ANCHORAGE ? An early 16-point lead and a pair of school records by Rebecca Kielpinski were not quite enough as No. 2 Seattle Pacific snapped No. 8 Alaska Anchorage's 29-game home winning streak by a count of 78-77 in Thursday's night's battle of Great Northwest Athletic women's basketball leaders.
SPU (19-0, 10-0 GNAC) got a game-high 28 points, including the game-winning layup with 10 seconds left, from junior center Kelsey Hill, while guard Jackie Hollands finished with 16 points.
UAA (19-3, 8-2) was led by senior forward Maria Nilsson's 19 points, plus 15 apiece from Kielpinski and senior guard Kalhie Quinones.
Kielpinski, a junior from Mandan, N.D., also grabbed seven rebounds and tied her own school record with eight blocked shots. Her sixth rebound of the night established her as UAA's career leader in boards, now with 767.
But it was a bittersweet record as the Falcons swept the season series from the Seawolves, despite the home team racing to a 26-10 lead in the first 9 minutes.
After the Seawolves' hot start, SPU ran off eight straight points and closed within single digits, 31-23, on Maddie Maloney's free throws at the 5-minute mark. The Falcons took their first lead at 36-35 on Kelsey Burns' three-pointer, and the game went to halftime tied at 40.
A near-capacity Wells Fargo Sports Complex crowd watched as the teams traded leads throughout the second half ? 13 times total on the night ? with neither team leading by more than five in the last 20 minutes.
UAA went up 75-74 with 3:08 to play when Kielpinski scored on an up-and-under move, and Quinones put the Seawolves ahead by three with two free throws at the 1:28 mark.
However, Kielpinski, the reigning GNAC Player of the Year, missed a layup with 41 second left and fouled out when she slapped Hill on the rebound attempt.
Hill (12-23 FG, 4-5 FT) sank a pair of free throws, and the Falcons got the ball back when Ashley Thompson was called for traveling with 35 seconds left.
After taking a timeout with 14 seconds showing, the Falcons ran a well executed inbounds play that got the ball to Hill isolated under the basket. UAA defender Ruby Williams was caught too far underneath, and Hill's shot rolled tantalizingly on the rim before falling in.
After a UAA timeout, Quinones took the ball the length of the court and found Thompson under the hoop with a shovel pass. But the junior forward was too close to the baseline, however, and her attempt hit the bottom the backboard as time expired.
Thompson finished with 10 points, while Quinones also had seven assists, five steals and no turnovers in 34 minutes.
The loss came despite UAA shooting a school-record 78.6 percent (11 of 14) from the three-point line, led by Nilsson's 5-of-7 effort. The Swede now stands fifth on UAA's career treys list with 105.
SPU hurt the Seawolves big on the boards, 35-21, including 15-7 on the offensive end.
The Falcons entered the contest ranked atop the NCAA Div. II West Region, while the Seawolves came in No. 4 in the postseason race. The top eight teams in the region qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
UAA, which had won 25 straight at the WFSC (the other four wins came at Sullivan Arena), will try to get back on track Saturday when they battle Northwest Nazarene (14-5, 7-3) at the WFSC. Tip-off is 7 p.m. against the regionally 6th-ranked Crusaders.
