THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout
Sullivan Arena (cap. 8,700) ? Anchorage, Alaska
Tuesday & Wednesday, November 20 & 21
Tuesday, Nov. 20
6 pm ? Cleveland State (1-1) vs Alaska Anchorage (2-0)
8 pm ? Bradley (1-2) vs Santa Clara (2-1)
Wednesday, Nov. 21
2:30 pm ? 3rd-place game
5 pm ? Championship game
RADIO: All four women's Shootout contests air live locally on AM-1080 KUDO over the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network.
TV: Tape delayed (UAA games only) on KCFT Ch. 35 (GCI cable 19). The UAA-CSU game will air Tuesday at 9:30 pm and Wednesday at 11 am. The second UAA game will air at 6:00 or 8:30 pm Wednesday (depending on Tuesday's result) and again at 11 am Thursday.
INTERNET: GoSeawolves.com hosts live video (sign up through Penn Atlantic) and live audio (sign up through ?Splash Zone') broadcasts for most Seawolf home games, including the Shootout. Free live stats are also available.
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2007-08 stats)
G?Maria Nilsson, 6-0, Sr. (5.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, .400 FG, .250 3FG)
G?Kalhie Quinones, 5-7, Sr. (1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 6.0 apg, 3.0 spg)
F?Ashley Thompson, 5-10, Jr. (10.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, .400 FG, .667 FT)
F?Ruby Williams, 5-10, Jr. (15.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, .765 FG, 1.000 FT)
C?Rebecca Kielpinski, 6-2, Jr. (8.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.0 spg, .615 FG)
SCOUTING THE SHOOTOUT FIELD: All three teams at this year's women's Shootout are first-time visitors to Anchorage ... Bradley, of the Missouri Valley Conference, is coming off a 12-19 season in 2006-07. The Bulldogs dropped their opening two games, 54-48 at Northern Illinois and 56-46 vs Butler, and they host Illinois-Chicago on Saturday before heading north. Sr. G Devyn Flanagan is BU's leading scorer thus far (9.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg), while Jr. F Kelly Krumweide (8.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) paces the team in rebounding ... Cleveland State went 8-22 in 2006-07, but the Horizon League squad returns 10 letterwinners. CSU dropped its opener Nov. 9 to Wisconsin, 82-62, and hosts Akron on Saturday before taking on the Seawolves. So. G Kailey Klein was the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year last season (11.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg), while Jr. G/F Dominique Butler is a two-time All-Horizon Defensive Team honoree ... coming off a 13-17 campaign, Santa Clara hopes to improve its record and boost its reputation as one of the nation's top three-point-shooting teams. The Broncos, who opened with a loss at Nevada (62-51) and a win at Washington State (62-52), host Boise State on Saturday. Sr. G and Alaska native Chandice Cronk (Wasilla) was an All-West Coast Conference performer last year and is averaging 15.0 ppg so far in '07-08, while Sr. F Jen Gottschalk is pulling down 9.5 rpg.
SEAWOLVES LOOK STRONG: Expectations are high once again in Alaska's largest city, confirmed by UAA's No. 9 national ranking in the Division II Bulletin preseason top 25 and UAA's No. 2 pick in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll. In addition to Jr. C Rebecca Kielpinski (14.5 ppg, GNAC best 10.8 rpg, 2.2 bpg, Div. II Bulletin ?Super 16' Preseason All-American), the Seawolves return two other starters in Sr. G/F Jennifer Salazar (6.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.9 apg) and Sr. G/F Maria Nilsson (7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 36% 3FG). Second-year head coach Tim Moser has added Division I guard transfer Kalhie Quinones (Utah State), junior college All-American center Dasha Basova from Northeastern (Colo.) JC, and 10 other newcomers.
SEAWOLVES AT THE SHOOTOUT: UAA is the only Div. II women's team to win a tournament against all Division I competition, having won the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in 1990, 2003 and 2006. The first title came in 1990 when the tournament included eight teams, and the second and third came under the current, 4-team format ...the Seawolves are 25-47 all-time in the Shootout and 5-11 since the current format began in 1999 ... last year UAA knocked off Air Force (62-60) and UC Riverside (72-67) behind the play of tourney Most Outstanding Player Rebecca Kielpinski and all-tourney senior Jayci Stone.
SHOOTOUT HISTORY: This will the 28th edition of the women's Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. From 1980-97, the women's tournament was known as the Northern Lights Invitational and was played mainly at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on campus. It was temporarily discontinued in 1998 because of financial difficulties before being reborn in its current form in 1999.
'WOLVES WING PAST ANGELS, EDGE D-I COUGS: The Seawolves will end a 2-week hiatus after opening the season with a pair of blowout wins against Lincoln Christian, Nov. 2 and 3, and an exhibition victory at Div. I Washington State on Nov. 5 ... UAA was never challenged against the Div. III Angels, winning 93-22 and 85-16. The second game set a record for fewest points allowed in a game and half (4) by a Seawolf squad. Jr. F Ruby Williams scored 23 in the opener and Jr. F Ashley Thompson led the way with 16 in the finale as no Seawolf played more than 19 minutes either night ... against WSU it was a different story as the Seawolves led for most of the game before falling behind by 60-55 with less than 2 minutes to play. But UAA rallied to force overtime and went on a 9-0 run in the extra session to earn a 70-64 win. UAA got 18 points and 11 rebounds from Jr. C Rebecca Kielpinski, 18 points (6-7 3FG) from Sr. G/F Maria Nilsson, and 17 points (5-8 3FG) from Sr. G/F Jennifer Salazar. Sr. G Kalhie Quinones chipped in with 11 rebounds, 9 assists and just 2 turnovers.
SEAWOLVES PICKED 2ND: The Seawolves were picked second in the 7th annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll, released Oct. 26, receiving four of 10 first-place votes. Here is a look at the preseason poll predictions:
Pl Team (1st place votes) 06-07 Records Pts
1) Seattle Pacific (5) 20-9, 12-4 99
2) Alaska Anchorage (4) 23-6, 11-5 95
3) Western Washington (1) 18-10, 10-6 80
4) Seattle 18-9, 9-7 71
5) Northwest Nazarene 16-11, 10-6 57
6) MSU Billings 22-10, 7-3* 56
7) Central Washington 17-10, 7-9 43
8) Saint Martin's 10-17, 6-10 24
9) Western Oregon 3-24, 2-14 19
Alaska Fairbanks 10-17, 5-11 19
*first-year GNAC member; record from Heartland Conf.
2007-08 SEASON RECAP: The Seawolf women posted one of the best seasons in school history, going 23-6 and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. UAA began the year with a school-record 12 straight wins ? capturing the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout title over Air Force and UC Riverside ? and finished a program-best 2nd place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Landmark wins over Seattle Pacific and Western Washington highlighted the first unbeaten home slate (15-0) in UAA women's history, and the Seawolves captured the program's third-ever NCAA Tourney win with a 49-48 thriller over Cal State-Dominguez Hills. UAA dominated the GNAC postseason awards, with Rebecca Kielpinski voted Player of the Year, Jayci Stone Newcomer of the Year, and Tim Moser Coach of the Year.
TEAM NOTES: At 23-6 in 2006-07, UAA registered its first 20-win season since 1999-00 (21-8) and the sixth in school history. The school record for wins is 24 by the 1987-88 squad, with last year's 23 being the second-most ... the 9.5-game improvement (from 13-14 in 2005-06) was the largest in school history (6-20 in 1996-97 to 14-13 in 1997-98) and the 8th-best turnaround in NCAA Div. II this year ... UAA had its best placing and most wins in the six years of the GNAC, bettering the 8-10, 6th-place finish of the 2003-04 team ... the Seawolves' 15-0 home record was the first such perfect mark in program history, and the current 18-game home win streak is now the longest overall in program history, improving on the 13 straight from Nov. 1987-Feb. 1988 and from Feb. 1998-Jan. 1999 ... the Seawolves snapped a 13-game losing streak against Seattle Pacific on Feb. 15 and earned their first-ever season sweep of Western Washington ... UAA ranked in the top 50 in Div. II in four statistical categories, including the top 15 in FG pct. defense (6th, .345) and 3FG per game (15th, 7.5) ... the Seawolves led the GNAC in four team categories ? FG% defense, 3FGs per game, rebounds per game (41.0), and defensive rebounds (27.6) ? and rated 2nd in scoring defense (58.7), scoring margin (+9.8) and rebound margin (+4.0) ... UAA's 12-0 start doubled the previous-best opening run in program history, improving on the 6-0 starts of 1987-88, 1993-94 and 1998-99 ... the Seawolves were one of the final five undefeated teams of the 294 in the NCAA Div. II women's ranks until their first loss on Jan. 6.
INJURY REPORT: Jr. G Elisha Harris (foot) is questionable to play this week.
