BELLINGHAM, Wash. (Feb. 13) – Senior center Tori Hollingshead had 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to spearhead a dominant defensive effort for the nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team Thursday in a 72-40 victory over Western Washington at Carver Gymnasium.

Ranked No. 20 in the top-25 coaches' poll and No. 16 by the media, the Seawolves (21-3, 12-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) also got 14 points and eight assists from senior point guard Emilia Long, recording their largest margin and fewest points allowed in 62 all-time meetings with WWU.

The Vikings (14-9, 9-5) were led by 10 points and five assists from guard Mason Oberg, but the hosts were held to 26 percent (14-54) shooting and forced into 20 turnovers.

"It took us a few minutes to get going offensively, but once we got uncorked, I think our defensive effort improved even more, and we executed exceptionally well in that second quarter," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team remained one game ahead of Montana State Billings atop the GNAC standings and lowered its magic number to two for a GNAC Tournament bye.

Tied 3-3 after four minutes, the Seawolves surged ahead on consecutive baskets from Long. The Port Angeles, Wash., native also had five rebounds and three steals, moving within one swipe of tying Kiki Robertson's UAA and GNAC single-season record of 109 from 2016-17.

Junior center Hedda Koehne scored on either side of the quarter break to begin a game-changing 17-0 run for the visitors, before Vikings center Alyson Deaver split a pair of free throws to make it 28-10. That would be Western's only point of the quarter as UAA capped the half with a three-pointer from Elaina Mack to make it 35-10 at the break.

UAA picked up six steals and held WWU to 0-of-10 shooting over the second 10 minutes, tying the program record for fewest points allowed in any quarter against a D-II foe on the road.

The Vikings responded with a pair of treys from Oberg to open the second half, but Mack answered each time with three-pointers to reestablish a comfortable lead.

Hollingshead shot 6 of 11 from the field and 8 of 9 at the foul stripe, picking up her second straight double-double and sixth this season. The Orem, Utah, native also had an assist and two steals without committing a turnover.

Senior guard Jazzpher Evans had 14 points and no turnovers in 27 minutes, while Mack had nine points (3-4 3FG) and four rebounds.

The Seawolves go north of the Canadian border Saturday for a noon AST tip against Simon Fraser. Find live video and stats links at GoSeawolves.com.

NOTES: The 10 first-half points allowed were UAA's fifth-fewest against a fellow NCAA Div. II program … Long moved past Kian McNair (106 steals, 2018-19) into second place on both the GNAC and UAA single-season steals lists … with 82 career swats, Hollingshead moved into seventh place alone on that UAA list, passing Tennae Voliva (79 blocks, 2017-22) … Evans rose to No. 19 on the UAA career scoring list with 970 points, while Mack caught former teammate Rachel Ingram (2019-23) for No. 8 on the three-pointers list at 149.