Sports

Long Beach State wins women's Shootout over Seawolves

For the third straight year, the UAA women's basketball team came up short in the championship game of the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, this time quite literally.

Led by 6-foot-3 Devin Hudson's 20 rebounds, Long Beach State outdueled the Seawolves 69-60 in Wednesday's title game in front of an announced crowd of 2,554 at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Long Beach (4-1) relied on 3-point shooting in the first half and free throw shooting in the second half to fend off UAA (5-1), which was pursuing its seventh championship in a tournament that dates back to 1980.

UAA has played eight of the last nine championship games, but last won in 2010.

The Seawolves stayed with the 49ers until the final minutes. Alli Madison raced coast-to-coast and buried a short jumper to bring UAA within a point, 60-59, with 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining, but the Seawolves were held scoreless for four minutes after that, a drought that didn't end until Adriana Dent hit a free throw with 37 seconds left. By then, the game belonged to Long Beach.

"While we're disappointed we didn't win, we're prepared to head into the (conference) season," said UAA coach Ryan McCarthy, UAA's third-year coach who is 3-3 in the Shootout but 0-3 in Shootout title games.

Hudson was devastating on the boards -- she had 10 on each end -- and 5-11 Lauren Spargo and 6-1 Madison Montgomery used their long arms to disrupt the Seawolves.

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"Their size bothered us," McCarthy said.

Spargo scored 13 points and Hudson 11 to fuel the 49ers, who played the second half without spark plug Anna Kim, who went down with an injury on the first play of the second half and never returned. Despite her early exit, the 5-5 guard was still named to the all-tournament team.

Kim's 3-of-4 3-point shooting helped Long Beach State to a narrow halftime lead, and good free throw shooting down the stretch made the difference in the second half.

The 49ers went six minutes without a field goal, a drought that began with 10 minutes left in the game. But they survived by hitting 6 of 8 free throws during that stretch. For the game, Long Beach State was 15 of 25 from the line.

The Seawolves got a great game from junior post Megan Mullings, the tournament's Most Outstanding Player who poured in 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field and 5 of 8 shooting from the line to go along with three blocks and two steals. Jenna Buchanan added nine points and seven rebounds for UAA.

Mullings and Buchanan helped UAA to a 46-42 advantage on the boards, and the Seawolves shot a better percentage, 38.1 to 32.8.

But the Seawolves were dismal from 3-point range -- 1 of 14 -- and they missed the front end of several bonus shots.

UAA scored five points in the final 10 seconds of the first half to change the tone of the game, reducing Long Beach State's lead from eight points to three going into intermission.

Down 36-28, the Seawolves got a driving bucket from Dent, who drew a foul on the play but missed the free throw. UAA's Jessica Madison grabbed the rebound and got the ball to Buchanan, who drove the lane, sank a bank shot and got fouled by Alex Sanchez. With 0.2 seconds left, Buchanan hit the free throw to cut Long Beach's lead to 36-33 at the half.

The second half started badly for Long Beach State -- Kim, the team's talented and fiery sophomore guard, slammed to the floor while defending Mullings. Mullings drew the foul and made both foul shots, while Kim was helped into the locker room and never returned to the game.

Also on Wednesday, Boise State defeated Yale 59-53 in overtime to claim third place.

Contact Beth Bragg at 257-4335 or bbragg@alaskadispatch.com

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

Deanna Weaver, Boise State; Anna Kim, Long Beach State; Sarah Halejian, Yale; Kiki Robertson, UAA; Devin Hudson, Long Beach State

Most Outstanding Player: Megan Mullings, UAA

LONG BEACH STATE 69, UAA 60

LONG BEACH STATE (69) – Montgomery 0-5 3-6 3, Meneses 1-7 6-7 9, Benton 2-8 4-4 9, Kim 3-4 0-0 9, Dooley 1-4 0-0 2, Sanchez 2-6 0-0 4, Sawyer 2-5 4-8 8, Hudson 5-11 2-6 12, Spargo 5-13 0-0 13. Totals 21-63 19-31 69

UAA (60) – Mullings 7-11 5-8 19, Bonner 3-7 1-1 7, A. Madison 3-7 0-0 6, Robertson 2-7 3-4 8, J. Madison 1-9 0-0 2, Dent 1-8 1-4 3, Buchanan 4-16 1-1 9, Wright 2-3 0-0 4, Afoa 1-1 0-1 2. Totals 24-69 11-19 60.

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Long Beach State 36 33 – 69

UAA 33 27 – 60

3-point goals – LBSU 8-19 (Meneses 1-4, Benton 1-1, Kim 3-4, Sanchez 0-3, Spargo 3-7; UAA 1-19 (Bonner 0-2, Robertson 1-3, J. Madison 0-6, Dent 0-2, Buchanan 0-6. Rebounds – LBSU 47 (Hudson 20); UAA 50 (Bonner 7, Buchanan 7). Total fouls – LBSU 20; UAA 26. Fouled out – Wright. Assists – LBSU 17 (Meneses 10); UAA 12 (Robertson 5). Turnovers – LBSU 20 (Meneses 7); UAA 22 (Robertson 5, Dent 5). Blocks – LBSU 6 (Meneses 2); UAA 4 (Mullings 3). Steals – LBSU 6 (Kim 2); UAA 12 (Bonner 3). Officials – Graham, Hobbs, McNew. Attendance – 2,554.

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