ANCHORAGE – Freshman Keyona Brooks had 15 points and five assists Wednesday to help Alaska Anchorage fight off a late Alaska Fairbanks rally and stay unbeaten with a 77-71 women's basketball victory at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Sophomore center Rebecca Kielpinski tallied 14 points and eight rebounds for the Seawolves (12-0, 1-0 GNAC), while guard Sheena Brown kept the Nanooks (5-7, 0-1 GNAC) close with game-highs of 23 points and six assists.
UAA, which nearly wasted a 59-40 lead in the last 12 minutes, also got big games from junior Jennifer Salazar (13 pts, 3-4 3FG) and Jayci Stone (11 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 0 turnovers).
The Nanooks were able to come back thanks to the hot shooting of Brown, who went 6 of 12 in the second half, including 3 of 6 from long range. Guard Kari Reabold had 16 points for UAF, which sliced its deficit down to 69-66 with 3 minutes left.
But Brooks, a 5-4 point guard from Fresno, Calif., answered on UAA's next possession with a three-pointer from the corner and made a layup with 1:26 to play that stretched the lead to 74-67. She finished 4 of 5 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free throw line as she nearly doubled her previous-best scoring output of eight points.
As a team, the Seawolves shot a season-best .500 from three-point land (9 of 18) and nearly equaled their best overall shooting performance at .479 (23 of 48). UAA was hurt by 22 turnovers and 28 personal fouls, losing Salazar, Mari Callahan and Meghan Vaughan (9 pts, 3-6 3FG) to disqualifications.
Senior Tenecia Lockard, who made her first start of the season, contributed nine points (2-3 FG, 5-5 FT), seven rebounds and a pair of assists.
UAA now leads the all-time series with UAF 46-29, including a 31-6 mark in Anchorage.
The Seawolves next face just their second Lower 48 road trip of the season when they travel to Nampa, Idaho, for a Saturday showdown with Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe Northwest Nazarene. That game begins at 5 p.m. AST and can be heard on the Crusaders' website at NNUsports.com.
