LACEY, Wash. – The Saint Martin's women's basketball team (6-10, 2-6 GNAC) has now strung together two straight conference victories as they outscored Alaska Fairbanks (4-11, 1-7 GNAC) by a score of 24-11 in the fourth quarter to help power them to a 71-63 victory over the Nanooks.
The contest was back and forth all night with UAF holding a two- or four-point advantage most of the first half, but the Saints never letting them get too far away. SMU starting their scoring with a
Kiana Rios bank shot just a minute in and they got the final bucket of the quarter when
Anjel Galbraith swiped the ball from an Alaska player trying to run down the clock and took it home for an easy layup.
In the second quarter it was
Lauryn Morris that hit the final shot of the frame before SMU again stole the ball from Alaska trying to preserve the ball for the last shot, making sure that even though the Saints were down two, they had more of the momentum going into the locker room. Saint Martin's took that momentum into the third, where two consecutive
Chenoa Louie buckets gave SMU their first lead since the early going. UAF answered in kind, scoring 10-straight to grab a 49-40 lead with 3:27 to play in the third. A three-pointer that lifted Fairbanks to be up 10 was the final major act by Alaska before the Saints came marching back to finish the game on a 29-11 run. It started with the final five points of the third which had Galbraith nailing an and-one before another late-in-the-quarter steal had Galbraith finding
Kiana Rios to make the score 52-47 Nanooks going into the fourth.
Well, the fourth was all about the red and white. After UAF opened the scoring, it was
Sarah Lamet with two quick shots to make it a three-point deficit, then Galbraith hit a bucket, and
Rian Clear finished off a fastbreak with a beautiful floater to give the Saints the lead. The seesaw was on, and as the Nanooks kept hitting buckets on their end, so did Clear. The preseason All-GNAC selection notched another floater, before dialing it up from long range to splash a big three-pointer to put SMU up two. A Morris bucket that put SMU up four with 1:48 to play just about sealed the fate of Fairbanks, as the Saints locked it up with five free throws and multiple defensive stops to ensure the victory by a score of 71-63.
Clear's nine points were instrumental in the victory as the sophomore totaled 21 minutes of action continuing to work back into the rotation from injury. Just another day of dominance for Galbraith, who finished with 17 points to go along with eight assists, six steals, and six rebounds. Lamet chipped in 16 with seven boards, while Rios and Morris had 13 and 10 points, respectively. Morris led all rebounders with eight.
The Saints are back home on Saturday when they host Alaska-Anchorage (12-5, 4-4 GNAC) at 3 PM at Marcus Pavilion.
