Alaska News

UAA women 3rd in national poll

The UAA women's basketball team continued to climb in the national rankings Tuesday and are now the No. 3 NCAA Division II team in the nation.

By jumping one spot, the Seawolves soared to their highest ranking ever in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Women's Basketball Poll.

Only two undefeated teams, No. 2 Washburn of Kansas (8-0) and top-ranked Northern Kentucky (7-0) sit ahead of the Seawolves.

Northern Kentucky is the defending national champion and the team that dashed UAA's dreams in last year's national semifinals with a narrow 57-54 victory, a game in which Northern Kentucky's rugged defense limited UAA to 29 percent shooting.

UAA (9-1) is coming off back-to-back maulings of Mansfield of Pennsylvania. But the Seawolves have a stiff challenge ahead, with games Friday and Saturday at the Well Fargo Sports Complex against Cal State Stanislaus, a Division II team with a 6-1 record.

"I think this game gave confidence to our shooters," UAA coach Tim Moser said after Monday night's victory. "This weekend is huge for us -- the two biggest games of the year so far."

Seattle Pacific (5-1) was the only other Great Northwest Athletic Conference team in the top-25, voted No. 17.

Anchorage Daily News sports@adn.com

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