THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Fri., Nov. 14 – 7 pm AST – The Shark Tank – Honolulu, HI
Alaska Anchorage (2-0) at Hawaii Pacific (0-0)
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Sat., Nov. 15 – 5 pm AST – McCabe Gymnasium – Honolulu, HI
Alaska Anchorage at Chaminade (0-0 [Fri. vs St Martin's])
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Tue., Nov. 18 – 7 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Hawaii Hilo (0-0 [2 gms pending]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Friday at pacwestnetwork.tv/hawaiipacific (PPV)
                      Saturday at pacwestnetwork.tv/chaminadeuni (PPV)
                      Tuesday at gnacnetwork.com/uaaseawolves (PPV)
LIVE STATS: Friday at hpusharks.com/sidearmstats/wbball
                      Saturday at goswords.com/sidearmstats/wbball
                      Tuesday at GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/wbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2025-26 stats)
G—Faith Mersburgh, 5-5, Jr. (6.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 spg)
G—Mylee Anderson, 5-8, Fr. (13.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 7.5 apg)
G—Elaina Mack, 5-8, Jr. (29.0 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.5 spg, .525 FG, .652 3FG)
F—Mahaila Harrison, 6-0, So. (24.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.0 spg, .528 FG, 8-9 FT)
F—Lillee Duffin, 6-1, Jr. (7.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 6-10 FG, 2-2 FT)
 
HONOLULU HOOPIN': The Alaska Anchorage women's basketball team makes its first road trip of 2025-26 this week, facing Pacific West Conference foes Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade in the GNAC/Pac West Challenge in Honolulu ... the  games (which include GNAC member Saint Martin's) will be held at the HPU Shark Tank on Friday and move to Chaminade's McCabe Gymnasium on Saturday ... UAA then returns home for a quick turnaround, playing a rare Tuesday night home game against another Pac West team in Hawaii Hilo.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Hawaii Pacific is coming off records of 10-16 overall and 6-14 in the Pacific West Conference ... picked for 12th of 13 teams in the Pac West's preseason poll, the Sharks are led by new head coach  Brent Gibson and returning starters Alana Roberts (4.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Serenity Santos (4.0 ppg) ... Chaminade is coming off records of 6-20 overall/5-15 Pac West, and is picked last in the 2025-26 coaches' poll ... the Silverswords feature new head coach Travis Brewster, who returns two starters in Dezeray Carter (5.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and Julien Parado (5.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg) ... Hawaii Hilo went 8-18/6-14 in 2024-25 and is picked 11th in the preseason poll ... the Vulcans return all of their starters from that squad, led by KeanuMarie Huihui (12.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg).
 
THE SERIES...
vs HPU: UAA leads 13-1 overall, 8-1 in Honolulu
Streak: HPU 1
Last: HPU 54-51 (12/19/24 at HPU)
Notes: This marks the fifth straight season the teams have met – all at HPU ... prior to HPU's upset victory last year, the Seawolves had won each of the first 13 meetings by at least seven points, including NCAA Tournament games in 2016 and 2018 ... teams met four times from Jan. 1984-Feb. 1985 and did not play again until Dec. 2014.
 
vs Chaminade: UAA leads 13-0 overall, 7-0 in Honolulu
Last: UAA 77-60 (11/14/22 at Chaminade)
Notes: The last meeting marked the UAA's lowest victory margin and point total in series history ... the Seawolves have won by an average of 48.5 points over the 13 all-time meetings ... first meeting was a 98-31 UAA home win, Nov. 30, 2007.
 
vs UHH: UAA leads 13-0 overall, 7-0 in Honolulu
Last: UAA 77-60 (11/14/22 at Chaminade)
Notes: The last meeting marked the UAA's lowest victory margin and point total in series history ... the Seawolves have won by an average of 48.5 points over the 13 all-time meetings ... first meeting was a 98-31 UAA home win, Nov. 30, 2007.
 
NORTHWEST NO MATCH: The Seawolves got the Matt Thune era under way last week with comfortable victories over NAIA foe Northwest University at the Alaska Airlines Center ... in Friday's 107-82 win, So. F Mahaila Harrison and Fr. G Mylee Anderson scored 23 points apiece and combined for 10 assists, helping UAA tie the 15th-highest point total in program history and match the school record with 16 threes ... Sr. G Elaina Mack had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists on her way to GNAC Player of the Week honors, while So. G Kimberly Carrada Sanchez had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in her Seawolf debut ... on Saturday, Mack exploded for a school-record-tying 41 points (15-23 FG, 10-13 3FG) as UAA improved its defensive effort in a 100-57 romp ... Harrison added 26 points and 15 rebounds to give UAA two 25-point scorers for just the fourth time in the GNAC era (since 2001-02), while Mack's 10 treys and seven first-half treys broke and tied additional program marks ... Mack's 41 points tied the fourth-most by a GNAC player, and her 10 threes tied for second on that league list.
 
MACK ATTACK: Now in her sixth and final year with the program, Sr. G Elaina Mack has developed into an all-around scoring threat and a virtual coach on the court for the Seawolves this year ... the team captain was named last month to the All-GNAC Preseason Team, coming off an honorable mention All-GNAC season as a junior ... after posting double figures in 19 of 33 games as a junior, the King Cove native has started 2025-26 with 17- and 41-point showings, breaking UAA's school record for threes in a game with 10 against Northwest on Nov. 8 ... on UAA's career lists, Mack has risen to 4th in 3FGs per game (2.020), 6th in 3FGs made (176, needs one more to tie for 5th), 13th in 3FG% (.375) and 38th in points (752).
 
'WOLF BITES: Playing her first big minutes since high school, So. F Mahaila Harrison made an impressive debut last week with 24.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, and 2.5 apg in the wins over Northwest, shooting 64 percent on two-pointers ... the VCU transfer grabbed 15 rebounds in Satuday's win, equalling the most by a Seawolf over the last 10 seasons ... a three-time all-state selection at Wasilla High, Fr. G Mylee Anderson debuted with 23 points Friday and dished nine assists in Saturday's victory ... Anderson's nine assists were the most by a UAA player from Alaska since Keiahnna Engel dished nine in 2016.
 
SINGING A NEW THUNE: Indiana native Matt Thune (pronounced 'TUNE') begins his head coaching career after assistant stints at five NCAA Div. I programs, helping to spark major turnarounds during stops at Utah Tech, Eastern Kentucky and Weber State ... at Utah Tech, Thune was promoted to associate head coach in 2023-24 after helping the Trailblazers to a nine-win improvement the previous year ... Utah Tech's 19-12 record in 2022-23 marked its most wins in 12 years, achieving the first postseason berth and victory in its Div. I era ... Thune joined Utah Tech's staff following a three-year stint at Eastern Kentucky (2019-22), including two seasons as the program's associate head coach ... at EKU he assisted in rebuilding a program that had not won a Division I contest the year prior to his arrival, helping the Colonels to the fourth-best turnaround in D-I his first year, and a postseason berth in 2022 ... Thune spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Weber State from 2015-18, helping the Wildcats to achieve the most wins in program history (23) and a runner-up finish in the postseason WBI tournament in 2016 ... he got his coaching start on Jeff Walz's staff at Louisville from 2012-15, assisting in the Cardinals taking 89 of a possible 110 contests ... the Cards won at least 25 games each season, appearing in three Sweet 16s, two Elite 8s and finishing national runner-up in 2013 ... the Indianapolis native graduated from Indiana University in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in management, and earned a master's degree in sports administration from Louisville in 2014 ... Thune is assisted by Jaelen Tatum (1st season) and former Bartlett High star Mia 'Uhila (1st season.)
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves received 53 votes in the preseason WBCA NCAA Div. II Top 25 coaches poll, putting them in 30th position ... the Seawolves led the 2025-26 NCAA Div. II national stats in turnover margin (+11.1), along with top-5 ranks in scoring margin (2nd, +28.1), rebound margin (2nd, +12.3), scoring defense (3rd, 50.9), steals per game (3rd, 16.5), A/T ratio (4th, 1.30) and assists per game (5th, 18.1) ... UAA led the GNAC stats in 15 categories.

WINNING WAYS: UAA is a combined 174-31 – including 80-17 on the road – in GNAC regular-season and tournament games since Dec. 2014 ... the Seawolves have gone a combined 238-25 (.904) over the last 19 seasons on their home courts, including 129-15 (.895) at the Alaska Airlines Center (since 2014-15) ... UAA's run of six straight GNAC regular-season titles (2015-20) 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 18 20-win seasons in 47 full years of program history ... the Seawolves have won 77 of their last 84 regular-season games against Div. II non-conference opponents, including a 36-2 mark at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA has earned 18 consecutive winning records and made 15 NCAA Tournament appearances in its last 18 full seasons ... the Seawolves have never failed to qualify for the GNAC Tournament, winning seven of the 14 titles since the event started in 2011.
 
SEAWOLF NCAA HISTORY: The Seawolves earned their 21st overall NCAA Tournament qualification ('86, '88, '89, '92, '94, '00, '07, '08, '09, '10, '11, '12, '14, '15, '16, '17, '18, '19, '20, '22, '25) last year ... UAA stands 27-18 all-time in NCAA games after beating MSU Billings and falling to CSU Dominguez Hills in 2025 ... UAA was the No. 2 seed and ranked 4th nationally when the 2020 tournament was canceled due to Covid ... UAA is 21-10 in West Region play since 2007, suffering five of those losses to No. 1 seeds (and eventual regional champions) on their home courts (Cal Poly Pomona '11 & '14; Seattle Pacific '10; UCSD '07; CSUDH '25) … the Seawolves have won four regional titles (2008, 2009, 2012, 2016) ... UAA made its first appearance in the NCAA Div. II national title game in 2016 (L, 73-78 vs Lubbock Christian) after bowing out in the national semifinals in 2008 and 2009 ... UAA is 13-7 in NCAA Tournament opening-round games, 7-9 in the Round of 32 and 4-3 in the Sweet 16 (regional finals, last appearance 2019).
 
2025-26 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
ELAINA MACK
GNAC Player of the Week, Nov. 3-9
Preseason All-GNAC Team