LACEY, Wash. – Senior Keiahnna Engel paced a balanced scoring effort with 13 points and nationally 6th-ranked Alaska Anchorage used a big second half to defend its Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament title with a 77-57 win over Montana State Billings at Marcus Pavilion on Saturday.
The top-seeded Seawolves (33-2) also got 12 points apiece from senior guards Jenna Buchanan and Jessica Madison – plus nine assists from Tournament MVP Kiki Robertson – as they earned the GNAC's automatic NCAA Tournament bid for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
The 3rd-seeded Yellowjackets (21-10) got 17 points, 10 rebounds and four steals from guard Marissa Van Atta but could not reverse the trend from a pair of regular-season losses against UAA.
UAA trailed 14-11 after seven minutes when Van Atta scored a fast-break layup, but centers Megan Mullings and Dominique Brooks answered with inside buckets to forge a 17-17 tie at the end of the quarter.
The Seawolves got back-to-back three-pointers from Engel and Madison to spark a 10-0 run to start the second quarter, and it was a 35-30 game at halftime.
Leading 46-40 midway through the third quarter, Alysha Devine swished a three-pointer and Mullings scored to start the clinching surge. Madison delivered a put-back basket at the buzzer for a 61-47 lead after three quarters, and the Port Angeles, Wash., native delivered a thrilling sequence with a layup, a steal and another layup for a 67-49 edge.
Robertson – who became the first two-time and repeat GNAC Tournament MVP – had five points, five rebounds and a tourney-record-tying nine assists, helping UAA outshoot MSUB .492 (30 of 61) to .344 (21-61).
Mullings and junior forward Alysha Devine scored 10 points apiece and combined for nine rebounds, while Brooks – a senior transfer from Penn State – had her best game of the season with five points (2-4 FG, 1-1 FT), six rebounds and intimidating interior defense in 18 minutes off the bench.
Brooks's effort was key for the Seawolves as Mullings – the GNAC Player of the Year – was limited to just 19 minutes because of foul trouble.
“I never really felt safe up until about 2 minutes left in the game,” said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy. “We knew MSUB could get really hot from three-point range, but I think we did a great job of keeping our intensity at a high level during the second half.
“I thought when Megan got in foul trouble, Dominique came in and helped us get some really key defensive stops.”
The Seawolves will now wait for the NCAA Selection Show at 6 p.m. AST Sunday to learn if they will host the NCAA Div. II West Regional Championships for the second year in a row.
NOTES: The Seawolves added this year's tourney title to their trophies from 2011, 2012 and 2015 … Buchanan shot 4 of 4 from long range to extend her NCAA Div. II single-season record to 35 straight games with at least one trey … Engel – who missed three weeks recently with a knee sprain – scored her most points since tallying 13 against Seattle Pacific on Jan. 21 … Brooks had her most rebounds against a fellow D-II foe and scored her second-most points against a GNAC opponent … Mullings tallied double-figure points for the 30th time in her last 32 contests … with 512 for her career, Robertson is now just 20 shy of the GNAC's all-time record of 532 by MSUB's Bobbi Knudsen (2010-14).
