SEATTLE – All of the shots that were going in the hoop for the Seattle Pacific Falcons during the first three quarters stopped going in during the fourth.
 
Anna Eddy scored a career-high 21 points – her first game in the 20s – but SPU missed its last six shots of the game and scored just four points – all on free throws – in the final 6 minutes, 39 seconds as No. 19 Alaska Anchorage completed a double-digit comeback for a 69-61 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory.
 
Sunday's game in Brougham Pavilion was the make-up for the Dec. 30 contest in Anchorage that was postponed for health and safety reasons.
 
UAA (12-4, 5-3 GNAC) swept the back-to-back weekend set from Seattle Pacific (8-10, 4-4 GNAC). On Saturday, the Seawolves prevailed in overtime, 60-58.
 
"I really want to applaud our effort because we did a really great of learning from our mistakes from (Saturday)," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We improved offensively tremendously. I think with us playing so hard, as we got down the stretch, it definitely affected our execution on some things. We didn't score well and we didn't defend well during the fourth quarter. I think that's from the stress and longevity of these two games – it finally caught up with us."
 
The Falcons had things going mostly their way through the first half and into the third quarter They went on a 14-0 run in the first period to turn an 8-4 deficit into an 18-8 lead. Sophomore guard Eddy and senior guard Kaprice Boston, who finished with 13 points, provided five points apiece, SPU hit 9 of 15 from the field during the opening 10 minutes.
 
The lead grew to as many as 13 early in the second quarter at 26-13, and was still nine at halftime, 37-28.
 
After Natalie Hoff scored the opening basket of the third quarter for a 39-28 advantage, Anchorage came to life, ringing up eight straight points. SPU answered with an 11-4 run to build one more double-digit lead at 50-40 with 4:31 left in the period.
 
SPU shot a blistering 55 percent through the first 30 minutes, draining 22 of 40. That included 33 percent from 3-point range (5 of 15).
 
 

"If you look at the first three quarters, we were lights-out with our shots," Simonson said. "And the points in the paint (30 through three), to me, that's the most telling stat. We got such great looks that we were scoring at the rim, and that's very difficult to do against Alaska Anchorage."
 
The Seawolves narrowed it to 52-48 entering the fourth quarter. Jazzpher Evans drained a 3-pointer, bringing them within one at 52-51. A Schuyler Berry lay-in off a feed from Eddy, and then an Eddy 3-pointer put SPU back in front by six at 57-51 with 6:39 remaining.
 
It was still 59-55 at the 5:23 mark. But from there, UAA put 13 straight points on the board as the Falcons went scoreless for 4 minutes, 56 seconds. Of those 13, six came off SPU turnovers, and Anchorage had 10 points off turnovers through the entire quarter.
 
By the time Hoff ended the dry spell on a pair of free throws with 27 seconds left, Anchorage was up by nine.
 
"We definitely ran out of gas. However, we don't want to make excuses," Simonson said. "We had the opportunity to win the game, and we had the lead. When you're right in the game with five minutes to go, that's where you want to be. Tough teams pull it out, and I think we're a tough team. But we can still get tougher."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Although they hit just 2 of 9 from the field during the fourth, the Falcons still wound up with their best shooting day of the season at 49 percent (24 of 49). Anchorage finished at 40.7 percent (24 of 59). In addition to matching totals of 24 makes, both teams hit six treys.
-- So as was the case on Saturday, free throw shooting made the difference. Anchorage hit 20 of 27 in that game, including 14 of 18 through the fourth quarter and overtime when they didn't make any field goals. Seattle Pacific was 12 of 18. On Sunday. the Seawolves made more than twice as many as the Falcons even attempted. UAA was 15 of 18 at the line; SPU was 7 of 7, with 5 of 5 from Kaprice Boston.
-- Anna Eddy was in the career-high scoring zone for three straight games. She set a new high of 13 last Thursday against Alaska Fairbanks, matched that on Saturday against Anchorage, then topped it with Sunday's 21. She hit 8 of 13 from the field to go along with two rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
-- Boston's 13 points pushed her past 400 for her career. She now has 408. Her five rebounds put her at 299.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons are on the road this week, visiting Western Washington in Bellingham on Thursday and Simon Fraser in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday. Both contests tip off at 7:00 p.m.
 
 
RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 8-10, 4-4 GNAC
Alaska Anchorage 12-4, 5-3 GNAC