THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Friday, Nov. 26 - Alaska Airlines Center - Anchorage, Alaska - 7:30 pm
Winston-Salem State (3-1) at #9/1 Alaska Anchorage (3-0)
&
Saturday, Nov. 27 - Alaska Airlines Center - Anchorage, Alaska - 7:30 pm
Winston-Salem State at #9/1 Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Both 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.
TICKETS: goseawolves.com
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2021-22 stats)
G—Nicole Pinckney, 5-5, Jr. (10.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.3 spg, .448 FG)
G—Jahnna Hajdukovich, 5-8, Jr. (12.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, .462 FG, .429 3FG)
G—Stephanie Jackson, 5-9, Sr. (5.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.0 apg, .538 FG)
F—Lauren Johnson, 5-7, Sr. (5.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.0 apg, .538 FG)
F—Tennae Voliva, 6-0, Sr. (8.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.7 spg, .455 FG, .750 FT)
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: After starting the season with a 78-75 overtime road loss to Concord, Winston-Salem State has picked up three victories in a row, including against fellow NCAA Div. II opponents Fairmont State (74-69) and USC Aiken (77-61) ... the Rams, from North Carolina and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, are led thus far by 5-6 So. G Amaya Tucker (14.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 3.3 spg, .467 3FG and 5-6 Sr. G Brooke Spaulding (10.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.3 spg, .460 FG).
 
THE SERIES: This will mark the first meetings between UAA and Winston-Salem State.
 
LONG TIME COMING: The Seawolves played their first home games since Feb. 22, 2020, when they defeated a pair of out-of-region D-II foes in Hillsdale (69-61) and Texas Permian Basin (73-53) last week at the Alaska Airlines Center ... in the opener, Sr. F Sala Langi produced 15 points (5-8 FG, 5-5 FT) and Jr. PG Nicole Pinckney had 12 points and career highs of 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals as UAA fended off a late run by the visitors from Ohio ... Jr. F Kimani Fernandez added 10 points (5-8 FG), 5 rebounds and 2 steals, and Sr. F Tennae Voliva had 10 points and 4 rebounds ... on Saturday, Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich came one three-pointer shy of tying the school record, tallying career highs of 28 points (8-16 3FG), 9 rebounds and 5 assists against the Falcons ... Pinckney accounted for 11 points (3-6 3FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals to earn the Seawolf Hoops Classic Most Outstannding Player honor, while Langi chipped in 8 points (4-4 FG), 2 assists and 2 steals.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS: UAA this week moved to No. 9 in the WBCA top 25 coaches' poll and became the new No. 1 in the D2SIDA (sports information directors) national rankings ... this week marks the Seawolves' 98th 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 98 polls, spending 82 of those weeks in the top 10.
 
WBCA/USA Today NCAA Div. II
Top 25 Coaches' Poll - Nov. 23, 2021
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Fort Hays State (KS) [14]    4-0   522  4
 2 Lubbock Christian (TX) [7]   6-1   492  1
 3 Drury (MO)                   6-1   469  2
 4 North Georgia [1]            5-0   454  6
 5 Lander (SC)                  3-1   436  3
 6 Ashland (OH)                 3-0   425  8
 7 Texas A&M Commerce           3-0   422  10
 8 Gannon (PA)                  2-0   378  9
 9 ALASKA ANCHORAGE             3-0   361  12
10 Glenville State (WV)         3-0   330  14
11 Azusa Pacific (CA)           4-1   283  5
13 Western Washington           3-0   180  RV
Other West Region teams receiving votes: Hawaii Pacific.
 
D2SIDA NCAA Div. II Top 25 Media Poll - Nov. 23, 2021
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 ALASKA ANCHORAGE [10]        3-0   381  2
 2 Fort Hays State (KS) [2]     4-0   364  4
 3 Drury (MO) [1]               6-1   361  3
 4 Texas A&M Commerce           3-0   343  6
 5 Lander (SC) [1]              3-1   324  1
 6 Lubbock Christian (TX)       6-1   320  10
 7 North Georgia [1]            5-0   314  5
 8 Lee (TN) [1]                 4-0   278  12
 9 Ashland (OH)                 3-0   275  11
10 Gannon (PA)                  2-0   269  13
13 Western Washington           3-0   191  RV
19 Azusa Pacific (CA)           2-0   112  7
Other West Region teams receiving votes: 28) Saint Martin's 15.
 
WINNING WAYS: At 191-17 (.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 last week increased its Alaska Airlines Center record winning streak to 30 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 198-16 (.925) in the last 15 seasons on its home courts, including 89-6 (.937) 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 59 of their last 61 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: With every team playing at least two games now, the Seawolves lead the early GNAC stats in seven categories – scoring offense (80.7), scoring defense (52.3), scoing margin (+28.3), FG% (.474), 3FG% defense (.148), steals per game (11.7), turnover margin (+8.3) and assist/turnover ratio (1.2) ... the Seawolves are attemping to finish top-10 nationally in steals for the eighth straight non-pandemic season in 2021-22, having led NCAA Div. II for four straight years from 2013-14 to 2016-17.
 
'WOLF BITES: A unanimous Preseason All-GNAC selection, Sr. F/C Tennae Voliva (t'NAY voh-LEE-vuh) has gotten off to a solid start with 8.7 ppg and GNAC ranks of 2nd in steals (2.7 spg) and 20th in assists (2.3 apg) ... on UAA's career lists, Voliva stands 9th in blocks (62), 13th in blocks per game (0.6), 18th in FG% (.489) and 12th in victories, sporting an 93-10 career record in Green & Gold ... a three-time Academic All-GNAC honoree with a 3.88 in psychology, Voliva was a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree as a junior in 2019-20 ... Sr. F Sala Langi has continued her under-the-radar solid play to begin her final season, leading the early GNAC stats with .750 FG shooting and ranks of 17th in scoring (10.7 ppg), 3rd in FT% (.889) and 14th in steals (1.3 spg) ... the Seawolves' active career scoring leader with 643 points, Langi joined Voliva on this year's Preseason All-GNAC Team ...  Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich ranks 11th in scoring (12.3 ppg) and 2nd in 3FGs per game in the early GNAC stats, tying for the second-most treys in Seawolf history with her 8 against UTPB ... the former Dimond High star now ranks in the top 15 in all UAA career 3FG categories, with 83 treys, 1.19 per game and a .367 3FG% ... 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 is chasing Hajdukovich on UAA's career treys list, currently ranked 18th with 76 3FGs ... Jr. PG Nicole Pinckney has taken her game to the next level in fifth season with the program ... the former Chugiak High star ranks 17th in the league in scoring with 10.3 ppg, along with 4th in assists (4.7 apg) and 3rd in steals (2.3 spg) ... Pinckney was the Most Outstanding Player of the Nov. 19-20 Seawolf Hoops Classic, totaling 23 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 steals and just 2 turnovers in 52 minutes.
 
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 .831 ... 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 227-36 (.863) at UAA and 241-49 (.831) 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
JAHNNA HAJDUKOVICH
Seawolf Hoops Classic All-Tournament Team
SALA LANGI
Preseason All-GNAC Team
NICOLE PINCKNEY
Seawolf Hoops Classic Most Outstanding Player
TENNAE VOLIVA
Preseason All-GNAC Team