Seawolves women clobber Vikings in basketball

Don't make the Seawolves mad.

Coming off their first loss since November, the eighth-ranked Seawolves bounced back with a vengeance Saturday night in Bellingham, Wash., crushing Western Washington 75-55 in a battle for first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The game came two days after a surprising 77-69 loss at Simon Fraser, which shot out the lights to snap UAA's 10-game winning streak.

But as was the case the last time the Seawolves experienced defeat, the next opponent on their schedule paid for it.

In November, UAA suffered consecutive losses in the Great Alaska Shootout for the first time since Tim Moser became coach in 2006. The next week the Seawolves traveled to Fairbanks to open the GNAC season and administered a 78-29 spanking to the Nanooks.

This time, they took out their frustration against a Western Washington team that is the league's defending regular-season champions.

The game was a rematch of the GNAC tournament title game, which UAA won 68-67, but this one was never close.

UAA (15-3 overall, 6-1 GNAC) got 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting and six rebounds from senior center Hanna Johansson, 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds from junior forward Alysa Horn, 12 points from junior guard Haley Holmstead and lucky 7s from junior guard Sasha King, who finished with seven points, seven assists and seven steals.

The Vikings (11-4, 5-2) were led by 11 points and seven rebounds from center Britt Harris. But they had no answer for UAA's defensive effort, which came up with 14 steals and helped forced many of Western Washington's 25 turnovers.

The Seawolves return home for four straight conference games beginning Thursday night at 7 with a contest against Western Oregon at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.

UAA (75) -- Ryder 2-4 0-0 5, Robison 3-3 1-2 7, Johansson 8-11 2-6 18, Holmstead 5-10 2-2 12, King 3-6 0-2 7, Mathews 2-7 2-2 6, Madison 0-1 0-0 0, Richens 0-0 0-0 0, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Seale 0-1 0-0 0, Horn 5-10 2-2 14, Burns 2-6 00-0 6. Totals 30-59 9-16 75.

WESTERN WASHINGTON (55) -- Ramstead 0-2 0-0 0, Donaldson 2-3 0-0 4, Harris 4-7 3-6 11, Waltrip 3-7 4-4 10, Schramm 3-12 0-0 8, Williams 3-5 4-4 10, Feeney 0-0 0-0 0, Colard 1-3 0-0 3, Hill 0-1 0-0 0, White 0-1 0-0 0, Bernsen 3-7 3-4 9. Totals 19-48 14-18 55.

UAA 46 29 -- 75

Western Washington 28 27 -- 55

3-point goals -- UAA 6-17 (Ryder 1-3, Holmstead 0-1, King 1-4, Mathews 0-2, Horn 2-2, Burns 2-5), WWU 3-16 (Ramstead 0-1, Donaldson 0-1, Waltrip 0-3, Schramm 2-7, Williams 0-1, Colard 1-3). Rebounds -- UAA 35 (Horn 8), WWU 29 (Harris 7). Total fouls -- UAA 17, WWU 15. Fouled out -- none. Assists -- UAA 14 (King 7), WWU 11 (Waltrip 3). Turnovers -- UAA 18 (Johansson 5, Holmstead 5), WWU 25 (Waltrip 7). Steals -- UAA 14 (King 7), WWU 6 (Schramm 3). Blocked shots -- UAA 2, WWU 2 (Bernson 2). Officials -- Schmidt, Duncan, Smith. A -- 462.