Falcons Beat No. 8 Seawolves

Schramm keyed second half run with nine points

Nyesha Sims scored 13 points, and Katie Benson, Jordan Harazin and Aubree Callen added nine apiece as Seattle Pacific knocked off No. 8 Alaska Anchorage 67-62 in a GNAC game Thursday night at Brougham Pavilion.

The loss enabled Western Washington (14-5, 8-3) to close within 1 1/2 games of the first-place Seawolves (19-4, 10-2).

The Vikings got 22 points from Kristin Schramm and broke away from a 27-27 halftime tie to defeat Western Oregon 68-59.

Montana State Billings (16-7, 8-4) and Simon Fraser (12-7, 7-4), meanwhile, remained among three teams with four losses, with wins. The Yellowjackets overcame a three-point halftime deficit to defeat Alaska Fairbanks 88-72, while the Clan routed Saint Martin's 79-48.

In Seattle Pacific's win, Harazin pulled down a career high nine rebounds in addition to scoring nine points.

Anchorage had four players in double figures, including Gritt Ryder with 15, Haley Holmstead with 14, Sasha King with 13 and Kaylie Robison with 10.

The Falcons (14-6, 8-4) did shut down Seawolf forward Hanna Johansson, limiting her to four points and seven rebounds.

In UAA's 82-59 rout of Seattle Pacific on Jan. 7 in Anchorage, Johansson went for a monster double-double of 22 points and 18 rebounds.

The Falcons built a 19-point first-half lead at 42-23, and were up 42-25 at halftime. But Anchorage put together a 25-7 second-half scoring run and forged in front 50-49 on a pair of free throws by Robison with 6:50 left.

SPU went back in front (51-50) on two Benson free throws at the 6:24 mark. The Falcons led the rest of the way, but never by more than six.

During those final 6½ minutes, the Seawolves, who were kept 19 points below their 81.0 scoring average (No. 4 in Division II), had eight different opportunities to tie or take the lead.

But Seattle Pacific denied them every time, forcing two missed shots at 51-50, three at 54-52, and three more at 57-55.

"We talked about (the Seawolves) making a run," SPU coach Julie Heisey said. "They caught back up. (But) we showed resilience, we didn't fold, our seniors showed great leadership, and we did the little things right."

A pair of Harazin free throws at the 2:08 mark on a technical foul made it 59-55, then Benson hit two from the line for a 61-55 lead at the 1:44 mark.

Alaska Anchorage closed to 63-60 with 41.4 seconds left. But Callen responded with a long two from the right corner with the shot clock at four seconds and the game clock at 15.2 for a 65-60 advantage.

A putback by Alysa Horn with 4.3 seconds showing cut the lead to 65-62. Callen sealed it by swishing a pair of free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining. 

Western Washington 68, Western Oregon 59

Kristin Schramm scored a game-high 22 points, including nine during a crucial second-half run as Western Washington defeated Western Oregon at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Guard Trishi Williams had 12 points on four of four field-goal shooting and center Britt Harris added 11 points and seven rebounds to also pace the Vikings.

Center Rylee Peterson led the Wolves with 18 points and forward Jade Haas added 16 and had five steals.

Tied at 31-31 early in the second half, the Vikings went on a 12-2 run to take a 43-33 lead with 14:19 to play. Schramm had the last nine WWU points in the charge, hitting four straight shots from the floor.

The Vikings were still up by 11 (63-52) with under four minutes to play.  The Wolves ran off seven straight points, narrowing the margin to four (63-59) on a free throw by Haas with 1:28 to play, but WWU hit five of six free throws to seal the victory.

WWU shot 47.8 percent (22-46) from the field, and had a 40-31 rebounding advantage, but was hampered by 27 turnovers.

The Vikings jumped to a 12-0 lead in the first seven minutes as WOU missed its first nine shots from the field. 

But the Wolves, who didn't hit the scoreboard until a fastbreak layin by Lorrie Clifford with 12:45 left in the first half, narrowed the margin to one (14-13) with 8:30 to go in the period.

Western Oregon then pulled into a 27-27 tie at halftime as Haas raced up court and beat the buzzer with a running three-pointer that rattled the rim and fell in.

Montana State Billings 88, Alaska Fairbanks 72

Peoples

Quinn Peoples and Bobbi Knudsen each scored 14 second-half points as Montana State Billings fought off an upset bid from Alaska Fairbanks to beat the Nanooks and extend its win streak to four games.

The Yellowjackets (16-7, 8-4) trailed the Nanooks(6-16, 2-10) 40-37 at halftime and fell behind by eight points (47-39) early in the second half before getting things turned around.

MSUB went ahead for the first time in the second half 51-50 with 13:46 left on a jumper by Annie DePuydt, then took the lead for good with 12:14 remaining on a trey by Peoples.

Peoples' three-pointer started a 19-4 MSUB run that gave the 'Jackets a 72-58 lead with 6:54 remaining. The lead remained in double digits the rest of the way.

Peoples finished with 20 points, connecting on five of 12 three-point shots, while Knudsen had 19. Janiel Olson had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds, seven of them at the offensive end.

Nicole Hartzog paced Alaska Fairbanks with 15 points, while Nicole Bozek, who made 12 of 14 free throws, scored 14 points.

In the second half, MSUB shot 45.5 percent (15-33) to finish at 43.8 (28-64). UAF, however, cooled off making just nine of 29 after the break (31.0) and misfiring on all nine of their three-pointers. In the first half Fairbanks shot 53.6 percent (15-28) and finished at 42.1 (24-57).

Kalli Stanhope led the MSUB defensive effort with five steals, while Knudsen led her team with five assists, a number matched by UAF's Benissa Buyala.

Simon Fraser 79, Saint Martin's 48

Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe scored 23 points and Chelsea Reist added 18 as Simon Fraser outscored Saint Martin's by 31 points to earn a conference victory at West Gym

Simon Fraser lost to the Saints earlier this season in Lacey, but Reist made sure it didn't happen again making all six of her shots in the first half and finishing the game with seven field goals in nine attempts.

In addition to her 23 points, Raincock-Ekunwe also had 10 rebounds, recording her 16th double-double of the season. That is just one shy of her own GNAC record.

The Clan also got 12 points from Kristina Collins, all from long range where she made four of seven.

Chelsea Haskey paced Saint Martin's with 10 points converting on five of 12. Jordyn Richardson had eight points, connecting on two treys and two foul shots.

Starting the game on a 4-0 run, SFU took the lead early on and never looked back.

As the Saints experienced a five minute scoreless drought, a 9-0 run propelled the Clan to a 20-point lead over the Saints, pushing the score to 34-14 with 2:33 remaining in the first half.

The Clan wound up with a 39-23 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

SFU, which outshot SMU 48.4 percent to 34.0 and outrebounded them 39-27, did not let up in the second half leading by as many as 31.

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