ANCHORAGE, Alaska – After an enterprising start, Seattle Pacific committed 28 costly turnovers in a 62-54 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball loss to No. 11-ranked Alaska Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday night.
 
Anna Eddy scored 12 of her 14 points off 3-pointers as the Falcons (3-3, 1-1 GNAC) settled for a split in their conference openers up north.
 
It was the eighth straight loss to the Seawolves going back to 2017-18.
 
"If you split on the road and protect your home court, you're asking for a really good conference season," head coach Mike Simonson said. "We got the job done; we got our split. It's a bummer we didn't get (the win) tonight, but I know this team can improve and will do some damage (when GNAC play resumes in late December)."
 
Vishe' Rabb paced UAA (6-1, 1-1 GNAC) with 14 points and eight rebounds. Ra'Anaa Bey and Anaiah Moore each made four steals as Anchorage pressed and swarmed to double-team, particularly near the lane.
 
Seattle Pacific, which won its GNAC opener at Fairbanks on Thursday, has not put together consecutive wins since Feb. 8 and 10 last season, a home sweep of Saint Martin's and Western Oregon.
 
The Falcons were statistically superior to Anchorage in field goal percentage (.465 to .365) and rebounding (34-27), but could not compensate for having 17 more turnovers (28-11). SPU lost the ball just 15 times at Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, tying a season low.
 
 

"You have to give them credit – they're really good at creating turnovers," Simonson said. "It's hard to mimick in practice. We tried to as much as we could, but they got us to a place where we started coughing it up.

"The first quarter was exactly how we wanted to draw it up. But kudos to Anchorage – they made some adjustments and upped their pressure and took advantage of our poor response to that pressure," he added.
 
It was the most turnovers for Seattle Pacific since committing 29 at Lewis-Clark State in 2021, and Anchorage obliged by scoring 28 points on those extra possessions, most occurring during second and third quarters when it limited the visitors to just 18 points.
 
With top scorer Ashley Alter missing her second straight game with a minor injury, Chiara De Virgilio scored in double-figures again, following her 14 at Fairbanks with 13 in Anchorage. Natalie Hoff had 12 points and six boards.
 
The Seawolves wiped out a seven-point deficit in the second quarter to lead 30-23 at the break. They steadily increased that margin to 12 by late in the third.
 
SPU sliced that in half in the final two minutes, and down by six, had a chance to apply further pressure but lost the ball with 31 seconds to go.
 
Following a solid first quarter, the Falcons fell apart in the second period. A De Virgilio 3-pointer and Hoff drive made it a 20-13 advantage. That soon disappeared as SPU missed eight of its nine shots and committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter. The only basket for the Falcons was a 3 by Eddy from the right corner more than six minutes into the quarter.
 
"We would have won the game if you take away the second quarter," Simonson said. "It's really hard to make in-game adjustments. We didn't survive that second quarter very well. We did make some adjustments at halftime that did help a little bit. But credit to Anchorage – they made a lot of great plays and they were very physical."
 
The Seawolves finally caught fire in the final three minutes of the half with Elaina Mack, Rachel Ingram and Rabb connecting on treys during an 11-0 run as Alaska Anchorage took its first lead and went to the locker room and a 30-23 advantage at the break. SPU got no closer than five during the second half.
 
Driving baseline, Ingram put UAA up 45-33 at the 2:30 mark of the third quarter. That came after the UAA press forced a third 10-second violation.
 
Eddy opened the final quarter by draining a 20-footer from left corner, only to have Anchorage respond with Rabb's two free throws, starting a 6-0 reply for a 53-41 bulge.
 
The Seawolves, rebounding from a loss to Montana State Billings in the conference opener, changed their entire starting five, substituting them out of the game after 90 seconds.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Not sure if this has ever happened before, but it happened on Saturday, as the Falcons had assists on all of their field goals: 20 made shots, 20 assists. "The team really bought into our game plan," coach Mike Simonson said. "We executed well at times, and that shows with our 20 assists. I would hope that next time we play them, we have more than 20 – that's a huge, tall ask, but it just shows our kids bought in on how to attack Alaska Anchorage. I'm impressed with that number."
 

-- Of those 20 assists, redshirt sophomore guard Hunter Beirne logged a career-high eight. That was exactly double her previous high of four, which she set on Thursday night at Fairbanks.
--SPU's four leading scorers on Saturday all shot 50 percent or better from the field. Anna Eddy hit 5 of 10 (4 of 8 from 3-point range), Chiara De Virgilio hit 5 of 8 (1 of 2 downtown), Natalie Hoff drained 4 of 7, and Maya Hoff was 4 of 5.
-- Eddy has played four games against Anchorage and tallied double-digits in three of them: 13 and 21 last season, then 14 on Saturday.

UP NEXT
The Falcons host Lincoln University (Calif.) in their home opener on Thursday night at 5:15 p.m. before returning to the road at Dominican on Dec. 12.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022
Alaska Airlines Center / Anchorage, Ak.
 
(No. 11) Alaska Anchorage 62, Seattle Pacific 54
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (3-3, 1-1 GNAC)
N. Hoff 4-7 4-4 12, M. Hoff 4-5 1-2 9, De Virgilio 5-8 1-2 13, Beirne 1-5 0-0 3, Eddy 5-10 0-0 14, Marlow 0-2 1-2 1, Berry 1-5 0-0 2, Weatherspoon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 7-10 54.
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (6-1, 1-1 GNAC)
Berfield 1-7 2-2 4, Moore 2-6 0-0 4, Bey 1-4 0-0 2, Mack 1-4 0-0 3, Ingram 2-4 0-0 5, Pinckney 0-12 0-0 0, Evans 3-4 4-6 11, Rabb 5-17 2-2 14, Hadjukovich 4-10 2-2 11, Robertson 4-6 0-0 8. Totals 23-63 10-12 62.
 
Seattle Pacific           20         3          15         16        -- 54
Alaska Anchorage     13         17        17        15         -- 62
 
3-point goals – SPU 7-17 (De Virgilio 2-4, Beirne 1-2, Eddy 4-8, Marlow 0-2, Weatherspoon 0-1), UAA 6-21 (Berfield 0-3, Mack 1-3, Ingram 1-2, Pinckney 0-1, Evans 1-1, Rabb 2-6, Hajdukovich 1-5). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – SPU 34 (N. Hoff 6), UAA 27 (Rabb 8). Assists – SPU 20 (Beirne 8), UAA 18 (Moore 6). Turnovers – SPU 28, UAA 11. Technical fouls – None. Total fouls – SPU 13, UAA 16. Attendance – 704.
 
 
Next game
Lincoln (Calif.) at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Dec. 8    5:15 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.