Alaska News

A winning history

A look back at UAA's 1990 Northern Lights Invitational championship and its five Shootout titles, with comments from senior guard Nikki Aden about the three Shootout titles she's had a share of:

1990 Northern Lights Invitational

UAA 77, Boise State 76 (first round)

UAA 87, Wake Forest 84 (semifinal)

UAA 88, South Alabama State 87 (championship)

Championship: Greta Fadness sinks the first of two free throws with 1 second left.

2003 Shootout

ADVERTISEMENT

UAA 61, St. Mary's 59 (first round)

UAA 61, Clemson 58 (championship)

Championship: Amber Nasby hits the go-ahead jumper with 24 seconds left to make it 59-58. Freshman Whitney Leman seals it with two free throws with 5.2 seconds left.

2006 Shootout

UAA 62, Air Force 60 (first round)

UAA 72, Riverside 67 (championship)

Championship: With her team up by a point with less than two minutes to go, UAA's Jennifer Salazar drives for a layup to make it 65-62, and the Seawolves drill 7 of 10 free throws after that to keep Riverside at bay.

2007 Shootout

UAA 80, Cleveland State 72 OT (first round)

UAA 52, Santa Clara 50 (championship)

Championship: Rebecca Kielpinski takes an interior pass from Jennifer Salazar and hits the winning layup with four seconds left.

Aden's take: Simply, you could cut the tension with a knife. As a player, you want to be confident that you can win but the suspense of "can we pull this out?" was agonizing. Those of us on the bench were so uneasy we were clenching each other's hands and when (Kielpinski) made the bucket, I remember the entire bench erupting in excitement. I think that was the highest I have ever jumped!

2008 Shootout

UAA 77, Cal State-Northridge 55 (first round)

UAA 58, Syracuse 57 (championship)

Championship: Trailing by one with 2 seconds left, Syracuse steps out of bounds while grabbing an offensive rebound. The Orange knock away UAA's first inbounds pass, but on UAA's second try, Rebecca Kielpinski successfully gets the ball to teammate Nicci Miller with 1.7 seconds left and the Seawolves hang on. Earlier, UAA took a 54-50 lead on back-to-back steals that Kiki Taylor turned into layups.

Aden's take: Again, there was that uneasy feeling of uncertainty. We obviously had momentum from Kiki's steals but with the game on the line and only one opportunity to make something happen, the unknown is nerve-racking. When the outcome was clear, I was so excited that we had defeated such a big name in basketball and of course it was sweet to say we won it two years in a row.

ADVERTISEMENT

2009 Shootout

UAA 89, Coastal Carolina 47 (first round)

UAA 49, Cincinnati 48 (championship)

Championship: Kiki Taylor misses her first free throw but makes her second to score the winning point with 77 seconds remaining. Cincinnati misses two shots after that, and Taylor gets both rebounds. Earlier, Aden missed a 3-pointer that led to Hanna Johansson's putback and a 48-46 UAA lead.

Aden's take: In those final minutes I remember thinking, "We are not going to lose this." Taking a late 3-pointer and missing is risky and thinking back, maybe it wasn't the best decision. But as a team, you have trust in your teammates, and taking that shot, I knew if I missed I trusted my teammates would battle to get the rebound, and we did. The final possessions came down to defense and my role in those final seconds depended largely on that. Like previous years, we were anxious for the final outcome, but I think we had more confidence that we had this one. I do remember thinking, another close one, but that's why we play. It's an indescribable feeling that you can only get through competition.

-- Anchorage Daily News

ADVERTISEMENT