THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Sat., Jan. 13 – 5:15 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Alaska Fairbanks (2-12, 0-4 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (8-5, 2-2 GNAC)
 
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LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/wbball
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UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023-24 stats)
G—Senya Rabouin, 5-5, Jr. (12.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.9 spg, .365 3FG, .806 FT)
G—Jazzpher Evans, 5-6, Jr. (11.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.7 spg, .486 FG)
G—Elaina Mack, 5-8, So. (8.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, .360 3FG)
F—Vishe' Rabb, 5-9, Sr. (9.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.5 spg, .421 FG)
F—Kate Robertson, 6-2, Jr. (5.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 0.9 spg, .400 FG, .833 FT)
 
ALASKA RIVALRY RENEWS: The Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team returns closes out a three-game homestand Saturday at 5:15 pm when it hosts longtime rival Alaska Fairbanks ... the Seawolves are trying to extend a six-game winning streak and get above .500 in the GNAC standings, while UAF is seeking its first league win.
 
KNOW THE 'NOOKS: Alaska Fairbanks brings a four-game losing skid south, posting its lone D-II victory Nov. 24 at home against Cal State San Bernardino (70-62) ... the Nanooks are led by Destiny Reimers (10.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.1 apg) and Emma Wass (8.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg, .442 FG).
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 75-31 overall, 47-6 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 1
Last: UAA 69-39 (2/4/23 at UAA)
Notes: UAF's win last season in Fairbanks snapped a 28-game UAA streak, which ran from Jan. 2008 to Feb. 2022 … UAA has won 17 straight in Anchorage (the last 15 by double figures), including an 8-0 mark at the Alaska Airlines
Center ... UAA leads 34-8 in GNAC regular-season meetings and 19-1 under Ryan McCarthy … teams have played at least twice per season since 1979-80, not counting the basically non-existent 2020-21 campaign.
 
SWEET HOME COOKING: The Seawolves ran their winning streak to six games and evened their GNAC record at 2-2 with critical home victories over No. 14 Western Washington and Simon Fraser last week ... on Thursday, Sr. F Vishe' Rabb returned from a 10-month injury absence with 16 points (7-10 FG), 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals to power a 61-54 win over the Vikings ... Jr. G Ja'Niah Alexander had 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and no turnovers as UAA snapped a 5-game losing skid against the two-time defending GNAC champs, holding them to .392 shooting and forcing 26 turnovers ... on Saturday, Jr. PG Senya Rabouin delivered 21 points (8-15 FG), 6 assists, 2 steals and no turnovers on her way to GNAC Player of the Week honors, spearheading an 89-68 win over SFU ... Jr. C Tori Hollingshead had 18 points, 9 rebounds and career-high 5 blocks, and So. G Elaina Mack scored 16 points (4-10 3FG) and grabbed 6 rebounds as UAA reached a season-high point total.
 
TEAM NOTES: The current six-game winning streak is UAA's longest since taking seven in a row from Jan. 29-Feb. 17, 2022 ... the win over WWU avoided the program's first 0-3 GNAC start since 2003-04 ... the Seawolves lead the GNAC in steals per game (13.5, 14th nationally), offensive rebounds per game (14.7) and offensive rebounding percentage (.395), and rank second in turnover margin (+3.9), scoring defense (58.7), FG% defense (.370), 3FG% defense (.273) and rebound margin (+5.9) ... the 33 points allowed against Clarion equaled UAA's 10th-fewest against a fellow NCAA Div. II opponent ... UAA's four-game losing skid from Nov. 24-Dec. 2 was its longest since dropping seven straight from Jan. 7-28, 2006 ... the Seawolves' four one-possession losses mark the first time that has happened since the 2007-08 squad suffered four of its five losses that year by three points or fewer.
 
'WOLF BITES: A Preseason All-GNAC pick, Jr. G Jazzpher Evans ranks 17th in the GNAC with 11.7 points per game, along with 8th in steals per game (1.7) and 9th in FG% (.486 – best among players under 5-10) ... the Chicago native tied her career high from her Covid freshman season at Quincy with 20 points (8-14 FG, 4-4 FT) in the loss at Pacific, and topped that with 21 points against Adams State ... Evans was named the MVP of the GNAC/PacWest Crossover after helping UAA to two wins in Honolulu with 13.5 ppg on .500 FG ... Jr. PG Senya Rabouin has settled into her role since transferring from Central Arizona College, providing at least two field goals, one three-pointer, multiple assists and at least one steal in 12 of 13 games, and earning her first GNAC Player of the Week award for her effort against WWU and SFU ... the Arizona native already has three of 20-plus scoring efforts to her credit, moving up in the GNAC stats to 12th in scoring (12.8 ppg), 1st in assists (4.8 apg), 5th in steals (1.9 spg), 12th in FT% (.806), 12th in 3FG% (.365), 10th in 3FGs per game (1.8) and 8th in A/T ratio (2.0) ... Rabouin's 10 assists Dec. 8 against Clarion were the first double-digit performance by a Seawolf since Nov. 2017 (Yazmeen Goo) ... Jr. C Tori Hollingshead has made a major impact since transferring from Umpqua (Ore.) CC, ranking among the GNAC leaders in scoring (15th, 11.8 ppg), rebounding (11th, 6.8 rpg), blocks (3rd, 2.2 [17th nationally]), steals (10th, 1.6 spg) and FG% (4th, .569) ... the Orem, Utah, product shot 9 of 13 and grabbed 9 rebounds to power the win over Hawaii Pacific, and she earned all-tournament spots at both the GNAC/PacWest Crossover and the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout ... Hollingshead's 2.2 blocks per game are on pace for No. 5 on UAA's single-season list and easily the most in the Ryan McCarthy era (since 2012-13) ... other Seawolves among the GNAC stats leaders are Jr. G Kya Pearson (4th, 2.1 spg), Jr. F Jaisa Gamble (7th, 1.7 spg) and So. G Elaina Mack (2nd, 2.5 3FG per game; 11th, .365 3FG%) ... Mack has nailed at least one three-pointer in all 13 games (t-12th-longest streak in program history), including a 5-of-6 (17 pts) effort in the win at Hawaii Pacific, and 5 of 10 in the first game against Adams State ... Jr. G Ja'Niah Alexander has come on strong during UAA's six-game win streak, averaging 5.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.2 apg and 2.3 spg since Dec. 8 ... the Indian River (Fla.) CC transfer tallied season highs of 11 points (3-3 FG, 5-5 FT) and 5 steals to aid the win at SF State, and had 7 points (2-3 FG), 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and no turnovers against WWU.
 
RABB REHABBING: After 10 months of rehab following a torn ACL in the 2023 GNAC Tournament, Sr. F Vishe' Rabb made her season debut with a team-high 16 points (7-10 FG), 3 assists and 3 steals in UAA's victory over No. 14 WWU last week ... the Augustana (S.D.) transfer made a huge impact in her new uniform last year, earning GNAC Newcomer of the Year and First Team All-GNAC honors ... Rabb paced UAA in scoring in 16 of her 26 appearances, while leading the way in rebounding 13 times ... a two-time GNAC Player of the Week and the ASRC/Great Alaska Shootout Most Outstanding Player, the Minnesota native scored double figures all but four times and grabbed at least five rebounds in all but three contests ... Rabb ranked 5th in the GNAC stats in scoring with 16.8 ppg, along with 8th in rebounding (6.3 rpg), 4th in steals (2.0) and 1st in FT% (.879, No. 2 on UAA's single-season list) ... after suffering through a midseason slump, Rabb finished on a hot streak, posting four 25-plus scoring efforts in the last seven games (22.7 ppg, 49-51 FT) and her third double-double in the win over Saint Martin's (25 pts/10 rebs).
 
WINNING WAYS: UAA is a combined 145-25 – including 67-14 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games since Dec. 2014 ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 218-23 (.905) in the last 16-plus seasons on their home courts, including 109-13 (.893) at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014-15) ... UAA had been 32-0 all-time against NCAA Div. II non-conference opponents at the Alaska Airlines Center in the regular season prior to the losses to Adams State ... UAA's run of six straight GNAC regular-season titles is the longest of any basketball program – women's or men's – since the league was founded in 2001-02 ... 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 fell two victories shy of its eighth straight 20-win season (excluding 2020-21, when they played just three games); the Seawolves have produced 17 20-win seasons in 46 years of program history ... the Seawolves have won 71 of their last 76 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents ... UAA has posted 16 consecutive winning records and earned 14 NCAA Tournament appearances in its last 16 full seasons ... the Seawolves have never failed to qualify for the GNAC Tournament, winning six of the 12 titles since the event started in 2011.
 
MASTER OF MAYHEM: Entering his 12th season at UAA and 13th overall as head coach in 2022-23, Ryan McCarthy still stands among the top five active NCAA Div. II coaches in career winning percentage at .806 ... 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 through 2021-22 ... McCarthy sports head-coaching records of 270-58 (.823) at UAA and 284-71 (.800) overall, having served in an interim capacity at Northwest Nazarene in 2010-11 … McCarthy is assisted in 2023-24 by 12th-year associate head coach Shaina Afoa (the 2017-18 WBCA NCAA Div. II National Assistant Coach of the Year) and former UAA men's assistant Jalon McCullough (1st season).
 
2023-24 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
JAZZPHER EVANS
GNAC/PacWest Crossover MVP
Preseason All-GNAC Team
TORI HOLLINGSHEAD
ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team
GNAC/PacWest Crossover All-Tournament Team
VISHE' RABB
Preseason All-GNAC Team
SENYA RABOUIN
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 1-7