The No. 9 Seawolves scored the first 15 points Wednesday night and held on for a 75-59 statement win over Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe Simon Fraser in a women's basketball game at the Alaska Airlines Center. The game was the GNAC opener for both teams.
UAA's victory halted an eight-game winning streak for Simon Fraser and avenged a home loss to the Clan last season.
Junior Kaitlyn Hurley led the UAA with a Seawolf season-high 22 points of the bench. The 5-foot-9 guard hit 6 of 10 3-pointers and went a perfect 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
Senior forward Autummn Williams added 15 points, going 7 of 10 from the field a week after missing a game with a sprained wrist.
UAA (5-1, 1-0 GNAC) started a scoring streak in the opening seconds on a 3-pointer by forward Alysha Devine and the Seawolves held the Clan scoreless for the first four minutes of the game.
Forward Sierra Afoa snatched three steals in the first two minutes to send the Clan reeling.
Simon Fraser's Taylor Drynan got the Clan going with a trey midway through the first quarter, but hot 3-point shooting kept UAA up by double figures at the half.
The Seawolves shot 70 percent from 3-point land in the first half and went into the locker room leading 47-30.
Simon Fraser's best play came midway through the third quarter, when the Clan started a 12-0 run and held UAA scoreless for more than five minutes.
The Clan cut UAA's lead to 55-46 early in the fourth quarter, but nine points was as close as they got. UAA ended its scoring drought on a Hurley 3-pointer and maintained a double-digit lead through the rest of the fourth quarter.
Rachel Fradgley led the Clan with 14 points and Meg Wilson and Samantha Beauchamp added 10 points apiece.
The Seawolves received 10 points from Devine and seven rebounds from Afoa.
Aside from Williams' team-high 30 minutes, no Seawolf played more than 22 minutes and 10 players recorded at least 10 minutes.
UAA went 11 of 26 from beyond the arc, while holding Simon Fraser to 3 of 18.
The Seawolves return to the Alaska Airlines Center at for a 2 p.m. Saturday showdown against Western Washington. A win over the Vikings would give the Seawolves a 2-0 start to conference play over the two teams that were picked ahead of them in the conference's preseason coaches' poll.