Kiki Robertson, the 5-foot-5 point guard who doubles as a hurricane of energy, runs the show for the UAA women's basketball team. She leads the Seawolves in assists and steals, is their third-leading shooter and scorer and their fourth-leading rebounder.
But when Robertson got into early foul trouble Saturday afternoon, it was her back-up, junior transfer Christina Davis, who steadied the Seawolves and directed an 88-68 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over visiting UAF.
Davis' stats did not leap off the page -- four assists, four points, three rebounds and two steals. Yet the 25 minutes the 5-5 Davis logged were substantially above her average of 16 minutes per game and buoyed the Seawolves (16-6, 9-5 GNAC), who have won two straight games and three of their last four.
"I can't think of a time she hasn't bailed us out,'' said UAA coach Ryan McCarthy. "Same old Christina. She's not going to score a lot of points -- I think of her points as gravy -- but she's going to run the offense and execute, and she's probably our best on-the-ball defender.''
When Robertson picked up her third foul, just 6 minutes, 9 seconds into the game at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex, Davis knew she was going to get more minutes.
"I know my role on this team,'' Davis said. "If Kiki gets in trouble, I have her back, and the whole team's got my back.''
The Seawolves delivered a true team performance. Seven players scored eight points or more, six shot 50 percent or better from the field and six generated three or more assists. UAA delivered 28 assists.
Sophomore Jenna Buchanan continued to torch the Nanooks (9-13, 3-11 GNAC). Saturday, she furnished a game-high 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting that included 3 of 3 shooting from three-point range. Buchanan owns a career scoring average of 10.7 points per game and a career field-goal percentage of 45.7 percent. But in four career games against UAF, her averages are 13.8 ppg and 55.6 percent shooting. Saturday, she also contributed five assists and five rebounds.
UAA's Alli Madison added 12 points and six assists, Jessica Madison contributed 11 points and three assists and KeKe Wright chipped in 10 points and four boards. Reliable Kylie Burns came up with nine points and eight rebounds, and Robertson, who picked up her fourth foul with 14 minutes left, had eight points and five assists in just 16 minutes.
That depth offset 15 points from UAF's Victoria Milton, who also had four assists and two steals but committed eight turnovers. Benissa Bulaya added 13 points and three steals, Autumn Childers buried three 3-pointers and 11 points and Brianna Kirk grabbed eight rebounds.
UAA, which led 41-31 at halftime, owned an eight-point cushion when the game turned 61/2 minutes into the second half. A Nanooks foul against UAA's Alysha Devine was complicated when Devine received a technical foul and McCarthy got one on top of that.
Devine sank both her free throws, but Milton missed the last three of the four technical foul shots and UAF, which received possession of the ball after her shots, promptly turned it over. What could have been a big swing in UAF's favor transformed into a one-point swing for UAA.
From there, the rivalry became a rout. Less than four minutes later, UAA owned a 15-point lead. That quickly ballooned to 20.
That's how the rivalry has gone in recent years. UAA's win Saturday earned it a season sweep of UAF and marked the Seawolves' 14th consecutive victory over the Nanooks.
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog.
UAF (68) -- Wilson 2-8 2-3 6, Skjold 3-7 1-2 9, Milton 5-12 4-8 15, Bulaya 4-5 4-6 13, Logue 1-5 0-1 3, Pichler 0-0 0-0 0, Kirk 1-7 2-2 4, Prestwich 1-6 2-2 5, Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Childers 4-8 0-0 11, Williams 1-2 0-0 2, O'Neal 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-62 15-24 68.
UAA (88) -- A. Madison 5-10 2-3 12, Devine 2-5 0-0 4, Burns 4-6 1-2 9, Buchanan 7-11 2-2 19, Robertson 3-6 2-3 8, Castle 1-3 0-0 3, Davis 2-7 0-0 4, Hutchins 0-1 0-0 0, Wright 3-4 4-4 10, J. Madison 2-7 6-6 11, Craft 4-7 0-2 8. Totals 33-67 17-22 88.
UAF 31 37 -- 68
UAA 41 47-- 88
3-point goals -- UAF 9-24 (Skjold 2-2, Milton 1-4, Bulaya 1-1, Logue 1-2, Kirk 0-2, Prestwich 1-6, Childers 3-5, Williams 0-1, O'Neal 0-1). UAA 5-16 (A. Madison 0-1, Burns 0-1, Buchanan 3-3, Castle 1-3, Davis 0-3, Hutchins 0-1, J. Madison 1-4). Rebounds -- UAF 34 (Kirk 8), UAA 43 (Burns 8). Total fouls -- UAF 21, UAA 21. Fouled out -- Devine. Technical fouls-- UAF bench, Devine, UAA bench. Assists -- UAF 18 (Bulaya 5), UAA 28 (A. Madison 6). Turnovers -- UAF 19 (Milton 8), UAA 19 (Craft 4). Blocks -- UAF 4 (Logue 2, O'Neal 2), UAA 2. Steals -- UAF 7 (Bulaya 3), UAA 8 (Davis 2). A -- 450. Officials -- Vanni, McNew, Revet.
By DOYLE WOODY