ANCHORAGE – Seniors Jenna Buchanan and Megan Mullings combined for 43 points on 16-of-21 shooting Tuesday to lead host Alaska Anchorage to a 94-61 blowout of Pepperdine in the first round of the women's GCI Great Alaska Shootout at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves (11-0) – ranked in the top 5 of both NCAA Div. II national polls – also got 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals from senior guard Keiahnna Engel as they matched their program's second-largest margin of victory over a Div. I opponent.
The Waves (1-4) got 22 points, four assists and three steals from freshman guard Erica Ogwumike, but the rest of the West Coast Conference squad combined to shoot just 15 of 37 from the field.
UAA never trailed on the way to its fourth straight Shootout first-round victory, using an 8-0 run at the end of the first quarter to pull away. The Seawolves poured it on with a 26-8 scoring advantage in the second quarter and never looked back, and the lead stretched to 73-33 on a three-pointer by senior Jessica Madison late in the third quarter.
Buchanan, 5-8 guard from Galena, Alaska, posted the second-highest total of her 4-year career with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6 of 10 from long range. While Buchanan did her damage from outside, Mullings established her dominance on the interior, scoring 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 at the foul stripe. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year added seven rebounds and three blocks.
Madison added 13 points and four assists to help UAA to its 37th win over a Div. I program, while junior point guard Kiki Robertson had seven points, four rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
UAA's margin equaled an 81-48 neutral-court win over George Mason in Dec. 1993 as the second-most lopsided result against a Div. I opponent, trailing only an 89-47 win over Coastal Carolina in the 2009 Shootout. UAA's 94 points was also second-most all-time against a D-I team, behind a 102-88 win over New Mexico State in the 1991 Shootout.
With their victory, the Seawolves advance to the title game for the fourth straight time, where they will meet Western Kentucky (2-1) at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Center. The game will be considered a 'discretionary' exhibition, meaning the result will count on WKU's overall record but not on the Seawolves'.
Pepperdine – making its third Shootout appearance all-time – will play George Mason (1-4) in the consolation game at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
