UAA women keep home streak alive

The Seawolves won their 22nd straight game at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex by swamping BYU-Hawaii 67-37 Friday in the AT&T Classic, using relentless defense to hold BYU to 16 first-half points and 28 percent field goal shooting.

For fourth-year coach Tim Moser, the win was his 48th in 49 games at the UAA gym, a record stained only by a loss to Seattle Pacific in the 2007-08 season.

But whether Moser and the Seawolves can keep their home-court streak alive going will be tested tonight when UAA meets Grand Canyon, which disposed of UAF 78-58 in Friday's first tournament game.

Grand Canyon is 5-2 and owns a neutral-court victory over Seattle Pacific, which was ranked 14th nationally before losing to the Antelopes.

"They're a really good basketball team," Moser said. "They have one of the best players in the region if not the country (in guard Samantha Murphy) ... They could host the West Region. This will be a great test for us."

UAA didn't get much of a test from BYU, charging to a 15-3 lead and building a 29-16 halftime lead.

As usual, defense made the difference, producing eight steals in the first eight minutes and forcing 28 turnovers in all. For the fifth time this season, the Seawolves held their opponent below 30 percent field goal shooting.

The defensive effort was badly needed, because UAA's shots weren't falling. The Seawolves hit just 23 of 67 field goal attempts, including six of 21 from 3-point range.

"We just need to slow down offensively," Moser said. "We're playing really hard defensively. If we hold people to 37 points, we should win all those game. The last three games we've shot really poorly and still won, even against Cincinnati, so that's a positive."

UAA owned the boards, outrebounding the Seasiders 50-35. Kelsie Gourdin came off the bench to notch a team-high eight rebounds to go along with 12 points and guards Kiki Taylor and Tamar Gruwell each scored 11 points.

BYU got 14 points and nine rebounds from Mahina Gago.

The Seasiders (3-3) meet UAF (1-7) today at 5 p.m.

BYU-HAWAII (37)

Gago 5-12 4-4 14; Hartley 3-8 1-2 7; Romito 2-6 0-1 5; Fenenbock 2-8 1-2 5; Tompkison 0-3 3-7 3; Ika 1-2 0-0 2; Lawson 0-3 1-3 1; Sundin 0-1 0-0 0; Kite 0-1 0-0 0; Drew 0-0 0-0 0; Faka'osi, Losaline 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 13-46 10-21 37.

UAA (67)

Gourdin 5-10 2-3 12; Gruwell 3-11 3-4 11; Taylor 3-7 5-6 11; Herrin 4-7 0-1 9; Aden 3-10 0-0 8; Miller 2-8 2-2 6; Larsen 1-1 0-0 3; Johansson 1-3 0-1 2; Nenbee 0-2 2-2 2; Horn 1-2 0-0 2; Collins 0-1 1-2 1; Wohlers 0-0 0-0 0; McBride 0-4 0-0 0; Stepovich 0-1 0-0 0; Martin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-67 15-21 67.

BYU-Hawaii 16 21 -- 37

UAA 29 38 -- 67

3-point goals -- BYU-Hawaii 1-6 (Romito 1-1; Fenenbock 0-3; Gago 0-2), UAA 6-21 (Aden 2-5; Gruwell 2-7; Larsen 1-1; Herrin 1-2; Nenbee 0-1; Stepovich 0-1; Miller 0-1; Taylor 0-2; Gourdin 0-1). Fouled out -- Ika, McBride. Rebounds -- BYU-Hawaii 35 (Gago, Mahina 9), UAA 50 (Gourdin 8). Assists -- BYU-Hawaii 5, UAA 17 (Taylor 5). Total fouls -- BYU-Hawaii 22, UAA 24. Technical fouls -- Lawson. A -- 373.