ANCHORAGE ? Rebecca Kielpinski had a huge all-around game, and Ashley Thompson and Danielle Dekel made clutch baskets in the last two minutes to help the 7th-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team escape with a 68-66 win over Montana State Billings in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both squads Thursday.
UAA (12-1, 1-0) outrebounded the visitors 38-23 and shot a blazing 11 of 17 (64.7 percent) from three-point range, but MSUB's own hot shooting nearly helped it erase an 18-point second-half deficit.
Kielpinski helped stake the Seawolves to a 44-31 halftime lead and finished with 14 points (4-8 FG, 1-1 3FG, 5-10 FT), nine rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals. Thompson had 12 points (5-7 FG, 2-2 3FG) and five rebounds, and Dekel tallied a season-high 11 points (4-7 FG, 3-4 3FG) and dished five assists in her first career start.
UAA held the Yellowjackets scoreless for the first four minutes of the second half to establish a 49-31 lead as the game seemed to be turning into a rout. But MSUB (3-7, 0-1), which was playing its first league game as a member of the GNAC, broke out of its shooting slump by nailing 11 of its next 12 shots to pull within 56-54 at the 7:46 mark.
Clinging to a 61-58 advantage, Thompson converted a backdoor layup on a pass from Kielpinski to go up five. MSUB answered right back with a three-pointer from sharpshooter Alira Carpenter (26 points, 9-15 FG, 6-9 3FG) on the next possession, putting even more pressure on the home team.
Thompson came up clutch again for UAA, grabbing an offensive rebound off Kalhie Quinones' missed free throw and sinking another layup for a 65-61 lead.
Shantell Marquis (16 points, 6-11 FG, 3-5 3FG) then nailed a midrange jumper for the Yellowjackets to cut it back to a two-point game, and the Seawolves called timeout with 39 seconds left.
With the shot clock winding down, Dekel picked up a deflected pass and swished a running, 25-foot trey with 19 seconds showing to ice the victory. Carpenter made her final three-pointer ? MSUB's 14th of the night ? at the final buzzer to complete the scoring.
Quinones had eight points, a season-high eight rebounds, five assists and four steals, while forward Lillie Parks had six points and eight rebounds in her first career start as well. Junior guard Limor Pelleg scored six points ? making both of her three-point tries ? and freshman Nikki Aden registered five points.
The win ran UAA's school-record home winning streak to 26 games overall and made it a record 22 straight at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex. (Four of the 26 wins came at Sullivan Arena in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout). The previous WFSC record of 21 in a row was established from Jan. 1983 to Jan. 1985.
UAA faces another tough test Saturday when its hosts undefeated Seattle University (10-0, 1-0 GNAC) in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the WFSC.
