Box Score ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The double guard duo of freshman
Victoria Milton (Lansing, Mich./Business Administration) and junior
Benissa Bulaya (Sacramento, Calif./Communication) led the Alaska women's basketball team Saturday with 15 and 13 points, respectively, but a second-half shooting improvement by Alaska was still not enough to take down the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's top scoring offense, as Alaska Anchorage won 88-68 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The Nanooks (9-13, 3-11 GNAC) shot 28.1 percent (9 for 32) in the first half to the Seawolves' 50.0 percent (16 for 32), leading UAA (16-6, 9-5 GNAC) to a 10-point, 41-31 halftime lead.
Alaska came out firing in the second, shooting 43.3 percent for the half and pulling within three points 2 minutes, 42 seconds into the stanza on a 9-2 run that was all Milton and Bulaya. Bulaya had five points and Milton had the other four during the run, and Bulaya assisted on both of Milton's baskets.
But that was as close as the Nanooks would get. Alaska Anchorage went back up by 10 1:54 later and would lead by double digits from the 11:10 mark on.
Four Seawolves scored in double figures with Jenna Buchanan's 19 points leading the game. Alli Madison had 12 points and a game-high six assists. Coming off the bench, Jessica Madison had 11 and Keke Wright had 10 for Alaska Anchorage.
The Nanooks were outshot (49.3 percent to 35.5 percent), outrebounded (43-34) and doubled up in the paint 44-20 by the Seawolves, but they won the battle beyond the arc, outshooting UAA 37.5 percent to 31.3 percent from 3-point range.
It was the fifth time in the last six games Alaska has shot over 30 percent from downtown. The team had accomplished that feat only five times in its first 16 games of this season.
Six different Nanooks hit 3-pointers Saturday. Freshman guard
Autumn Childers (Dewey, Ariz./Civil Engineering) led the team with three treys and had 11 points off the bench for her first double-digit performance since Jan. 11.
Alaska held an early lead, going up by as many as five with 11:09 to play before halftime. Alaska Anchorage erased that deficit with an 11-2 run that spanned 2:27 and gave them a 24-20 advantage and a lead they would not again surrender.
The Nanooks cut it back down to a one-point game at 26-25 on a 3-pointer from junior guard
Kelly Logue (Fair Oaks, Calif./Journalism), but UAA again pulled away with a 13-4 run that put it up by double digits with 1:53 to play in the half.
Saturday's loss officially eliminated Alaska from postseason contention, dropping them five games behind the sixth and final GNAC Tournament qualifying spot with four to play.
Alaska plays its final home games of the season next week with first games of doubleheaders with the men's team on Thursday and Saturday. The Nanooks face Western Washington at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, then take on Simon Fraser at 5:15 p.m. Saturday.
