ANCHORAGE – Jayci Stone had 16 points and 12 rebounds in her final home game, and the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team completed a perfect home season with a 69-58 victory over Northwest Nazarene on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
UAA (21-4, 10-4 GNAC) won its seventh straight overall as Rebecca Kielpinski scored 14 points and Maria Nilsson chipped in 13. NNU (15-11, 9-6) lost its bid to wrest away second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings, despite double-double efforts from center Kristin Hein (18 pts, 14 reb) and forward Danielle Dwello (12 pts, 10 reb).
With the victory, UAA has clinched at least a tie for second place in the GNAC race and sits one game behind Seattle Pacific for the league title. The win also gives them a 15-0 home record, including 13-0 at the WFSC.
The Seawolves started slowly after Senior Night festivities to honor Stone, Tenecia Lockard (6 pts, 3-6 FG), Mari Callahan (5 reb), and Meghan Vaughan (3 pts, 1-1 3FG).
NNU's Hein nailed a three-pointer off the opening tip and the Crusaders race to a 14-2 lead before the Seawolves scored their first field goal, a three by Nilsson more than six minutes into play.
After NNU made it 24-15, the Seawolves got a spark from Stone, who assisted on a Lockard bucket and grabbed a rebound that led to a fast-break basket, starting a 9-0 spurt to pull even.
The Seawolves took that momentum and built a 39-33 lead at the half.
UAA second-half defense – a key during its current win streak – then took control of the game, forcing NNU to shoot 23.5 percent in the final 20 minutes. The Seawolves led by double digits for the final 16 minutes, stretching their advantage as high as 69-53 with 3 minutes left.
NNU, which also got 14 points off the bench from Nichole Schutte, had entered Saturday's game having won five of its last six games.
Other standouts for the Seawolves included junior guard/forward Jennifer Salazar (career-high-tying 7 assists, 6 reb), reserve point guard Keyona Brooks (8 pts, 3 asst), and Nilsson, who scored all 13 of her points in UAA's first-half comeback.
As a team the Seawolves committed only nine turnovers, tying for the fifth-lowest mark in program history and marking their fewest ever in a GNAC game.
UAA, ranked No. 4 in the West Region, finishes the regular season at Saint Martin's (Mar. 1, 6 p.m.) and Western Oregon (Mar. 3, 4 p.m.) before finding out their NCAA Div. II Tournament fate Mar. 4. A virtual certainty to qualify for postseason for the first time since 2000, the Seawolves will likely travel to California for the region tournament, Mar. 9-12.
