HONOLULU (Dec. 20) – Senior guard Elaina Mack led a second-half comeback attempt with 21 points, but it wasn't enough for the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team in a 65-59 loss to No. 23 Ferris State in the Hoops In Hawaii Classic at the Shark Tank on Saturday night.

The Seawolves (8-3) also got 18 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Mahaila Harrison as they were hurt by turnovers and foul trouble.

The Bulldogs (8-3) were led by 10 points and eight rebounds from starting guard Kadyn Blanchard as they produced advantages in every specialty stats category, including 21-12 in bench scoring and 36-18 in paint points.

"We gave away too many possessions with turnovers in the first half, and that put us behind the eight-ball for the rest of the game," said UAA head coach Matt Thune, whose team suffered its first non-conference loss in nine contests. "We were able to correct some of those issues in the second half, but we got into too much foul trouble against a very deep and talented team."

The Seawolves struck for the first five points in the first ever meeting between the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents, and made it 11-9 after five minutes on a three-pointer by Mack. UAA hit a dry spell over the next six minutes, however, falling behind 22-12 and never regaining the advantage.

The Seawolves trailed 33-24 at halftime, committing 12 of their 21 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, before scrapping back to make it a 51-44 lead after three quarters. Mack finally drew UAA within 55-51 with a three-pointer at the 6-minute mark, and Kimberly Carrada Sanchez nailed another trey to make it 57-54 with 4:39 left.

Blanchard answered with the biggest shot of the game for the Michiganders though, swishing a three on the ensuing possession.

UAA continued to stay within striking distance and made it 62-59 on a Mack trey with 13 seconds left, but the Seawolves were called for a flagrant foul as they tried desperately to stop the clock, and the Bulldogs clinched it from the foul line.

Mack made 5 of 13 three-pointers as the King Cove native reached 907 career points, supplanting fellow Alaskan Tara Thompson (900 pts, 2015-19) for 22nd place on the UAA list. She's now just three treys shy of becoming the fourth Seawolf to reach 200 career three-pointers.

Junior center Lillee Duffin aided the comeback effort with team highs of 10 rebounds and four assists, while Carrada Sanchez had nine points off the bench.

The Seawolves return to action New Year's Day with a 7:30 p.m. tip at the Alaska Airlines Center against GNAC rival Northwest Nazarene. Find tickets, live links and more at GoSeawolves.com.