HILO, Hawai`i—No. 17 nationally ranked Alaska Anchorage used pressure defense and a very deep bench to hold off a game Hawai`i Hilo team on Wednesday night at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, 71-60, in a non-conference women's basketball contest.

Alaska Anchorage improved to 9-1 on the year with the win, while the Vulcans are now even at 4-4 overall. It was the final game for both teams before the Christmas break.

It was also by far the closest the Vulcans have come to the perennial power Seawolves in their long history. The average margin of victory for UAA against UHH prior to tonight was 36 points.

Allie Navarette had double-double numbers with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead all players. Freshman point guard Mandi Kawaha added 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Cameron Fernandez, playing in her first game of the year for Alaska Anchorage, led her team with 13 points. The former Lahainaluna (Maui) High School star and Washington State transfer came off the bench to pace the Seawolves.

UAA had nine players in the scoring column, including Sala Langi with 11 and Kian McNair and Jahnna Hajdukovich with 10 each.

The Seawolves play suffocating and relentless full court defense, but the Vulcans managed to stay close all night and not let the game get away from them.

In the first period, UAA got out to a 10-4 lead but the Vulcans pressed close at the free throw line, hitting 13-of-14 shots in the first ten minutes. They trailed 19-15 at the end of the period, and cut the margin to 19-17 on Kawaha's basket to start the second quarter.

But the Seawolves answered with a 9-0 run, threatening to pull away, but UHH battled back again, pulling to within five points late in the late in the half on Navarette's three-point play. The home team would trail at the break by just six, 35-29.

UAA then did the bulk of their destructive work in the third period. They outscored their hosts 24-13, hitting 50 percent of their shots from the field. They led 59-42 heading into the final period. In the fourth, the Seawolves stretched their lead to 22 points, but again UHH fought back, clipping that lead all the way to just ten points right before the end of the game.

Alaska Anchorage's deep bench outscored UH Hilo's reserves, 40-16, and they won the rebound battle, 39-28. On the plus side for the Vulcans, Navarette and company held UAA's Hannah Wandersee to just four points and one rebound before she fouled out. Wandersee was the Preseason GNAC Player of the Year and leads her team on the year with 14 points and seven rebounds a game.

The Seawolves, ranked No. 3 in the west region, have the second highest winning percentage in NCAA Division II over the past five seasons (92%). They have won four consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles.

The Vulcans will now take a break for the Christmas holiday, returning to work on December 31 at Dominican. That game is the first of three Pacific West Conference games in northern California before the team returns home to host Hawai`i Pacific on January 12.