THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Sat., Jan. 15 - Alaska Airlines Center - Anchorage, Alaska - 7:30 pm AST
Alaska Fairbanks (1-8, 0-4 GNAC) at #9 Alaska Anchorage (9-1, 2-0 GNAC)
&
Mon., Jan. 17 - Alaska Airlines Center - Anchorage, Alaska - 5:15 pm AST
Montana State Billings (8-7, 2-1 GNAC [Two games pending]) at #9 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. (10.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.3 spg, .488 FG, .429 3FG)
G—Jahnna Hajdukovich, 5-8, Jr. (9.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, .373 3FG, .714 FT)
F—Sala Langi, 5-9, Sr. (8.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.7 spg, .438 FG, .727 FT)
F—Jazzpher Evans, 5-6, Fr. (6.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, .436 FG, .543 3FG, .688 FT)
F—Tennae Voliva, 6-0, Sr. (8.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.4 spg, .435 FG, .814 FT)
 
BACK AT IT: After having four of the last five games postponed, the Seawolves are set to return to the Alaska Airlines Center for the first time since Nov. 27 when they host Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday (7:30 p.m.) and Montana State Billings on Monday (5:15 p.m.) ... the MSUB game is being made up from a Jan. 1 postponement ... Saturday's contest will mark UAA's first GNAC home game since Feb. 22, 2020 ­– a span of 693 days.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Alaska Fairbanks has dropped eight in a row since starting its season with a 71-69 neutral-court win over Texas-Permian Basin at the Alaska Airlines Center on Nov. 19 … playing their fourth straight road game Saturday, the Nanooks are led by Fr. G Pearle Green (16.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.4 spg, .341 3FG) and Fr. G Destiny Reimers (12.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.9 spg, .426 FG) … after losing six of seven from Nov. 21-Dec. 17, Montana State Billings has bounced back with consecutive victories as it heads into a challenging four-games-in-three-days road trip … set to face Western Oregon on Friday and Saint Martin's on Saturday, the Yellowjackets are led by Sr. F Taryn Shelley (13.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.2 bpg, .494 FG, .423 3FG, .739 FT) and Jr. F Cariann Kunkel (11.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, .523 FG, .750 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 72-30 overall, 45-6 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 26
Last: UAA 90-36 (2/11/20 at UAA)
Notes: UAA's current win streak is the longest in the series and the
Seawolves' 2nd-longest against any program, trailing only the current 33-game streak vs. Western Oregon … UAF's last win was an
85-83 overtime decision, Jan. 27, 2007 in Fairbanks ... the Seawolves have won 15 straight in Anchorage, with UAF's last win, Jan. 5, 2005 … UAA has won 13 straight and 25 of the last 26 meetings by double digits (+27.3 margin) ... UAA leads 31-7 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) and 16-0 under Ryan McCarthy … teams have played at least twice per season since 1979-80, not counting the basically non-existent 2020-21 campaign.
 
vs. MSUB: UAA leads 38-27 overall, 21-11 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 4
Last: UAA 83-69 (2/13/20 at MSUB)
Notes: UAA has won 25 of 28 since MSUB joined the GNAC in 2007-08 ... UAA has won the last 12 regular-season meetings since a 75-72 MSUB home victory, Mar. 1, 2014 ... UAA has won all 13 games in Anchorage since MSUB joined the GNAC, including a 80-33 decision in the last meeting at the Alaska Airlines Center in 2020 ... UAA leads 24-2 in GNAC regular-season meetings and 15-3 under Ryan McCarthy ... MSUB is UAA's 3rd-most common opponent (behind UAF and Seattle Pacific), despite splitting into diff erent leagues from 2002-07 … teams played twice yearly from 1984-85 to 2000-01 as members of the Pacifi c West and Continental Divide conferences.
 
NIGHTHAWKS NIPPED IN NAMPA: The Seawolves rebounded from a stunning loss at Hawaii Hilo and shook off three straight postponements to earn a thrilling 76-72 victory over regionally ranked Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho, in their most recent game ... Jr. PG Nicole Pinckney scored a career-high 21 points (7-13 FG, 5-10 3FG, 2-2 FT) and dished 4 assists as UAA played from behind most of the night, getting the go-ahead basket from Sr. F Sala Langi with 2:06 remaining … Langi finished with 16 points, along with career-highs and UAA season-bests of 7 assists and 6 steals, while Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich tallied 11 points and a career-high-tying 9 rebounds.
 
WINNING WAYS: UAA's 24-game win streak from Jan. 25, 2020 to Dec. 14, 2021 had been the longest in NCAA Div. II and finished two short of tying the school record set by the 2016-17 club ... the 12 straight road wins finished as the third-longest string in program history ... at 197-18 (.916), 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 122-9 – including 56-5 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games over the last seven conference seasons (since Dec. 2014) ... UAA's Alaska Airlines Center record winning streak stands at 32 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 200-16 (.926) in the last 15 seasons on its home courts, including 91-6 (.938) 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 63 of their last 66 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 full seasons ... the Seawolves have won six of the 10 GNAC Tournament titles since the event started in 2011.
 
NIFTY NUMBERS: The Seawolves lead the GNAC stats in scoring (73.1 ppg), steals (12.8 spg), assists (16.8 apg), turnover margin (+8.9) and offensive rebounding (14.5 orpg) and rank second in three other categories ... of 297 teams nationally, UAA ranks top 50 in eight categories, including top 30 in turnover margin (9th), turnovers forced (17th, 23.9), steals (17th), assists (19th), scoring margin (19th, +17.3) and A/T ratio (27th) ... 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 8.9 ppg and GNAC ranks of 2nd in steals (2.4 spg), 5th in FT% (.814), 13th in blocks (0.6 bpg) and 14th in rebounding (5.6 rpg) ... on UAA's career lists, Voliva stands 8th in blocks (67), 13th in blocks per game (0.6), 15th in rebounds (521), 14th in games played (110), 18th in FG% (.484) and 10th in victories, sporting an 99-11 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, ranking fourth on the team in both scoring (8.8 ppg) and rebounding (3.3 rpg), along with second in assists (2.2 apg) and steals (1.7 spg) ... the Seawolves' active career scoring leader with 708 points, Langi joined Voliva on this year's Preseason All-GNAC Team ...  Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich ranks 8th in 3FG% (.373) and 5th in 3FGs per game (1.9) in the GNAC stats, tying for the second-most treys in Seawolf history with her 8 against UT Permian Basin ... the former Dimond High star now ranks in the top 15 in all UAA career 3FG categories, with 93 treys, 1.21 per game and a .352 3FG% ... Jr. PG Nicole Pinckney has taken her game to the next level in fifth season with the program ... the former Chugiak High star is 4th in the GNAC with 3.7 assists per game, 2nd with a 2.5 assist-turnover ratio and 3rd in 3FG% at .429, draining 5 of 10 treys for a career-high 21 points in the win at NNU ... Pinckney also ranks 18th in scoring (10.7 ppg), 6th in 3FGs per game (1.8) and 18th in steals (1.3 spg), logging a team-high 25.1 minutes per game ... 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 .832 ... 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 233-37 (.862) at UAA and 247-50 (.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).
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS: UAA remained at No. 9 in the D2SIDA (sports information directors) top-25 poll and moved up two spots to No. 9 in the WBCA coaches' poll ... this marks the Seawolves' 104th 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 103 WBCA polls, spending 86 of those weeks in the top 10.
 
WBCA/USA Today NCAA Div. II
Top 25 Coaches' Poll - Jan. 11, 2022
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Drury (MO) [22]              16-1  574  1
 2 Fort Hays State (KS)         13-1  513  3
 3 Glenville State (WV) [1]     12-0  503  5
 4 Lubbock Christian (TX)       13-2  472  6
 5 Western Washington           10-0  451  7
 6 Texas A&M Commerce           11-1  434  2
 7 Ashland (OH)                 12-1  433  8
 8 Azusa Pacific (CA)            9-1  391  10
 9 ALASKA ANCHORAGE              9-1  371  11
10 Lander (SC)                  10-2  359  3
Other West Region teams receiving votes: None.
 
D2SIDA NCAA Div. II Top 25 Media Poll - Jan. 11, 2022
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Drury (MO) [14]              16-1  395  1
 2 Lubbock Christian (TX)       13-2  358  7
 2 Western Washington           10-0  358  5
 4 Ashland (OH)                 12-1  329  6
 5 Fort Hays State (KS) [1]     13-1  315  11
 6 Texas A&M Commerce           11-1  304  2
 7 Glenville State (WV) [1]     12-0  298  8
 8 North Georgia                10-1  287  20
 9 ALASKA ANCHORAGE              9-1  278  9
10 Lander (SC)                  10-2  244  3
19 Azusa Pacific (CA)            9-1  116  21
21 Cal State East Bay           10-1   78  17
Other West Region teams receiving votes: None.
 
D2SIDA West Region Media Poll - Jan. 10, 2022
 Rk  Team (1st-pl. votes)   Rec. Pts  Last
  1 Western Washington (6) 10-0  60   1
  2 Alaska Anchorage        9-1  53   2
  3 Cal State East Bay     10-1  43   3
  3 Azusa Pacific           9-1  43   4
  5 Cal State San Marcos    8-2  30   7
  6 Stanislaus State       10-2  26   5
  7 Saint Martin's          9-3  19   6
  7 Hawaii Hilo             5-2  19   8
  9 Northwest Nazarene      9-4  17   9
 10 Central Washington      8-4  15   10
 
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
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2021-22
INDIVIDUAL
None
TEAM
Game
Most Points, 2nd Quarter — 31 at Hawaii Pacific, Dec. 14 (ties record set vs William Jewell, 10/30/15 at Anaheim)
Most Points, 2nd Quarter (road) — 31 at Hawaii Pacific, Dec. 14 (old record: 27, twice, last at Western Oregon, Jan. 5, 2017)
Fewest Points Allowed, 1st Quarter — 2 vs Winston-Salem State, Nov. 27 (old record: 4, four times)
Misc.
Consecutive Wins, Alaska Airlines Center – 32, 11/16/19-current (old record: 16, 11/5/15-2/25/16)
bold = active record