THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Seawolf Hoops Classic
Alaska Airlines Center — Anchorage, Alaska (all times AST)
Friday, November 19
3 pm: Texas Permian Basin (1-1) vs Alaska Fairbanks (0-0)
5:15 pm: Hillsdale (0-2) at #12/2 Alaska Anchorage (1-0)
Saturday, November 20
11 am: Hillsdale vs Alaska Fairbanks
1:15 pm: Texas Permian Basin at #12/2 Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: All games free at youtube.com/c/UAASeawolves
 
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
 
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAWBB Twitter feed for in-game updates.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2021-22 stats)
G—Nicole Pinckney, 5-5, Jr. (8.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 5.0 apg, 4-7 FG)
G—Lauren Johnson, 5-7, Sr. (10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.0 bpg, 4-7 FG)
G—Jahnna Hajdukovich, 5-8, So. (9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 spg, 3-6 FG)
F—Jazzpher Evans, 5-6, Fr. (13.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 4-6 FG, 2-2 3FG, 3-4 FT)
F—Tennae Voliva, 6-0, Jr. (10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 5.0 spg, 4-6 FG)
 
BACK IN THE BALLGAME: After starting the regular season on the road Nov. 5, the Seawolves make their Alaska Airlines Center debut this week when they host Texas Permian Basin and Hillsdale in the Seawolf Hoops Classic ... Friday's contest will mark UAA's first home game since Feb. 22, 2020 ... the Classic will also feature a pair of neutral-court games, with UTPB and Hillsdale facing Alaska Fairbanks.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Hillsdale, located in southcentral Michigan, got its season started with road losses to regional rivals Saginaw Valley State (81-65) and Northwood (79-70) last week … picked 11th of 12 teams in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference preseason poll, the Chargers are led by Sr. G Grace Touchette (15.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 bpg, .440 FG) and Fr. G Caitlin Splain (13.5 ppg, .474 3FG) … Texas Permian Basin got off to a solid start last week, splitting neutral-court games with a 62-52 loss to nationally ranked Colorado Mesa and earning a 63-36 win over South Dakota Mines … picked for 12th of 17 teams in the Lone Star Conference preseason poll, the Falcons are led thus far by Sr. F Alexus Wykoff (10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, .778 FG, .857 FT) and So. G Rory Carter (10.0 ppg, 2.5 spg, .333 3FG).
 
THE SERIES: UAA and Hillsdale will be playing for the first time ... UAA leads the all-time series 2-0 against UT Permian Basin, having beaten the Falcons 88-55 and 84-54 on Dec. 7-8, 2008 in Anchorage.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS: UAA opened the season at No. 12 in the WBCA top 25 coaches' poll and at No. 5 in the D2SIDA (sports information directors) national rankings, moving up three spots this week to No. 2 in the latter ... the preseason rank marked the Seawolves' 97th straight appearance in the WBCA poll (not including the pandemic season), starting with the rankings of Dec. 2, 2014 ... UAA has been no lower than No. 16 over the last WBCA 97 polls, spending 81 of those weeks in the top 10.
 
WBCA/USA Today NCAA Div. II
Top 25 Coaches' Poll - Nov. 2, 2021
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Lubbock Christian (TX) [20] 23-0   547  1
 2 Drury (MO) [2]              24-2   524  2
 3 Lander (SC)                 20-2   465  3
 4 Fort Hays State (KS)        22-4   408  10
 5 Azusa Pacific (CA)           12-5   356  16
 6 Central Missouri            23-5   339  4
   North Georgia               18-2   339  6
 8 Ashland (OH)                16-9   326  20
 9 Gannon (PA)                 13-1   311  RV
10 Texas A&M Commerce          14-4   307  17
12 ALASKA ANCHORAGE             3-0   267  NR
25 Hawaii Pacific               13-1    80  14
Other West Region teams receiving votes: 30) Western Washington 47.
 
D2SIDA NCAA Div. II Top 25 Media Poll - Nov. 16, 2021
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Lander (SC) [11]             2-0   395  3
 2 ALASKA ANCHORAGE             1-0   358  5
 3 Drury (MO) [5]               4-1   355  2
 4 Fort Hays State (KS)         2-0   344  7
 5 North Georgia                2-0   330  6
 6 Texas A&M Commerce           2-0   319  17
 7 Azusa Pacific (CA)            2-0   280  10
 8 Colorado Mines               2-0   279  11
 9 Indiana, Pa.                 2-0   271  RV
10 Lubbock Christian (TX)       4-1   249  1
19 Cal State San Marcos         0-0    80  25
Other West Region teams receiving votes: 27) Western Washington 20; 33) Point Loma 3.
 
PRESEASON FAVORITES: Seeking their seventh straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season crown, UAA was picked to retain its crown in the 2021-22 GNAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, released Oct. 13 ... the Seawolves earned seven of 10 first-place votes and edged Western Washington in the overall vote count, 92-89 ... defending runner-up Northwest Nazarene was picked third with 70 points, followed by Simon Fraser (69) in fourth and Central Washington (60) in fifth.
 
2021-22 GNAC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
 Rk  Team (1st-pl. votes)   '19-20 Rec (Finish) Pts
  1. Alaska Anchorage (7)   31-2, 19-1 (1st)     92
  2. Western Washington (2) 22-9, 14-6 (3rd)     89
  3. Northwest Nazarene (1) 22-7, 17-3 (2nd)     70
  4. Simon Fraser           18-13, 13-7 (t4th)   69
  5. Central Washington     19-11, 13-7 (t4th)   60
  6. Saint Martin's         14-13, 9-11 (t6th)   48
  7. Montana State Billings 14-16, 9-11 (t6th)   47
  8. Seattle Pacific         8-20, 6-14 (8th)     43
  9. Western Oregon         6-21, 3-17 (10th)    20
 10. Alaska Fairbanks       7-22, 2-18 (11th)    12
 
WINNING WAYS: At 189-17 (.918), the Seawolves have the best winning percentage and fourth-most victories in NCAA Div. II since 2014-15, despite playing only three games in 2020-21 ... UAA is a combined 120-9 – including 54-5 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games over the last six conference seasons (since Dec. 2014) ... UAA begins 2021-22 with its Alaska Airlines Center win streak at a record 28 games, suffering its last home loss to Seattle Pacific in the 2018 GNAC Tournament semifinals ... the Seawolves have won 40 consecutive GNAC regular-season home contests, going unbeaten for the last four years ... UAA has gone a combined 196-16 (.925) in the last 14 seasons on its home courts, including 87-6 (.935) at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014-15) ... the 2019-20 Seawolves earned the program's fourth 30-win season in five years, starting with an NCAA Div. II-record 38 victories in 2015-16 ... UAA's run of six straight GNAC regular-season titles is the longest of any program – women's or men's – since the league was founded in 2001-02 ... UAA has recorded 25 wins for six straight seasons (excluding 2020-21) and has produced 16 20-win seasons in 44 years of program history ... the Seawolves have won 57 of their last 59 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents ... UAA has posted 15 consecutive winning records and has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 13 of the past 14 seasons in which it has played a full season ... the Seawolves have won six of the 10 GNAC Tournament titles since the event started in 2011.
 
NIFTY NUMBERS: The 2019-20 Seawolves assumed their familiar position among the NCAA Div. II national stats leaders, ranking among the top 50 in 13 categories ­– including 6th in steals per game (12.9), 6th in scoring margin (21.6), 9th in turnover margin (7.8), 12th in scoring defense (54.1), 18th in A/T ratio (1.2), 21st in turnovers forced per game (21.4) and 25th in assists per game (16.2) – despite not having a single player among the top 50 in any individual category ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves led in four of the 21 categories and ranked second in nine others ... the Seawolves finished top-10 nationally in steals for the seventh straight season in 2019-20, having led NCAA Div. II for four straight years from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
 
T.V. SHOW: Sr. F/C Tennae Voliva (t'NAY voh-LEE-vuh) took her game to the next level as a junior in 2019-20, averaging 9.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 2.0 spg and 0.9 bpg, and she was rewarded this fall as a unanimous Preseason All-GNAC selection ... in the '19-20 GNAC stats, she ranked 5th in rebounding and steals, 12th in blocks and 12th in FG% (.481), with her rebounding average the highest in the Ryan McCarthy era ... the former East Anchorage HS star also earned six double-doubles and had 14 double-figure scoring efforts ... on UAA's career lists, Voliva stands 10th in blocks (61), 13th in blocks per game (0.6), 17th in FG% (.493) and 12th in victories, sporting an 91-10 career record in Green & Gold ... a two-time Academic All-GNAC honoree with a 3.83 in psychology, Voliva was also voted to the five-woman CoSIDA Academic All-District Team as a junior in 2019-20.
 
PAW PRINTS: So. G Rachel Ingram drained multiple three-pointers in 18 of 33 games as a rookie, with her 61 treys easily surpassing UAA's old freshman record ... the Colorado Springs native ranked 5th in the GNAC with her .399 3FG%, having also broken the UAA single-game freshman record with seven treys made in the home win over Concordia-Portland ... Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich (JAH-nuh high-DUKE-o-vich) shot 22 of 41 from long range over the last six regular-season games in 2019-20 to rocket into the GNAC top-20 rankings at 9th in 3FG% (.378) and 12th in 3FGs per game (1.5) ... the local Dimond High product ranks in the UAA career top 20 in all 3FG categories, currently at 17th in percentage (.346), 14th in 3FGs/game (1.1) and 19th in makes (75) ... a transfer from Santa Fe (Fla.) College, Sr. G Stephanie Jackson made an impact in her first season on both sides of the court, ranking 17th in the league with 2.4 assists per game, 13th in A/T ratio (1.2) and 15th with 1.5 steals per contest ... Jackson's 10 rebounds in the home win over UAF were the most for a Seawolf point guard since Nov. 21, 2013, and she equaled her career high for the third time with 11 points in the GNAC Tournament title game.
 
MASTER OF MAYHEM: In his 10th season at UAA and 11th as a head coach, Ryan McCarthy currently stands No. 3 among NCAA Div. II coaches in career winning percentage at .830 ... the winningest coach in UAA women's basketball history since coming north in 2012, McCarthy has led the Seawolf program to unprecedented heights, capturing six straight GNAC regular-season titles (five outright), four GNAC Tournament titles, seven straight NCAA Tournament berths, and ascending as high as No. 1 or No. 2 in the national rankings every season from 2014-15 through 2017-18 ... in 2019-20, McCarthy earned his fourth consecutive GNAC Coach of the Year honor and fifth in the last six seasons ... he was the WBCA NCAA Div. II West Region Coach of the Year three straight times from 2015-17 ... in 2016-17, the Anchorage native led UAA to its third straight top-2 regional seed and its second straight 30-win season (30-2), while recording the first 20-0 league record in GNAC history ... the previous season, McCarthy's crew set an NCAA Div. II record with 38 victories, advancing all the way to the 2016 National Title Game in Indianapolis ... his 2014-15 club claimed what was then the best winning percentage in program history with a 29-2 (.935) mark, sweeping both GNAC titles as well ... McCarthy led UAA to an improvement in overall wins (17, 19, 29, 38) his first four seasons and increased the Seawolves' GNAC victory total in each of his first five campaigns (11, 12, 17, 18, 20) … playing its up-tempo 'Mayhem' style, McCarthy's crews led the nation in steals per game for four straight seasons (2013-14 to 2016-17), while staying among the top 10 in steals each year since ... McCarthy sports head-coaching records of 225-36 (.862) at UAA and 239-49 (.830) overall, having served in an interim capacity at Northwest Nazarene in 2010-11 … McCarthy is assisted in 2020-21 by 10th-year associate head coach Shaina Afoa (the 2017-18 WBCA NCAA Div. II National Assistant Coach of the Year) and former Seawolf great Kiki Robertson (1st season).
 
2021-22 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
SALA LANGI
Preseason All-GNAC Team
TENNAE VOLIVA
Preseason All-GNAC Team