ANCHORAGE – Junior point guard Stephanie Jackson scored 11 points, including the game-winning free throws in the final 30 seconds, to help 9th-ranked Alaska Anchorage fend off a Saint Martin's upset bid for a 59-56 women's basketball victory Thursday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (20-2, 10-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 12 points from senior guard Safiyyah Yasin and 10 points, six assists and no turnover from senior point guard Yazmeen Goo as they avoided their first GNAC regular-season home loss since March 2016.

The Saints (9-9, 4-7) were led by 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 12 rebounds from senior forward Bria Thames, but the visitors from Lacey, Wash., managed were hurt by 20 turnovers and could not take advantage of a 40-33 rebounding advantage.

"Tonight we missed too many uncontested layups and shots from the perimeter that hurt our momentum at critical times," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy. "We didn't play our best game by any stretch, but our ladies came up with the defensive stops that we needed."

After taking the Seawolves deep into the fourth quarter in UAA's 73-63 win Jan. 4 in Lacey, the Saints came out strong again in the rematch, jumping to a 22-15 lead midway through the second quarter. UAA answered with an 11-0 run to take the lead, however, and went into the locker room up 29-24.

UAA would stretch its lead to double digits twice in the second half before Saint Martin's rallied each time. Nicole Pinckney made it a 54-43 Seawolf lead with a three-pointer at the 9:05 mark of the fourth quarter, and fellow sophomore guard Jahnna Hajdukovich drove for a layup that made it 56-48 with 7:09 remaining, which would turn out to be her team's final field goal.

Saint Martin's held UAA scoreless for the next five minutes, cutting it to 56-54 on a three-point play by Thames, then tying it on a steal and layup from sophomore forward Claire Dingus with 31 seconds left.

Dingus would foul Jackson moments later, and the Santa Fe (Fla.) College transfer nailed one of two free throws to give UAA the lead with 28 seconds to play.

Saint Martin's called timeout to set up a play, but Jackson stole a pass in the lane and was fouled with 3.9 seconds left. This time Jackson swished both charities, and UAA hung on when Saint Martin's guard Janealle Sutterlict missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

With the victory, UAA maintains a half-game lead over Northwest Nazarene (15-5, 10-2) in the GNAC standings and extends a trio of streaks, winning their 36th straight GNAC regular-season home game, 24th straight at the Alaska Airlines Center and 12th straight against the Saints.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday to face Seattle Pacific (7-12, 5-6) at 5:15 p.m. Surf to AlaskaAirlinesCenter.com for tickets.