THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Sat., Jan. 8 - Johnson Sports Center - Nampa, Idaho - 5 pm AST
#11/9 Alaska Anchorage (8-1, 1-0 GNAC) at Northwest Nazarene (9-3, 3-1 GNAC)
 
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=AAjvMvgRe9M
LIVE STATS: nnusports.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. (9.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.3 spg, .479 FG, .406 3FG)
G—Jahnna Hajdukovich, 5-8, Jr. (9.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.3 apg, .406 FG, .372 3FG)
F—Sala Langi, 5-9, Sr. (8.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.2 spg, .448 FG, .714 FT)
F—Lauren Johnson, 5-7, Sr. (6.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.3 apg, .420 FG, .348 3FG, .889 FT)
F—Tennae Voliva, 6-0, Sr. (8.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.8 apg, 2.2 spg, .414 FG, .821 FT)
 
BACK AT IT: The Seawolves return to action for the first time since Dec. 19 when they travel to face regionally ranked league foe Northwest Nazarene on Saturday ... the Seawolves had been scheduled to play Monday, Jan. 10 at Central Washington, however that game has been postponed (no make-up date announced) due to health & safety protocols with the home team.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Ranked No. 8 in the latest D2SIDA West Region poll, Northwest Nazarene earned its fifth straight victory with Thursday's 81-75 home win over Alaska Fairbanks ... unbeaten in five home contests, the Nighthawks are led by Thabach Nyalum (12.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, .508 FG, .730 FT) and Teagan Thurman (12.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.2 spg, .464 FG, .750 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs NNU: UAA leads 29-17 overall; tied 10-10 in Nampa
Last: UAA 68-54 (2/6/20 at NNU)
Streak: UAA 3
Notes: NNU has won two of the last three in Nampa ... teams met three times in postseason play in 2017-18 and 2018-19 ... UAA leads 24-14 in GNAC regular-season meetings and 13-6 under head coach Ryan McCarthy … series started in 2000-01 when both teams were in the Pacific West Conference.
 
HAWAIIAN PUNCHED: The Seawolves passed their first two tests ­– winning 70-55 at Hawaii Pacific and 69-41 over Concord – but could not earn the sweep in their non-conference finales Dec. 14-19 in Hawaii, suffering their first loss since Jan. 23, 2020 with a 76-73 overtime setback at Hawaii Hilo ... in the first game, Sr. C Tennae Voliva had 16 points (4-8 FG, 8-9 FT), 5 rebounds and 2 blocks and Fr. G Malie Marfil added a career-high 10 points (3-5 FG, 3-3 FT), 4 rebounds and 3 assists to outlast HPU in Honolulu ... UAA went crosstown three days later, getting a season-high 16 points (4-8 FG, 8-10 FT) and 3 steals from Sr. F Sala Langi and 11 points from Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich in a neutral-court rout of the West Virginians ... the Seawolves forced 32 turnovers as they established a new season low for points allowed ... at Hilo, Jr. F Kimani Fernandez scored a career-high 17 points (8-10 FG) and Langi had 13 points to lead a late comeback, but the Vulcans scored the game's final seven points to secure the upset ... UAA also got career-highs of 8 points (2-2 FG, 4-4 FT) from So. C Miyah Lewis-Hampton and 8 rebounds from Fr. G Jazzpher Evans as they suffered their first loss in 38 games against Hawaii D-II programs.
 
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 196-18 (.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 121-9 – including 55-5 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games over the last six 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 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 Seawolves lead the GNAC stats in scoring (72.8 ppg), steals (12.0 spg), turnover margin (+9.2) and offensive rebounding (14.9 orpg) and ranks second in four other categories ... of 297 teams nationally, UAA ranks top 50 in 11 categories, including top 30 in turnover margin, scoring margin (17th, 18.8), turnovers forced (23.9), scoring defense (54.0 ppg), steals (26th, 12.0 spg) and A/T ratio (1.11) ... 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 (2.2 spg), 7th in FT% (.821), 12th in blocks (0.6 bpg) and 14th in rebounding (5.4 rpg) ... on UAA's career lists, Voliva stands 8th in blocks (66), 13th in blocks per game (0.6), 15th in rebounds (515) and games played (109), 18th in FG% (.482) and 12th in victories, sporting an 98-11 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 (8.0 ppg), rebounding (3.3 rpg) and assists (1.7 apg) ... the Seawolves' active career scoring leader with 692 points, Langi joined Voliva on this year's Preseason All-GNAC Team ...  Jr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich ranks 7th in 3FG% (.372) and 5th in 3FGs per game (1.8) 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 90 treys, 1.19 per game and a .352 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 16th with 84 3FGs ... 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 2.54 assist-turnover ratio and 4th in 3FG% at .406 ... Pinckney also ranks 18th in scoring (9.6 ppg), 9th in 3FGs per game (1.4), 17h in steals (1.3 spg) and 13th in 3FG% (.381) ... 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 232-37 (.862) at UAA and 246-50 (.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 this week dropped from No. 8 to No. 9 in the D2SIDA (sports information directors) top-25 poll and remained at No. 11 in the WBCA coaches' poll ... this marks the Seawolves' 103rd 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 102 WBCA polls, spending 85 of those weeks in the top 10.
 
WBCA/USA Today NCAA Div. II
Top 25 Coaches' Poll - Jan. 4, 2022
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Drury (MO) [17]              13-1  567  2
 2 Texas A&M Commerce [6]       11-0  535  3
 3 Lander (SC)                   9-1  495  5
 4 Fort Hays State (KS)         10-1  495  4
 5 Glenville State (WV)         10-0  438  6
 6 Lubbock Christian (TX)       12-2  424  1
 7 Western Washington           10-0  423  7
 8 Ashland (OH)                 11-1  422  8
 9 Nebraska Kearney             11-1  377  10
10 Azusa Pacific (CA)            9-1  374  9
11 ALASKA ANCHORAGE              8-1  351  11
Other West Region teams receiving votes: None.
 
D2SIDA NCAA Div. II Top 25 Media Poll - Jan. 4, 2022
UAA & opponents in bold; West Region teams in italics
Rk Team [1st-place votes]       Rec.  Pts  Last
 1 Drury (MO) [13]              13-1  391  2
 2 Texas A&M Commerce [1]       11-0  384  3
 3 Lander (SC)                   9-1  364  4
 4 Nebraska Kearney             11-1  320  7
 5 Western Washington           10-0  318  6
 6 Ashland (OH)                 11-1  311  7
 7 Lubbock Christian (TX)       12-2  303  1
 8 Glenville State (WV) [1]     10-0  265  10
 9 ALASKA ANCHORAGE              8-1  261  8
10 Catawba (NC)                 11-0  249  11
17 Cal State East Bay           10-1  121  18
21 Azusa Pacific (CA)            9-1   83  22
Other West Region teams receiving votes: None.
 
D2SIDA West Region Media Poll - Jan. 3, 2021
 Rk  Team (1st-pl. votes)   Rec. Pts  Last
  1 Western Washington (5) 10-0  57   1
  2 Alaska Anchorage        8-1  53   2
  3 Cal State East Bay (1) 10-1  44   3
  3 Azusa Pacific           9-1  44   4
  5 Cal State San Marcos    7-2  28   7
  6 Saint Martin's          8-2  24   6
  7 Hawaii Hilo             5-2  23   8
  8 Northwest Nazarene      8-3  20   9
  9 Stanislaus State       10-2  19   5
 10 Central Washington      8-4  13   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