ANCHORAGE (Feb. 29) – Tori Hollingshead had 11 points and Jazzpher Evans added nine points Thursday to help the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team to a 51-39 victory over Seattle Pacific at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (17-8, 12-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got eight rebounds from junior forward Jaisa Gamble and six assists from junior point guard Senya Rabouin as they held the Falcons to just 22 points over the first three quarters.

With the victory, the Seawolves are assured of finishing alone in third place in the GNAC standings.

The shorthanded Falcons (10-17, 7-10) – who used just six of their seven active players – were led by 11 points and 11 rebounds from Olivia Mayer, but could not overcome 19 turnovers and a 45-37 rebounding disadvantage.

"That certainly wasn't a pretty game from an offensive perspective, but we did what we needed to do defensively to grind out a win against a gutsy team," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team premiered at No. 9 in the initial version of the NCAA Div. II West Region rankings Wednesday. "We forced them into a lot of tough looks late in the shot clock, and we controlled the boards in the second half thanks to great team rebounding."

Nearly three months after dropping a 62-59 decision in Seattle, the Seawolves scored on the opening possession of the rematch and led virtually throughout. Senior forward Vishe' Rabb snapped a 14-14 tie midway through the second quarter on a driving layup, and Evans swished a midrange jumper just before the buzzer for a 24-16 halftime advantage.

UAA got scores from five different players to start the second half with 10 straight points, pushing its largest lead to 37-18 on an acrobatic layup by Kya Pearson.

The Falcons crept within 40-30 on an 8-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, but Rabouin nailed a stepback three-pointer to squelch the rally with 6:05 remaining.

Hollingshead led UAA in scoring for the second game in a row, along with six rebounds and three blocks, while Evans added five assists and committed no turnovers.

Rabb aided the balanced effort with seven points, and Pearson collected six points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and no turnovers in 21 minutes.

UAA can improve its NCAA Tournament chances greatly with a win in its regular-season finale Saturday (5:15 pm AST) against 9th-ranked and GNAC regular-season champion Montana State Billings (25-4, 16-1). The first 1,000 fans at the Alaska Airlines Center will receive a free Seawolf flag, courtesy of Premera. Find tickets and more at GoSeawolves.com.