BILLINGS, Mont. ? Senior guard Jackie Thiel hit a pair of clutch three-pointers in the final three minutes and assisted on the game-clinching basket as the No. 1-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team escaped with a 56-55 victory over Montana State Billings at Alterowitz Gymnasium on Saturday night.
The Seawolves (22-1, 9-0 GNAC) earned their 20th straight triumph despite trailing for over 37 minutes. Senior forward Ruby Williams led the way with 15 points.
The Yellowjackets (11-9, 3-6) led by 48-36 with 9:41 remaining when star guard Alira Carpenter nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference's leading scorer, Carpenter finished with a game-high 17 points, while forward Jen Smith had 12 points and 10 rebounds for MSUB.
After MSUB grabbed its largest advantage on Carpenter's trey, the Seawolves would score the next five points on a pair of Williams free throws and a traditional three-point play by freshman forward Hanna Johansson.
UAA slowly whittled at the deficit, crawling within 50-48 on Rebecca Kielpinski's first basket of the night with 3:22 remaining.
Carpenter ? a 90 percent free-throw shooter ? then had a chance to make it a two-possession game, but she missed the second of two charities at the 2:58 mark.
Thiel set up for a tying three-pointer a few seconds later, drawing the Seawolves even for the first time in the ball game.
After Smith gave her team a 53-51 lead with a pair of free throws, Thiel responded again with another trey at the 2-minute mark to give UAA its first lead.
Seawolf point guard Kiki Taylor stepped in front of a Yellowjacket pass on the next possession, and Thiel found Kielpinski inside for a layup that made it 56-53 with 46 seconds left.
A Taylor turnover led to a layup by MSUB center Kayla Ryan with 20 seconds left, and the Seawolves left the door open for the home team when Thiel missed the front end of a one-and-one with 15 seconds left.
The Yellowjackets used a timeout to draw up a final play, but guard Jetton Meadors drove the baseline and was met my a triple-team, causing her to miss badly, and Kielpinski hauled in the rebound.
Kielpinski finished with six points and seven rebounds, setting the new Great Northwest Athletic Conference career rebounding record (1,085) in the process. The senior All-American also had a pair of blocks and three of UAA's season-high-tying 19 steals.
Williams was the only Seawolf in double figures, shooting 6 of 11 from the field and 3 of 3 from the charity stripe.
Thiel ? who entered as the nation's leading three-point shooter (.609) ? sank 3 of 4 from long range and dished four assists with no turnovers. The 5-4 guard also swiped a pair of steals and recorded just her fourth blocked shot of the year.
Junior forward Nicci Miller contributed nine points and five rebounds, while Taylor had an up-and-down outing ? zero points and five turnovers against four assists, four steals and seven rebounds.
The Seawolves, who were playing on the road for the first time ever as a No. 1-ranked team, return home to the Wells Fargo Sports Complex for a pair of games next week. UAA hosts playoff contender Western Washington on Thursday (5:15 p.m.), followed by a Saturday (7 p.m.) tilt with Central Washington.
