After an abrupt end to a season filled with postseason promise, the UAA women’s basketball team will play for the first time in more than a year later this month.
The Seawolves announced a four-game spring schedule Friday. All of the games are on the road.
“We are very excited to have games. It’s crazy, it’s been literally over one year since we last competed,” coach Ryan McCarthy said by text.
The entire 2020-21 regular season was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which also ended UAA’s quest for a national title last season. The Seawolves were 31-2, ranked fourth in the nation and in Hawaii ready to begin play in the NCAA Division II West Region tournament when the postseason was canceled on March 12.
The Seawolves have been practicing since the end of the holiday break, McCarthy said.
They are scheduled to play two games March 22-23 in Portland, one against Multnomah University and one against Warner Pacific. On April 16-17 in Ashland, Oregon, they’re slated to play a two-game series with Southern Oregon.
McCarthy said there are multiple benefits to returning to action, even for such a brief stretch. The games will be good for the players’ mental wellness, he said, plus there’s nothing better than a real game to measure where the Seawolves are after one year.
“There is no way to simulate that or improve as a team more efficiently, and for us coaches to see what we have and to build off of it,” he said. “We need these games for all of those reasons. I think beyond the excitement, they are critical for our program to keep advancing.”