ANCHORAGE – Senior center Tennae Voliva had 20 points and nine rebounds, and the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team repelled a late Central Washington rally for a 78-68 victory Saturday in a battle of regionally ranked teams at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (14-4, 7-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 11 points on 3-of-3 three-point shooting from senior forward Lauren Johnson as they shot a season-high .525 from the floor, earning their fourth straight win and their 18th straight in the head-to-head series.

The Wildcats (15-5, 8-3 GNAC) got a game-high 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting from forward Kassidy Malcolm, plus 15 rebounds from NCAA Div. II national leader Samantha Bowman, but the visitors could never take the lead as their 10-game winning streak was snapped.

"We showed again tonight how good we can be when we take control of a game early and don't have to play from behind," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team forged a 23-7 lead after one quarter and led by as many as 18 points. "Central made a run, like all good teams do, but our defense really stepped up in the final five minutes, and Tennae played like an All-American on both ends of the court. After our long Covid pause post-Christmas, I think we're finally displaying again the potential that this team showed early in the season."

For the second time in three nights, UAA jumped on its opponent from the opening minute and never trailed, although the Wildcats sliced their deficit to 38-27 by halftime.

UAA led 50-40 after three quarters, but the visitors from Ellensburg finally heated up from long range, nailing four three-pointers in the fourth quarter and cutting the Seawolf advantage to 68-66 on Malcolm's three-pointer with 4:25 to play.

UAA freshman point guard Malie Marfil – who had not played the first three quarters – sailed in a for a layup to answer just nine seconds later, and Voliva tied her career scoring high on a nice feed from Marfil at the 3-minute mark.

The Wildcats had one final chance to cut their deficit in half, but Voliva stepped in front of a pass for her third steal, and UAA finished the game by making 6 of 6 free throws.

Freshman guard Jazzpher Evans scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds, junior guard Jahnna Hajdukovich had nine points and four assists, and junior point guard Nicole Pinckney delivered eight points, five reboundd and four assists. Marfil finished with six points (2-2 FG, 2-2 FT) and an assist in just over four minutes of action.

Central Washington entered the game ranked No. 5 in the latest D2SIDA West Region top-10 poll, while the Seawolves are tied for No. 6.

The Seawolves hit the road for their next five games, starting with a Tuesday (4:15 p.m. AST) contest at Western Oregon. Surf to GoSeawolves.com for links to live video and stats.