game as the leading scorer in the Pacific West Conference with a 23.1 average.

Western led the last 17:14 of the second half, but the Antelopes pulled to within one point at 75-74 on a layup with 1:35 remaining by Katrina Graham. Graham finished with 14 points.

Cabe, however, scored four of the Vikings' next five points around a layup by Murphy to put Western ahead 80-76 with 37 seconds left.

Two free throws by Murphy with 11 seconds remaining shaved the lead to two.

Reserve Erika Ramstead then hit one of two free throws with seven ticks remaining to put the Vikings ahead by three before Cabe blocked a potential game-tying three-point attempt by Stacy Haddow as time ran out.

In the first half which ended in a 35-35 tie, there were 10 lead changes and eight ties. Dunbar had 17 of the Viking' 35 first-half points.

Western led by as many as eight three times in the last 10 minutes of the second half, including 66-58 with 5:47 to go before the Antelopes pulled to within one on three different occasions.

Western was outrebounded 43-34, but hit 46.6 percent (27-58) of its shots including 14 of 26 in the final 20 minutes. Grand Canyon made just 33.3 percent (20-60), but connected on 34 of 37 free throws.

UC San Diego 82, Seattle Pacific 80

Melissa Reich had a career-high double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds and Daesha Henderson pumped in 14 points and handed out seven assists, but Seattle Pacific still fell in double overtime to UCSD in a battle of nationally-ranked teams.

The 20th-ranked Falcons (7-2) had leads in the final 30 seconds of regulation, which ended at 60-60, and in the first overtime, which wound up at 70-70. After yielding the first four points of the second extra session, SPU went up 79-78 on a Reich lay-in with 56 seconds remaining.

But the 14th ranked Tritons (7-0) tied the game at 79-79 on a free throw by Tiffany Hunter with 43 seconds left, then took an 81-79 lead on a lay-in by Chelsea Carlisle with 30 seconds remaining.

A free throw by Reich brought the Falcons to within one at 81-80 with 20 seconds left. But with SPU forced to foul as the seconds ticked away, Annette Ilg hit the second of two free throws with five seconds left to give UCSD an 82-80 edge.

Seattle Pacific, which had 24 fewer attempts and was outscored at the foul line 27-16, was unable to get a shot off in the final five seconds.

Falcons guard Maddie Maloney handed out a career-high eight assists to go along with eight points.

December 22-23

Zack Scores 25 But Toros Beat Saints With Late Rush

For the second day in a row, Saint Martin's got 25 points from Dara Zack but lost a West Region women's basketball road game.

On Wednesday Zack connected on eight on 12 shots, including three of five three-pointers, in a 70-63 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Zack also had 25 points in a 63-53 loss at Cal State San Bernardino Tuesday.

Krissy Bassett scored 18 points and had seven rebounds as SMU completed its non-conference schedule with a 6-5 record. The Saints are off until beginning conference play Thursday, Jan. 7.

The Toros (2-6) had strong finishes in both periods, outscoring the Saints 7-0 in the final 4:57 of the first half and 14-3 over the final 3:26 of the second half.

Brandie McCann had 19 points, 13 in the second half as Dominguez snapped a six-game losing streak. Whitney Gantt had 13 points and MacKenzie Mathias was four of six on three-pointers to account for 12 points.

In Tuesday's game against Cal State San Bernardino, Zack and Bassett (16 points) combined for 41 in a 63-53 loss.

The Saints outshot the Coyotes 48.6 percent to 41.8 percent and also had eight more rebounds (33-25), but made just one of eight three-pointers and turned the ball over nine more times (23-14).

Krystal Urzua led CSUSB with 15 points. Also in double figures were Kymberly Ooten and Morgan Pryor with 14 and 12 points.

December 21

Another MVP Award For WWU's Summers

Jessica Summers scored all of her team-high 17 points in the second half leading Western Washington to a 66-58 victory over Sonoma State in the GNAC/CCAA Crossover Classic Monday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The win completed a sweep for the GNAC as Western Washington and Seattle Pacific both finished the tournament with 2-0 records. The Falcons beat Chico State 63-44 in Monday's first game.

Summers, who made six of eight second-half shots after going zero for six in the opening 20 minutes, was selected the tournament MVP, earning her third Most Valuable Player award of the season.

The Vikings also got 10 points and four steals from Megan Pinske and 11 rebounds from Lauren Heflen to earn their eighth win in nine starts.

The game was tied 31-31 at halftime and Sonoma State held a 48-47 lead after a three-pointer by Stephanie Barnes with 9:42 to play, but the Vikings scored eight straight points - four by Summers - to pull ahead 55-48 with 6:59 left.

The Seawolves, who were led by guard Jaclyn Bisordi with 20 points and center Christy Shreve with 10, never got closer than five points after that. Bisordi was four of nine on three-pointers.

Bisordi, who entered the game having just seven field goals the entire season, had 20 of Sonoma State 's first 43 points. Her final points on a layin and free throw gave the Seawolves a 43-41 lead with 12:05 to play.

Bisordi joined Summers on the all-tournament team, which also included Amanda Dunbar and Willow Cabe of Western Washington and Daesha Henderson and Melissa Reich of Seattle Pacific.

Dunbar had nine points and Cabe had seven in Monday's game after scoring 15 and 24, respectively, in Sunday's win over Chico State.

Henderson scored 13 points and also had seven steals and four rebounds in Seattle Pacific's win over Chico State. Reich netted 10 points and also had eight rebounds.

The Falcons, who led 33-18 at halftime, also got 10 points each from Maddie Maloney and Rachel Murray. Megan Hoisington had seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Melissa Richardson led Chico, which fell to 5-2, with 14 points. The Wildcats came into the tournament unbeaten at 5-0, but made only 18 of 66 shots (27.3 percent) in losing to the Falcons.

Except for a 2-2 tie, SPU led the entire game. “On the first eight possessions of the game, we totally dominated and set the tone defensively,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said.

“We forced a couple of turnovers and were able to score in transition. We worked hard on the defensive end, and got rewarded on the other end.”

The Falcons used a 9-0 spurt to snap the early tie, getting five of those points off Chico State turnovers.

SPU built a double-digit lead of 15-5 with 11:47 left in the first half then later ran off seven points in a row to go ahead 24-9 and led by as many as 19 (30-11) before settling for a 33-18 lead at the break. In the second half, SPU's lead ranged from 12 to 24 points.

December 20

Vikings, Falcons Win Openers in WWU Crossover

Forward Willow Cabe scored a career-high 24 points on 11 of 14 field goal shooting as Western Washington defeated Chico State 80-59 in the GNAC/CCAA Crossover Sunday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

In Sunday's first game, Sydney Benson was the only Seattle Pacific player in double figures, but the 20th-ranked Falcons used strong play at the other end of the court to beat Sonoma State 59-51.

In addition to Cabe, Western Washington (7-1) got 17 points and 11 rebounds from forward Jessica Summers and 15 points and five steals from guard Amanda Dunbar in its victory, handing Chico (5-1) its first loss of the season.

Forward Christine Vest and guard Natasha Smith led the Wildcats with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Smith also had five assists.

The Vikings were ahead by just six (55-49) with 13 minutes left, but went on a 10-0 run started with three-pointers by Megan Pinske and Dunbar. The charge gave Western a 65-49 lead with 8:02 left and the lead stayed in double digits the rest of the way.

Neither team had a lead of more than five in the first half. Western, which shot 60.0 percent (18-30) from the floor in the opening period and 54.8 percent (34-62) for the game, held a 40-36 lead at the break.

Chico State shot 50.0 percent (16-32) from the field in the first half, but slipped to 36.7 percent (11-30) in the second period, finishing the game at 43.5 percent (27-62).

Sydney Benson, who played just 13 minutes, came off the bench to score 11 points to lead Seattle Pacific to its sixth win in seven games.

SPU's five starters combined for 32 points, while its bench scored the other 27.

“It was one of our best defensive efforts of the year, and I was very pleased with that,” SPU coach Julie van Beek said “In the second half, we did a better job of rebounding, and our scoring picked up.”

Seattle Pacific, which shot just 24.1 percent (7-29) from the field in the opening half, trailed by five points (17-12) before closing the first period with a 10-2 run to go ahead 22-19 at the break.

The Seawolves scored the first two points of the second half, but SPU then held Sonoma scoreless for more than five minutes building a 30-21 lead and SSU got closer than five the remainder of the way.

Guard Jordan Harazin led SPU's starters with nine points, including four on free throws inside the final minute. Harazin was a perfect six of six from the line. Benson made four of six shots and also pulled down six rebounds.

Oly Larkin led Sonoma State (4-4) with 14 points, and Stephanie Barnes added 13. For the game, SPU shot 37.5 percent (18 of 48) while limiting Sonoma to 33.3 percent (19-57).

Alaska Anchorage Earns Split With Western State

Nikki Aden led a trio of career-high performances with 18 points Sunday as Alaska Anchorage blasted Western State 92-57 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

The nationally fifth-ranked Seawolves lost to the same team Saturday 36-35 ending a 29-game home win streak.

UAA (9-1) also got a career-high-tying 17 points from guard Tamar Gruwell and 16 points from Sarah Herrin.

Western State (4-7) was led by a game-high 21 points from Amber Murray, but the point guard committed 10 of her team's 28 turnovers.

After allowing the first bucket of the game, UAA responded with five straight points from Aden to claim the lead for the rest of the night. The Mountaineers stayed within 23-19 at the 6:33 mark, but Gruwell sparked a 7-0 run with a three-pointer and the Seawolves stretched to a 40-25 halftime lead.

UAA began the second half with a 20-2 run and eventually pushed its lead as high as 83-39.

The Seawolves outshot Western State 50.0 percent (33-66) to 35.9 percent (14-39), boosted by hot performances from Gruwell (6-9 FG, 5-8 three-pointers), Herrin (6-10 FG, 2-5 three-pointers), Hanna Johansson (9 points, 3-4 FG, 3-3 FT) and Nicci Miller (13 points, 4-7 FG, 4-6 FT).

December 19

Olds MVP In NNU Tournament

Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon both overcame early 10-2 deficits to post victories in the GNAC/CCAA Challenge tournament at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa Saturday.

Tournament MVP Janee Olds scored 29 points - 16 of them in the second half - to lead the host Crusaders (9-1) to a 79-65 win over Cal Poly Pomona. Lindsay Brady added 17 points and four assists and also earned all-tournament honors.

Katie Torland scored 21 points and had seven rebounds and three steals to lead Western Oregon to a 69-47 win over Cal State LA. She was also an all-tournament selection.

Elsewhere around the region GNAC teams sustained three losses including in Anchorage where Alaska Anchorage had its 29-game home court win streak ended by Western State (Colo.) 36-35.

UC San Diego built a 50-point lead on the way to a 87-41 win over Alaska Fairbanks in the UCSD Triton Classic and Montana State Billings fell to Metro State 89-64 in Denver, Colo.

Northwest Nazarene, which beat CSLA 89-51 Friday, improved to 9-1 with its victory. After giving up 10 of the game's first 12 points, the Crusaders later went on a 12-0 run to go ahead 21-16. Olds had eight of the points and Brady had the other four.

The Broncos broke their four-minute scoreless streak with a pair of free throws, but NNU then got the next 10 points - six by Jennifer Williams and four by Brady - to extend their streak to 22-2 and go ahead 31-18.

The Crusaders led 40-31 at halftime and never allowed CPP to get closer than eight in the second half. That happened three times, the last at 62-54 with 8:15 left.

NNU shot 50 percent (31-62) in acquiring its eighth consecutive victory as Olds made nine of 13 including three of five treys and Brady converted on six of eight.

Williams made five of 10 shots and finished the contest with 10 points, while Kristin Hein had eight points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Reyanna Colson paced Cal Poly Pomona (4-2) with 19 points, six rebounds and four steals, while Stephisha Walton had 15 points and nine rebounds. Walton had all of her points and all but one of her rebounds in the second half.

After trailing 10-2 in the opening minutes, Western Oregon used a 12-2 run to pull ahead of Cal State L.A. Late in the first half and early in the second half, the Wolves, 63-62 losers to Pomona on Friday, really took command of the game outscoring the Golden Eagles 12-0 over a six-minute stretch, including 8-0 during the first 4:52 of the second period.

In addition to Torland who had 13 first-half points, WOU got 11 points from Shayla Corder. Jameiz Terrell led Cal State L.A. with 14 points and Jordan Kuzman netted 10.

Western Oregon made all 17 of its fouls shots, had a 31-24 rebounding advantage and also had nine fewer turnovers (27-18) than the CCAA school, which fell to 1-5.

WOU equaled the third most free throws in a game without a miss in GNAC history and its plus 9 takeaway advantage was the best during the four-year tenure of head coach Greg Bruce. The Wolves also had a 15-0 edge over CSLA in second-chance points.

Western State (Colo.) 36, Alaska Anchorage 35

Guard Amber Murray scored 14 points, including the game-deciding basket with 30 seconds left as Western State stunned Alaska Anchorage 36-35 snapping the Seawolves' 29-game home winning streak.

The Seawolves (8-1) were led by forward Nicci Miller with 14 points, but Miller missed a layup at the buzzer that would have given UAA the victory.

Instead, the Mountaineers (4-6) survived by holding UAA to a school-record-low 12 second-half points.

Forward Katie Hall had 13 rebounds, four blocks and four steals for the RMAC club, while Murray and Brooke Pendergraft grabbed nine rebounds apiece.

UAA held the Mountaineers without a field goal for nearly nine minutes in opening up an early 13-2 lead. But Western State used its defense to stay within 23-16 at halftime and kept up the pressure in the final 20 minutes.

The Seawolves got two quick buckets to open the second half, with Miller's layup giving them a 27-16 at the 18:04 mark.

UAA however, missing 26 of 29 shots from the field the remainder of the way finishing 16 of 69 (23.2 percent), including one of 18 from three-point range. They were also just two of seven at the free throw line.

Western State won despite shooting only 25 percent as it made 13 of 52 shots.

UAA had won 25 straight at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex, plus four at Sullivan Arena, to match the WFSC and overall home winning-streak marks set between Feb., 2006 and Jan., 2008.

The Seawolves are now 57-2 at home over the last four seasons, also losing to to Seattle Pacific (88-87) on Jan. 19, 2008.

Metro State 89, Montana State Billings 64

Chelsea Williamson scored 23 points and Alyssa Benson added 16 to lead Metro State to a 89-64 win over Montana State Billings in Denver, Colo.

Williamson made nine of 12 shots and Benson was five of nine, including two of two three-pointers, as the Roadrunners improved to 6-4. MSUB fell to 5-4.

The Yellowjackets were outscored 21-0 in the game from the three-point line missing all 14 of their attempts. Overall, they made just 23 of 58 (39.7 percent). Metro was seven of 15 from the arc.

Despite the lopsided score, Kayla Ryan had an outstanding game for MSUB, scoring 25 out of a possible 30 points as she made eight of 10 field goal attempts and nine of 10 free throws. Her point total was a career-high and she also had a dozen rebounds.

The Yellowjackets, who trailed 43-28 at halftime, also got 17 points from Callie Kautzmann and 14 points and five assists from Sarah McNamee.

Jasmine Cervantes had 12 rebounds for the Roadrunners as Metro controlled the backboards 42-31. The RMAC school also had a plus six takeaway advantage (23-17).

UC San Diego 87, Alaska Fairbanks 41

Chelsea Carlisle scored 20 points to lead unbeaten UC San Diego to a 87-41 win over Alaska Fairbanks in the final game of the UCSD Triton Classic.

Carlisle was one of four players in double figures for UCSD (6-0). Tiffany Hunter and Annette Ilg added 12 each and Daisy Feder contributed 10 points.

Ronisha Edwards led the Nanooks, who have lost 10 straight after opening their season with a win over Hawaii Hilo. Edwards scored 11 points and had six rebounds.

UAF shot just 27.6 percent (16-58), while giving up 29 field goals in 60 attempts (48.3 percent) to the Tritons, who were ranked 14th in this week's WBCA national poll.

December 18

Crusaders Win by 38 Against CSLA; Wolves Lose By One to Pomona

Williams

Northwest Nazarene forced Cal State L.A. into 40 turnovers in defeating the Golden Eagles 89-51 in a GNAC/CCAA Challenge tournament game Friday at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa. In the tournament's opening game, Cal Poly Pomona edged Western Oregon 63-62.

Northwest Nazarene (8-1) got 18 points from Jennifer Williams, 14 from Lindsay Brady and 12 each from Briaunna King and Kristin Hein in its win. King and Hein each had seven rebounds. Hein also had five steals and three blocks. Cal State Los Angeles (1-5) was led by Jazzi Johnson with 13 points and seven rebounds.

NNU outrebounded the Golden Eagles 34-30 and converted their 40 turnovers into 49 points, shooting 48 percent (30-62) from the field and 82 percent (28-34) from the free throw line.

In the opening game of the tournament, Reyana Colson scored 23 points to lead Cal Poly Pomona (4-1) past Western Oregon (4-6). Katie Torland led the Wolves with 21 points. Stephisha Walton had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Broncos, who controlled the backboards 42-28.

Despite its rebounding deficit, WOU led 28-23 at halftime and were up by 14 (47-33) with 13:07 to play. However, the Broncos tied the score 54-54 with a 21-6 run. Later the Broncos grabbed a three-point lead with 12 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Walton.

However, Pomona's Sarah Semenero was whistled for an intentional foul with only two seconds remaining giving WOU two foul shots and possession of the ball.

Shayla Corder made both free throws to cut the Pomona lead to one at 63-62. The Wolves then called a timeout to set up Torland for the game-winning attempt, but her 10-foot bank shot from the right side of the lane slid just long at the final horn.

In addition to Torland's sixth 20-point performance of the season, Western Oregon also got 13 points and six rebounds from Sara Zahler.

Cal State San Bernardino 64, Alaska Fairbanks 48

Kymberly Ooten scored 27 points and Krystal Urzua had 15 to lead Cal State San Bernardino to a 64-48 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in the first game of the UC San Diego Women's Basketball Classic Friday.

Ooten, who connected on 12 of 20 shots, scored 18 of her 27 points in the first half to guide San Bernardino to a 33-21 advantage at the break. The junior forward also finished with a game-high nine rebounds, a blocked shot, and four steals in 33 minutes.

Urzua finished four of 10 from the floor, including three of four from the three-point line. She also and hauled down nine boards and finished with six steals.

Lakeshia Levi scored 15 points on five of 11 shooting to pace the Nanooks, while Nicole Bozek added 11 points.

December 17

Summers MVP In Las Vegas Tournament

Summers

Jessica Summers had game-highs of 28 points and 17 rebounds leading Western Washington to a 89-70 win over Colorado State Pueblo in the final game of the fourth annual Great Western Shootout at the Doolittle Community Center in Las Vegas Thursday.

Summers, who was selected the event's MVP, had a huge tournament, scoring 65 points and pulling down 26 rebounds as the Vikings (6-1) split their two games.

Washburn, which edged Western Washington 72-70 in overtime Wednesday, defeated Central Washington 76-44 to win the tournament title. The Wildcats (2-7) ended up winless in their two games.

In addition to Summers, Western got standout performances Thursday from guard Amanda Dunbar and forward Willow Cabe. Both players scored 16 points. Dunbar also had three assists and three steals, while Cabe made seven of 11 shots.

CSU-Pueblo (6-3), which had won four straight, was led by center Caitlyn Jewell with 19 points, nine rebounds and four steals Guard Rachel Espinoza added 15 points for the Thunderwolves. Katrina Selsor scored 12.

Summers, who had a career-high 37 points in WWU's loss to Washburn, bettered her previous career high of 22 for the second game in a row. Her 17 rebounds Thursday were also a new career best.

Western never trailed, but led by just five (49-44) with 13 minutes left. The tight score was short-lived, however, as the Vikings went on an 11-1 burst in a little over two minutes to take a 60-45 lead with 10:44 to go.

Western shot a season-best 60 percent (39-65) from the field, and had a 38-23 advantage in rebounds.

Dunbar and Jewell joined Summers on the all-tournament team, which also included Rose Hammond, Dayna Rodriguez and Amanda Fessenden of Washburn.

Washburn 76, Central Washington 44

The front court duo of Sara Bergner and Sophie Russell scored 16 points apiece, but the rest of the team combined for just 12 points in Central Washington's 32-point loss to eighth-ranked and unbeaten Washburn (9-0).

Although they never led in Thursday's contest, the Wildcats shot 52.6 percent in the first half (10-19), matching their most efficient shooting period of the season.

However, the Lady Blues hit on six of 12 three-pointers in the first half and doubled the Wildcats' point total at the free throw line(8-4) in building a 14-point edge (40-26) at the break.

Central cooled off in the second half making eight of 23 and finishing the game shooting 42.9 percent.

Washburn was led by starting center Dayna Rodriguez with a game-high 19 points. Hope Gregory added 11 points and tied for game-high honors with seven rebounds as Washburn outrebounded Central by a 38-21 margin.

Mary 73, Montana State Billings 64

Kayla Ryan scored 19 points and also had 11 rebounds, but Montana State Billings couldn't overcome 30 turnovers in losing 73-64 to the University of Mary at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, N.D.

It was only the second win in nine games for the Marauders. MSUB fell to 5-3 with the defeat.

Joining Ryan in double figures were Sarah McNamee and Kalli Stanhope with 17 and 10 points, respectively. Liz Sipma led Mary with 20 points, while Taylor Luke had 15. Maria Weigelt scored 10.

“We played hard, but we just needed to execute better at critical times,” said MSUB coach Kevin Woodin. “We had too many turnovers and just needed to create more offense.”

MSUB led by two (35-33) at the half, but the Marauders used a 9-0 run with 8:08 remaining to take the lead for good. A basket by Weigelt with 1:19 to go, gave the Marauders their largest lead of the game at 10 (70-60). Mary ended the game on a 15-8 run over the final five minutes.

MSUB shot 38.6 percent from the field (22-57), but were just two of 13 from the three-point line. The Yellowjackets made 18 of 21 free throws, but were still outscored 27-18 from the charity stripe.

December 16

Western Washington Loses In Overtime; CWU Falls To Pueblo

Forward Amanda Fessenden hit two free throws with 1.3 seconds left lifting Washburn. Kans., to a 72-70 overtime victory over Western Washington in Game 2 of the fourth annual Great Western Shootout being held at the Doolittle Community Center in Las Vegas, Nev., Wednesday.

In Wednesday's first game, Colorado State Pueblo built a 45-28 halftime lead then held on to defeat Central Washington 72-60.

The loss overshadowed a brilliant performance by Viking forward Jessica Summer, who had a career-high 37 points and added a game-high nine rebounds.

A Viking mental error prevented the game from going into a second overtime. With the scored tied at 70-70 and only a few seconds remaining, Summers missed a jumper which was rebounded by Washburn's Alyssa Mullen.

Mullen then handed the ball to Fessenden, still deep in the Lady Blues' backcourt, but WWU's Megan Pinske inexplicable grabbed Fessenden before time could expire.

Fessenden, who finished with 14 points, then went to the line and made both free throws to give Washburn the two-point win.

Washburn, eighth in the latest USA Today/ESPN/WBCA NCAA Division II Poll, stayed undefeated at 8-0. Rose Hammond, a transfer from Division I Oklahoma, led the Lady Blues with 23 points, scoring 15 of their last 21 points in regulation.

The game featured 20 ties, nine of them in the last eight minutes of play. The final tie came at 70-70, when Washburn's Cassie Lombardino scored her only points of the game on a post-up with 28 seconds left.

Western Washington jumped to a 13-0 lead early in the game as Washburn missed its first 11 shots from the field, but the Lady Blues rallied to tie the score at 17-17 with 4:11 left in the first half.

Only once after that did either team have a lead of more than three points, and the gap was never more than two points from the 6:30 mark of the second half onward.

The 37 points by Summers matched the second-most by a Viking in school history. She was 12 of 21 on field goals, and 13 of 17 on free throws in 41 minutes of play.

Guard Amanda Dunbar was the only other Western player in double figures with 11 points. She also had a game-high six assists, but was 0 for 5 on three-pointers despite entering the contest leading NCAA II in three-point percentage at 73.9 percent.

As a team, the Vikings, which came in ranked third nationally in three-point percentage at 47.1 percent, hit just one of 11. Washburn, which finished with five more rebounds (37-32) and four fewer turnovers (22-18) than WWU, wasn't much better making just four of 17 from the arc.

Colorado State Pueblo 72, Central Washington 60

Forward Amanda Bartlett led a balanced attack with 15 points as Colorado State-Pueblo defeated Central Washington.

CSU-Pueblo (6-2), which has won four straight, had five players score in double figures. Guard Rachel Espinoza and center Caitlyn Jewell each had 14 points for the Thunderwolves, forward Katrina Selsor had 13 and forward Erica Hicks came off the bench to add 10.

Central (2-6) was led by the 13 points of forward Sara Bergner. Forward Sophie Russell added 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, and guard Colleen Betteridge had nine points and eight assists.

CSU-Pueblo held the Wildcats without a field goal for a 5:40 span late in the first half to open up a 43-20 lead with less than two minutes left in the period.

The Thunderwolves, who shot 50.0 percent (15-30) from the field in the opening half, had a 45-28 advantage at halftime.

Central started the second half by outscoring CSU-Pueblo 20-7 narrowing the margin to 52-48 with 11 minutes to play, but Bartlett responded with back-to-back three-pointers, and the Wildcats never got closer than eight points after that.

December 14

Weber Beats Western Oregon 50-44

Weber State used a pair of three-pointers by Sarah Conner to snap a 34-34 tie and went on to defeat Western Oregon 50-44 in a non-conference game at the New PE Building in Monmouth Monday.

Conner finished with 21 points, making three of four treys, as the Division I Wildcats improved to 6-5 on the season. The Wolves fell to 4-5.

After falling behind 10-2 early, WOU scored 10 consecutive points to briefly go ahead 12-10 and later earned four ties, the final one on a three-pointer by Shayla Cornder with 6:14 remaining.

Conner, however, then hit back-to-back treys to begin a 15-3 spurt that gave Weber, which finished the game with a 43-28 rebounding advantage including 17-6 off the offensive glass, a 12-point lead with 73 seconds remaining

In addition to Conner who had 19 second-half points including 17 straight Weber points during one stretch, Abby Thorderson was the only other Wildcat player in double figures with 10 points.

Katie Torland had a double double, scoring 25 of WOU's 44 points and grabbing 10 of its 28 rebounds.

"Katie is a very good player, and we are just fortunate that she is on our team," said WOU head coach Greg Bruce. "They had trouble matching up with her."

Western Oregon also put forth one of its best defensive efforts of the season, as it held Weber State to 31.4 percent shooting (16-51).

"Our defense worked hard and this is the type of physical effort we need on the defensive end to compete in the GNAC," continued Bruce. "We moved our feet well and defended. I couldn't be more proud of our defense."

December 12

Hein Sets GNAC Rebound Record, Earns MVP Prize at Humboldt Classic

Kristin Hein won her third tournament MVP award of the season Saturday in leading Northwest Nazarene to a 80-66 win over Humboldt State in the Humboldt State Classic at Arcata, Calif.

Based on her numbers - and the opposition - this one was by far the most impressive one of the lot.

Hein scored 14 points and pulled down a GNAC-record 23 rebounds in leading the Crusaders to a win over a team that earned four first-place votes and was ranked third in the CCAA pre-season poll.

At halftime, Hein had eight points and 15 rebounds and the Crusaders had a 47-17 lead over the previously once-beaten Lumberjacks (6-2). After trailing early, NNU closed the half with a 34-8 run.

Northwest Nazarene, which beat Cal State Stanislaus on Friday, upped its lead to 38 early in the second half before Humboldt rallied back to within 11 in the final minute as center Brittney Taylor scored 21 of her 27 points after the break. But, NNU was never seriously in danger.

Hein finished the tournament with 34 points and 27 rebounds as the Crusaders improved to 7-1. In the process she broke the old GNAC rebound record of 22 shared by Seattle Pacific's Kristin Poe and Carli Smith and Humboldt's Jenna Washington.

Poe had 22 against Saint Martin's in 2002 and Smith had 22 against Western Washington in 2005 nine days after Washington had pulled down 22 against Alaska Anchorage.

Hein was one of four NNU players in double figures. Heather Adams scored 14, while Janee Olds and Brittney Roggenkamp had 12 each. Olds joined Hein on the all-tournament team.

In addition to Taylor, Humboldt got 12 points from Kayla Williams and 12 rebounds from Bree Halsey.

NNU finished the game with a 52-41 rebounding advantage and outshot the Lumberjacks 44.1 (30-68) to 37.3 (25-67). Olds and Hein also led the NNU defense with three steals apiece.

Elsewhere GNAC teams won four of the other five games on Saturday's schedule getting a split in the AT&T Classic at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage and winning three other home contests.

AT&T Classic host UAA stayed unbeaten and extended its home win streak to 27 defeating Grand Canyon 84-70, while BYU-Hawaii beat Alaska Fairbanks 61-48.

Central Washington defeated Cal State East Bay 77-62, Montana State Billings outscored Dickinson State 71-61 and Seattle Pacific crushed Concordia (Ore.) 82-48.

Alaska Anchorage 84, Grand Canyon 70

Kelsie Gourdin scored 22 points and Nicci Miller had 19 points and eight rebounds as Alaska Anchorage overcame a strong challenge from Grand Canyon to improve to 8-0.

The Seawolves also got 13 points and five rebounds from wing Nikki Aden, who sparked her team with clutch shooting in the second half. All three UAA players were named to the all-tournament team with Gourdin earning MVP honors.

Grand Canyon (5-3) was led by 26 points and four steals from star guard Samantha Murphy, who shot seven of 10 overall (4-7 on treys) and eight of 11 from the free throw stripe.

After UAA took a 56-48 lead on an Aden three-pointer with 10:09 remaining, Murphy brought the Antelopes back by herself, scoring eight straight points to tie the game with 7:40 remaining.

But Sarah Herrin answered nine seconds later with a pair of free throws and then knocked down a three-pointer at the 6:28 mark for a 63-58 UAA lead. GCU didn't get closer than four points the rest of the way as Anchorage outrebounded the defending Pacific West Conference champions 41-26.

GCU's 70 points marked the most allowed by the Seawolves this year, but the Antelopes made just six of 20 three-pointers, compared to UAA's nine of 19 from long range.

BYU-Hawaii 61, Alaska Fairbanks 48

Mahina Gago scored 14 points and Lindsey Sundin had 11 as BYU-Hawaii beat Alaska Fairbanks for the second time in three days.

The Seasiders, who won a pre-tournament game 81-54 Thursday, had a little tougher time this time but still managed to hand the Nanooks (1-8) their eighth consecutive loss.

BYUH outshot UAF 47.8 percent (11-23) to 26.9 per cent (7-26) in building a 32-21 halftime lead and maintained that margin for most of the second half as the point spread swung between 11 and 19 throughout the half.

Lakeshia Levi was the only player in double figures for UAF finishing with 16 points. Britany Anderson had nine points. Jessica Harrison had seven rebounds and Alexandra Melonson was credited with five assists.

Central Washington 77, Cal State East Bay 62

Sophie Russell scored 15 of her career-high 21 points in the first half as Central Washington defeated Cal State East Bay in a NCAA West Region game at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wildcats (2-5) also got 18 points from Jenn Jacobs and 10 from Stacy Albrecht in the victory. Claudia Nelson led the winless Pioneers (0-4) with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals.

The two teams were tied at 13-13 midway through the first half, but Central then got a layup by Russell and a three-pointer by Jacobs and doubled CSUEB's point total (26-13) the remainder of the period.

CWU maintained control throughout the second half, though twice East Bay pulled to within six. After the second time, the Wildcats ran off nine straight points to open up a comfortable lead.

Central controlled the backboards in the win outrebounding the Pioneers 50-38 as Russell had nine and Brooke Fernandez and Albrecht had eight each. Jacobs grabbed seven off the backboards.

Montana State Billings 71, Dickinson State 61

Kayla Ryan and Sarah McNamee each had 17 points as Montana State Billings (5-2) defeated Dickinson State at Alterowitz Gym.

Ryan had a double-double adding 11 rebounds to her 17-point output as the Yellowjackets won for the fifth time in seven starts.

Ryan, who had 10 points and eight rebounds in the second half alone, made six of nine shots and also blocked three Dickinson State shots.

“This was a nice win for us against a quality opponent,” said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. “Dickinson is very patient on offense and they run their sets very well, but we were able to hit some key free throws down the stretch.”

Joining Ryan and McNamee, who produced 12 of her 17 points from the three-point line (4 of 9), in double figures were Callie Kautzmann with 12 points and Mandy Jacobs with 10. Jacobs also had a game-high six assists.

One of Jacobs' two three-pointers snapped a 39-39 tie with 11:16 left. A moment later McNamee also hit a three enabling MSUB to open up a six-point lead.

Later the Yellowjackets used a 10-3 run to stretch their lead to double digits at 57-46.

MSUB scored 30 of its points from the arc, making 10 of 29. They also finished with one more rebound (40-39) and one fewer turnover (15-14) than the Blue Hawks.

Kia Herbel led the visitors with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Amber Adams had 13 points and Jennifer Marquez scored 12.

Seattle Pacific 92, Concordia 48

Daesha Henderson scored 20 points and came up with five of Seattle Pacific's 22 steals, leading the 19th-ranked Falcons to a 44-point romp past Concordia of Portland at Brougham Pavilion.

SPU (5-1) earned assists on 29 of their 35 baskets, and had a season-low 14 turnovers.

Henderson hit eight of 13 from the floor, including three of five from behind the arc. Forward Megan Hoisington added 11 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Forward Sydney Benson added 10 points and seven rebounds, and forward Caitlyn Rohrbach also pulled down seven boards. Freshman guard Rachel Murray handed out a career-high seven assists.

SPU used a pair of first-half scoring surges to put Concordia (6-4) into a permanent double-digit deficit.

Up by just four at 16-12. SPU ran off 11 straight points as Maddie Maloney capped it on a three-point play to make it 27-12 with 8:29 remaining in the half.

The Falcons pushed the lead to 20 points at 38-18 with a string of nine straight points at the 3:08 mark of the half. Concordia never got the margin below 18 points after that, as Seattle Pacific took a 47-22 lead into halftime.

Concordia, ranked No. 22 nationally in the NAIA Division II poll, never led and was tied just once at 2-2. The Cavaliers were paced by the nine points of Rachel Bristow.

The Falcons shot 43.8 percent for the game (35 of 80), and limited Concordia to just 29.8 percent (17 of 57).

December 11

Northwest Nazarene, Alaska Anchorage Earn Tournament Wins

Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Anchorage posted victories Friday against NCAA West Region opponents as tournaments got underway at Arcata, Calif., and at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage, respectively.

Kristin Hein scored 20 points to lead the Crusaders (6-1) to a 62-53 win over Cal State Stanislaus in Game 1 of the Humboldt State Classic. Meanwhile, Alaska Anchorage easily disposed of BYU-Hawaii 67-37 in the AT&T Classic to remain unbeaten (7-0) and extend their home win streak to 26 contests.

In the Classic's first game, Grand Canyon defeated Alaska Fairbanks 78-58. In the only other game Friday involving a GNAC team, Saint Martin's earned its first road victory of the season defeating Pacific Lutheran 76-62.

Northwest Nazarene 62, Cal State Stanislaus 53

Northwest Nazarene led most of the way, but still needed an 8-2 run in the final two minutes to defeat Cal State Stanislaus.

The Crusaders, who beat the Warriors 79-58 on Nov.27 in Nampa, trailed 49-47 late in the contest, but went ahead to stay on a three-pointer by Janee Olds with 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

Still, they were ahead only by a 54-51 count before Hein got two free throws with a 1:57 left and a basket with 1:04 remaining to open up a little breathing room. Two free throws by Olds with 31 seconds remaining made it a nine-point cushion.

Joining Hein, who made six of 13 shots and seven of eight free throws, in double figures for the Crusaders were Olds and Kat Schulte to Buhne with 10 points each. Schulte to Buhne also had a team-high eight rebounds.

Kati Busi led Stanislaus with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Warriors also got 10 points each from Jeanette Rowe and Christin Gowan.

NNU outshot the CCAA school 35.7 percent (20-56) to 32.7 (18-55) and also finished with a 42-36 rebounding advantage. The two teams combined for 53 turnovers - 27 by the Crusaders and 26 by CSUS.

Alaska Anchorage 67, BYU-Hawaii 37

Forward Kelsie Gourdin came off the bench to tally 12 points and eight rebounds to lead fourth-ranked Alaska Anchorage past Brigham Young-Hawaii.

The Seawolves also got 11 points apiece from starting guards Tamar Gruwell and Kiki Taylor.

The Seasiders (3-3) were led by game-highs of 14 points and nine rebounds from wing Mahina Gago, but BYUH managed to shoot just 28.3 percent and were forced into 28 turnovers.

UAA, which now has won six games by margins of 30 or more points, jumped to a 6-0 lead and never trailed, although the Seasiders kept things interesting for a while.

A layup by BYUH's Kristen Hartley made the score 20-12 with five minutes to play in the half, but Gruwell answered with a long jump shot 10 seconds later, and the Seawolf lead never fell below double digits again.

Gourdin, a transfer from Mesa State, converted on five of her 10 attempts and also had two assists and three steals. Seven of her eight rebounds came off the offensive glass as UAA controlled the backboards 50-35. The Seawolves had 21 offensive rebounds, while surrendering only seven.

Taylor matched BYU-Hawaii's team total with five assists, and Nikki Aden managed eight points, six rebounds and two steals in the win. Forward Nicci Miller, who came in averaging 20.2 points per game, scored a season-low six points and grabbed five rebounds.

Grand Canyon 78, Alaska Fairbanks 58

Grand Canyon got 17 points from Samantha Murphy and 11 from Katrina Graham to defeat Alaska Fairbanks.

The Antelopes, who jumped to a 49-25 halftime lead, improved to 5-2 with the win, including a neutral site victory over Seattle Pacific last Friday at Nampa.

Grand Canyon made liberal use of its bench as 10 different players played 10 or more minutes. Murphy saw the most playing time, earning 24 minutes on the Wells Fargo Sports Complex court.

Lakeshia Levi led Alaska Fairbanks (1-7) with 21 points, while Ronisha Edwards had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Alexandra Melonson scored 10 points.

Grand Canyon made 29 of 72 shots, sinking 11 of 23 from the three-point area. They also had seven more rebounds (43-36) and seven fewer turnovers (23-16) than UAF.

Saint Martin's 76, Pacific Lutheran 62

Dara Zack scored 19 points and Roni Jo Mielke had 16 points and five assists as Saint Martin's improved to 6-3. Its previous five wins had all come at Marcus Gymnasium.

The Saints never trailed, leading by 19 at halftime (42-23) and building a 31-point lead midway through the second half.

Saint Martin's, which shot nearly 50 percent (27-55, 49.1), also got 11 points from Krissy Bassett and nine from Jamey Gelhar.

Pacific Lutheran, which fell to 1-7, was led by Jordan Westering with 16 points. Sarah Backstrom scored 12 points.

December 10

Central Washington, Alaska Fairbanks Sustain Losses

Shaina Afoa scored nine points, pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked five shots, but Central Washington couldn't overcome a 33.3 percent shooting performance and a 31-point outburst by Montana Tech's Jessie DePell in losing to the Orediggers 61-53 Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.

In the only other contest involving a GNAC team Thursday, BYU-Hawaii defeated Alaska Fairbanks 81-54 in a neutral site game in Anchorage at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Both teams will join UAA and Grand Canyon in the UAA AT&T Classic beginning Friday.

Central's loss was its first defeat in five meetings with the NAIA Orediggers. Montana Tech, which was among "others receiving votes" in this week's NAIA Division I national poll, improved to 8-2, dropping the Wildcats to 1-5.

Central shot just 33 percent in each half. Still the Wildcats trailed by just one at halftime and were ahead by three in the second half before Tech took the lead for good at 43-35 by scoring 11 consecutive points.

The Wildcats made only 22 of 66 shots, five of 23 from the arc. They were also outrebounded 45-37 and were outscored 15-4 from the foul line.

Sophie Russell led Central Washington with 12 points, while Brittany Duerr had 10. DePell was the only player in double figures for Tech.

Richelle Fenenbock scored 23 points and Kristen Hartley had 19 for BYU-Hawaii in its victory. The Seasiders (3-2), who outshot the Nanooks 47.8 percent (32-67) to 31.1 (19-61), led 45-28 at halfime.

BYU-Hawaii made six of 11 three-pointers, while holding UAF to three in 19 attempts. It also had nine more rebounds (44-35) and four fewer turnovers (21-17) than the Nanooks.

Fairbanks, which fell to 1-6, was led by Lakeshia Levi with 16 points and seven rebounds. Jessica Harrison had 13 points and Alexandra Melonson scored 10 points.

December 9

UPS Beats Saint Martin's 70-60

Puget Sound closed the first half with a 9-3 run and then opened up the second period by scoring eight of the first 11 points and went on to defeat Saint Martin's 70-60 in a non-conference game Wednesday at Memorial Fieldhouse on the UPS campus.

The Loggers improved to 5-1 with the win, while dropping the Saints to 5-3. SMU is winless in three games away from Marcus Gymnasium.

Jocelyn Riordan led UPS with 17 points, while Claire Ely had 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. Natasha Ludwig had 15 points for the Loggers.

Dara Zack had 15 points and 10 rebounds to record her fifth double-double of the season for Saint Martin's. Jamey Gelhar led SMU with 16 points, while Krissy Bassett had 10 points.

Saint Martin's opened up a 21-13 lead in the opening half, but UPS caught them with their late surge going ahead 37-34 at the break before taking control in the second period. The Loggers led by double digits for most of the final 6 1/2 minutes.

December 8

Saint Martin's Improves To 5-0 At Home

Dara Zack had 18 points and 11 rebounds and Krissy Bassett scored 14 points to lead Saint Martin's to a 63-46 win over Northwest University Tuesday at Marcus Gym in Lacey.

The Saints (5-2) improved to 5-0 at home with the victory by outscoring the Eagles 21-4 over the final 7:42 of the first half after the game was tied at 15-15.

Zack had 13 points and eight rebounds to key the first-half surge, then later helped the Saints build leads by as many as 26 points. The double-double was her fourth of the season.

Northwest (4-5) got 16 points and 10 rebounds from Jessalyn Jackson and 10 points from Alexa Breidenbach. SMU held NWU to a 31.6 shooting percentage (18-57) including two of 15 three-pointers. The Sants made eight of 16 treys and were 23 of 65 overall (35.4). Jamey Gelhar had a game-high six assists.

December 6

Saints Pull Away In Overtime

Jamey Gelhar scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half and in the overtime as Saint Martin's pulled away for a 92-80 win over Hawaii Hilo completing a sweepof a two-game series Sunday at Marcus Gym in Lacey.

Gelhar and Dara Zack each had seven points in the extra period as the Saints outscored the Vulcans 19-7 to break open a game that featured 13 ties, 12 of them after the opening 20 minutes. UHH led most of the first half including 31-27 at the break after vaulting to an early 7-0 lead.

SMU trailed by five before going on a 10-0 run late in regulation. Gelhar had six of those points. Hilo's Hina Kimitete, however, answered with a pair of free throws and a trey at 1:11 to force overtime.

The extra period, however, belong to the Saints (4-2) as they made three of six field goals and then protected the lead by going 11 of 14 from the foul line. For the game, SMU made 30 of 38 free throws.

Gelhar and Krissy Bassett, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds, led five Saints in double figures. Roni Jo Mielke, who put the Saints ahead in the overtime with a three-pointer, and Zack each had 14 and Meagan Teade scored 12.

Kimitete led UHH with 26 points, scoring all six of the Vulcans' three-pointers. She was six of 10 from the arc; the rest of the team was zero for five.

The loss dropped the PacWest school to 2-7, 1-6 against GNAC opponents.

December 5

MVP Hein Leads NNU To Title

Kristin Hein scored 15 points and also had seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks in leading Northwest Nazarene to a 73-66 win over Grand Canyon Saturday in the final game of the GNAC/PacWest Basketball Classic at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

In Saturday's first game, Seattle Pacific (4-1) got balanced scoring and a solid defensive effort to beat Dixie State 59-46 bouncing back from its first loss of the season Friday to Grand Canyon.

Hein finished the tournament with team-highs of 30 points, 14 rebounds, nine steals, six assists and four blocks in earning Most Valuable Player honors. The Crusaders (5-1) were the only team to finish the classic-formatted event with two victories.

Joining Hein in double figures in NNU's victory was Beth Johnson with 14 points and Janee Olds with 13. Samantha Murphy paced Grand Canyon (4-2) with 19 points.

NNU, after overcoming an early 7-0 deficit with a 7-0 run of its own, led most of the way though the game remained close throughout. Johnson helped spark a 12-2 run - scoring 10 consecutive points - to give NNU a 58-47 lead with 10:34 left.

Grand Canyon later pulled to within two points (66-64) on a pair of free throws by Kia Gibson with 1:06 left. NNU's Heather Adams, however, hit a three-pointer with 40 seconds left and the Crusaders added four free throws in the final 30 seconds - two by Hein - to put the game in the win column.

Lindsay Brady, who had nine points, joined Hein, Murphy, Megan Hoisington of Seattle Pacific and Jessica Ingraham of Dixie State on the all-tournament team.

In the earlier game, Hoisington and Melissa Reich each scored 12 points and Jordan Harazin and Daesha Henderson contributed 10 points each in Seattle Pacific's victory.

The win was the 100th for SPU Coach Julie van Beek. Van Beek, who has a 100-22 record in five seasons with the Falcons, is 262-141 for her career including nine years at Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville, Tenn.

SPU held Dixie State to just 17 field goals in 66 attempts, including one of 12 from the three-point line. Veronica Siqueriros was the lone Dixie player in double figures netting 10 points.

Hoisington had 10 rebounds and Reich and McKayla Gorman each had three steals for the Falcons, who shot 41.2 percent, making 21 of 51. Hoisington was five of seven and Harazin made three of five, including three of four from the three-point line.

SPU jumped out to a 7-0 lead, took an eight-point lead (25-17) into halftime and maintained a double-digit lead the entire second half after outscoring the Red Storm 15-3 and building a 40-20 lead in the early moments of the second stanza.

Seawolves, Wildcats, Saints Earn Division II Wins

Alaska Anchorage extended its win streak to six games, Central Washington ended its loss streak at four and Saint Martin's earned a 23-point victory Saturday in non-tournament games involving GNAC teams.

Nicci Miller scored 17 of her 18 points in the second half to lead the Seawolves to a 70-62 win over Nyack, N.Y., in a neutral site contest at The Patty Center in Fairbanks.

Jenn Jacobs came off the bench to score 26 points in 26 minutes as Central Washington (1-4) earned its first victory of the season defeating the Academy of the Art 87-55 at Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg.

Meanwhile, Dara Zack recorded her third double-double in five games leading Saint Martin's to a 78-55 win over Hawaii Hilo at SMU's Marcus Pavilion.

UAA, which had beaten Nyack by 33 points Thursday (75-42), overcame poor shooting to stay unbeaten.

The Seawolves made only 22 of 62 field goal attempts (35.5) and shot 56.4 percent from the foul line (22-39), but outrebounded Nyack 47-36 and also forced the Warriors into 27 turnovers.

UAA had 17 steals, including seven by Hanna Johansson and five by Kiki Taylor. Johansson also had 10 points and eight rebounds, while Taylor had 11 points.

Nyack (2-4) was led by Jasmine Minter and Kelsey McIntosh with 13 points each. Vicky Sweet had 12 points and Bobbi Van Fleet netted 11.

Sweet hit a three-pointer with 59 seconds remaining to pull the Warriors within two points (63-61). UAA, however, closed out the win making seven of 10 foul shots in the final minute.

At Ellensburg, Jacobs made six of seven three-pointers and all four of her foul shots on the way to a 26-point night. She also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Also in double figures for the Wildcats were Sara Bergner who produced 15 points on seven of 10 shooting and Stacy Albrecht who had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Guard Colleen Betteridge contributed nine points and eight assists, while Sophie Russell had seven points, five steals and three assists. Sondra Stilwell and Lorraine Etchell led the Academy of Art with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Zack had 13 points and 10 rebounds and was one of five players in double figures in Saint Martin's victory. Roni Jo Mielke led the way with 15 points. Jamey Gelhar, Danika Lawson and Kelsey Baker all added 10 points for the Saints (3-2).

Kayce Kirahara led Hawaii Hilo (2-6), which lost for the fifth time in six games against GNAC schools, with 18 points, while Hina Kimitete had 13 points and a game-high five steals.

Saint Martin's, which led 37-19 at halftime, dominated the backboards outrebounding the Vulcans 51-23. In addition to Zack's 10, Emily Lashua had nine boards, Mielke had seven and Katie Hawkins had six rebounds.

The Saints also outshot Hilo 49.1 percent (27-55) to 31.7 percent (19-60) and converted on 22 of 27 free throws.

December 4

Northwest Nazarene Beats Dixie, Seattle Pacific Upset by Grand Canyon

Lindsay Brady scored 19 points leading Northwest Nazarene to a 85-70 victory over Dixie State Friday night in the opening round of the GNAC/PacWest Basketball Classic at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

In the first game, Samantha Murphy scored a game-high 26 points as Grand Canyon stunned Seattle Pacific 69-55.

Elsewhere in the GNAC, Western Oregon earned a 55-44 win over NAIA Simpson in a game at Redding, Calif., while Alaska Fairbanks lost at home to Nyack, N.Y. 59-49.

Brady led four Crusaders - including Kristin Hein (15), Janee Olds (13) and Jen Williams (10) - in double-figures in their victory.

Northwest Nazarene (4-1), which led by only two at 25-23 with 9:20 to play in the first half, used a 17-2 run to pull out to a 42-25 lead with just under four minutes to play in the half.

After settling for a 13-point lead at the break (52-39), the Crusaders doubled that leading by as many as 26 in the second half.

Jessie Ingraham paced the Red Storm (2-3) with 13 points and Amber Scruggs scored 11. Tanya Clark and Deanna Daniels each added 10.

The Crusaders had a decided shooting advantage in the contest converting on 50 percent (35-70), while holding the Red Storm to 37.7 percent (26-69).

Dixie did outrebound NNU 39-38 as Clark had nine, but committed three more turnovers (20-17). Briaunna King led the Crusaders on the boards with eight.

Daesha Henderson had 17 points, and Megan Hoisington scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Seattle Pacific's loss, but the Falcons shot just 29.3 percent (17-58) against the Antelopes.

SPU was just seven of 27 during the second half when it was outscored 39-27.

“They (Grand Canyon) came to play and they were the aggressors,” Falcon coach Julie van Beek said. “They did a good job of taking us out of what we were doing.

“Part of it was we did shoot badly,” van Beek added. “But also, we weren't able to run our offense. We never had a flow. Even though we had some decent shots, they weren't the shots we wanted.”

Murphy, who came in averaging 24.3 points, made eight of 16 shots, including four of six three-pointers, on the way to a 26-point performance. She also collected six rebounds and six steals.

Ashley Hardin added 15 points, while Shareka Purnell had nine points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Murphy scooped in a lay-in with seven seconds left to give the Antelopes a 30-28 lead at the break.

Grand Canyon then scored the first five points of the second half and the closest Seattle Pacific came the rest of the night was four (48-44) on a three-pointer by Henderson with 10:26 left.

Grand Canyon answered that basket by scoring the next eight points to take a 56-44 lead.

Western Oregon 55, Simpson 44

Katie Torland scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Western Oregon pulled away from a 24-24 halftime tie to even its record at 4-4 with a 55-44 victory.

Torland helped the Wolves overcome a 33.3 percent first-half shooting percentage (9-27) as WOU cashed in on 12 of 20 in the second 20-minute session.

Torland was the lone player in double figures for the Wolves. Shayla Corder had seven points and five others scored between four and six points. Kylie Shaw led Simpson with 11.

Nyack 59, Alaska Fairbanks 49

Lakeshia Levi had 25 points and 12 rebounds, but Nyack outscored the Nanooks 37-24 in the second half to pull away to a 10-point win at The Patty Center.

Leading 40-39, Nyack went on a 10-0 run midway through the second half to break the game open.

Shelly Yount led the Warriors (3-3) with 19 points, connecting on eight of 10 shots, while Kelsey McIntosh scored 12 points.

Levi was joined in double figures by Jessica Harrison for the Nanooks with 10 points. Ronisha Edwards had 10 rebounds.

December 3

Dunbar Breaks GNAC, WWU Three-Point Record

Guard Amanda Dunbar had a game-high 17 points and established school and conference records for consecutive three-pointers made leading Western Washington to an 80-46 triumph over Hawaii Hilo in a NCAA Division II West Region game Thursday on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Forward Willow Cabe added 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Vikings, who remained undefeated at 5-0.

Dunbar hit her first four three-point attempts of the game, running her overall streak to 10 and breaking the school record set by Jodi Gerald during the 2004-05 season.

Gerald previously shared the conference record with Kristin Hein of Northwest Nazarene who made nine in a row last season.

Dunbar, who also had game highs of six assists and three steals, is shooting 73.9 percent (17-23) on three-pointers for the season.

She was four of six Thursday as Western hit nine of 17 (52.9 percent). For the year, the Vikings are hitting 47.1 percent on treys (41-87).

Western never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game and opening up a 15-2 lead six minutes into the contest. The Vikings led 42-17 at halftime, holding the Vulcans (2-5), who were led by Kayce Kirahara with 14 points, to just six of 24 field-goal shooting (25 percent) in the opening period.

Center Jessica Summers had 12 points for the Vikings, who shot 50.9 percent (29-57) from the field and had a 39-27 advantage in rebounds. The loss dropped Hilo, which lost three of four games on a road trip to Alaska earlier this season, to 1-4 against GNAC teams.

Zack Has Double-Double As Saints Beat Academy of Art

Dara Zack had 12 points and 16 rebounds, including nine at the offensive end as Saint Martin's defeated Academy of Art 63-53 Thursday in a NCAA Division II West Region game at Saints Gym in Lacey.

The game wasn't as close as the final score might indicate as the Saints had a 19-point lead before the Urban Knights closed the game with a 9-0 run over the final 4:05.

SMU had a 24-4 advantage in second-chance points as it had 22 offensive rebounds in outboarding the PacWest school 48-34. Seven of Zack's offensive caroms came in the second half.

Saint Martin's was led in scoring by Krissy Bassett with 15 points and Jamey Gelhar with 13. Gelhar was three of four from the three-point line. Bassett and Katie Hawkins each had nine rebounds.

Sondra Stilwell led the Urban Knights (3-2) with 16 points. Lorraine Etchell had 12 points.

SMU won despite shooting just 33.3 percent (21-63). They held AAU to 21 field goals in 59 attempts (35.6) and outscored the Urban Knights 15-5 from the foul line.

Big Second Half For Alaska Anchorage In Win Over Nyack

Nicci Miller scored 22 points and Alaska Anchorage used a dominating defensive effort Thursday to earn a 75-42 win over Nyack in a neutral-court game at the Patty Center in Fairbanks.

The nationally sixth-ranked Seawolves (5-0), who led by just six (32-26) at halftime, also got 17 points from forward Kelsie Gourdin and 11 points and seven rebounds from center Hanna Johansson as they won by at least 30 points for the fourth time this year.

The Warriors (2-3), who made just 12 of 50 shots, were led by 12 points from guard Vicky Sweet, but the New York squad lost for the second time this year to a Top 10 club. Nyack dropped its season-opener against No. 2 Franklin Pierce.

Despite jumping to a 16-4 lead, the Seawolves fell behind 25-24 to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference team after missing all 12 of their first half three-point tries.

UAA, however, ended the first period with an 8-1 spurt, then scored 12 of the first 13 points of the second half to take a 48-27 lead at the first media timeout.

By the time Nyack got its first field goal of the second half, a three-pointer by Sweet with 6:52 remaining, the Seawolves led 66-34.

UAA shot just 37.8 percent (28-74), including four of 27 from the arc, but had a massive 63-33 rebounding advantage.

The 63 boards equaled the fifth-most ever by a Seawolf team and were the most since setting the record with 68 against Silver Lake on Nov. 22, 1991. It also equaled the second-highest total in GNAC history.

Miller made 10 of 17 shots, including two of five three-pointers, and also had eight rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists. Gourdin, a transfer from Mesa State, had an efficient offensive outing making five of seven field goal attempts and all seven of her free throws.

December 1

Montana State Billings Loses To Montana Tech

Taesha Higbee scored 11 of 13 points in the second half and put Montana Tech ahead for good on a layup with 2:10 left as the Orediggers (7-1) edged Montana State Billings 67-64 Tuesday at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

After Higbee's basket gave Tech a 63-62 advantage, the teams traded free throws the rest of the way. Jessie DePell and Dannii Devenny led Tech with 25 and 15 points, respectively. DePell had 15 and Devenny had 11 in the first half when the NAIA school overcame a 31-25 deficit to lead 36-34 at the break.

Sarah McNamee led MSUB (4-2) with 18 points. Mandy Jacobs (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Kayla Ryan (10 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles for the Yellowjackets.

November 28

Western Washington Wins Goodrich Title

Guard Amanda Dunbar was perfect on seven field goal attempts, including five three-pointers, scoring a game-high 22 points to lead Western Washington to a 75-43 victory over Lewis-Clark State Saturday to claim the championship in the 13th Lynda Goodrich Women's Basketball Classic on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The tournament title was the 11th time WWU has either won it outright or shared the title.

In Saturday's first game Notre Dame de Namur surprised Saint Martin's 66-56 posting its first victory of the season.

Center Jessica Summers, who was named the tournament MVP for the second straight year, had 12 points, including 10 in the first half as the Vikings improved to 4-0.

L-C State, ranked No.16 nationally in the latest NAIA poll, had a five-game winning streak snapped in falling to 7-2. Forward Jasmine Stohr led the Warriors with nine points.

LCSC had an early 6-2 lead, but the Vikings went on a 15-2 run to take a 17-8 lead with 12 minutes left in the first half and never looked back.

Western held a 41-19 lead at halftime and led by as much as 35 in the second half.

The Vikings were 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) on three-pointers. In addition to Dunbar's five for five, reserve guard Corinn Waltrip made all three of her treys.

Dunbar, who had 17 points in the second half, joined Summers on the all-tournament team for the second straight time, and Krissy Bassett of Saint Martin's was also a repeat choice.

Completing the selections were Willow Cabe of Western Washington, Laura Zasly of Notre Dame de Namur and Nikki DePeel of LCSC.

Zasly scored 22 points and had six rebounds and four assists as Notre Dame ended a five-game losing streak with its win over Saint Martin's. Bassett led the Saints (1-2) with 15 points.

Guards Katie Zasly and Natellie Saia added 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Argonauts(1-5). Dara Zack had 13 points and eight rebounds for SMU.

NDNU led by just four (25-21) with a little over eight minutes left in the first half, but Saint Martin's then went seven minutes without a field goal, allowing the Argonauts to hold a 36-26 lead at halftime.

The NDNU lead got as high as 17 in the second half. The Saints made a late charge to pull within six (56-50) on a basket by Jamey Gelhar with 6:12 left, but got no closer.

Hein MVP As Northwest Nazarene Wins Thanksgiving Classic

Tournament MVP Kristin Hein scored 13 of her game-high 16 points and had eight of her game-high nine rebounds in the second half as Northwest Nazarene defeated Colorado Christian 81-63 Saturday to win the NNU Thanksgiving Classic at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

In Saturday's first game, Cal State Stanislaus kept Central Washington winless in four contests defeating the Wildcats 69-59.

Hein made seven of 11 shots and had five offensive boards as the Crusaders improved to 3-1 on the season with their second straight tournament double-digit victory.

The Crusaders also got 15 points from Lindsay Brady and 12 from Briaunna King in the victory. Both players scored 10 points in the first half when NNU built a 39-30 lead.

Brady, who made six of 12 shots and also had six rebounds and a game-high four steals, started a 10-0 run with a three-pointer as the Crusaders took command after trailing 20-19 with 7:50 left in the first period.

After Brady's trey, NNU got two free throws each from Olds and King and a basket by Falissa Smith to go ahead 29-20.

The Crusaders, who had 15 steals and finished with a 23-11 turnover advantage, used another 10-0 run in the second half to stretch a eight-point lead to 18 at 52-34 and were never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

King, Juanise Cornell of Colorado Christian, Andreanna Marshall of Cal State Stanislaus and Sophie Russell of Central Washington joined Hein on the all-tournament team.

Cornell had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds in CCU's loss. The Cougars also got 13 points and six rebounds from Abby Rosenthal.

Katie Busi had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Cal State Stanislaus past CWU. The Warriors also got 16 points and eight assists from Christin Gowan and 12 points from Jeanette Rowe. Marshall had nine points.

Russell led the Wildcats with 17 points, connecting on five of eight shots and seven of 10 free throws. Sara Bergner had 10 points.

The Wildcats shot only 38 percent (19-50) in the loss, including three of 17 from the three-point line. Central also had six more turnovers than the CCAA school (19-13).

Cold Shooting Costly As Yellowjackets Sustain First Loss

Montana State Billings shot just 29.3 percent in losing 59-46 to Adams State (Colo.) in the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs Thanksgiving Classic Saturday.

The loss was the first of the season after four wins for the Yellowjackets, who made only 17 of 58 shots, including two of 17 three-pointers. MSUB was eight of 29 in the second half.

Still, MSUB was ahead until the Grizzlies made three consecutive treys - two by Paige Ricker and one by tournament MVP Vera Jo Bustos - to go ahead 40-32. Adams State later used another 9-0 run to capture a 51-37 lead with 5:16 left, essentially putting the game away.

Kendra Coveal led Adams State with 16 points and eight rebounds. Bustos had 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Kayla Ryan had 20 points and nine rebounds for MSUB and was selected to the all-tournament team. No one else was in double figures for the 'Jackets.

Nanooks Lose To West Florida 86-70 in North Star Finale

Dominique Boykins scored 17 points and Amy Drake had 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists to lead West Florida to a 86-70 win over Alaska Fairbanks in the final game of the UAF North Star Invitational at The Patty Center Saturday.

Gannon won the tournament title with a 3-0 record defeating Henderson State 81-75 in double overtime as tournament MVP Kristina Freeman led the way with 31 points. West Florida finished second with a 2-1 record, while Henderson ended up 1-2 and UAF was 0-3.

The Nanooks (1-4) trailed by just a 27-25 count in their game before West Florida went on a 16-6 run over the final 5:50 of the first half. UAF was still in striking distance in the second half trailing 56-50 before a 17-6 run gave the Argos a 73-56 lead with 6:33 left.

Ronisha Edwards scored 18 points and Lakeshia Levi had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Nanooks. Brittany Aldrich added 13 and Alexandra Melonson netted 12. Levi was selected to the all-tournament team.

November 27

Vikings Double Up Notre Dame

Center Jessica Summers scored a game-high 20 points to lead Western Washington to a 73-36 victory over Notre Dame de Namur in the 13th annual Lynda Goodrich Classic Friday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

In Friday's first game, Lewis-Clark State defeated Saint Martin's 70-59.

Forward Willow Cabe had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Vikings, who improved to 3-0, while Laura Zasky led the Argonauts, who remained winless in five contests, with 10 points.

Western was never threatened, holding the Argonauts scoreless for more than 11 minutes and opening up a 27-4 lead with 6:44 left in the first half. The Vikings led 36-19 at halftime, and never led by less than 25 points in the final 13 minutes.

Western shot 48.0 percent (24-50) from the field and held NDNU to just 20.8 percent shooting (11-53). The Vikings also had a 41-28 advantage in rebounds and made 20 of 23 free throws (87.0 percent).

Viking guard Megan Pinske had 10 points, six assists and five rebounds.

Guard Nikki DePeel scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the first half in Lewis-Clark State's victory as the Warriors, ranked No.16 nationally in the latest NAIA poll, improved to 7-1 with its fifth consecutive win.

Center Kirsi Voshell added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Warriors. Center Krissy Bassett had 17 points and forward Dara Zack added 14 points and eight rebounds for Saint Martin's (1-1).

LCSC never trailed, but the game was tied at 22-22 with eight minutes left in the first half. The Warriors then closed the half with a 19-5 run as DePeel scored 10 of the points, including seven of the last nine. Saint Martin 's pulled to within seven (62-55) with 4:36 left, but got no closer.

Hein's Double-Double Powers Crusaders Past Warriors

Kristin Hein scored 18 points and also had 14 rebounds to power Northwest Nazarene to a 79-58 win over Cal State Stanislaus in the NNU Thanksgiving Classic at Nampa Friday.

In the earlier game, Colorado Christian overcame a 25-12 first-half deficit to defeat Central Washington 81-70. Last week the Cougars defeated the Wildcats 70-58 in a tournament at Seattle Pacific.

NNU (2-1) bounced back from an early 5-0 deficit outscoring CSU Stanislaus 30-11 over one stretch to open up a 14-point lead. The Crusaders led by eight at the break before pulling way in the second half leading by 20 or more points over the final 7:55.

Hein hit on seven of 11 shots and seven of her rebounds came at the offensive end. She also had four steals.

Briaunna King and Jennifer Williams chipped in with 15 points each and Janee Olds had 11 points and four steals as NNU forced Stanislaus into 27 turnovers.

Andreanna Marshall had 17 points for the Warriors. Jeanette Rowe scored a dozen points and Katie Busi had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Central (0-3) led Colorado Christian by 13 with 10:02 left in the opening half, but saw that lead cut to one at the break.

Still the Wildcats had a one-point lead before a three-pointer by Abby Rosenthal with 3:32 left and two foul shots by Rosenthal gave Colorado Christian a 69-66 lead.

Jenn Jacobs, who led the Wildcats with 19, pulled Central back to within one, but Holly Valdez hit a three-pointer with 1:56 left and the Cougars closed the game with a 12-2 rush.

Juanise Cornell sparked CCU in the second half scoring 18 of her game-high 20 points after the intermission. Rosenthal finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Bre McBeth had 16 points and seven rebounds. Valdez had 10.

In addition to Jacobs, the Wildcats got 13 points from Sophie Russell. CWU had one more field goal than Colorado Christian, but the Cougars made 22 of 27 foul shots and nine of 18 three-pointers.

Big Night For Kayla Ryan as MSUB Improves to 4-0

Kayla Ryan scored nine straight points in the final minutes to rally Montana State Billings to a 70-61 win over Colorado - Colorado Springs in a NCAA Division II region counting game Friday in the Colorado city.

MSUB improved to 4-0 with the victory - all region counters - matching its best start since 2004-05.

Ryan finished the contest with a game-high 20 points and a team-best 12 rebounds and also contributed defensively, according to coach Kevin Woodin.

"Kayla played well defensively and got baskets inside and out," Woodin said.

MSUB led 35-32 at halftime, but was down 60-57 with five minutes to play before Ryan, who had 13 second-half points, went to work.

She pulled the Yellowjackets within one point with a hoop with 4:52 remaining, then put MSUB ahead for good on a basket with 2:55 left on the clock.

After another Ryan hoop with 2:16 left, she capped her own personnel 9-0 run with a three-pointer with 1:23 remaining. She finished the game with eight field goals in 11 attempts, making both of her three-pointers.

Also in double figures were Sarah McNamee with 12 points and Mandy Jacobs with 10. UC-Colorado Springs, which is 3-2 losing twice to MSUB, was led by Mallory Lowe with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Lauren Holm also had 16 points and Lauren Wolfinger had 13.

Nanooks Lose to Henderson State 75-61

Alaska Fairbanks rebounded from an early 9-0 deficit to take a 20-18 lead, but Henderson State used second-half runs of 7-0 and 10-2 to pull away to a 75-61 win over the Nanooks Friday in the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at The Patty Center.

Danyelle Harris led the Reddies with 19 points. Henderson also got 12 points from Nyesha Adams and 10 from Adriana Crittle in improving to 4-3 on the season.

Britany Anderson had 14 points and Lakeshia Levi and Ronisha Edwards had double-doubles for the Nanooks. Levi finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Ronisha Edwards had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Alexandra Melonson chipped in with 10 points as the Nanooks fell to 1-3 on the season.

November 26

Alaska Fairbanks Falls To a Barrage of Gannon's Treys

Gannon hit a school-record 20 three-pointers and had runs of nine, 10, 15 and 19 points in defeating Alaska Fairbanks 105-54 Thursday on Day 1 of the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational at The Patty Center

Caitlyn Lowe converted on eight of 12 treys and scored a game-high 32 points as the Lady Knights improved to 7-0.

Gannon, which made 20 of 33 treys, had five players in double figures including Kelsey McCoy (17 points), Carrie Nolan (16), Shanna Thompson (15) and Brittany Tabron (10).

Lashesia Levi led Alaska Fairbanks (1-2) with 19 points. Brittany Aldrich and Jessica Harrison had 10 each.

Gannon started the game with a 9-0 run, later scored 10 straight points before closing the half with 15 consecutive points to take a 50-19 lead at the break.

After falling behind 58-23 early in the second period, the Nanooks outscored Gannon 22-14 to pull within 27, but the Lady Knights then ran off 19 consecutive points.

Gannon finished the contest with a 53.6 percent shooting percentage (37-69), while holding UAF to 38.6 percent (22-57). They also had 16 more rebounds (44-28) and six fewer turnovers (20-14).

In Thursday's other tournament game, West Florida defeated Henderson State 81-74.

November 25

Alaska Anchorage Wins Fourth Straight Great Alaska Shootout

Tournament MVP Nicci Miller scored a game-high 15 points and Kiki Taylor sank the game-winning free throw with 1:17 remaining to lift Alaska Anchorage to a 49-48 win over Cincinnati Wednesday in the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.

It was the fourth straight tournament championship for UAA in its annual Division I tournament. The Seawolves are now 8-0 in the Shootout under head coach Tim Moser.

In Wednesday's only other women's game, Western Oregon nearly tripled Bethany's score in a 90-34 home win over the NAIA California school.

In addition to Miller's 15, Alaska Anchorage also got 10 points from Tamar Gruwell and nine from Taylor as it posted a one-point win in the title game for the second year in a row over a Big East Conference school. UAA defeated Syracuse 58-57 to win the 2008 crown.

Cincinnati (3-2) was led by 14 points from guard Carla Jacobs, but the Bearcats managed to shoot just 18 percent (four of 22) in the second half and committed 19 turnovers to UAA's 13.

The Seawolves fell behind twice by 11 points late in the first half, but Gruwell pulled the hosts within 26-22 with a three-pointer, and UAA went
into halftime down by just seven (31-24).

The Seawolves took their first lead of the night (37-36) on a three-pointer by forward Kelsie Gourdin with 11 minutes to play and neither team lead by more than three points the rest of the way.

The score was knotted at 46-46 with three minutes remaining when UC's Kahla Roudebush and UAA's Gruwell traded a pair of free throws. Roudebush missed a jumper on the next possession, setting up a huge possession for the Seawolves.

Guard Nikki Aden fired a wide-open three-point shot that bounced high off the rim, and forward Hanna Johansson snuck in for a weak-side rebound and converted her only basket of the night. The 6-2 Swede had missed her previous seven attempts.

Bearcat guard Shareese Ulis then rattled a jump shot around the rim before falling in for a 48-48 tie at the 1:44 mark.

On UAA's next possession, Taylor began her dribble late in the shot clock and drew enough contact for a foul at the rim. The senior from Colorado Springs, Colo., missed her first free throw before swishing her second for the final point of the game.

Taylor grabbed a rebound of a Ulis miss with 49 seconds to go, but UAA could not get off a shot when Jacobs stole the ball from Taylor and quickly called timeout.

The Bearcats set up a shot for Roudebush, but her attempt clanged off the rim and into the hands of Taylor, who was fouled with one second showing.

Taylor missed the front end of her one-and-one opportunity, but it didn't matter as the Bearcats were unable to get off a final shot.

Gruwell and Miller joined Taylor on the all-tournament team. Also selected were UC's Roudebush and Jacobs and Sydnei Moss who led Coastal Carolina to a 72-64 win over Western Carolina in the consolation game.

The Seawolves have now won six Shootout titles (1990, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009) and 25 consecutive home games.

Katie Torland led five players in double figures as Western Oregon improved to 3-4 with its lopsided victory. Torland had 13 points. Courtney Martin and Danielle Bellando had 12 points each. Hannah Whitsett chipped in with 11 and Meaghan White scored 10.

WOU jumped to leads of 10-0, 16-1 and 23-3 and led 49-19 at halftime. The Wolves shot 53.3 percent (32-60), while holding Bethany, which was led by Ashlee Sherman with eight points, to a 28.9 percentage (13-45).

Martin had eight rebounds as Western Oregon controlled the backboards 42-26. The Wolves also got 20 steals, including four each by Jamie Richardson and Erika Wilson.

November 24

UAA Crushes Coastal Carolina in Shootout Opener

Alaska Anchorage recorded its largest ever victory margin over a Division I opponent defeating Coastal Carolina 89-47 Tuesday in the opening game of the Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena.

The win was the 24th consecutive home victory for the Seawolves including three at Sullivan.

In Tuesday's only other women's game involving a GNAC team, Daesha Henderson scored 20 points and Jordan Harazin came off the bench for 13 points and six of Seattle Pacific's school record-tying 25 steals as the Falcons rolled to a 76-57 non-conference victory against Pacific Lutheran in Brougham Pavilion.

Nicci Miller led Alaska Anchorage with 24 points, making 10 of 14 shots, including four of six three-pointer in its win. The Seawolves, gunning for their fourth straight title in their annual Division I tournament, will face Cincinnati in Wednesday's title contest.

UAA, which opened up a 46-18 halftime lead, outshot Coastal 54.1 percent (33-61) to 28.8 (15-52) in their lopsided victory before a partisan home crowd of 5,232.

In addition to Miller, starters Tamar Gruwell, Kiki Taylor and Nikki Aden were also in double figures with 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively.

UAA (3-0) had just two more rebounds (35-33) than Coastal, but had nine fewer turnovers (24-15) than the visitors who were led by Jessica Noll and Sydnei Moss with 10 points each. The Seawolves also converted on 12of 25 three-pointers.

Seattle Pacific (3-0) matched its single-game steals mark which originally was set against Cal State L.A. on Nov. 14, 1998 in its win over Pacific Lutheran.

Freshman guard Michelle Teng came up with the record-tying steal with 2:01 left in the game. In addition to Harazin's six swipes, Henderson and Maddie Maloney had four apiece.

The Falcons out-rebounded the Lutes 44-35 and forced PLU (1-2) into 35 turnovers.

Shelly Kilcup led Pacific Lutheran with 23 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Westering added 12 points, and Sara Backstrom had 10.

November 21

Hoisington's Keys Seattle Pacific Victory

Megan Hoisington had 15 points and 10 rebounds as Seattle Pacific earned their second win in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic with a 74-62 victory against Humboldt State Saturday at Brougham Pavilion.

In Saturday's first game, Central Washington fell to 0-2 losing to Colorado Christian 70-58.

Guard Nyesha Sims and forward Sydney Benson added 12 points apiece for SPU in its victory. Benson also had eight rebounds. Center Melissa Reich matched Hoisington's rebound total as SPU controlled the backboards 50-35.

Brittney Taylor led Humboldt State with 12 points, and Andrea Bobic added 10.

Guard Daesha Henderson, who had 25 points and seven rebounds in Friday's game, was named the tournament MVP. Hoisington and Reich joined her on the all-tournament team.

Juanise Cornell had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Brittany Long made five of 10 three-point shots and also had 19 points in Colorado Christian's victory. CCU also got 11 points from Bre McBeth.

Central was led by guard Brittany Duerr with 18 points, but no one else was in double figures. Shaina Afoa had seven points, 10 rebounds, two steals and three assists.

Wolves Beat Mesa State; Crusaders Lose To Monterey Bay

Katie Torland, Shayla Corder and Sara Zahler led Western Oregon to a 64-55 victory over Mesa State Saturday in the final game of the Phoenix Inn & Suites DII Shootout at Monmouth.

In Saturday's first game, Cal State Monterey Bay defeated Northwest Nazarene 57-54 to finish the tournament as the only unbeaten team. Both WOU and NNU split their two tournament games, losing to CSUMB and beating Mesa.

Torland, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 21 points, seven rebounds and four steals in WOU's victory. Over the two-day tournament, she recorded 37 points, 12 rebounds, and six steals.

Twelve of her points Saturday came on three-pointers (in seven attempts) and two came off a steal with 2:42 left that gave WOU a 56-51 lead.

“This is Katie's sixth consecutive all-tournament award in the past two seasons,” WOU head coach Greg Bruce said. “She made some big shots down the stretch, especially her steal and full-court lay-in. It really seemed to swing the momentum in our favor.”

Corder scored six points, corralled eight boards and recorded eight assists, all while playing the point guard position for the first time this season.

Zahler, who had 27 points and 10 rebounds in WOU's two tourney games, scored 15 points, brought down eight rebounds, recorded five assists and had four steals. She also connected on five treys in nine attempts and took a key charge late in the game.

Western Oregon trailed Mesa 33-29 at halftime and fell behind by 10 (46-36) with 14:37 remaining before going on a 28-9 to take command.

During that stretch, WOU made eight of their 18 shot attempts while Mesa was four of 14 and also committed 11 turnovers.

Northwest Nazarene fell behind by 13 points in the first half in its loss. The Crusaders rallied to tie the game 48-48 on a Jennifer Williams layup with 8:16 left, but Monterey Bay retook the lead a minute later on a three-point play by Veronica Williams and led the remainder of the way.

Jennifer Williams led NNU with 14 points. London Houchin had 14 points and Veronica Williams and Julie Heurung had 13 each for the Otters, who made eight of 24 three-pointers.

The Crusaders were just three of eight from the arc, include three of five by Janee Olds who was selected to the all-tournament team.

'Jackets, Vikings, Saints Record Victories

Montana State Billings and Saint Martin's posted home victories and Western Washington earned a NCAA Division II West Region road win Saturday.

The Yellowjackets improved to 3-0 with a 74-63 win over Chadron State, while Saint Martin's defeated NAIA member Warner Pacific 67-54.

The Vikings earned their second win in two nights in the Bay Area defeating San Francisco State 67-52.

Kayla Ryan and Callie Kautzmann had double-doubles for MSUB. Ryan had 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Kautzmann contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds. Rachel Hansen had 11 points.

MSUB used an 11-0 run - including five points by Ryan and four by Ashley Reed - to open up a 32-19 lead late in the first half and led the rest of the way.

Dara Zack had 21 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals in Saint Martin's victory. The Saints also got 11 points from Jamey Gelhar and nine from Roni Jo Mielke.

Gelhar, who made a NCAA record 78 consecutive free throws last season, missed two of her six opportunities.

The Saints, however, did outscore Warner 24-12 from the foul line and also had 13 more rebounds (45-32) as Krissy Bassett had 11, including seven at the offensive end.

Kristina Schumacher was the only Warner Pacific player in double figures. She had 10 points.

At San Francisco, Western Washington showed near perfect scoring balance as four of its starters had 11 points each and the other nine.

Center Jessica Summers, forward Willow Cabe, shooting guard Amanda Dunbar and point guard Ashley Fenimore each had 11 points and guard Megan Pinske added nine.

Summers had 10 rebounds and three blocked shots, both game highs, and Cabe grabbed nine rebounds. Cabe and Fenimore each hit three three-pointers and Dunbar had two. Summers, Dunbar and Pinske also were all credited with four assists.

Western, which beat Cal State East Bay 88-55 Friday, went out to an 18-8 lead in the first nine minutes. SFSU rallied and was within two (30-28) with 1:11 left in the first period, but Fenimore hit a three to put the Vikings up by five at halftime.

Western tallied the first nine points of the second half, holding the Gators scoreless for over seven minutes, in taking a 42-28 lead. SFSU never got closer than nine after that, and the Vikings' biggest lead was the final score as Cabe closed out the scoring with a three-pointer.

November 20

Crusaders Beat Mesa State 72-64

Janee Olds scored 10 of her 17 points in the second half, including eight straight at one point, to rally Northwest Nazarene to a 72-64 win over Mesa State in the WOU Phoenix Inn D2 Classic Friday afternoon at Monmouth.

In the second game of the tournament, Cal State Monterey Bay defeated Western Oregon 66-58, handing the Wolves their fourth loss in five games.

Northwest Nazarene trailed 34-28 at halftime and was still behind 42-35 early in the second half before Olds scored eight consecutive points to spark a 15-1 run.

Mesa State rallied to go ahead 61-60, however NNU reclaimed the lead for good with 2:27 left on a layup by Briaunna King and then closed out the game with a 12-3 run.

Olds led a quartet of NNU players in double figures, including Lindsay Brady and Kristin Hein who had 12 each and Brittney Roggenkamp who added 10. Brady also had game-highs of seven rebounds and six assists.

Jennifer Landers led Mesa State with 21 points, while Meagan Selvidge and Courtney McCaig contributed 13 each.

Michelle Santizo scored 13 points and also had a game-high six assists and Denelle Baker had 12 points in Monterey Bay's victory.

Katie Torland led Western Oregon with 16 points and five rebounds, while Sarah Zahler had 12 points. Torland now has 1,010 career points including 149 during her freshman season at Nebraska Kearney.

The Otters led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 18 in the second half in its victory, shooting 52.4 percent (22-42), including six of 11 on treys. while holding the Wolves to a 39.6 percentage (21-53).

Falcons Cruise To Easy Victory in Sodexo Tip Off Tournament

Daesha Henderson rang up 25 points hitting nine of 13 shots from the floor in leading Seattle Pacific to a 90-53 win over Colorado Christian in the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion Friday.

In the tournament's first game, Brittney Taylor scored 20 points and Bree Halsey pulled in 16 rebounds to pace Humboldt State to a 88-72 win over Central Washington.

Center Melissa Reich had 13 points and team-high nine rebounds in Seattle Pacific's victory.

In addition to her 25 points, Henderson also tallied seven assists, three rebounds and two steals. Sydney Benson had 12 points and seven rebounds and Megan Hoisington chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

In the earlier game, Humboldt State shot 52.5 percent (32 of 61), including 17 of 34 in the first half when it built a 16-point lead in defeating CWU. Led by Halsey, HSU dominated the backboards (46-27) and also converted on seven of 10 treys.

Taylor was one of five players in double figures for the Lumberjacks. Andrea Bobic had 16 points, while Paige Peterson had 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Kayla Williams scored a dozen points and Taylor Kilgore had 10.

Central was led by Sophie Russell with 19 points. Amanda Murdoch had 12 and Brooke Fernandez chipped in with 10. Shaina Afoa had eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and a game-high five steals.

Western Washington Blasts Cal State East Bay 88-55

Guard Amanda Dunbar scored a game-high 28 points, 21 in the first half, as Western Washington rolled to an 88-55 victory over Cal State East Bay Friday in a NCAA West Region game at Pioneer Gym in Hayward.

In all, Western Washington had four players in double figures. Center Jessica Summers had 16, forward Willow Cabe had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and guard Megan Pinske scored 11. Claudia Nelson led East Bay with 18 points. The game was the season opener for both teams.

“It was a solid team effort and a good start (to the season),” said Western coach Carmen Dolfo. “We had some great spells of defense that really got our running game going.

“Willow (Cabe) did an amazing job on the boards, and Amanda really stepped up when we needed her.”

November 18

Kautzmann Scores 27 in MSUB Victory Over University of Mary

Callie Kautzmann scored 17 of her game-high 26 points in the second half to lead Montana State Billings to a 70-53 victory over the University of Mary in a West Region counting contest Wednesday night at Alterowitz Gym.

In Wednesday's only other women's game, Hawaii Hilo earned a split of its two-game series at Fairbanks defeating Alaska Fairbanks 70-66 at The Patty Center.

MSUB built a 34-14 lead midway through the first half but had to repeatedly fight off challenges from the Marauders before finally earning its second win in two starts.

The Yellowjackets put together a 26-8 run to build the early 20-point lead. Mary, however, rallied to within 13 at half (36-23) and nine (36-27) early in the second half.

Kautzmann then sparked a 17-2 run scoring 11 of MSUB's first 12 points as the Yellowjackets pulled away to a 53-29 advantage. Mary, however, had another run in it, climbing back to within 10 (55-45) with 6:32 left.

Kautzmann end that threat with another basket and MSUB then pulled away scoring 15 of the game's final 23 points.

In addition to Kautzmann's 26, the Yellowjackets also got 11 points from Sarah McNamee and 10 from Kalli Stanhope. MSUB was eight of 20 on three-pointers including three of five from McNamee and two of two from Stanhope, who is now 10 of 12 from the arc in the young season.

No one was in double figures for Mary, which was led by Rachel Zillmer and Laura Peterson with nine points each. MSUB held the Marauders to just 19 field goals in 55 attempts.

Kirsty Imai had 24 points, 14 from the foul line, and Hina Kimitete had 20 as Hawaii Hilo salvaged the final game of its four-game trip to Alaska defeating UAF despite going zero for nine from the three-point arc.

UHH gained its advantage outshooting the Nanooks 22-5 from the foul line.

Alaska Fairbanks, which beat Hilo 66-65 Tuesday, was led by Lakeshia Levi with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Britany Anderson had 15 points and Ronisha Edwards had 11.

November 17

Nanooks Edge Hawaii Hilo 66-65

Alaska Fairbanks got a free throw from Alexandra Melonson with 1.1 seconds left to earn a 66-65 win over Hawaii Hilo in a NCAA West Regional basketball game Tuesday at the Patty Center.

Melonson's free throw gave UAF, which overcame 36 turnovers and a 13 of 27 free throw shooting performance, a win in the collegiate coaching debut of head coach Dave Thompson.

UAF led 40-36 at halftime and opened up an eight-point lead midway through the second half before the Vulcans, who sustained 58 and 52-point losses Sunday and Monday at Alaska Anchorage, went on a 14-2 run to go ahead 62-58 on a three-pointer by Hina Kimitete with 6:53 left.

The Nanooks, however, scored the next seven points - Jessica Harrison had a field goal and two free throws and Nicole Bozek hit a three-pointer - to take a 65-62 lead with 4:20 left.

Kimitete, however, tied it with 2:30 left on another trey setting up a frantic final 2 1/2 minutes which featured two field goal misses and three turnovers by Hilo and two missed field goals, two missed free throws and a turnover by UAF.

Finally, Melonson provided the game-winning point converting on the second of two foul shots.

Harrison and Lakeshia Levi led UAF with double-doubles, each producing 18 points. Harrison also had a game-high 13 rebounds and Levi had 10 as the Nanooks controlled the backboards 54-38.

Also in double figures for Fairbanks was Brittany Aldrich with 15 points, including nine in the second half. Kayce Kirihara led the Vulcans with 15 points. Kirsty Imai and Kimitete each had 11.

November 16

Portland State Holds On To Beat WOU; UAA Scores 100 Again

Guard Eryn Jones scored 21 points and also had a game-high five assists to lead Portland State to a 75-65 win over Western Oregon in a non-conference game Monday at the Peter W. Stott Center in Portland.

Meanwhile in a West Region game in Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage reached the century mark for the second night in a row in defeating Hawaii Hilo 102-44.

Portland State opened up an early 19-9 lead and led the rest of the way against Western Oregon though the Wolves made a run midway through the second half.

Baskets by Danielle Bellando and Shayla Corder and a three-pointer by Hannah Whitsett cut a 13-point PSU lead to six (52-46) with 13:08 left. Portland State (2-0), however, then got a three-pointer by Kate DePaepe and led by at least eight the remainder of the way.

WOU's Katie Torland led all players in scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 10 rebounds, respectively.

The Wolves (1-3), who also got nine points each from Lorrie Clifford and Whitsett (on three treys), outshot PSU 47.1 to 42.5, but were outrebounded 43-32 and had eight more turnovers (24-16).

Nicci Miller led five players in double figures with 23 points in Akaska Anchorage's victory. Miller also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Tamar Gruwell had 15 points on six of eight shooting, including three of five from the arc. The Seawolves also got 11 points from Torle Nenbee and 10 from Sarah Herrin. Nenbee made five of six shots.

Kirsty Imai led the Vulcans with 10 points. Hilo, however, was limited to just 15 field goals in 57 attempts, while UAA shot over 50 percent for the second night in a row, making 39 of 68 (57.4 percent), including nine of 19 from the arc.

UAA dominated the backboards 54-22 and also forced UHH into 29 turnovers in recording its 23rd consecutive home win, 21 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

November 15

Eight Treys For MSUB's Stanhope

Kalli Stanhope made a school-record eight three-points shots and finished with 28 points in leading Montana State Billings to a 91-57 win over Colorado-Colorado Springs Sunday at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The game, which was MSUB's official season-opener, was a region counter for the Yellowjackets under the NCAA "contiguous states" rule.

In another region contest, two-time defending West Region champion Alaska Anchorage won its season opener crushing Hawaii Hilo 100-48 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage.

Stanhope, a sophomore guard from Glendive, Mont., made 10 of 12 shots and combined with Callie Kautzmann for 52 points in MSUB's victory. Kautzmann was five of eight from the three-point line and had 24 points.

Sarah McNamee was also in double figures with 13 points. Shantell Marquis, meanwhile, had 11 assists and four steals. Mallory Lowe led UCCS with 14 points.

Stanhope's three-point total was one more than the MSUB record of seven and one fewer than the GNAC record of nine set last season by Kelsey Burns of Seattle Pacific.

MSUB controlled the game from the start, using a 12-2 run to open up a 14-4 lead. The 'Jackets led by 25 at halftime (47-22) and led by as many as 45 in the second half.

Nicci Miller equaled her career-high with 19 points and Hanna Johansson added 16 points in Alaska Anchorage's victory.

Miller made nine of 13 shots and Johansson was six of seven as the Seawolves made 38 of 63 shots, recording the highest percentage (60.3) in Tim Moser's four-year reign as head coach.

UAA was nine of 20 from the arc as Leah Stepovich made all three of her attempts and Kiki Taylor was two of two.

The Vulcans were led by 13 points from All-Pacific West Conference guard Hina Kimitete, but UAA's pressure forced them visitors into 34 turnovers and held them to just 29.5 percent shooting.

UAA took complete control from the start with a 9-0 run and went into the halftime break with a 48-20 lead. The Seawolves would not let up in the second stanza, either, as Stepovich scored all 11 of her points after the break, including three consecutive three-pointers.

Taylor had 12 points, four assists and four steals, while Miller and point guard Kaitlin McBride tied for game-high honors with seven rebounds apiece.

In all, thirteen Seawolves got into the scoring column as UAA reached the century mark for the third time under Moser and the 28th time in program history.

UAA outrebounded UHH 42-16 holding the Vulcans to the third fewest opponent rebound total in Seawolf history.

November 13

Seattle Pacific Beats George Fox 62-55 In Exhibition Game

Megan Hoisington scored 17 points and Daesha Henderson added 15 leading Seattle Pacific past George Fox 62-55 in a women's basketball exhibition game Friday at Brougham Pavilion.

In Friday's only other game, Boise State handled Western Oregon 76-40 as four different players scored in double figures for the Broncos in the exhibition contest.

SPU's victory gained the Falcons a split of their two pre-season contests. Last week it lost 69-61 loss to the University of Washington.

It was the first time in almost exactly a year that the Bruins had come up short. After a 59-49 exhibition loss to SPU last Nov. 14 in Seattle, George Fox won its next 32 games on the way to capturing the NCAA Division III championship. That streak remains officially intact since Friday's game also was an exhibition.

Down 29-27 at halftime, the Falcons ran off the first 10 points of the second half to go in front for good. Henderson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Hoisington had a lay-in, then Henderson fed guard Nyesha Sims for a fast-break lay-in and a 37-29 SPU lead.

Hoisington also had a team-leading seven rebounds for Seattle Pacific, and guard McKayla Gorman handed out six assists.

Julia Marshall and Tasha Harris had 11 points and Janie Bos and Melissa Rima each had 10 in Boise State's victory. Bos also had 11 rebounds.

Katie Torland accounted for 15 of Western Oregon's points and nine of its 28 rebounds. Shayla Corder had seven points for the Wolves.

November 11

Wolves Lose Exhibition 72-63

Concordia connected on 13 of 21 second-half shots in defeating Western Oregon 72-63 in an exhibition game Wednesday at Portland.

Rachel Scarpelli and Danielle Clauson each had 15 points for Concordia. Scarpelli, who had 11 points in the second half, also had five rebounds and five steals.

Western Oregon, which is 0-2 in exhibition games and 1-2 in counting contests, was led by Jamie Richardson with 12 points. Meaghan White had 11 points and Katie Torland netted 10 points. Torland also had seven rebounds.

November 10

Big Night For Zack in Saint Martin's Victory

Dara Zack had a huge night scoring 29 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in leading Saint Martin's to a 78-75 exhibition win over Evergreen State at Marcus Pavilion Tuesday night.

In another exhibition game, Montana State Billings got a game-high 24 points from Sarah McNamee in a 87-75 road victory at crosstown rival Rocky Mountain.

Zack made 10 of 14 field goal tries, including three of five from the arc in SMU's victory. She also had five assists and four steals.

Also producing a double-double was Krissy Bassett with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jamey Gelhar had 23 points and seven assists. She was five of eight from the arc as SMU improved to 2-0 in exhibition games.

Evergreen State was led by Latrina Woods with 18 points. Tana Palmason netted 14 points and Brittany Weaver had 12 for the Geoducks.

SMU led by 16 at halftime (39-23) before giving up 21 second-half field goals on 35 shots and holding on for the three-point victory.

McNamee came off the bench to pump in six three-pointers in 11 tries in Montana State Billings' victory. The Yellowjackets also got double-figure numbers from Shantell Marquis (15 points), Callie Kautzmann (13) and Kalli Stanhope (10).

Marquis also had seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Mandy Jacobs chipped in with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

MSUB (2-1 in exhibitions) was outrebounded 45-32, but shot 50.7 percent (34 of 67 including 13 of 30 treys), while holding the Bears to a 37.5 percentage (24 of 64). Five different players led by Dani Henderson (13) and Haleigh Crnkovich (13) were in double figures for Rocky.

November 6

Olds Keys Northwest Nazarene Rout of C of I

Janee Olds

Janee Olds scored a game-high 20 points to lead Northwest Nazarene to a 95-58 victory over The College of Idaho on Friday evening at the Johnson Sports Center in Nampa.

In Friday's only other women's game, Callie Kautzmann led five players in double figures with 17 points as Montana State Billings cruised to a 88-58 home win over Montana Western. Both games were exhibitions.

The Crusaders' game, played in front of 758 fans, was part of the 2009 Homecoming Weekend activities on the NNU campus.

Olds was joined in double-figures by Brittney Roggenkamp and Lindsay Brady who each scored 16, while Kristin Hein added seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Heather Adams had nine points.

The Coyotes, who are ranked 12th in the NAIA national pre-season poll and picked by the coaches to win the Cascade Collegiate Conference, were led by Nicole Gall with 14 points and six rebounds, while Nicole Bruce added 10 and Marquina Gilliam-Hicks scored nine.

"Janee and Heather really stepped up against a quality defensive team to lead us at the point," NNU head coach Kelli Lindley said. "We were able to create some defensive pressure and score off turnovers. That was part of our game plan and one of the reasons we shot such a high percentage in the second half."

The Crusader defense forced 31 Coyote turnovers and finished the game shooting 51.6 percent (33-64) from the field, including a 60.6 percent (20-33) in the second half. NNU also had a 44-30 rebounding edge and had 14 steals including four by Olds.

In addition to her 17 points, Kautzmann also had five rebounds and four assists in MSUB's victory. The Yellowjackets were also led by Kalli Stanhope with 16 points, Sarah McNamee with 13 points and Shantell Marquis and Ashley Reed with 10 points each.

MSUB commanded the first half as it took control with 14:33 remaining, scoring 13 unanswered points to extend the lead to 26-7 with 8:18 left in the period. The Yellowjackets led 47-19 at the break and led by as many as 36 in the second half.

Nicole Tams led the NAIA school with 15 points, while Kristin Luedtke had 12. Both players made six of 11 shots.

November 5

Seattle Pacific Loses 69-61 to UW In Exhibition

Daesha Henderson poured in 26 points for Seattle Pacific Thursday in a 69-61 loss to the University of Washington in a women's basketball exhibition game at Edmundson Pavilion. The Huskies' trio of Laura McLellan, Sami Whitcomb and Sara Mosiman combined for 47 points.

McLellan hit eight of 10 shots from the field for 18 points. Whitcomb finished with 15 and Mosiman had 14. UW sophomore Kristi Kingma, whose father was a standout guard at SPU from 1979-83, had nine points and led her team's 38-36 rebounding edge with nine boards. Greg Kingma ranks among the Falcon men's all-time top-10 scorers with 1,295 career points.

Henderson led all scorers, converting nine of her 16 shots from the field, including five of six accuracy from three-point range. She also contributed six steals, five assists and three rebounds. No other Falcons finished in double figures. Megan Hoisington tallied eight points while McKayla Gorman, Nyesha Sims and Caitlyn Rohrbach each had five.

November 3

Eagles Rout Central Washington

Julie Piper had 23 points and Brianne Ryan added 20 as Eastern Washington easily defeated Central Washington 101-49 in a women's basketball exhibition game Tuesday at Cheney.

The Eagles shot 58.3 percent in the first half (21 of 36) in opening up a 59-23 lead at the break. CWU never led in the contest. The final margin was EWU's biggest of the night. Amanda Murdoch was the only player in double figures for the Wildcats. She finished with 13 points.

November 1

Western Oregon Earns First Win; Torland Earns All-Tournament Honors

Forward Katie Torland scored a tournament-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Western Oregon to a 75-67 victory over San Francisco State in the Disney West Coast Tip-Off Classic Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Shayla Corder and Jamie Richardson also scored in double figures for the Wolves, who finished with a 1-2 record, contributing 12 and 10 points respectively.

Torland finished the three-day event with a tournament-high 48 points to earn all-tournament honors.

San Francisco State (1-2) had three players finish in double figures as Donisha Tate, Dominique Hunter and Andrea Ohlssen each scored 11 points.

Western Oregon, San San Francisco State and Southern Indiana all finished the event with 1-2 records. Fort Lewis, which defeated Southern Indiana 84-81 Sunday, won all three of its games.

The Wolves held a commanding advantage on the board as they out-rebounded the Gators 52-25. Western Oregon also had an effective outside game as it made 11 three-pointers, including four by Torland.

Western Oregon led 32-27 at halftime and never trailed in the second half and led by as many eight points on four occasions, the latest coming with 18 seconds remaining.

Vikings Lose Second-Half Lead, Game to Simon Fraser

Western Washington opened up a 16-point lead early in the second half, but couldn't hold on and fell to Simon Fraser 65-62 in an exhibition game Sunday afternoon at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Simon Fraser, the three-time defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions, was led by freshman forward Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe, who had a game-high 21 points and seven rebounds.

Center Laurel Weigl added 17 points and eight rebounds for Simon Fraser. Forward Jessica Summers led the Vikings with 18 points. Guard Amanda Dunbar had 12 points and five assists and forward Willow Cabe added 10 points and eight rebounds.

MSU Billings Loses Exhibition at Montana State 71-59

Sarah Strand led three players in double figures as Montana State beat Montana State Billings 71-59 Sunday in an exhibition game at Worthington Arena in Bozeman.

Strand had 20 points and 10 rebounds to key the victory. MSU also was led by Erica Perry with 14 points and Lyndi Seidensticker with 10.

The Bobcats led by just two points at halftime, but then held MSUB to just nine field goals in 35 attempts in the second half to pull way to the 12-point win.

Callie Kautzmann had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Yellowjackets. Sarah McNamee chipped in with 11 points and Kalli Stanhope had 10.

October 31

Fort Lewis Cruises Past WOU

Fort Lewis jumped to an early 14-4 lead and never trailed in defeating Western Oregon 85-52 in the Disney Tip-Off Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday.

The Wolves fell to 0-2 in the tournament, while Fort Lewis improved to 2-0.

Fort Lewis had four players in double figures led by Dana Schreibvogel with 17. Audrey George and Mary Rose Paiz each scored 13 and Alison Rosel had 10.

Western Oregon, which shot just 26 percent (13 of 50), was led by Meghan White with 10 points. The Wolves were outshot 51.6 percent to 26.0, outrebounded 43-33 and had five more turnovers (30-25).

October 30

Wolves Lose In Disney Opener

Southern Indiana led virtually wire-to-wire Friday in defeating Western Oregon 71-64 in the opening game of the Disney Tip-Off Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center.

WOU took its only lead of the game 18-17 midway through the first half on a three-pointer by Katie Torland and later was locked in a 24-24 deadlock before SIU scored seven consecutive points to take the lead for good.

Trailing by 10 at half, the Wolves climbed back to within four points (60-56) with 5:09 left, but the Eagles then ran off seven points.

Anaris Sickles led three Southern Indiana players in double figures with 16 points. Torland, who made four of seven treys, had 23 points for the Wolves, including 16 in the first 20 minutes. Hannah Whitsett had 14, converting on four of eight three-pointers.

Southern Indiana used its size - it finished the game with a 43-31 rebound advantage - to outscore Western Oregon 18-2 in the paint in building its first half lead. USI also scored 16 points off turnovers and made 12 of 15 free throws while the Wolves did not attempt a free throw in the first half.

The numbers evened up a little bit in the second half as Southern Indiana finished with a 28-14 lead in points off turnovers and 32-14 advantage in points in the paint. WOU outscored the Eagles 33-12 from the arc making 11 of 28.

October 26

Summers Keys WWU Victory

Forward Jessica Summers had game-highs of 24 points, nine rebounds and eight steals as Western Washington defeated Trinity Western 80-58 in an exhibition women's basketball game Monday on Haggen Court at Western's Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Willow Cabe added 13 points and Megan Pinske had 12 points and five steals for the Vikings, who had 27 steals as a team.

Forward Keely Goertzen led Trinity Western from Langley , B.C., with 10 points.

Western jumped to a 15-2 lead a little over five minutes into the contest. The Vikings maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the first half, holding a 45-31 advantage at halftime.

Trinity Western opened the second half with a 9-2 run, pulling to within seven (47-40) on a layin by Lauren Doubroff with 17:44 to play. But the Vikings used full court pressure to reassert control, scoring the next 16 points to take a 63-40 lead with 11:13 to play. The Spartans never got closer than 18 after that.

Western shot 45.6 percent (31-68) from the field, and had a 39-35 edge in rebounding. The Vikings committed 26 turnovers, but forced 39 by Trinity Western.

Western plays the second of its three preseason exhibitions on Sunday hosting three-time defending Canadian national champion Simon Fraser.