THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout
Alaska Airlines Center (5,000) - Anchorage, Alaska
(All times Alaska Standard)
Friday, November 18
5:15 pm: La Salle (3-1) vs Pepperdine (0-2)
7:30 pm: UC Riverside (0-3) vs Alaska Anchorage (3-0)
Saturday, November 19
5:15 pm: Third-place game
7:30 pm: Championship game
 
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.
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2022-23 stats)
G—Nicole Pinckney, 5-5, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 spg, 9/2 AT ratio)
G—Jahnna Hajdukovich, 5-8, Sr. (10.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.7 spg, .333 3FG)
G—Jazzpher Evans, 5-6, So. (7.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.7 spg)
F—Vishe' Rabb, 5-9, Sr. (18.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.7 spg, .489 FG, .353 3FG)
F—Kate Robertson, 6-2, So. (10.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.7 spg, .464 FG)
 
THE SHOOTOUT IS BACK: After a four-year hiatus, the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout returns to the Alaska Airlines Center as host Alaska Anchorage faces UC Riverside, Pepperdine and La Salle in the 39th edition of the women's college basketball tournament ... UAA opens against UCR on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with consolation and title games set for 5:15 and 7:30 on Saturday.
 
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS: First-round foe UC Riverside has gotten off to an 0-3 start with double-digit losses to Pacific, UCLA and Fresno State ... the Big West Conference program is led by Fr. G Jordyn Marshall (10.0 ppg, .528 FG) and Jr. G Jordan Webster (7.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .778 FT).
 
ALL-TIME SERIES...
vs UCR: UAA leads 7-1 overall, 6-1 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 2
Last: UAA 72-67 (11/22/06 at Sullivan Arena - Anchorage)
Notes: The teams last met in the Shootout when UAA topped UCR in the 2006 title game for the first of its four straight championships ... teams met six times between 1983-95 when UCR was also an NCAA Div. II program.
 
vs Pepperdine: UAA leads 2-1 overall, 2-1 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 1
Last: UAA 94-61 (11/24/15 at UAA)
Notes: All three meetings have come in the Shootout/Northern Lights Invitational ... UAA won the inugural meeting 76-74 at Sullivan Arena in Feb. 1984, and Pepperdine won 74-52 in the final tourney played at the UAA Sports Complex in Dec. 1997.
 
vs LaSalle: Never met
 
SHOOTOUT SNAPSHOT: The Seawolves aim for their eighth ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout title when they host their three D-I foes at the Alaska Airlines Center this weekend ... this marks the 39th edition of the women's Shootout, which was known as the Northern Lights Invitational from 1980-97 ... from 1999 to 2013, the Shootout was played at Sullivan Arena ... find complete historical info at GoSeawolves.com.
 
SEAWOLVES AT THE SHOOTOUT: In 1990, the Seawolves became the first Div. II women's team to win a tournament against all-Div. I competition, repeating their feat at the 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2017 Shootouts ... the first title came when the tournament featured eight teams and was known as the Northern Lights Invitational; the subsequent championships have come under the current 4-team format … the Seawolves are 38-56 all-time in the Shootout and 18-20 since the current format began in 1999, boosted by their wins over Maryland-Eastern Shore (69-59) and Tulsa (59-53) in 2017 ... the Seawolves own 38 regular-season wins against 34 different NCAA Div. I programs.
 
HAWAIIAN BUNCH: The Seawolves got the NCAA Div. II portion of their schedule under way with West Region victories at Hawaii Pacific (79-70) and Chaminade (77-60) in Honolulu last week ... in the first game, So. F Kate Robertson had 14 points and 12 rebounds to help key a 12-0 fourth-quarter run to fend off the Sharks ... Sr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich and Sr. F Vishe' Rabb each scored 17 points and combined for 12 rebounds, while Jr. PG Anaiah Moore had 8 points (4-4 FG), 4 assists and just one turnover ... on Monday, Rabb tallied 18 points and So. G Jazzpher Evans added 11 points as UAA scored 27 fourth-quarter points to pull away from the Silverswords ... Robertson and Sr. G Nicole Pinckney had 10 points apiece, while Moore had 5 assists and 3 steals.
 
2022-23 SEASON PREVIEW: With three returning starters and an infusion of talented newcomers, the Seawolves are looking to get back to the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, which they won six straight times from 2015 to 2020 ... picked second in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll, UAA features five seniors with experience in a Seawolf uniform, led by 5th- and 6th-year standouts Jahnna Hajdukovich (7.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, .378 3FG), Nicole Pinckney (7.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) and Kimani Fernandez (4.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, .525 FG) ... Sr. G Rachel Ingram (5.8 ppg) brings a sharp-shooting three-point touch, while fellow Sr. G Ra'Anaa Bey also bolsters the backcourt ... So. G Jazzpher Evans (7.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg) is the other returning starter, with So. G Malie Marfil and So. G/F Tubby Tovia bring playing experience from last year ... King Cove native Elaina Mack also returns after playing briefly in the Covid campaign and redshirting last year ... five big-time transfers also join the lineup, including Sr. G Vishe' Rabb, who was a second-team all-conference selection last year at fellow D-II program Augustana (S.D.), and D-I transfers Hayley Berfield (High Point) and Anaiah Moore (Milwaukee) ... So. F Kate Robertson comes north after an impressive JC career at her hometown Casper (Wyo.) College, and So. C Natalia Beaumont is expected to make a major impact once she returns from off-season surgery.
 
2021-22 SEASON RECAP: UAA continued its winning ways in 2021-22, going 20-7 overall and missing its seventh straight GNAC titles by just fractions of a point, despite a 12-4 league mark ... the Seawolves advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth straight time and reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh full season in a row, earning huge wins over Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene along the way ... Sr. C Tennae Voliva was UAA's floor leader, earning First Team All-GNAC, all-region and honorable mention All-America awards.
 
WINNING WAYS: Prior to falling 0.04 ranking points shy of last year's crown, UAA's run of six straight GNAC regular-season titles was the longest of any basketball program – women's or men's – since the league was founded in 2001-02 ... at 210-24 (.897), the Seawolves have the third-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 133-14 – including 63-7 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games over the last seven conference seasons (since Dec. 2014) ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 204-18 (.919) in the last 15 seasons on their home courts, including 95-8 (.922) 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 has recorded 20 wins for seven straight seasons (excluding 2020-21, when they played just three games) and has produced 17 20-win seasons in 45 years of program history ... the Seawolves have won 65 of their last 67 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents ... UAA has posted 16 consecutive winning records and earned 14 NCAA Tournament appearance in its last 15 full seasons ... the Seawolves have won six of the 11 GNAC Tournament titles since the event started in 2011.
 
NIFTY NUMBERS: The Seawolves led the 2021-22 GNAC stats in steals (12.3 spg), turnover margin (+6.15) and offensive rebounding pct. (.353), while ranking second or third in five other categories ... of 295 teams nationally, UAA ranked top-50 in steals (13th), turnover margin (13th), turnovers forced (21st, 21.6) and assists (45th, 15.2 apg) ... the Seawolves just missed to finishing 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: UAA's leading returning scorer (7.7 ppg) and second-leading returning rebounder (3.7 rpg), Sr. G Jahnna Hajdukovich ranked 3rd the GNAC with a .378 3FG% last season, along with ranks of 7th in 3FGs per game (1.6) and 9th in A/T ratio (1.4) ... the former Dimond High ranks 9th on UAA's career 3FGs made list with 123, along with 13th in 3FGs per game (1.3) and 15th in 3FG% (.357) ... Sr. G Nicole Pinckney becomes the longest tenured player in program history this year – her sixth in the Green & Gold ... the former Chugiak High star was 8th in the GNAC last season with 3.2 assists per game, 4th in assist-turnover ratio (1.8), 11th in 3FG% (.333) and 16th in 3FGs per game (1.2) ... Pinckney stands 17th on UAA's career 3FG list with 92 treys and 17th in victories with 83 ... Sr. G Rachel Ingram drained at least one three pointer in 13 of the last 15 regular-season games last winter, ranking top 10 in the GNAC-only stats with a .351 3FG% and 1.8 3FGs per game ... in just two-plus seasons, the Colorado native has moved onto UAA's career top-20 lists in 3FGs made (10th, 116), 3FG% (18th, .348) and 3FGs per game (6th, 1.8) ... other Seawolves among the GNAC stats leaders in 2021-22 included So. G Jazzpher Evans at 6th in steals (1.7 spg) and Sr. F Kimani Fernandez at 11th in offensive rebounding (2.0 orpg) ... currently sidelined with an injury, Fernandez begins the season at 38th on UAA's career rebounds list with 351 and 19th in FG% at .486.
 
MASTER OF MAYHEM: Now in his 11th season at UAA and 12th overall, Ryan McCarthy currently stands No. 4 among active NCAA Div. II coaches in career winning percentage at .823 ... 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) between 2015-20, four GNAC Tournament titles, eight straight NCAA Tournament berths (discounting the 2020-21 non-season), 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 six seasons, and 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 244-43 (.850) at UAA and 258-56 (.822) overall, having served in an interim capacity at Northwest Nazarene in 2010-11 … McCarthy is assisted by 11th-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 (2nd season).
 
2022-23 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
JAHNNA HAJDUKOVICH
Preseason All-GNAC Team
VISHE' RABB
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2022-23
TEAM
Game
Most 3FGs Attempted — 43 at La Sierra, Nov. 6 (old record: 40 vs Kuyper College, 1/3/09 & at St. Andrews, 10/29/19)