Though players showed signs of rust from a 17-day layoff, the UAA women's basketball team returned to action with a dominating victory Sunday night.
The Seawolves, ranked fourth in the nation, schooled Mansfield University of Pennsylvania 80-45 in a nonconference game at the Wells Fargo Sports Center, running their record to 8-1 and their winning streak to six.
The Seawolves shot 54.1 percent from the field, netting 33 of 61 attempts for their best shooting performance of the season by 9 percentage points. They collected twice as many rebounds (43) as the Mountaineers (21), and they got offensive help from a variety of sources, with 10 players scoring.
The performance wasn't nearly as authoritative as it sounds, though.
Coach Tim Moser said he wondered how the long break between last month's Great Alaska Shootout and this week's four nonconference games would affect his team, and he got part .
"I was really worried about it," he said. "There's no doubt it was ugly for awhile.
"It's the same thing -- we need to take better care of the ball."
UAA was careless with the ball, committing 20 turnovers, and Moser thought the Seawolves suffered lapses both offensively and defensively.
"Offensively, we stood around quite a bit. We've gotta get Rebecca involved more," he said, referring to Rebecca Kielpinski, UAA's 6-foot-2 center who only took six shots from the field Sunday and finished with eight points.
Moser was even more disturbed by UAA's defense. Although the Mountaineers didn't make many shots, hitting just 13 of 42, UAA gave them quality scoring opportunities.
"They had open looks," Moser said. "They just didn't make them. They missed a lot of shots that were uncontested."
Mansfield (3-3) has a number of players who can hit the three, as the Mountaineers showed in the second half when they buried 5 of 12 shots from 3-point range to keep UAA from winning by an even bigger margin.
Tamar Gruwell played the role of sharpshooter for UAA, hitting four of her eight attempts from 3-point range for 12 points. Nicci Miller led all scorers with 14 points, and freshman Hanna Johansson was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field for 10 points, her first double-figure game as a Seawolf. Kielpinski had eight points and a game-high nine rebounds, and Elisha Harris dished out a career-high five assists, all of them in the first half.
MANSFIELD (45)
Brooks 2-6 4-5 9; Espigh 2-5 2-2 7; Correll 3-9 1-2 7; Moore 2-8 1-3 6; Mallory Hafer 2-5 0-0 6; Atallah 1-4 0-0 3; McBroom 1-1 0-2 3; Pender 0-0 1-2 1; Pollack 0-0 1-2 1; Morgan Hafer 0-0 1-2 1; E. Akins 0-0 1-2 1; Meredith Hafer 0-4 0-0 0; Lacey 0-0 0-0 0; K. Akins 0-0 0-0 0; Tracy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-42 12-22 45.
UAA (80)
Miller 5-7 2-2 14; Gruwell 4-9 0-0 12; Johansson 5-5 0-0 10; Aden 4-7 0-0 9; Kielpinski 3-6 2-6 8; Taylor 3-3 1-1 7; Harris 3-10 0-0 7; Wohlers 3-4 0-0 6; Basova 2-5 0-0 5; Collins 1-1 0-0 2; Dekel 0-1 0-0 0; Burnett 0-1 0-0 0; Thiel 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 5-9 80.
3-point goals -- Mansfield 7-24 (Mallory Hafer 2-4; Atallah 1-3; Brooks 1-3; Moore 1-4; Espigh 1-3; McBroom 1-1; Meredith Hafer 0-4; Correll 0-2), UAA 9-22 (Gruwell 4-8; Miller 2-2; Basova 1-2; Aden 1-3; Harris 1-4; Dekel 0-1; Burnett 0-1; Thiel 0-1). Fouled out -- none. Rebounds -- Mansfield 21 (Brooks 8), UAA 43 (Kielpinski 9). Assists -- Mansfield 9 (Correll 3), UAA 22 (Harris 5). Total fouls -- Mansfield 9, UAA 20. A -- 365.
Daily News staff