Box score, play-by-play (HTML)
 
SEATTLE – They kept coming close against Alaska Anchorage.
 
A nine-point halftime lead at home last year … before falling short. Then a big comeback in the conference tournament … before falling short.
 
On Saturday night in Brougham Pavilion, the Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't fall short. For that matter …
 
… they never even fell behind.
 
Rachel Shim put career highs of 23 points and eight rebounds into the book, and SPU led from wire to wire to beat No. 4-ranked Anchorage in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game, 66-48.
 
The victory for the Falcons (14-3, 8-2 GNAC) was their first against the Seawolves (16-2, 9-1 GNAC) since Feb. 2, 2012, when all of the current players were still in high school. On that night, Anchorage came to town ranked No. 8, but Seattle Pacific prevailed, 67-62.
 
The 11 games since all went UAA's way.
 
Fifth-year senior guard Shim hit 8 of 13 from the floor, including 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line. She beat her previous career bests of 17 points, set last Feb. 11 against Simon Fraser, and six rebounds, which she achieved twice, most recently on Dec. 9 against Saint Martin's.

 

Shim is one of six active seniors who finally put a tally mark into their personal win columns versus the team that has won three straight regular-season and GNAC Tournament titles.
 
"Honestly, I just wanted this win really bad," Shim said. "I knew what it was going to take was just be really aggressive."
 
Coach Julie Heisey has had some success against Anchorage in her 12-plus seasons at the helm, winning 11 of 29 games coming into Saturday. But Ryan McCarthy had guided his team to those 11 straight wins since he took over prior to the 2012-13 season.
 
"Ryan and Anchorage have set the standard in our conference really high. So to get a victory over them is a big deal," Heisey said. "They play hard and make you do things that you don't want to do.
 
"But like I told the kids I've coached in 700 or 800 games (644 as a head coach, 138 as an assistant at Southern Nazarene in Oklahoma), and they've only got 15 games left. So it's more important that they take advantage of every opportunity. I'm happy for them, and I'm happy for our coaching staff and the alumni, too. … It has been a long time."
 
Junior guard Riley Evans came off the bench for a career-high 13 points – her first college game in double figures. She hit 4 of 6, including 3 of 4 from downtown. Senior forward Courtney Hollander added 11 points and eight boards.
 
The last time Anchorage was kept below 50 points was March 5, 2014 at the GNAC Tournament.
 
That was 122 games ago.
 




"We're a great defensive team," Heisey said. "I knew we could defend. But I didn't know we could defend to the point of (forcing the Seawolves) into 19 turnovers and (limiting them to 26 percent from the field (14 of 53). I give our kids credit and I give my assistant coach Mike Simonson credit – he did an amazing job scouting, and he prepared us very well."
 
Seattle Pacific scored the first four points of the game on lay-ins by Lindsay Lee and Hollander. The closest the Seawolves came was one – and that was at 4-3 on a trey by Hannah Wandersee with 8:27 to go in the opening quarter.. A 16-12 lead at the end of that quarter ballooned to 10 at 31-21 late in the second before the Falcons took a 33-28 lead into halftime.
 
SPU pushed it to as many as 11 in the third at 44-33. Then, up by just five at 47-42 entering the final 10 minutes, the Falcons did not allow Anchorage a fourth-quarter field goal. The only points for the Seawolves were six free throws, and the first of those didn't come until 4:44 remained in the game, by which time Seattle Pacific was up by 13.
 
"It feels really good to get a win over a team that has this good of a reputation," Hollander said. "It just goes to prove that we can do really good things this year. Holding them to 48 points puts a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific now has five straight wins in concluding the first half of the 20-game conference schedule.
-- The Falcons not only handed Alaska Anchorage its first GNAC loss of the season, it halted three other lengthy win streaks that the Seawolves had against conference opponents: 33 straight overall (including the GNAC Tournament), 29 straight in the regular season and 23 in a row on the road.
--SPU dominated the boards 46-30. Of those, 15 came at the offensive end, leading to 12 second-chance points.
-- Shim added one assist, two steals – and her first blocked shot of the season.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons play their next four games on the road, starting on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Saint Martin's.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 66, (No. 4) Alaska Anchorage 48
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (16-2, 9-1 GNAC)
Yazmeen Goo 1-5 1-2 3, Shelby Cloninger 4-10 1—1 13, Hannah Wandersee 2-5 7-10 12, Tara Thompsn 2-7 0-0 5, Kian McNair 2-4 3-4 7, Nicole Pinckney 0-1 0-0 0, Rodericka Ware 1-8 0-0 2, Sala Langi 1-6 0-0 3, Kaitlyn Hurley 0-2 0-0 0, Tennae Voliva 0-0 1-2 1, Sydni Stallworth 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 14-53 13-19 48.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (14-3, 8-2 GNAC)
Jordan McPhee 1-7 7-10 9, Courtney Hollander 5-8 0-0 11, Julia Haining 0-5 0-0 0, Rachel Shim 8-13 2-2 23, Lindsay Lee 2-7 0-0 4, Riley Evans 4-6 2-2 13, Jaylee Alber t0-2 0-0 0, Hailee Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Pagano 2-7 2-2 6. Totals 22-55 1-316 66.
 
Alaska Anchorage               12           16           14             6           -- 48
Seattle Pacific                     16           17           14           16           -- 66
 
3-point goals – UAA 7-24 (Goo 0-1, Cloninger 4-8, Wandersee 1-1, Thompson 1-4, McNair 0-2, Pinckney 0-1, Ware 0-4, Langi 1-1, Hurley 0-1, Stallworth 0-1), SPU 9-20 (Hollander 1-3, Shim 4-5, Lee 0-4, Evans 3-4, Albert 0-2, Pagano 0-1). Fouled out – SPU: Haining. Rebounds – UAA 30 (Cloninger 9), SPU 45 (Hollander 8, Shim 8). Assists – UAA 9 (Goo 3), SPU 17 (Lee 4). Turnovers – UAA 19, SPU 22. Total fouls – UAA 22, SPU 18. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 306.
 
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's
Tuesday, Jan. 23     7:00 p.m.
Marcus Pavilion / Lacey, Wash.