By: Mackenzie Dalgleish
Box Score
Burnaby, BC - The Simon Fraser University Clan women's basketball team were able to sweep their two games at home this weekend, taking down the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves 78-74 Saturday night, after beating Alaska Fairbanks 75-73 on Thursday.
Erin Chambers (Mission, BC) had another huge game for the Clan. The conference's leading scorer finished with a game high 34 points, along with five rebounds. She was a perfect seven for seven from the free throw line, including hitting four key shots from the charity stripe in the final minute.
Senior Marie-Line Petit (Bergeronnes, QC) got the Clan off to a great start as she made back-to-back three pointers to put the Clan ahead 8-2. From there, SFU would see their lead balloon to eleven points, as they led 13-2. Petit would finish with 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds from the point guard position.
"Petit started the game off with some big threes that gave us some confidence and some nice assists," said Head Coach Bruce Langford.
After holding a 21-10 advantage, the Clan saw their lead slip away, as the Seawolves went on an 8-0 run, which saw them down by just three-points.
The Clan offence would wake back up, as freshman Ariana Sider (New Westminster, BC) would connect on a three-pointer and later Meg Wilson (London, ON) finished off a nice play to put the Clan back up by eleven points, 33-22.
Alaska Anchorage would close the gap a bit, but the Clan would head into the break, up 37-31 and shooting a strong 48.1 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from the three-point line.
Coming out of the half, SFU would build their lead up to ten, as they held a 50-40 advantage, but the Seawolves would go back to their strong defensive play, cutting the score to 52-51.
Petit would hit her third three of the night, to put some separation between the team's, but Alaska Anchorage would not go away quietly.
"We came out really strong, we knew they were going to pressure the heck out of us and I think we handled it well," said Petit who also noted the physicality out on the floor. "We knew they were going to get after us and we had to go to the ball and not wait for it."
With 3:21 remaining in the game, the Seawolves tied it at 67, the first time since the opening tip the Clan had not held a lead.
A minute-and-a-half later would see Alaska Anchorage take their first lead of the game, going up 71-69.
However, SFU would not back down, as Chambers would complete the three-point play off of a layup to give the Clan back the lead.
SFU would not look back from there, as they held on for the four point victory thanks to Chambers scoring nine of the team's final eleven points.
The Clan were able to force 16 turnovers, leading to 22 points, while grabbing 34 rebounds which helped lead to a 17-7 advantage in second chance points.
"We can't lose any home games because that is what is going to help us make the playoffs," Petit finished on the team being able to sweep their first conference series of the season.
With the win, SFU improves their record to 12-5 and 6-3 in conference play.
SFU will be back in action January 30 against Seattle Pacific at home in the West Gym with tip off being a 7:30 p.m. The game will be the back half of a double header as the Clan men host Alaska Anchorage at 5:15 p.m. in the West Gym.
