ANCHORAGE (Feb. 21) - Mindy Mendenhall led a balanced scoring attack with 20 points, and the Seawolf women's basketball team put together one of its better defensive efforts of the season in a 74-61 victory over Seattle University at Wells Fargo Sports Complex tonight.

UAA (10-14, 5-10) got 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and six steals from Kamie Jo Massey, while Tanya Nizich chipped in 17 points, six assists and three steals. Seattle (8-15, 4-10) lost its fifth straight despite outrebounding the Seawolves 42-30. Forward Thresia Busch led the Redhawks with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

After an early 4-4 tie, the Seawolves went on a 14-5 run and never trailed again. Senior center Mary Aschoff came off the bench to score 10 consecutive points for the Seawolves midway through the first half, helping push their advantage to 36-22 at the break.

Aschoff finished with 12 points (3-3 FG, 6-7 FT) to double her previous season-high scoring output.

Meanwhile, the Seawolves' full-court pressure led to season-highs of 15 steals and 25 turnovers forced. UAA also matched a season-low with just 10 turnovers of its own.

UAA pushed its lead as high as 49-26 with 15 minutes to play before Seattle sliced that to 53-43 at the 9-minute mark. Nizich answered the run with a three-pointer and then picked up a turnover at midcourt and turned it into a layup to push to lead back to 15. The Redhawks would get no closer than 12 the rest of the way.

Massey, who played the entire game for the 16th time this season, had her consecutive free throw streak end at 33 when she missed her first attempt. She finished 6 of 8 from the foul stripe.

The Seawolves - who were once 1-6 in league play and in last place - are now just a half-game out of sixth place going into their Feb. 28 showdown with arch-rival Alaska Fairbanks (9-14, 5-10) at the Sports Complex.