THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
At Disney's Div. II East Coast Tip-Off Classic
Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex ? Orlando, Fla.
(All times Alaska Daylight Time)
Friday ? Oct. 31
10:30 am ? Alaska Anchorage (0-0) vs Columbus State (0-0)
Saturday ? Nov. 1
10:30 am ? Alaska Anchorage vs Bentley
Sunday ? Nov. 2
10:30 am ? Alaska Anchorage vs Lake Superior State
TV/RADIO/WEBSTREAM: None
LIVE STATS: None
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS
G?Elisha Harris, 5-7, Sr. (4.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 14.4 mpg)
G?Danielle Dekel, 5-10, Sr. (3.3 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 37-112 3FG, 19.1 mpg)
F?Nikki Aden, 5-8, So. (2.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 8.3 mpg)
F?Dasha Basova, 6-3, Sr. (6.3 ppg, 2.7 RPG, 40-122 3FG, 11.1 mpg)
C?Rebecca Kielpinski, 6-2, Sr. (12.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 2.0 bpg, 2.3 apg, 1.1 spg, .511 FG, .677 FT)
BRIEF SEASON PREVIEW: The Seawolves, coming off the best season in school history, return five letterwinners from last year, including All-American and two-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year Rebecca Kielpinski, a 6-2 senior center. The other letterwinners are Sr. F/C Dasha Basova, Sr. G Elisha Harris, Sr. G Danielle Dekel and So. G/F Nikki Aden, all of whom played key reserve roles in 2007-08. Another guard, Jr. Tristan Burnett, returns after taking a year off. Head coach Tim Moser has brought in one of the top recruiting classes in school history, including seven transfers and three true freshmen.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Columbus State is coming off a 17-12 season in which it finished sixth place (but only one game out of a 5-way tie for first) in the Peach Belt Conference. The Cougars, of Columbus, Ga., feature 5-9 Sr. G Ashley Stafford (11.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.0 apg) as their leading returning scorer ... Bentley, coming off a 19-11 season that culminated with a record 25th NCAA Division II Tournament berth, has been predicted to finish third in the Northeast-10 Conference (a 15-team league) preseason coaches poll. Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach Barbara Stevens has 11 veterans on her roster, headed by 5-10 Sr. G/F Kristy McLean (10.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.3 spg) and 5-8 So. G Kim Brennan (10.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.3 apg) ... Lake Superior State went 12-14 (8-10 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) a year ago. The Lakers return their top scorer from 2007-08 in 6-0 Sr. C Jaclyn Armstrong (12.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, .467 FG).
2007-08 SEASON RECAP: The 2007-08 Seawolves (30-5) made the deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history, earning four victories before falling 57-54 to eventual champion Northern Kentucky in the national semifinals, Mar. 27 in Kearney, Neb. ... UAA got through the West Regional tourney with wins over Sonoma State, 14th-ranked Chico State and 2nd-ranked and 29-0 Seattle Pacific on the Falcons' home court ... UAA finished second in the GNAC with a 15-3 mark, placing runner-up to Seattle Pacific for the second straight time.
TEAM NOTES: UAA's 30 wins last year were the most for a Seawolf team in any sport ... UAA reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in the program's 31-year history ... it was just the second time the Seawolves have won 20 or more in back-to-back seasons (1987-88 & '88-89) ... the Seawolves' final national ranking of No. 4 was the highest in program history; UAA had never been in the top 25 before last year ... the Seawolves set or tied 36 total school records in the 2007-08 campaign (27 team, 9 individual) and led the GNAC in six of 18 team statistical categories ... UAA ranked in the top 10 in four NCAA Div. II statistical categories ? 3rd in rebounding margin (+10.8), 4th in scoring margin (+19.0), 5th in scoring defense (51.7), and 7th in FG% defense (.345) ... UAA's .857 winning percentage was also 10th best in Div. II ... UAA has held 9 of its last 11 opponents to 57 points or less ... the Seawolves' loss to Nebraska-Kearney in Dec. 2007 was their first defeat under Tim Moser in November and December (22-1) ... in the past two seasons, UAA is 32-1 at home (including Sullivan Arena), 28-3 in non-conference games (including NCAAs), and 5-0 against Div. I teams (including exhibitions).
GNAC FAVORITES: UAA was picked to win the league in the 8th annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll, released Oct. 29, receiving eight of nine first-place votes. It is the first time UAA has been the coaches' pick to win the conference. Here is a look at the preseason poll predictions:
Pl Team (1st place votes) 07-08 Records Pts '08 Finish
1) Alaska Anchorage (8) 30-5, 15-3 86 2
2) Seattle Pacific (1) 29-1, 18-0 67 1
3) Northwest Nazarene 19-9, 12-6 65 3
4) Western Washington 9-21, 6-12 55 7
5) Saint Martin's 17-11, 10-8 40 4
6) MSU Billings 11-16, 8-10 37 5
7) Central Washington 13-13, 5-13 25 t-8
8) Western Oregon 8-19, 4-14 22 10
9) Alaska Fairbanks 12-14, 5-13 17 t-8
MORE PREDICTIONS: The Seawolves were tabbed No. 5 in the Women's Division II Bulletin preseason top-25 rankings. Defending national champion Northern Kentucky was No. 1, followed by California (Pa.), West Texas A&M, Franklin Pierce (N.H.) and UAA. The Seawolves are the only Great Northwest Athletic Conference or West Region team in the preseason rankings. The WDIIB Preseason Player of the Year is Johanna Leedham, a junior forward at Franklin Pierce, which UAA defeated in last season's NCAA Quarterfinals.
REBECCA KIELPINSKI's STANDOUT JUNIOR SEASON
? Second Team All-American (Women's D-II Bulletin)
? Honorable Mention All-American (WBCA/State Farm)
? GNAC co-Player of the Year
? First Team All-West Region (Daktronics & WBCA)
? First Team All-GNAC
? NCAA West Regional All-Tournament Team
? Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout Most Outstanding Player
? Team co-MVP
Now the all-time leading rebounder (891) and shot-blocker (183) in UAA history, Jr. C Rebecca Kielpinski is a leading candidate for national player-of-the-year honors as she heads into her senior season in 2008-09 ... on pace to become the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history this year, she shared the 2007-08 GNAC Player of the Year award with Seattle Pacific's Jackie Hollands, making it two straight POY honors for the Seawolf star ... the Mandan, N.D., native led the GNAC with 8.9 boards per game to pace the league in that category for the third straight year, while her 2.0 bpg were also best in the 10-team league ... her numbers increased across the board in GNAC games as she led the league in rebounding (10.0 rpg) by a full two boards per game and in blocks (2.2 bpg) by a wide margin; she was also 7th in scoring (13.6), 3rd in FG% (.544) and 13th in assists (2.6 apg) in league games only ... Kielpinski picked a great time to have her best game of the season, tallying a season-high 28 points, plus 14 rebounds and 5 blocks in UAA's NCAA Quarterfinals win over Franklin Pierce ... the performance against FPU was her GNAC-best 12th double-double of the season and extended her school and conference record to 41 career double-doubles ... despite struggling with foul trouble against Chico State in the regional semis, Kielpinski still managed to earn on a spot on the West Regional All-Tournament Team with averages of 9.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.0 apg and 2.7 bpg ... after a relative slump in December, Kielpinski ended the season with double-digit scoring in 22 of the last 26 games ... now UAA's career leader with 891 rebounds, Kielpinski currently ranks 4th on the all-time GNAC list; her other GNAC career ranks include 8th in scoring (1,361) and 4th in blocks (174) ... on UAA's school career list, she ranks in the top 10 in 13 different categories, including rebounds, rebounding average (3rd, 9.8), points (6th, 1,387), scoring average (6th, 15.2), FG% (5th, .509), blocks (1st), blocks per game (1st, 2.0), double-doubles (1st, 41), and games started (t-6th, 91) ... she also tied her own school single-game record with 8 blocks against SPU on Feb. 7.
MORE PLAYER NOTES: Jr. G Danielle Dekel ranked 13th in the GNAC in assists per game (2.6) in 2007-08 ... Jr. G Elisha Harris rounded into peak form at the end of last season; after missing the first four games of the year with a broken foot and struggling to hit her stride, the Utah native has scored 45 percent (58 of 128) of her season point total in the last nine games.
REDSHIRTS GALORE: UAA starts the year with five players slated to take redshirt seasons in 2008-09 ... Sr. G Limor Pelleg suffered an ACL injury early in the preseason and has already had surgery; Jr. G Sarah Herrin (Alaska Fairbanks) and Jr. F Kelsie Gourdin (Mesa State) must sit out the season as transfers fellow Div. II institutions; and true freshmen Alysa Horn and Jordan Martin will take planned redshirts.
INJURY REPORT: The Seawolves start the season with no significant injuries.
