UAA Athletics

UAA women claim championship at final Shootout

A resilient UAA women's basketball team never wavered when down eight points late in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout championship game Thursday, and the Seawolves sent the women's tournament out with a bang.

UAA rallied to defeat Tulsa 59-53 and claim the women's championship in front of 1,828 boisterous fans at the Alaska Airlines Center.

It was the seventh Shootout title for the Seawolves, their first since 2009, and the first for sixth-year coach Ryan McCarthy, whose team gets to keep the final gold pan championship trophy in Anchorage.

"It's just surreal," McCarthy said. "I'm just really proud of the ladies and I'm very proud of this particular one in general because it is the last one."

[At final Shootout, Coach McCarthy finally gets a championship]

Two Alaskans scored in double figures for UAA with junior forward Hannah Wandersee of Kodiak posting a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds and junior guard Tara Thompson of Dimond High tacking on 11 points and going 3 of 6 from 3-point land.

Tournament MVP honors went to forward Shelby Cloninger, who sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:06 left on the clock.

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A senior from Kamiah, Idaho, Cloninger scored six of her 13 points in the final 66 seconds, including a coast-to-coast layup and free throw that iced the game in the closing seconds.

Before hitting the 3, Cloninger was a measly 1 of 8 from the field, but Tulsa left her open on a UAA slip screen and she knew she had to shoot it.

"I was praying," Cloninger said. "I shot it and it went in and the crowd erupted. It was crazy."

Soon after that the Seawolves got a big traditional 3-point play from their shortest player, 5-foot-3 guard Sydni Stallworth.

The junior from Tucson, Arizona, received an inbounds pass on the baseline, made a layup while being fouled and made the ensuing free throw to increase UAA's lead to 56-51 with 12 ticks left on the clock.

"I was screaming at her not to shoot," McCarthy said. "All she had to do was dribble out, but Syd is a competitor. She stepped up and hit that and that was huge for us."

UAA led 32-27 at the half, but McCarthy said it felt like the Seawolves were down by five instead of up by five.

Tulsa cut into an 11-point UAA lead before halftime and took a 34-33 lead three minutes into the second half on a Crystal Polk jumper. The Golden Hurricane expanded its lead to 49-41 with just over six minutes left before UAA started its comeback.

As the Seawolves gained momentum, the crowd started to emerge from its post-Thanksgiving fatigue and chants of "UAA, UAA, UAA," resonated through the arena.

UAA forced four turnovers and held Tulsa to two points in the final four and a half minutes of the game.

"We take a lot of pride in our defense and I think that's what got us going," said sophomore guard Yazmeen Goo, who snagged four of UAA's 10 steals. "Since we put so much emphasis on our defense, it got us hyped when we started getting stops.

"I think that really helped with our momentum in the fourth quarter."

Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman said the turning point came right before Cloninger's big 3, when Tulsa guard Shug Dickson was called with a charge with 1:26 to go. Tulsa led 51-50 and the charge call took away a Dickson floater on the baseline that would have extended the Golden Hurricane lead.

"It changes the momentum of the game," Mossman said.

Tulsa played much of the game without second-leading scorer Kendrian Elliott, who struggled with foul trouble. The 6-foot-2 center finished with 11 points in 21 minutes.

Polk, Tulsa's other center, led the Golden Hurricane with 12 points and Dickson finished with 10.

Tulsa scored more points in the paint (36-22), but the Seawolves won the rebounding battle (40-30) against the larger team from American Athletic Conference.

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Nine of 11 players scored for the Seawolves, who played without second-leading scorer Rodericka Ware, who was suspended for the tournament for a violation of team rules.

UAA's first tournament championship came in 1990 in the old Northern Lights Invitational, when the Seawolves had to beat three Division I teams to claim the title.

The next six championships, including Thursday's, came after the Northern Lights tournament ended and a four-team tournament for women became part of the Shootout. In that format, the Seawolves won titles in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The Shootout continues through Saturday with men's competition. Saturday's 8 p.m. title game will mark the end of the 40-year-old tournament, the oldest regular-season college basketball tournament in the country.

Binghamton grabs 3rd place

Imani Watkins poured in 20 points to propel the Binghamton Bearcats to third place with a 68-51 victory over Maryland Eastern Shore.

Watkins, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, also racked up eight assists, six rebound and three steals. Alyssa James, a 6-1 senior center, added 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

Binghamton raced to a 22-7 first-quarter lead over the Hawks, who were led by Bairesha Miles' 13 points and 10 rebounds.

2017 GCI Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team
Shug Dickson, Tulsa
Yazmeen Goo, UAA
Crystal Polk, Tulsa
Hannah Wandersee, UAA
Imani Watkins, Binghamton
Most Outstanding Player: Shelby Cloninger, UAA

Stephan Wiebe

Stephan Wiebe writes about all things Alaska sports.

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