Boxscore
ANCHORAGE (Jan. 6) – Nikki Aden and Alysa Horn both posted career-highs as they combined for 51 points Thursday to lead the 12th-ranked Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team to an 82-62 victory over Northwest Nazarene at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
The Seawolves (11-3, 3-1 GNAC) also got a career-high nine assists from senior point guard Kaitlin McBride, plus 10 points and 11 rebounds from junior center Hanna Johansson to win their Great Northwest Athletic Conference home opener.
The Crusaders (7-6, 2-3 GNAC) were led by 13 points from junior forward Briaunna King, while Alla Dzhidzhiyeshvili came off the bench to contribute 10 points and five rebounds.
The visitors from Nampa, Idaho, kept things close early, forging a 14-12 lead on a layup by Heather Adams with 12:37 on the first-half clock. But UAA answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead, getting half of those points from Aden as the fourth-year senior exploded for her best-ever offensive showing.
Aden notched 21 points on perfect shooting (6-6 FG, 8-8 FT) in the first half, bettering her previous career-high of 20 and staking the Seawolves to a 42-35 advantage. The Portland, Ore., native finished with 26 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, along with four assists and six steals.
Megan Hingston nailed a jumper to start the second half for NNU, but Tijera Mathews answered with a three-pointer and Johansson scored off an offensive rebound to push the lead back to double digits. NNU would pull within 49-43 at the 17:24 mark before UAA clamped down with a 13-0 spurt over the next seven minutes. After hitting 17 of their first 28 shots (.607), the Crusaders made just 5 of 21 (.238) to close the contest.
Horn provided the offensive spark in the second half, scoring 17 of her career-best 25 points in the final 14:32 on a variety of post moves and three-pointers. The sophomore from Kodiak shot 9 of 16 overall, 3 of 8 from long range and 4 of 5 at the free-throw stripe, while adding a career-high three blocks.
Meanwhile, Johansson earned a career-high rebound total and posted her third career double-double despite an uncharacteristically poor shooting performance (3-11 FG, 4-10 FT). The 6-2 Swede ran her streak of double-digit scoring performances to 13.
The Seawolves got 74 of their 82 points from their starters as Sarah Herrin and Francesca De Angelis were the only reserves to crack the scoring column with four points each.
The Crusaders will now travel to Alaska Fairbanks for a GNAC counter on Saturday.
