LACEY, Wash. (Mar. 7) – Led by 28 combined points from the first-team all-conference duo of Emilia Long and Tori Hollingshead, top-seeded Alaska Anchorage rolled to a 67-38 victory over 4th-seeded Western Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals Friday night at Marcus Pavilion.
Ranked No. 20 in both NCAA Div. II national polls, the Seawolves (26-4) got 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals from Long, while Hollingshead had 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals. With the victory, UAA advances to its eighth GNAC Tournament final in the event's 14-year history, facing 6th-seeded Saint Martin's (18-10) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. AST.
The Vikings (18-11) were led by 15 points and five rebounds from guard Demi Dykstra, but the Bellingham squad was outshot .458 to .235, outrebounded 39-24, and was minus-nine in turnover differential.
Playing on the same court where they were upset six days ago by Saint Martin's in the regular-season finale, the Seawolves controlled action from the jump, scoring the game's first six points and leading 16-5 after one quarter.
"I thought last week happened for a reason, and it gave us a chance to rest and talk about the things that really matter to us, especially on the defensive end," said UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy, whose Seawolves currently sit No. 5 in the NCAA Div. II regional rankings. "Western is really good, and this was really hard to do – defending them at the level we did. I'm just proud of our team's effort."
Hollingshead scored twice inside to push the lead to 25-8 early in the second quarter, and the Seawolves would lead by at least 15 points the rest of the way.
Senior guard Jazzpher Evans finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists, freshman forward Ashlyn Rean had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks, and UAA got eight points apiece from juniors Hedda Koehne and Elaina Mack.
The 38 points were the fewest allowed in GNAC Tournament history (since 2011) and the fewest allowed by a Seawolf team against the Vikings in 63 all-time meetings.
"Tonight wasn't our best offensive night, but we really take pride in our defense, and that's where we get our energy going," said Long, who this week was tabbed the GNAC Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. "I think the steals and the defensive rebounds really got us going tonight."
The Seawolves also outscored the Vikings 38-12 in the paint and 25-3 off turnovers as they avenged last year's 75-60 GNAC semifinals loss and improved to 7-1 against Western in GNAC Tournament games.
UAA is chasing its seventh GNAC Tournament title and sixth regular-season/tourney 'double' when it returns to the same floor Saturday. Find links to both live video and stats at GoSeawolves.com or gnacsports.com.
