The UAA women's basketball team earned its third straight win Thursday, getting 25 points and nine rebounds from senior Alysa Horn and pulling away down the stretch for a 68-55 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over Central Washington in Ellensburg.
Senior point guard Sasha King posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists for the Seawolves, and junior Kylie Burns, last week's GNAC player of the week, racked 16 points and eight rebounds.
UAA (13-9, 7-7 GNAC) remains in sixth place in the GNAC, one game behind Seattle Pacific, which won at home against second-place Simon Fraser on Thursday. The top six teams make the conference tournament.
Central Washington (9-12, 4-9), led by 18 points from Jasmine Parker, beat UAA last month in Anchorage, but the Wildcats have lost five of their last six.
UAA's play has improved lately with King's return from an ankle injury and the emergence of Burns and freshman Jessica Madison, who finished with 15 points, four rebounds and three steals Thursday.
Horn scored the last bucket of the first half to give UAA a 28-26 lead at the break. The Seawolves shot better than 57 percent from the field in the second half to pull away. They outshot Central Washington, a season-best 50.9 percent to 33.9 percent, for the game. UAA was outrebounded 38-26, but won the turnover battle 21-15.
UAA never surrendered the lead in a contentious second half. Horn buried a 3-pointer to put UAA up 39-32 with 14:10 left to play, but the Wildcats narrowed the lead to 41-39 less than two minutes later. The Seawolves only led 46-45 with 9:06 to play, but that's about when they started to make a move.
A lay-up from Horn, two from Burns, and another from Madison accounted for the bulk of a 10-0 run that ended with Madison hitting a pair of free throws to put UAA up 56-45. The Wildcats pulled to within five points on a jumper from Parker, but that's as close as they got.
King scored UAA's last six points from the free-throw line, her last trip coming amidst protest from the Central Washington bench, which led to a technical foul called on the home team.
The Seawolves will look for a fourth straight win when they visit Northwest Nazarene, ranked No. 22 in the nation, on Saturday.
Reach sports at sports@adn.com or 257-4335.
UAA (68) -- Buchanan 1-4 0-0 2; Burns 8-14 0-0 16; Horn 12-19 0-0 25; King 2-8 6-10 10; Madison 5-9 3-4 15; Hutchins 0-0 0-0 0; Martin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-55 9-14 68.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON -- Van Dyke 4-15 1-1 10; Parker 7-12 4-4 18; Moser 1-3 0-0 2; Stillar 0-6 0-0 0; Shine 0-2 0-0 0; Schmitt 0-3 2-2 2; Burke 4-10 0-0 11; Johnson 5-11 0-0 11; Fettig 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 21-62 8-9 55.
3-point field goals -- UAA 3-15 (Buchanan 0-1; Burns 0-3; Horn 1-3; King 0-4; Madison 2-3; Martin 0-1); CWU 5-28 (Van Dyke 1-9; Stillar 0-5; Shine 0-1; Schmitt 0-2; Burke 3-7; Johnson 1-4). Rebounds -- UAA 26 (Horn 9); CWU 38 (Van Dyke 8). Total fouls -- UAA 10; CWU 17. Fouled out -- Stillar (CWU). Technical fouls -- CWU, team. Assists -- UAA 18 (King, 10); CWU 9 (Schmitt 6). Turnovers -- UAA 15 (Horn 5); CWU 21 (Parker 5). Blocks -- UAA 1 (Horn); CWU 3 (three with 1). Steals -- UAA 7 (King, Madison, 3); CWU 5 (Parker 2).
Officials -- Schmidt, Duncan, Mitchell. A -- 110.
UAA 28 40 -- 68
CWU 26 29 -- 55
Anchorage Daily News