Box score, play-by-play
 
ANCHORAGE – They shot better, had more rebounds, and put 82 points on the scoreboard. Most nights, that wins games handily.
 
Thursday wasn't one of those nights for the Seattle Pacific Falcons.
 
Katie Benson scored 21 points and was one of four SPU players in double figures, but Sasha King pumped in 25 for Alaska Anchorage, leading the Seawolves to a 93-82 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball victory in the Wells Fargo Center.
 
Junior forward Benson (Snohomish, Wash. / Snohomish HS) also had eight rebounds for the Falcons (12-8, 6-6 GNAC). Junior guard Mechela Barnes (Tacoma, Wash. / Bellarmine Prep HS) added 14 points, sophomore guard Suzanna Ohlsen (Monroe, Wash. / Monroe HS) had 13, and junior guard Aubree Callen (Jerome, Idaho) chipped in 10, along with a career-high nine assists.
 
Senior guard Rachel Murray (Eglington, Australia) grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds for Seattle Pacific, which owned a 37-28 advantage on the boards – the 17th time in 20 games this season it has had more than the opponent.
 
But Anchorage converted 23 Falcons turnovers into 23 points.
 
“We're doing a lot of the right things, but there's so much parity in this conference that you can't make mistakes,” coach Julie Heisey said. “You have to do things right on every possession. We gave up some wide-open 3s, and that just killed us. You have to give credit to Anchorage – they hit shots.
 
“I thought we had momentum going our way. We did a lot of things really well. We just weren't able to close.”
 
The Falcons play at Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
 
SPU had a 63-57 lead midway through the second half on Thursday before Alaska Anchorage (11-9, 5-7 GNAC) tied it on back-to-back 3-pointers, and eventually went up, 76-71. The Falcons cut it to one at 76-75 with 3:19 left, but the Seawolves finished the game on a 17-6 scoring run to put it away.
 
Alaska Anchorage shot 46.8 percent for the game, hitting 29 of 62. That included 11 field goals from behind the 3-point arc, with back-to-back makes by Jenna Buchanan and Kylie Burns wiping out Seattle Pacific's 63-57 lead, then another back-to-back set – first by Burns, then by Buchanan – starting the game-clinching run. UAA also was nearly perfect from the foul line, draining 24 of 28.
 
The Falcons matched the Seawolves with 29 field goals and finished with an even better percentage of 48.3 (29 of 60). But they hit four fewer treys (7 of 24) and seven fewer free throws (17 of 22).
 
“You score 82 points, shoot 48 percent and out-rebound an opponent, you should win,” Heisey said. “That's twice now that Anchorage has played very well against us. They hit 22 treys (combined) in the two games we played. Right now, we just have to persevere, find a way to keep building on the good, and find a way to reduce our mistakes.”
 
Murray's 10 boards beat her old high of eight, which she had set twice. Callen's nine assists were two more than her previous high.
 
Until Anchorage went up 89-78 on a pair of free throws with 37.4 seconds remaining, the lead was single digits all night for both sides except for a few seconds during the first half when the Seawolves were ahead 44-34. SPU cut that to 44-38 by halftime, getting the final two points on a coast-to-coast driving lay-in by Ohlsen that snuggled in at the buzzer.
 
Down 56-51, the Falcons used a 12-1 burst, including a sting of 10 straight points, to turn a 57-53 deficit into the 63-57 lead with 9:54 left.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wells Fargo Center / Anchorage, Alaska
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE 93, SEATTLE PACIFIC 82
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (12-8, 6-6 GNAC)
Teng 0-0 2-2 2, Ohlsen 6-14 0-0 13, Callen 2-8 4-4 10, Lasconia 2-3 0-0 4, Pflaumer 2-3 -00 4, Murray 1-2 5-6 8, Barnes 5-8 3-4 14, Benson 8-18 3-5 21, Stephens 1-1 0-0 2, Butler 2-3 0-1 4. Totals 29-60 17-22 82.
 
ALASKA ANCHORAGE (11-9, 5-7 GNAC)        
Hutchins 1-1 0-0 3, Buchanan 5-7 0-0 14, King 8-22 6-8 25, Martin 1-2 4-4 7, Horn 5-12 6-6 16, J. Madison 3-6 0-0 6, Burns 6-12 89-10 22. Totals 29-62 24-28 93.
 
Seattle Pacific                     38           44           -- 82
Alaska Anchorage             44           49           -- 93
 
3-point goals – SPU 7-24 (Ohlsen 1-7, Callen 2-6, Lasconia 0-1, Murray 1-2, Barnes 1-3, Benson 2-5), UAA 11-26 (Hutchins 1-1, Buchanan 4-5, King 3-7, Martin 1-2, Horn 0-2, J. Madison 0-3, Burns 2-6. Fouled out – SPU: Callen. UAA: Horn. Rebounds – SPU 37 (Murray 10), UAA 28 (Burns 8) Assists – SPU 18 (Callen 9), UAA 19 (King 9). Turnovers – SPU 23, UAA 12. Total fouls – SPU 24, UAA 19. Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 568.
 
Next game – Seattle Pacific at Alaska Fairbanks, Saturday, 4:00 p.m. PST.