Box Score LACEY, Wash. — Free throws made all the difference Saturday.
Saint Martin's went a perfect 17-for-17 from the free-throw line during a 22-3 second-half surge, and
Brooke Paulson hit both of her double-bonus free throws with three seconds left on the clock to help the Saints (14-7, 8-4 GNAC) edge Alaska 67-66 in Great Northwest Basketball women's basketball at Marcus Pavilion.
Two seconds earlier, sophomore guard
Brianna Kirk (Noatak, Alaska/Communication) missed both of her free throw opportunities with the Nanooks (9-12, 3-10 GNAC) leading 66-65. Paulson grabbed the rebound on the second and hit the floor hard after getting fouled by junior guard
Kelly Logue (Fair Oaks, Calif./Journalism).
Chelsea Haskey led a balanced Saints attack with 15 points and seven rebounds while
Krista Stabler hit all 10 of her free throws off the bench to finish with 14 points.
Jordyn Richardson also had 13 off the bench in the win.
The Nanooks also saw balanced scoring, led by freshman guard
Victoria Milton (Lansing, Mich./Business Administration), who tied Haskey with a game-high 15 points. Logue had 13 points, six boards and three steals while freshman forward
Kaillee Skjold (Kasilof, Alaska/Emergency Management) finished with 11 points.
Alaska shot 42 percent (27-64) for the game while limiting SMU to 33 percent (14-42) shooting. Free throws proved to be the dagger for the Nanooks as they went just 7-for-14 while the Saints spent a lot of time at the stripe, converting 37 on 46 tries (80.4%).
SMU edged the rebounding war 39-25 but Alaska had a 10-8 advantage on the offensive glass to outscore the hosts 9-5. The 'Nooks also had a 10-0 lead in transition points and 26-20 off turnovers in a game which saw 10 lead changes and five ties.
Alaska led 41-28 with less than 17 minutes remaining but another second-half dry spell allowed for SMU to gain the lead. After taking a 13-point lead with 17:01 remaining, Saint Martin's scored 22 of the game's next 25 points as the 'Nooks were held without a made field goal for 8:19 (0-11 FG).
A Skjold layup with 8:42 left ended the SMU run trimming the deficit to 50-46. The following possession, Kirk drained a three to make it 51-49 SMU. Late in regulation and down by two, Kirk hit another trey to give Alaska a 65-64 lead with 1:50 to go.
With seven seconds left and SMU down 65-64,
Megan Wiedeman hit one of two from the line to make it a single-point game. Alaska turned it over on the inbounds play but SMU repeated Alaska's miscue on its attempt, putting Kirk on the line with only a few ticks remaining.
