ANCHORAGE (Feb. 17) – Senior forward Vishe' Rabb sparked a late comeback effort with 15 points, but the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team could not overcome the hot shooting of Central Washington on Saturday in a 72-65 loss at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (15-8, 9-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 13 points, two assists, no turnovers and three steals from junior point guard Senya Rabouin as they lost the battle of the boards 40-26 and were outshot .532 to .391.

The Wildcats (17-10, 8-7) were led by 23 points from Asher Cai and 19 points, six assists and five rebounds from backcourt mate Sunny Huerta, while forward Capri Sims collected 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 12 rebounds.

"Credit to them for a great performance. We simply did not defend the way we needed to all night," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team allowed no worse than 47 percent shooting by the visitors in any quarter. "We simply dug ourselves too big of a hole to the point where we had to be perfect in the fourth quarter to win."

After earning a 68-62 win in Ellensburg last month, the Seawolves succumbed to a late first-quarter run by the Wildcats in the rematch, falling behind 18-11 when Huerta drained a circus-shot jumper at the buzzer.

Central Washington forged a 35-26 halftime advantage and came out smoking hot after the break, nailing three unanswered three-pointers in a 90-second stretch to build its biggest lead.

Despite trailing 58-43 and shooting 0 of 8 on threes through the first three quarters, the Seawolves did not go down without a fight, making all four of their three-point attempts in the fourth quarter.

UAA twice cut it to a five-point game, with Rabouin scoring to make it 65-60 with 4:22 left. Down by six with under three minutes to play, the Seawolves couldn't cash their opportunities, however, missing three straight shots and committing a turnover that sealed it.

Junior center Tori Hollingshead had 10 points, three assists and two steals, while junior forward Jaisa Gamble had six points on 3-of-3 shooting, three steals, and snagged all five of her rebounds on the offensive end.

Now with just three games remaining due to the cancellation of Western Oregon's season, the Seawolves travel to Saint Martin's in Lacey, Wash., on Thursday (4:15 pm AST) for their final regular-season road game. Find live links at GoSeawolves.com.