Box Score Box score, play-by-play SEATTLE – Trying to latch onto some kind of silver lining on Saturday night,
Julie Heisey found it in about the only place she could.
On the calendar.
Jessica Madison scored 22 points and was one of four Alaska Anchorage players in double figures as the Seawolves soundly beat Seattle Pacific in a game between unbeaten, nationally ranked women's basketball teams in Brougham Pavilion, 85-58
The high-octane, No. 18 Seawolves (7-0, 2-0 GNAC) scored the first seven points of the game and led the entire way. That included a 14-point advantage at halftime and a 33-point bulge late in the game.
"The bottom line is, I'm very disappointed with our effort," 10
th-year SPU head coach Heisey said. "If we have weaknesses, I'm glad we find out now, because it's December and we have a lot of time to work on it."
Against an Anchorage team that was allowing just 49.8 points per game (the fifth-lowest total in NCAA Division II), No. 23-ranked Seattle Pacific (6-1, 1-1 GNAC) wasn't able to get anyone into double-figure scoring.
Aubree Callen,
Betsy Kingma, and Stacey Lukasiweicz had nine points apiece for the Falcons, whose undefeated start was halted by Anchorage for the second season in a row. Last year, SPU was 7-0 before falling to UAA in Alaska.
"Hats off to Anchorage," Heisey said. "Even when they were up by 30, they were playing like they were down by 30. They played hard, and they took us out of what we wanted to do. They had three girls, sometimes five girls all rebounding at the same time."
After the Seawolves sprinted to a 7-0 lead, Seattle Pacific answered with a 5-0 run to get within two. That was as close as the Falcons ever came. Alaska Anchorage pushed it to 22-10 with 12:28 left in the first half and maintained a double-digit margin to the end of the game.
UAA's swarming defense often double-teamed the Falcons all over the court. The Seawolves forced Seattle Pacific into a season-high 25 turnovers, leading to 23 Anchorage points.
That same defense also limited the Falcons to their coldest shooting performance of the year at 30.2 percent (16 of 53) after two consecutive games of better than 50 percent. Only five times in the entire game did SPU score on back-to-back possessions.
"Even though we were prepared, we really struggled with their pressure," Heisey said.
SPU still was within striking distance early in the second half, down just 13 at 49-36 after a 3-pointer by senior guard Kingma (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport HS). But during the next five minutes, the Seawolves went on a 12-3 run for a 22-point lead that effectively sealed the deal.
With academic finals coming up, the Falcons don't play again until next Saturday at 2:00 p.m. when they play host to Northwest University of Kirkland in in a non-conference contest.
"I think we're a good team. But tonight we didn't do the little things right," Heisey said. "You have to rebound (UAA had a 43-35 advantage), and you have to keep them out of the paint (a 44-12 scoring margin for the Seawolves). You have to slow them down, and you can't turn the ball over.
"You fail forward," she added. "We have three days off and get lots of time to think about it. Everything is fixable."
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALLSaturday, December 6, 2014Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash. (No. 18) Alaska Anchorage 85, (No. 23) Seattle Pacific 58 ALASKA ANCHORAGE (7-0, 2-0 GNAC)Megan Mullings 6-10 2-3 14, Leah Bonner 2-8 4-5 8, Alli Madison 5-9 2-2 14, Kiki Robertson 3-5 0-0 6, Jessica Madison 8-16 2-2 22, Adriana Dent 2-6 0-1 4, Jenna Buchanan 4-7 0-0 10, KeKe Wright 2-7 3-4 7., Jerica Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Sierra Afoa 0-2 0-00. Totals 32-70 13-17 85.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (6-1, 1-1 GNAC)Hannah Rodrigues 2-7 3-7 7,
Molly Grager 1-3 2-2 4,
Suzanna Ohlsen 1-6 1-2 4,
Aubree Callen 2-7 4-4 9,
Betsy Kingma 3-7 0-0 9,
Stacey Lukasiewicz 4-8 0-0 9,
Rachel Shim 0-0 0-0 0,
Caitlin Heinly 0-0 0-0 0,
Lindsay Lee 0-0 0-0 0,
Maddey Pflaumer 2-6 1-3 5,
Courtney Hollander 1-4 6-8 8,
Erica Pagano 0-2 1-2 1,
Jordan McPhee 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 16-53 20-31 58.
Alaska Anchorage 47 38 -- 85Seattle Pacific 33 25 -- 58 3-point goals – UAA 8-19 (Bonner 0-2, A. Madison 2-2, J. Madison 4-10, Dent 0-1, Buchanan 2-4), SPU 6-16 (Rodridgues 0-2, Ohlsen 1-3, Callen 1-1, Kingma 3-7, Lukasiewicz 1-1, McPhee 0-2).
Fouled out – SPU: Rodrigues.
Rebounds – UAA 43 (Bonner 12), SPU 35 (Hollander 7).
Assists – UAA 14 (Robrtson 3, J. Madison 3), SPU 14 (Ohlsen 3, McPhee 3).
Turnovers – UAA 18, SPU 25.
Total fouls – UAA 28, SPU 18.
Technical fouls – None.
Attendance – 248.
Records – Seattle Pacific 6-1, 1-1 GNAC. Alaska Anchorage 7-0, 2-0 GNAC.
Next game – Northwest University at Seattle Pacific
Brougham Pavilion
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2:00 p.m.
