BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Jayci Stone scored 20 points and Rebecca Kielpinski recorded her 12th double-double as the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team won its first league road game of the season in impressive fashion Thursday, 61-45 over Western Washington at Carver Gym.
The Seawolves (17-4, 6-4 GNAC), ranked 7th in the latest West Region poll, got 12 points and 15 rebounds from Kielpinski as they snapped the Vikings' 4-game winning streak as well as their 26-game regular-season home win streak.
WWU (15-6, 7-3), ranked 4th regionally, was led by forward Liz McCarrell's 16 points and eight rebounds, but the Vikings were held to 25.8 percent shooting (17 for 66) by the Seawolves and outrebounded 54-35.
The first half went back and forth with the Vikings taking a 24-19 lead in the late-going. But UAA scored the final five points and rode that momentum swing into the final 20 minutes.
The Seawolves began the second half with a basket by Tristan Burnett (7 pts) and never looked back, building a 38-28 lead over the next 5 minutes. WWU would briefly cut its deficit to single digits, but Stone answered with one of her five three-pointers and Mari Callahan (6 pts, 3 assists) followed with a jumper to make it 45-31 with 10 minutes left.
Kielpinski, who leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in rebounding and double-doubles, now has 97 rebounds in the last seven games.
Stone grabbed nine rebounds, Jennifer Salazar had six points and seven rebounds, and Maria Nilsson went for six points and six boards as UAA swept the season series from the Vikings for the first time ever.
UAA has now won three straight heading into Saturday's game at regionally 6th-ranked Seattle University (6 p.m. AST). That game can be heard live in Anchorage on student radio station KRUA 88.1-FM or on the internet at krua.uaa.alaska.edu.