Seawolves Will Face Georgetown For Shootout Championship

Forty minutes wasn’t enough time to decide Tuesday’s game between the University of Alaska Anchorage and UC Riverside.

With the score remaining locked at the end of regulation and after the first 5 minutes of overtime, the UAA Seawolves pulled ahead and held on to win 83-75.

After a slow start, where the Seawolves shot 8-38 from the field, and only 2-12 from beyond the three-point line, the Seawolves trailed by 14 points at the halfway point.

UAA Head Coach Ryan McCarthy said going into the second half, the team was focused on remaining positive.

“We locked down defensively, and we just talked about controlling the things that we could control, which are defense and rebounds,” McCarthy said. “Ultimately, that led to fast-break baskets.”

“The game picked up in a faster pace, which is more our style, and that definitely went in our favor to bring the game into overtime.”

UC Riverside Head Coach John Margaritis gave credit to the Seawolves, saying his team was outplayed.

“If you weren’t ready to play, you paid,” he said. “They crashed the boards – they had 21 offensive rebounds; they beat us from point A to point B; they hit threes.”

UC Riverside didn’t make a single three-pointer, which Margaritis says was in large part to a stingy defense from UAA.

UAA junior guard Alli Madison, who finished the game with 17 points and 12 rebounds, said their defense was a major factor in the outcome of the game.

“That’s a lot of game plan,” she said. “We ran a zone that we’re zone that we’re pretty talented at when work hard, and in that second half we were a little motivated to get out and pressure and I think that’s really want did it in for them.”

UAA will face Georgetown University at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday night for the Great Alaska Shootout Championship.

The Seawolf men’s team will open up their tournament against Texas Christian at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday.