ANCHORAGE ? Senior guard Elisha Harris sparked an early run with a career-best performance Friday night as the 5th-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team blasted Colorado Christian 63-38 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
Harris scored 15 points and junior guard Tamar Gruwell added 14 points for the Seawolves (5-1), while senior center Rebecca Kielpinski came up with 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
CCU (1-3), which had battled the Seawolves to the final seconds on Thursday, was led by 11 points and eight rebounds from forward Abby Rosenthal. Leading scorer Talmai Aguirre, who came in averaging 20.7 ppg, was held to 0-of-8 from the field and just two points, scoring those from the free-throw line with 33 seconds left.
UAA was never in danger in this one, with Harris scoring the team's first 10 points on a variety of long range shots and fast-break layups. The West Jordan, Utah, native tallied 13 of her career-high 15 points in the game's first 11 minutes to help the Seawolves slowly extend their lead.
Sophomore Nikki Aden (8 pts, 3-5 FG, 2 steals) delivered a dagger right before the half, nailing a wide-open, buzzer-beating three-pointer on a pass from Nicci Miller to make it 33-15.
The game never got closer in the second half thanks to solid defense and sharp three-point shooting from Gruwell (4 of 7) and junior guard Tristan Burnett (8 pts, 2-6 3FG). Burnett earned her first starting call of the season and became the 13th and final Seawolf to get into the scoring column this year.
Harris also tied her career-high with seven rebounds.
UAA forced 23 turnovers and held the Cougars to just 26 percent shooting. Five of UAA's six opponents have now failed to reach the 30 percent plateau and three have been held under 40 points.
The Seawolves have a short rest before taking on Division I Cal State Northridge in the first round of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Tuesday night. The two-time defending Shootout champions will tip off at 6 p.m. at the Sullivan Arena.