ANCHORAGE – Senior center Tennae Voliva had 16 points and 10 rebounds Thursday to help Alaska Anchorage build a big early lead and hang on for a 74-69 victory over Northwest Nazarene in a battle of regionally ranked women's basketball teams at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (13-4, 6-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got career highs of 14 points and seven assists from freshman guard Jazzpher Evans as they won despite committing a whopping 35 turnovers and getting outrebounded 40-30.

The Nighthawks (11-6, 5-4) were led by 14 points and three steals from shooting guard Ashlynn Sylve, plus nine points, five assists and six steals from point guard Jordan Pinson. The visitors from Nampa, Idaho, were hurt by 31 turnovers of their own, and were outshot 50 percent (10 of 20) to 22 percent (5 of 23) from the three-point line.

UAA's three-point percentage was a season high and marked the first time the Seawolves have hit the 50 percent rate since a Feb. 8, 2020 road win over Central Washington.

"We finally came out with a strong first-half effort, but our turnover problems kept them in the game all night," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team has now followed a three-game losing streak with three straight wins. "Luckily our three-point shooters really stepped up tonight, and that was the difference in getting a tough win over another very good ball club."

UAA never trailed in a game featuring the teams tied for No. 6 in the current D2SIDA West Region top-10 poll, forging a 15-9 lead after 10 minutes and going up 26-9 on a three-pointer by Nicole Pinckney three minutes into the second quarter.

The Seawolves led 36-21 at halftime behind three three-pointers from sophomore guard Rachel Ingram, and played the visitors to a draw in the third quarter for a 54-39 advantage.

Voliva sank two free throws with 9:15 remaining to equal UAA's largest lead at 56-39, but the Nighthawks would not go quietly. Despite trailing 69-56 with four minutes left and 73-61 with 75 seconds remaining, NNU forced four Seawolf turnovers in the final minute and sliced it to 73-69 on a three-point play by Sylve at the 22-second mark. The Seawolves committed another turnover just seconds later, but Sylve could not convert a short jumper, and UAA guard Malie Marfil split a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds left to finish the scoring.

Voliva shot 3 of 6 from the floor and 10 of 12 at the free-throw line to post her third double-double this season and the ninth of her career, adding three assists, four steals and a block.

Evans – a transfer from Quincy (Ill.) University – shot 5 of 9 overall and 2 of 2 on three-pointers to earn her most points as a Seawolf, while her seven steals were the most by a UAA player this season.

The Seawolves also got 12 points from junior guard Jahnna Hajdukovich, who scored double figures for the first time since UAA's 76-72 road win over NNU on Jan. 8.

UAA returns to the Alaska Airlines Center for a Saturday 5:15 p.m. contest against regionally 5th-ranked Central Washington (15-4, 8-2), which brings a 10-game winning streak to Anchorage. Surf to GoSeawolves.com for tickets (all attendees required to mask), along with links to live video and stats.