ANCHORAGE – Senior point guard Sasha King had 18
points and nine rebounds to lead a second-half surge Friday night, helping 22nd-ranked
Alaska Anchorage to an 85-76 women's basketball win over Regis at the Wells
Fargo Sports Complex.
The Seawolves (1-1) also got 17 points from freshman guard Jenna Buchanan and
16 points from junior guard Mariesha Harris as they turned an early second-half
deficit into a late double-digit lead.
The Rangers (0-1) were led by 13 points and six rebounds from forward Meghan
Hollenga, but they could not take advantage of their 53 percent shooting thanks
to UAA's pressure defense, which forced 25 turnovers.
The Seawolves – who earned their first
win under new head coach Ryan McCarthy – shot 44 percent on the night while
attempting 22 more shots. They also posted an advantage from three-point land,
going 11 of 30 (.367) to Regis's 5 of 14 (.357). Buchanan, a true freshman from
Galena, did most of the damage from long range, nailing 5 of 9 treys, along
with six rebounds, two assists and only one turnover.
UAA opened a 20-8 lead in the opening minutes before a late Regis run sliced it
to 41-40 at halftime. The Rangers then used a 7-0 run to go ahead at the 17-minute
mark, and it was tied 53-53 when Regis forward Tae'lor Purdy scored a layup two
minutes later. But Jessica Madison and Buchanan responded with back-to-back
treys to put the Seawolves ahead for good, and King either scored or assisted
on seven of UAA's next eight baskets to forge a 77-69 lead with five minutes
left.
King, a Preseason All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference selection, wound up
with 14 points and six assists over the final 16 minutes, while also grabbing a
pair of steals.
Harris, a junior-college transfer from Indianapolis, was efficient with 5-of-10
shooting from the field and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. In fact, the
Seawolves were perfect at the charity stripe on 12 attempts to set a new
single-game program record.
UAA got all but two of its points from six different players, with junior guard
Kylie Burns scoring 12 points (5-9 FG, 2-4 3FG), Madison contributing 11 points
(4-8 FG, 2-2 FT) off the bench, and starting forward Alysa Horn tallying nine
points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The same two teams will meet for a rematch Saturday at 5 p.m. AST at the WFSC.
NOTES: The previous record for free-throw percentage in a game was .963 (26 of
27), set Jan. 1, 2011 in a victory at Montana State Billings … UAA got 27 of
its 32 rebounds from Burns, Harris, Horn and Buchanan … Friday's game was the
first meeting between UAA and Regis since 1995 … the Seawolves now lead 11-3
all-time against the Rangers.
