ANCHORAGE – Senior guards Safiyyah Yasin and Yazmeen Goo each tied their career-high scoring totals and 7th-ranked Alaska Anchorage used an early third-quarter surge Saturday to earn an 83-76 victory over Western Washington at the Alaska Airlines Center, clinching no worse than a tie for the program's sixth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title.

The Seawolves (26-2, 17-1 GNAC) got 25 points from Yasin, plus 16 points, six assists and five steals from Goo as they avenged their lone conference loss. Junior center Tennae Voliva added 13 points, four rebounds and four steals for UAA, which can win its fifth outright title in six years with one more victory in their last two regular-season contests.

The Vikings (18-8, 12-6) – ranked No. 7 in the West Region and winners of eight of their previous 10 – were led by 19 points, nine rebounds and three blocks from forward Kelsey Rogers, but the visitors could not capitalize on big advantages of .551 to .382 in field-goal percentage and 36-25 in rebounds.

"Getting to the line was obviously the key for us in winning this game, along with absolutely outstanding overall performances from our veterans," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team made 36 of 47 free throws, breaking the school record of 35 makes against Grand Canyon on Dec. 12, 2009. "I don't know if I've ever been as proud of a pair of seniors as I am tonight for Safiyyah and Yazmeen. They have been class acts their entire careers and grown into true leaders, on and off the court."

After beating UAA 71-64 on Jan. 23 in Bellingham, WWU came out with another strong effort in the rematch. Despite trailing 33-27, the Vikings used a 13-4 run to claim the halftime lead, shooting 15 of 26 in the opening 20 minutes. 

The regionally 3rd-ranked Seawolves reversed the momentum immediately after the break, taking the lead for good when Voliva scored inside and completed a three-point play for a 44-42 edge. Goo extended it to a 51-42 lead on a fast-break layup with 6:41 left in the third quarter, and UAA clung to a 64-62 advantage as the fourth quarter began. 

Lexie Bland fed Schwecke for a layup to slice the visitors' deficit to 69-68 at the 7:45 mark, but Goo passed to Voliva for another layup on the ensuring Seawolf possession, kickstarting a 7-0 run.

The Vikings cut their deficit to five points three times in the last five minutes, however Yasin and Goo closed the game by making 4 of 6 free throws, and sophomore Jahnna Hajdukovich intercepted two Vikings passes to seal it defensively.

Yasin shot 7 of 14 from the field and made a career-high 11 free throws in 13 attempts, while Goo shot 4 of 7 from the field and 8 of 12 at the stripe. Hajdukovich finished with nine points and 3-of-4 three-point accuracy, while junior wing Lauren Johnson had six points (4-4 FT) and two of UAA's 15 steals.

UAA – which last year became the first GNAC basketball program (men's or women's) to win five straight titles – also extended their home win streaks to 28 at the Alaska Airlines Center and 40 for GNAC regular-season home games, finishing undefeated for the fourth year in  row.

Already with the top seed in the Mar. 5-7 GNAC Tournament (thanks to a season sweep of second-place Northwest Nazarene), the Seawolves finish the regular season on the road at Western Oregon (5-20, 2-16) on Thursday at 4:15 p.m. AST and Concordia-Portland (5-21, 4-14) on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 3:15 p.m. AST. Both games can be seen live at gnac.tv.