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Christmas may be past, but it looks like the UAA basketball teams might still have a couple of gift-wrapped wins waiting to be opened.
Both teams finish off 2009 with matchups against apparently overmatched opponents in their final nonconference games of the season. Trinity International brings a 2-13 record and 10-game losing streak into its series against the UAA men at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex tonight at 7 p.m. and Thursday at 5 p.m. The UAA women travel to Hawaii -- an enviable holiday gift of its own -- for a single contest against Chaminade, a team that only recently halted a 54-game losing streak. But if the Seawolves need any reminder of how dangerous underdogs can be, they only have to look back to the week before Christmas when Western State stunned the UAA women, ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Division II poll, to take an ugly 36-35 victory. The win was Western's fourth of the season and the lone blemish so far for the Seawolves (9-1). The odds are overwhelmingly against Chaminade repeating Western's feat when it hosts UAA at 6:30 tonight, but the Silverswords at least tasted victory this season, something they didn't do in the last two seasons. Before posting a 53-52 win over BYU-Hawaii on Dec. 15, the Silverswords (1-4 entering a Tuesday night game against Cornell) had not won since their final game of the 2006-07 season. The team went 0-25 in 2007-08, was 0-27 last season and lost its first two contests this season. The only previous meetings between the Seawolves and Silverswords were embarrassingly one-sided affairs. The teams played three times between Nov. 30 and Dec. 17 of 2007 and UAA won by scores of 98-31, 92-43 and 105-45. Senior forward Nicci Miller leads UAA with 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. Senior center Tamar Gruwell is adding 9.9 points a contest and senior guard Kiki Taylor sets up the offense with an average of 3.9 assists per game. The men's games against Trinity could be filled with offensive fireworks. Trinity, an NAIA school from the suburbs of Chicago, has been scoring a reasonable 76.3 points per game, but allowing 89.5. The Trojans have reached 100 points twice this season, once in victory (100-86 over East-West University) and once in defeat (115-108 to Rockford). The Seawolves (7-2) have won their past four games by an average of 23 points. Their only losses have come against Division I opponents Washington State and Houston. Junior guard Brandon Walker leads the Seawolf attack with 15.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Sophomore center Malcolm Campbell is adding 14.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest. The UAA men open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Jan. 9, hosting Montana-State Billings. The Seawolf women begin conference play with a road swing through Washington, playing at Central Washington on Jan. 7 and Western Washington on Jan. 9.