MONMOUTH, Ore.—Trailing for the majority of the first half, the No. 6-ranked University of Alaska Anchorage rallied to defeat Western Oregon University, 86-78, in GNAC women's basketball action on Saturday night.

Prior to the game, WOU Athletics honored the five seniors on the team that were playing their final home game of the collegiate careers and the Wolves came out with inspired play to generate a 21-12 lead after seven minutes of play.

Western Oregon (9-13, 5-11 GNAC) received early 3-pointers by seniors Kennedy Corrigan and Shelby Snook in the early moments and continued to hold its lead through the first half of play.

Down 38-29 with 1:41 left in the half, Alaska Anchorage (22-2, 15-1 GNAC) scored the final seven points to head to the locker room with anew-found energy now down by only two.

The Seawolves regained a brief lead (47-46) following a 3-pointer by Rodericka Ware at the 5:13 mark in the third quarter, but the home side strung together an 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Sydney Azorr, another senior, and Olivia Denton.

UAA managed to retake the lead with 1:20 remaining in the third and managed to hold the edge for the entirety of the fourth by shooting 58 percent in the finale.

The Wolves stayed within three at several points in the fourth quarter with the final occurrence at the 2:04 mark following a Savannah Heugly layup for a 78-75 contest.

Missing 4-of-5 down the stretch, the Wolves were unable to keep pace as the Seawolves converted their final four attempts from the free throw line to escape the upset bid.

"Our focus and fight were absolutely incredible tonight," WOU head coach Holli Howard-Carpenter said. "We fought hard on every possession and showed a lot of mental toughness coming back from a few Anchorage runs late in the game."

UAA's Hannah Wandersee led all players with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 10-of-13 from the free throw line.

Hitting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, Azorr ended the night by tying a career high with 22 points. Heugly and Snook finished with 13 points each.

"Our seniors absolutely played their hearts out and their teammates followed suit.  We got going earlier on the offensive end tonight and a lot of that was because we found the open player and made the extra pass. Defensively we didn't have an answer for Wandersee but did a good job defending the three and being in help with a sense of urgency to rotate," Howard-Carpenter said.

The Wolves will close out the year with four straight matches on the road. WOU will next take the court on Tuesday, Feb. 13 when the team travels up I-5 to face Concordia University. Opening tip against the Cavaliers is set for 7 p.m.