THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thu., Feb. 29 – 5:15 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Seattle Pacific (10-16, 7-9 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (16-8, 11-5 GNAC)
&
Sat., Mar. 2 – 5:15 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
#9 Montana State Billings (24-4, 15-1 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com (BOGO deal for military appreciation night)
PROMOTIONS: The first 300 fans Thursday will receive a free Seawolves foam finger, courtesy of Global Credit Union ... the first 1,000 fans Saturday will receive free Seawolves flags, courtesy of Premera.
LIVE VIDEO: Free at youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023-24 stats)
G—Senya Rabouin, 5-5, Jr. (12.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.1 apg, 2.3 spg, .385 3FG, .761 FT)
G—Jazzpher Evans, 5-6, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.3 spg, .411 FG)
G—Elaina Mack, 5-8, So. (7.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, .347 3FG, .769 FT)
F—Vishe' Rabb, 5-9, Sr. (9.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.8 spg, .783 FT)
F—Kate Robertson, 6-2, Jr. (5.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.1 spg, .409 FG, .852 FT)
 
REGULAR-SEASON WRAP: In need of victories to improve their NCAA Tournament chances, the Seawolves conclude the regular season this week by hosting traditional rivals Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA has already clinched the No. 3 seed for the GNAC Tournament, which will feature the league's top six teams, Mar. 7-9 in Ellensburg, Wash. ... the top eight teams in the region then make the NCAA West Regional Championships, with the field set to be announced on Mar. 10.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Seattle Pacific comes north with a three-game losing skid and needing at least one victory to clinch the sixth and final berth in the upcoming GNAC Tournament ... the Falcons are led by Olivia Mayer (15.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.4 spg, .719 FT) and Schulyer Berry (9.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, .737 FT) ... ranked No. 9 in the WBCA top-25 poll and riding a 7-game win streak into Thursday's contest at UAF, Montana State Billings has already wrapped up the No. 1 GNAC Tourney seed and is trying to improve its position for the NCAA West Regionals ... the Yellowjackets – whose four losses have come by a combined 14 points, including two one-point games – are led by Kola Bad Bear (16.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.3 apg, .531 FG, .434 3FG, .857 FT) and Dyauni Boyce (14.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, .364 3FG, .881 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs SPU: Tied 38-38 overall; UAA leads 23-14 in Anchorage
Streak: SPU 2
Last: SPU 62-59 (12/2/23 at SPU)
Notes: SPU is going for its first 3-game win streak since taking four straight from Jan. 2010-Jan. 2011... the Seawolves had won nine straight regular-season meetings prior to SPU's win Dec. 2 ... UAA has won the last 11 regular-season meetings in Anchorage ... UAA leads 21-20 in GNAC regular-season meetings, after SPU took the first 11 encounters … UAA leads 19-4 under head coach Ryan McCarthy ... SPU is UAA's 2nd-most common opponent, squaring off at least once per season (excluding 2020-21) since 1990-91 … series started in 1979-80.
 
vs MSUB: UAA leads 39-31 overall, 21-13 in Anchorage
Streak: MSUB 1
Last: MSUB 83-68 (11/30/23 at MSUB)
Notes: The road team has won five of the last nine meetings, including the last two games at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA leads 25-6 in GNAC regular-season meetings and 16-7 under Ryan McCarthy ... MSUB is UAA's 3rd-most common opponent (behind UAF and SPU), despite splitting into different leagues from 2002-07 … teams played twice yearly from 1984-85 to 2000-01 as members of the PacWest and Continental Divide conferences.
 
QUICK TRIP: With the premature ending of Western Oregon's season, the Seawolves played just a single road contest last week, taking care of business with a 64-50 over Saint Martin's on Thursday ... Jr. C Tori Hollingshead scored a career-high 21 points (9-14 FG, 3-5 FT) and So. G Elaina Mack matched her season high with 17 points (6-11 FG, 5-9 3FG) as UAA shot a season-best .510 (25 of 49) from the field ... the Seawolves also got 11 points from Sr. F Vishe' Rabb and 8 assists from Senya Rabouin as they swept the season series ... Mack also matched her career scoring high against a fellow NCAA Div. II opponent and had her most points and rebounds (6) in a GNAC game ... UAA had been set to play WOU on Saturday, but that game went down as a forfeit in the GNAC standings (does not count on overall record).
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves have continued their program's string of qualifying for every GNAC Tournament since its inception in 2011 ... the Seawolves lead the GNAC in steals per game (13.5, 8th nationally), turnovers forced (22.2, 17th nationally), turnover margin (+5.25, 15th nationally), offensive rebounds per game (15.1, 23rd nationally) and offensive rebounding percentage (.386), and rank top-3 in scoring defense (60.9), scoring margin (+10.4), FG% defense (.393),  rebounds per game (39.1) and rebound margin (+4.1) ... the 33 points allowed against Clarion equaled UAA's 10th-fewest against a fellow NCAA Div. II opponent ... the eight first-half points allowed against Saint Martin's set a program record for fewest against a conference opponent in either half ... 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 playing her fourth collegiate season, Jr. G Jazzpher Evans is averaging a career-best 9.6 points per game this year, while ranking 17th in the GNAC with 2.5 assists per game ... 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, earning her first GNAC Player of the Week award for her effort against WWU and SFU in January, and exploding for a UAA season-high 28 points in the road win over WWU ... the Arizona native already has six 20-plus scoring efforts to her credit, moving up in the GNAC stats to 13th in scoring (12.5 ppg), 1st in assists (4.1 apg), 3rd in steals (2.3 spg), 11th in FT% (.761), 12th in 3FG% (.358), 9th in 3FGs per game (1.6) and 5th in A/T ratio (2.1) ... Rabouin's 10 assists Dec. 8 against Clarion were the first double-digit performance by a Seawolf since Nov. 2017, while she has recorded at least four steals on six occasions ... Jr. C Tori Hollingshead has made a major impact since transferring from Umpqua (Ore.) CC, ranking among the GNAC leaders in scoring (11th, 12.8 ppg), rebounding (9th, 6.7 rpg), blocks (3rd, 1.9 [25th nationally]), steals (6th, 1.7 spg) and FG% (5th, .542 [27th nationally]) ... the Orem, Utah, native leads UAA with three double-doubles, including an 18-point/12-rebound effort in the road win over CWU, and she earned all-tournament spots at both the GNAC/PacWest Crossover and the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout ... Hollingshead's 1.9 blocks per game are on pace for No. 6 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 (9th, 1.5 spg), Jr. F Jaisa Gamble (5th, 1.8 spg; 17th, 1.6 orpg) and So. G Elaina Mack (5th, 2.2 3FG per game; 13th, .349 3FG%) ... Mack nailed at least one three-pointer in the first 17 games (t-7th-longest streak in program history), including a 5-of-6 (17 pts) effort in the win at Hawaii Pacific, and she matched her season-high 17 points (5-9 3FG) in the win at Saint Martin's.
 
RABB's RETURN: 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 on Jan. 4, and forged a 14-point/10-rebound double-double to aid the win at Central Washington ... now 13 games into her final season, the 1,000-point career scorer (1,422 pts combined at UAA and Augustana) is UAA's fourth-leading scorer with 9.4 ppg, while ranking second on the team with 5.2 rpg and 1.8 spg ... 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.
 
WINNING WAYS: UAA is a combined 153-28 – including 72-15 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games since Dec. 2014 ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 221-25 (.898) in the last 16-plus seasons on their home courts, including 112-15 (.882) 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 clinched its 17th consecutive winning record and is seeking a 15th NCAA Tournament appearance in its last 17 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: In his 12th season at UAA and 13th overall as head coach in 2022-23, Ryan McCarthy still stood among the top five active NCAA Div. II coaches in career winning percentage (.806) at the outset of the campaign ... 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 278-61 (.820) at UAA and 292-74 (.799) 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
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 15-21
ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team
GNAC/PacWest Crossover All-Tournament Team
ELAINA MACK
GNAC All-Academic Team
VISHE' RABB
GNAC All-Academic Team
Preseason All-GNAC Team
SENYA RABOUIN
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 1-7
KATE ROBERTSON
GNAC All-Academic Team