UAA basketball teams to face tough competition

The second-place UAA men, coming off four consecutive road wins, will host third-place Seattle Pacific tonight at 7 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex, and the first-place women will visit third-place Seattle Pacific for a game that tips off tonight at 6.

A win for the men will keep the 21st-ranked Seawolves (15-4, 9-2 GNAC) in second place, but a loss will drop them to third behind Seattle Pacific (16-4, 8-3 GNAC). The top two teams in the GNAC earn first-round byes in the conference tournament next month.

The four road wins couldn't have come at a better time for the men. The Seawolves were coming off a tough home loss to Western Washington and battling numerous injuries when they hit the road two weeks ago. UAA coach Rusty Osborne was impressed with how the team adapted.

"Their resilience is starting to pay off," he said. "They've been dealt a lot of blows with injuries and changing lineups. They've just got resiliency that's fun to watch."

Noticeably absent from the lineup is senior Mario Gill, an all-conference guard who hasn't played a game this season due to a hand injury. Gill is hoping to acquire medical redshirt status so he can play next season.

Chris Weitzel, a 6-foot-7 junior, is likely out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury, depleting the depth of the Seawolves' big men. In Saturday's win over Central Washington, 6-foot-6 Philip Hearn logged rare minutes at the center position when 6-9 Taylor Rohde and 6-10 Liam Gibcus got into foul trouble.

"He not only did well, he actually scored us a basket to help stem the tide when Central Washington made a run in the first half," Osborne said.

The ability of players to adapt to unaccustomed roles has been key to the men's success, but with some players starting to get healthy, they may not be forced to stretch as much. Senior Lonnie Ridgeway returned last week after missing more than a month with a hand injury and went 4 for 4 from the floor Saturday against Central Washington to finish with 12 points.

"We're getting there," Osborne said. "We're better than we were two weeks ago. This is a fun group and I hope they can continue to have success, because these kids have really battled."

The UAA women, who moved from 12th to eighth this week in the national rankings, haven't had many tough battles lately. They've won their last five games by a average of 31 points. The Seawolves (19-3, 10-1) have won their last three meetings with Seattle Pacific (13-6, 7-4), including an 82-59 win in Anchorage last month.

The Seawolves own a 2.5-game lead over second-place Western Washington and are three games up on Seattle Pacific in the league standings.

UAA senior center Hanna Johansson said the key to the Seawolves' success always starts with defense, because defense doesn't have off nights like a good offense might.

"There are always going to be days where you're not going to score much," she said.

Both UAA teams meet Montana State-Billings on Saturday. The women's game starts at 5 p.m. in Billings, while the men will host the Yellowjackets at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex at 7 p.m.