UAA Athletics

Nighthawks knock off 4th-ranked UAA women’s basketball team

The UAA women’s basketball team lost for the first time this season, succumbing 84-68 to turnovers troubles, a slow start and a talented, well-balance Northwest Nazarene team.

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference game in Nampa, Idaho, was a battle between nationally ranked teams — UAA was ranked fourth and Northwest Nazarene 15th in Division II coming into the game.

But it wasn’t much of a fight. Northwest Nazarene, which had six players with nine or more points, raced to a 29-17 first-quarter lead and was up 68-46 after three quarters.

The Nighthawks (8-0 overall, 2-0 GNAC) seized the lead two minutes into the game and never surrendered it.

Seawolves (7-1, 1-1) made a second-quarter push, whittling the gap to four points late in the first half, but Northwest Nazarene finished the half with a 5-0 run for a 44-35 lead.

Hannah Wandersee’s 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks led the Seawolves, who were hurt by 24 turnovers. Kian McNair and Sydni Stallworth both handed out five assists, but both were also guilty of five turnovers each.

“We got down by a lot, much too quickly, and we were never able to dig out of that hole tonight,” UAA coach Ryan McCarthy said in a release from UAA. “We never hung our heads though, and competed hard until the final buzzer. We will go home and get ready for finals before we regroup and get back to the court.”

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UAA senior Tara Thompson sank 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range to finish with a team-high 16 points. Stallworth and McNair finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Avery Albrecht’s 17 points and seven points led a balance attack for the Nighthawks, who outshot the Seawolves 47.5 percent to 43.6 percent and outrebounded them 36-31.

UAA has two weeks off before returning to action Dec. 18-19 with nonconference games in Hawaii. The Seawolves don’t play at home again until Jan. 3.

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