THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Fri., Nov. 15 – 12:30 pm AST – Golden Gymnasium – San Diego, Calif.
Alaska Anchorage (4-0) at Point Loma (1-1 [1 gm. pending])
&
Sat., Nov. 16 – 5 pm AST – Garden Grove, Calif.
Alaska Anchorage at Stanton
&
Mon., Nov. 18 – 6:30 pm AST – Chase Gymnasium – La Mirada, Calif.
Alaska Anchorage at Biola (0-2 [1 gm. pending])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Friday – pacwestnetwork.tv/pointloma/ (PPV-$)
                       Saturday – None
                       Monday – pacwestnetwork.tv/biola/ (PPV-$)
 
LIVE STATS: Friday – plnusealions.com/sidearmstats/wbball
                       Saturday – None
                       Monday – athletics.biola.edu/sidearmstats/wbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Emilia Long, 5-9, Sr. (13.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, 5.0 spg, .468 FG)
G—Elaina Mack, 5-8, Jr. (20.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, .453 FG, .419 3FG, 5-6 FT)
F—Jaisa Gamble, 6-0, Sr. (8.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 2.5 spg)
F—Ashlyn Rean, 6-2, Fr. (7.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.0 spg, .545 FG)
C—Tori Hollingshead, 6-3, Sr. (9.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.3 spg, .600 FG)
 
GOIN' BACK TO CALI: After visiting the northern part of the state for two wins last week, the Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team heads to Southern California this week for three games ... UAA plays key NCAA Div. II West Region contests against Point Loma on Friday (12:30 pm AST) and Biola on Monday (6:30 pm), sandwiched around a tilt against non-NCAA foe Stanton on Saturday in Orange County.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Coming off records of 17-13 overall and 13-7 (3rd) in the Pacific West Conference, Point Loma has opened with a 1-1 record against two CCAA foes, with a date against CSU Dominguez Hills looming Wednesday ... the Sea Lions are led by Tavia Rowell (15.5 ppg, .450 FG) and Kaylee Byon (13.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) ... looking to improve on 15-14/11-9 (5th) records from last season, fellow Pac West member Biola opened with losses to Saint Martin's and CSUSB last week in San Bernardino ... the Eagles are led by Jessa Thurman (15.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, .650 FG) and Sammie Henley (12.5 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.5 apg) ... nothing is known about Stanton.
 
THE SERIES...
vs Point Loma: PLNU leads 1-0
Last: PLNU 64-63 (3/13/15 at UAA)
Notes: The lone meeting was a stunning 8-vs-1 upset in the NCAA First Round in Anchorage.
vs Stanton: First meeting
vs Biola: UAA leads 2-0
Last: UAA 86-79 (11/26/22 at UAA)
Notes: The Seawolves won on back-to-back nights at the Alaska Airlines Center in Nov. 2022, taking the first contest by a 77-68 count.
 
ROCKLIN GOOD TIME: UAA started the D-II portion of its schedule with wins over host Jessup (69-57) and Cal Poly Humboldt (81-48) at the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic in Rocklin, Calif., last week ... in the opener, Jr. G Elaina Mack had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 seals and no turnovers as UAA used a 17-0 third-quarter run to earn the victory ... Sr. F Jaisa Gamble tallied a career-high 14 points, and Sr. G Jazzpher Evans had 14 points in just 19 minutes ... on Saturday, the Seawolves got 16 points apiece from Mack and Fr. F Ashlyn Rean to pull away steadily from the Lumberjacks ... Rean added 6 assists, 3 steals and 5 rebounds, while Gamble accounted for 11 points (5-7 FG), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, no turnovers and a career-high 5 steals.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the early GNAC stats in 10 categories, including scoring defense (39.5), rebound margin (+21.5), turnover margin (+19.0) and steals per game (19.5) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, UAA is No. 1 in scoring margin (+47.3), along with top-10 ranks in scoring defense (2nd), steals (2nd), TO margin (2nd), rebound margin (4th), offensive rebounding (4th, 22.0), TO forced (7th, 32.0) and A/T ratio (8th, 1.46) ... UAA set or tied nine team records in its two games against Simpson to open the season, including fewest points allowed in half (4) and a quarter (0).
 
MACK ATTACK: Jr. G Elaina Mack has started the year a blazing pace, scoring at least 16 points in each game and ranking 4th in the GNAC with 20.3 ppg ... the King Cove native holds additional GNAC ranks in FG% (6th, .453), 3FG% (5th, .419), 3FGs per game (3rd, 4.5) and rebounding (20th, 5.3 rpg), while her 3FG mark also stands 7th nationally ... boosted by seven treys in the Nov. 2 win over Simpson, Mack now stands 5th on UAA's career list for 3FGs per game at 1.82, along with career ranks of 18th in 3FGs made (102, needs five to move into top 15) and 3FG% (16th, .358).
 
'HEAD GAME: Despite coming off the bench in all but six games, Sr. C Tori Hollingshead was UAA's leading scorer (12.5 ppg), rebounder (6.6 rpg), shot blocker (1.9 bpg) and FG% shooter (.538), picking up Second Team All-GNAC honors in her debut season in Green & Gold ... the Umpqua (Ore.) CC transfer is UAA's lone representative on the 2024-25 Preseason All-GNAC Team after posting GNAC ranks of 11th in scoring, 10th in rebounding, 2nd in blocks (22nd nationally), 7th in steals (1.6 spg) and 5th in FG% (26th nationally) ... the Orem, Utah, ranks 9th in rebounding (6.8 rpg) in this year's early league stats, boosted by an 11-point, 9-rebound effort in the win over Cal Poly Humboldt.
 
LONG GAME: The Seawolves have new floor general this year in Sr. G Emilia Long, who currently ranks 4th nationally and leads the GNAC with 5.0 steals per game ... after recording 21 points and a school-record 11 steals in the season opener against Simpson, Long helped power the winning 17-0 run against Jessup with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals ... she enters this week 9th in the GNAC with 13.0 ppg ... originally from Port Angeles, Wash., and a former JC star at Peninsula College, Long was the 2023-24 CCAA Newcomer of the Year in both soccer and basketball at Cal Poly Humboldt, prior to transferring to UAA.
 
ALL THAT JAZZ: UAA's most experienced player, Sr. G Jazzpher Evans (four years at UAA/2020-21 Covid season at Quincy) has leant a steady hand thus far, tallying 8.0 ppg and an impressive 10/2 A/T ratio ... the Chicago native scored 14 points (3-6 FG, 6-7 FT) to help clinch the Jessup victory, and now stands within reach of the 1K mark with 929 career points ... in the early GNAC stats, Evans is 8th in assists (3.3 apg), 2nd in A/T ratio (5.0, 12th nationally) and 13th in FT% (.750).
 
FOREIGN BLOCKADE: The Seawolves have found success in the international route, getting huge major contributions from newcomers Ashlyn Rean (Rangiora, New Zealand) and Hedda Koehne (Lette, Germany) on the interior ... after joining the Seawolves as a redshirt in January, Rean has debuted this fall with increased scoring efforts in all four games, topping out with 16 points (7-12 FG) in the win over Cal Poly Humboldt ... a 6-2 forward, Rean ranks 7th in assists (3.5 apg) and A/T ratio (2.0), plus 12th in rebounding (6.3 rpg) in the GNAC stats ... meanwhile, Koehne is posting 9.8 ppg – tallying between 8-11 points in each contest – along with 5.8 rpg (17th GNAC) and a GNAC-best 2.0 blocks per game ... with five blocks against Jessup, Koehne joined Tori Hollingshead as one of just six Seawolves to swat that many against an NCAA Div. II opponent.
 
WINNING WAYS: UAA is a combined 156-29 – including 72-15 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games since Dec. 2014 ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 225-25 (.900) in the last 17-plus seasons on their home courts, including 116-15 (.886) at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014-15) ... UAA is 34-2 all-time against NCAA Div. II non-conference opponents at the Alaska Airlines Center in the regular season ... 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 ... the Seawolves have produced 17 20-win seasons in 47 years of program history prior to this season ... the Seawolves have won 71 of their last 76 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents ... UAA has 17 consecutive winning records and is seeking a 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in its last 18 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: Now in his 13th season at UAA and 14th overall as head coach in 2024-25, Ryan McCarthy stands No. 4 on the NCAA Div. II lists for both active winning percentage and all-time winning percentage at .800 (299-75) ... the winningest coach in UAA women's basketball history (285-62) 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 served in an interim capacity at his alma mater Northwest Nazarene in 2010-11, leading an undermanned Nighthawks squad to a 14-13 mark … McCarthy is assisted by 13th-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 (2nd season).
 
2024-25 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
EMILIA LONG
GNAC Player of the Week, Oct. 28-Nov. 3
TORI HOLLINGSHEAD
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2024-25
TEAM
Game
Fewest Points Allowed, 2nd Half — 4 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (old record: 9 vs Warner Pacific, 11/6/98)
Fewest Points Allowed, Either Half — 4 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record: 4 vs Lincoln Christian, 11/3/07)
Most Points, 2nd Qtr — 31 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record set at Hawaii Pacific, 12/14/21; and vs William Jewell, 10/30/15)
Fewest Points Allowed, 1st Qtr: 2 vs Simpson, Nov. 2 (ties record set vs Winston-Salem State, 12/27/21)
Fewest Points Allowed, 3rd Qtr: 0 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record set vs MSU Billings, 1/18/20)
Fewest Points Allowed, Any Qtr: 0 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record set vs MSU Billings, 1/18/20; & vs New Hope Christian, 11/6/15)
Fewest Points Allowed, 4th Qtr: 4 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record set vs Hawaii Hilo, 11/20/15)
Largest Differential, 3rd Qtr: 27 (27-0) vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (old record: 25 vs New Hope Christian, 11/6/15)
Largest Differential, Any Qtr: 27 (27-0) vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (ties record set vs New Hope Christian, 11/6/15)
INDIVIDUAL
Game
Most Steals — 11, Emilia Long vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (old record: 10, Stacie Cepin vs The Master's, 2/15/98)
 
GNAC Records Broken/Tied in 2024-25
TEAM
Game
Fewest FG Attempts Allowed — 25 vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (old record: 28 by UAA at Chaminade, 12/30/09)
INDIVIDUAL
Game
Most Steals — 11, Emilia Long vs Simpson, Nov. 1 (old record: 10, Shantell Marquis, MSU Billings vs Northwest Nazarene, 1/26/08; and Marina Valles, Northwest Nazarene vs Colorado Mesa, 11/23/19)