ANCHORAGE (Jan. 15) – Senior center Tori Hollingshead had 21 points and 10 rebounds Thursday to propel the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team to its fifth consecutive victory, defeating Simon Fraser 78-63 at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Seawolves (15-2, 6-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got a huge boost from senior guard Jazzpher Evans, who collected 17 points, five assists and three steals to help repel a fourth-quarter offensive onslaught by the visitors from Canada.

The Red Leafs (9-7, 2-5) were led by 16 points and four assists from guard Sophia Wisotzki, but were outrebounded 43-33 and outshot .492 to .365.

"I thought we did a nice job defensively most of the night, especially being shorthanded in the post," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team was down to eight active players as junior forward Hedda Koehne missed the game with a lower-body injury. "We weren't able to get out in transition as much as we'd like, but we had great ball movement in our halfcourt sets and finished around the rim, getting terrific offensive efficiency from Tori and Ashlyn (Rean)."

A freshman from Rangiora, New Zealand, Rean scored 13 of her 16 points in the opening half to help the Seawolves build a 36-28 lead.

UAA's nationally second-ranked scoring defense (44.6 ppg) began to take after halftime, building a 46-29 lead before Sahnya Gill scored the Red Leafs' first field goal of the third quarter at the 4:26 mark. Simon Fraser kept its deficit at 50-35 with two minutes on the clock, but the Seawolves got baskets from Hollingshead, Jaisa Gamble and Evans in the final 90 seconds, pushing their largest lead of the night to 56-35.

The cushion would prove handy for the hosts, who had to withstand a 5-of-6 three-point shooting display by the Red Leafs over the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. Rachel Loukes tipped in a miss by Wisotzki to slice it to 63-54 with 5:20 remaining, and posted a traditional three-point play to make it 66-59 with 3:29 on the clock.

UAA would reestablish control, however, with Rean finding Evans for a corner three-pointer on the next possession, then finishing a spin move in the paint off a feed from Emilia Long.

Hollingshead shot 9 of 15 from the field and 3 of 4 at the foul stripe, along with a game-high four steals, while Rean had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists before fouling out late. Long collected 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Evans shot 7 of 13 (2-4 3FG) and had three steals – including a dagger 'pick-6' swipe in the fourth quarter – and UAA got six points apiece from guards Elaina Mack and Ja'Niah Alexander (2-3 FG, 2-2 FT).

Junior forward Kenzie Sirowich didn't score, but recorded eight rebounds, three assists and her first multi-block game as a Seawolf. The Franklin Pierce transfer now has 26 boards over the last three games.

The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday for a 5:15 p.m. tip against Western Washington (10-6, 5-2 GNAC). Find tickets and live links at GoSeawolves.com.