BILLINGS, Mont. (Jan. 25) – Senior guard Jazzpher Evans scored a career-high 23 points, but the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team could not overcome a huge third-quarter run from Montana State Billings on Saturday, falling 70-55 at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Seawolves (17-3, 8-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) – ranked No. 24 in the D2CSC top 25 poll – also got nine points, five assists and five steals from senior point guard Emilia Long as they suffered their first loss since Dec. 19.

The Yellowjackets (18-4, 7-2) – ranked No. 20 in the WBCA top 25 poll – were led by 21 points and four assists from forward Dyauni Boyce, along with 15 points and eight rebounds from guard Aspen Giese.

"We started off with great energy, but we weren't able to sustain it through their big runs at the end of the first half and then in the third quarter," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team was missing injured all-conference candidate Tori Hollingshead for the first time this year. "Give credit to Billings for playing tough and hitting some big shots. I'm confident we can regroup and play some of our strongest ball over the final third of the season."

Coming in with a two-game lead over Billings and two other teams in the GNAC standings, UAA started hot with a 6-0 run and a 16-8 advantage after one quarter. Long had four of her steals in the early going to stake the Seawolves to a 27-16 lead, but Billings ended the half with a 11-0 run behind threes from Giese, Layla Bauman and Boyce.

Long put UAA ahead for the final time, 31-30, with a layup at the 8-minute mark of the third quarter, but the hosts would respond with a 19-4 run over the next six minutes to take command.

The Yellowjackets finished 13 of 26 from long range, while the Seawolves connected on just 4 of 18 treys and were outrebounded 32-28.

Evans shot 9 of 19 from the field as the Chicago native moved up to No. 20 on UAA's career scoring list with 932 points.

Junior forward Hedda Koehne had seven points, four rebounds, two steals and two blocks in her first extended action since returning from an ankle injury, while freshman forward Ashlyn Rean had six points, six rebounds and three steals.

UAA returns to the Alaska Airlines Center next week to begin the second half of GNAC play against Central Washington (Thur., 5:15 pm) and Northwest Nazarene (Sat,. 7:30 pm). Find tickets and live links at GoSeawolves.com.