BILLINGS, Mont. ? The nationally 7th-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball teams used hot three-point shooting from Dasha Basova and Maria Nilsson to make a huge first-half surge Saturday and end the regular season with a 62-56 win over Montana State Billings at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
UAA (26-4, 15-3 GNAC) got 14 points from Basova and 13 from Nilsson as the European duo combined for eight treys. Senior Kalhie Quinones scored just five points but also had team-highs of eight rebounds and five assists.
MSUB (11-16, 8-10) ended its season with game-highs of 19 points apiece form guard Alira Carpenter and forward Dani Henderson.
The Yellowjackets jumped to an early 13-1 lead as nothing seemed to go right for the Seawolves in the opening minutes. Nilsson nailed a pair of treys, however, as UAA came back to take the lead at 16-15.
Basova then got into the act, hitting all four of her treys in the opening stanza to push UAA to a 40-22 halftime lead.
The Seawolves went up 44-22 when Jennifer Salazar nailed a long jumper, but the Yellowjackets would answer with a 10-0 run of their own.
MSUB got as close as 53-48 with 8 minutes left, but Rebecca Kielpinski (5 points, 3 rebounds) and Elisha Harris (4 points, 3 rebounds) made back-to-back layups to extend the lead back to nine.
UAA's 26th win extends its school record for victories, while the Seawolves are also assured to at least tie the school mark for fewest losses in a season (5 in 1987-88).
The Seawolves, ranked No. 3 in the West Region, will wait until 6:30 p.m. ADT Sunday to find out if their seeding will hold for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. That competition will likely begin Friday at GNAC champion Seattle Pacific.
