A career-high 32 points from Hannah Wandersee helped the sixth-ranked UAA women's basketball team escape with an 86-78 victory Saturday over Western Oregon in Monmouth, Oregon.
Wandersee, a 6-foot-2 junior from Kodiak whose previous best was 27 points, hit 11 of 19 shots from the field and 10 of 13 from the foul line for the Seawolves, who recovered from an early nine-point deficit.
Four of her points fended off the Wolves in the closing minutes. Western Oregon cut UAA's lead to three points twice in the final three minutes, but each time Wandersee answered, first with a layup and then with two free throws.
Yazmeen Goo added 13 points, four steals and four assists and Rodericka Ware chipped in 11 points for the Seawolves, who ran their record to 22-2 overall and 15-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
"I thought we lacked focus at the beginning of the game, and that made things tougher on us all night," UAA coach Ryan McCarthy said in a press release. "Western Oregon is more talented than its record indicates, and their ladies played loose and with a lot of energy that we were unable to match.
"Luckily, Hannah and Yazmeen were on their A games tonight, because we needed every bit of their production."
The teams traded the lead eight times, and Western Oregon (9-13, 5-11) led for much of the way. Sydney Azorr sank four of five shots from 3-point range to lead the Wolves with 22 points and eight rebounds.
Wandersee grabbed nine rebounds and Shelby Cloninger, who was held scoreless, added seven to give UAA a 39-38 rebounding edge.
The Seawolves took better care of the ball, committing seven turnovers to Western Oregon's 17, 11 of which came on UAA steals.
Ware and Kian McNair each had two steals. McNair added six points and five rebounds and Sydni Stallworth amassed nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Seawolves play their final two regular-season home games Thursday (Seattle Pacific) and Saturday (Saint Martin's) at the Alaska Airlines Center.