The Seawolves got revenge and their coach posted his first 20-win season Saturday when a shoot-the-lights-out performance carried the UAA women's basketball team to their eighth straight win.
UAA overcome serious foul trouble and a halftime deficit to beat Northwest Nazarene 97-83 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Nampa, Idaho.
Motivation came easily for the Seawolves, who are 20-1 and ranked third among the nation's NCAA Division II teams. Their only loss this season came in a New Year's Day meltdown against the Crusaders, so there was the vengeance angle. And their coach, Ryan McCarthy, is a NNU graduate and former assistant coach who went to his former stomping grounds needing one victory to secure his first 20-win season.
"It's always good to be back here, but it's better to win for sure," said McCarthy, who is 53-20 in three seasons at UAA. "Man, our ladies just really battled in the second half."
Trailing 42-41 at intermission, UAA (20-1 overall, 10-1 GNAC) scored the first eight points of the second half to lead 49-42 after four minutes.
The Crusaders (5-15, 3-8) stopped the run with a Kate Cryderman basket but UAA responded with three straight 3-pointers -- the first by Jenna Buchanan and the next two by Jessica Madison -- to seize a 58-44 lead six minutes into the half.
Madison and Buchanan each drained five treys -- Buchanan only missed one -- to help UAA shoot 59 percent behind the arc (10 of 17). Overall, the Seawolves shot 51.6 percent (33 of 64).
"It's a great shooting gym," McCarthy said of the place where he played college ball. "It's a fieldhouse look with a short backdrop, so for a shooter it's easy to get dialed in from a distance."
Megan Mullings, a 6-foot post, battled inside for most of her game-high 24 points, which came on 11 of 14 shooting. Madison finished with 23 points and Buchanan 17.
Though the Seawolves gained command in the second half, the Crusaders came within single digits, 83-74, with about 4.5 minutes left in the game. By then, five of UAA's nine players had four fouls apiece -- Mullings, Buchanan, Kiki Robertson, Keke Wright and Alysha Devine. None of them fouled out.
"We kind of expected that on the road -- you have to fight through some adversity there," McCarthy said. "The last time we were in this gym, NNU shot a GNAC record (number) of free throws, so you have to play through that and not let that effect us mentally.
"Sometimes you ask yourself, 'What else can I do to not pick up a foul here?' and I thought the girls did a good job staying the course and being extra smart."
NNU got as close as seven points, 85-78 with 2:25 left, but UAA sank 12 of 14 free throws down the stretch. UAA hit 21 of 31 free throws to Northwest Nazarene's 30 of 35. Ellie Logan hit 11 of 12 foul shots and finished with 21 points for the Crusaders, who got a game-high 23 from Cryderman.
Outside shooting allowed UAA to beat Northwest Nazarene's zone, a defense that McCarthy said took the Seawolves by surprise earlier this month in the first meeting between the teams. Since the Jan. 1 loss, UAA has seen a lot of zone, in games and at practice, he said.
"We saw zone for five straight games after that," McCarthy said. "The thing I'm really proud of is it's actually made us better. It made us a better-rounded team. Now we can execute against man and zone."
UAA is back home this week for games against Saint Martin's on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Western Oregon on Saturday at 5:15 p.m.