SEATTLE – Senior guard
Safiyyah Yasin powered a balanced attack for 10th-ranked Alaska Anchorage with 16 points as the Seawolves rolled to a 78-47 women's basketball victory over Seattle Pacific on Thursday.
UAA (13-1, 3-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) got at least six points from nine different players and forced 25 turnovers to record its largest margin of victory in 32 trips to Royal Brougham Pavilion.
SPU (2-9, 0-3 GNAC) was led by nine points from guard Madi Hingston, but the hosts were bothered by UAA's full-court press and outshot .466 to .340.
"Aside from our free throw shooting, I can't find many faults with our performance tonight," said
Ryan McCarthy, who also coached UAA to its previous largest margin at SPU, an 85-58 final on Dec. 6, 2014. "We started a little slow offensively, but our first wave of substitutions cranked up the intensity and helped us start to pull away. This was another good victory to keep building our confidence."
Hunting their eighth straight win and 22nd consecutive in GNAC regular-season play, the Seawolves led just 8-7 after five minutes. Hajdukovich nailed a jumper and freshman guard
Rachel Ingram made a three-pointer to begin a UAA surge, however, and the advantage grew to 21-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Falcons would cut a 38-18 halftime deficit to 39-24 with 7:11 left in the third quarter but could get no closer.
Yasin shot 3 of 4 from long range and 5 of 6 at the free throw line to do all of her damage in just 18 minutes, while Hajdukovich shot 2 of 5 from deep and tied her career high with five rebounds.
Junior guard
Stephanie Jackson and senior guard
Yazmeen Goo scored nine points apiece and combined for six assists, and junior center
Tennae Voliva tallied six points, nine rebounds and a pair of UAA's 14 steals.
UAA's defensive held its opponent under 50 points for the fifth straight game and under 60 for the 11th consecutive game since a 110-82 win over San Francisco State on Nov. 10.
The Seawolves head down Interstate 5 on Saturday to face Saint Martin's (6-4, 1-2) in a 2 p.m. AST tip. Fans can surf to gnac.tv for live video and stats.