The Rewind: UAA basketball teams stay hot; Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman goes to NHL All-Star Game for first time

Welcome to The Rewind, a weekly digest that puts a spotlight on the biggest stories and best performances from Alaska’s world of sports.

The second week of the new year featured several impressive team and individual performances across the Alaska sports landscape at the prep, collegiate and professional levels. Several of the top high school basketball teams at 4A and 3A divisions have still yet to experience defeat. On the college scene, both of the University of Alaska Anchorage basketball teams extended respective winning streaks with strong showings. Outside the state, several Alaskans had impressive performances across the country at the collegiate and professional level.

Headlines and highlights

The defending 4A state champion Bettye Davis East boys basketball team blew out all three of the opponents it faced at the T-Bird Classic last week to improve to 6-0. Meanwhile across town, last year’s state runner-up, West Valley, was busy running the table at the Alaska Prep Shootout hosted by Dimond and improved to 8-0.

On the girls side, reigning 3A state champion Grace Christian took the court for the first time in 2024 and continued to dominate with a trio of blowouts in which they scored over 66 or more points in each game and beat their opponent by more than 20 points, improving to 9-0 in the process. Two-time defending 4A champion Mountain City Christian Academy also remained undefeated as well but had to overcome a daunting challenge to do so in a game last Tuesday where Colony took them down to the wire before the Lions ultimately prevailed 55-54.

In prep hockey action, West remains in the top spot in the Cook Inlet Conference standings as the regular season nears its end after picking up a pair of victories this past week oth and Dimond on back-to-back days this past weekend. The Eagles edged out the Wolverines 4-3 on Friday afternoon and shut out the Lynx 8-0 on Saturday night.

The UAA men’s basketball team continued to roll this past week with a pair of hard-fought wins over Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene. In their first time playing at home since late November, the Seawolves bested the Wildcats 75-61 on Thursday and turn around a couple days later and edged out the Nighthawks 71-68 on Saturday. The highlight of their first win was senior guard Tyson Gilbert reaching 1,000 career points with a team-leading 16.

“As a freshman, I’d always see people I know and my peers reach 1,000 points, and it’s definitely something I aspired to do, but it’s not what really motivates me,” he said. “It’s still a cool accomplishment for sure.”

[Tyson Gilbert reaches 1,000 points as UAA men’s basketball outpaces Central Washington for conference win]

In the second, senior guard Dathan Satchell scored both a game- and career-high 24 points that included going an impressive 6-of-8 from 3-point range and he led the team with six rebounds as well.

“I thought that was a gutsy win for our club against a quality opponent,” UAA head coach Rusty Osborne said in a statement. “We did a great job of finding the hot hand in Dathan and getting him the ball in position to convert.”

Their combined performances were enough to earn them Great Northwest Athletic Conference Team of the Week honors.

The UAA women’s basketball team played just one game this past week and had to wait until Saturday night to take the court but made the most of it by blowing out rival UAF by nearly 30 points 84-55. The Seawolves smothered the Nanooks with their defense for most of the night and got a big night from junior point guard Senya Rabouin who scored a game-high 20 points.

“It was pent-up aggression all week so it felt good to finally get out there and get into action,” she said.

With the win, the Seawolves extended their winning streak to seven straight matching their longest heater since the start of last season except this one features notable wins over GNAC opponents.

“The girls are clicking right now,” UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy said. “We’ll learn a lot from this game because there was a stretch where we didn’t execute well on either end of the floor, but I’m proud of them and they’re improving. We want to be able to take this momentum on the road.”

[UAA women’s basketball stays hot with blowout of in-state rival UAF]

The UAA hockey team also squared off with in-state rival UAF and while they fell short of victory, the Seawolves didn’t taste defeat either after the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie on Saturday night. After a scoreless opening period, the Nanooks took the first lead with the lone goal of the second and the Seawolves would respond by outscoring UAF 2-1 in the third with their goals coming from Wasilla forward Porter Schachle and defensemen Brett Bamber.

UAA senior Astrid Stav finished sixth in the 10-kilometer classic pursuit to lead the Seawolves ski team at the Utah Invite this past Saturday. The Norwegian Nordic skier posted a 10-kilometer time of 30:13 and a combined time with the previous day’s 7.5-kilometer freestyle of 53:09.

A week after getting swept in their first two-game series of the new year, the Anchorage Wolverines got back on track this past weekend by sweeping their instate rival Fairbanks Ice Dogs on the road. They won both games by a pair of goals and were led in scoring over the two games by forward Fyodor Nikolayenya, who scored a goal in Friday’s 4-2 win and a pair in Saturday’s 3-1 triumph.

Alaska stars shining Outside

Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman was voted the NHL All-Star team for the first time in his blossoming career as a professional goaltender this past week. The former South Anchorage high school standout has a compiled a record of 12-3-7 with a save rate of nearly 95 percent for the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins. Swayman was one of 12 players selected by fan vote.

This past Thursday, Swayman prevented 23 of 25 shots in a 2-1 overtime loss on the road to the Las Vegas Golden Knights and prior to the game, he posed for a picture with fellow Alaskan turned pro goalie Isaiah Saville, who also hails from Anchorage.

Anchorage’s Edefuan Ulofoshio was on the losing end of the 2023 NCAA national championship bout between University of Washington and University of Michigan football programs last Monday. However, the former South High standout had a strong farewell performance for the Huskies with four solo tackles and a clutch pass breakup that forced a turnover on downs. The play sparked the Huskies offense to eventually make it a one score game before the Wolverines pulled away late and won 34-13.

Anchorage’s Alissa Pili recorded a pair of double-digit scoring outings this past week against two Pac-12 foes for the University of Utah women’s basketball team. In a narrow 66-64 loss to Stanford on Friday, the former Dimond multi-sport star led the Utes with 16 points and in a resounding 93-56 win over University of California Berkley on Sunday, she finished second on the team in scoring with 18 points and tied for the team lead with five assists.

Anchorage’s Isaiah Moses led the University of California Riverside men’s basketball team to a 71-56 win over Cal Poly last Friday with a game-high 15 points. The former Dimond high standout and Alaska Gatorade Player of the Year went a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc and 4-of-4 from the free throw line and recorded six rebounds as well.

Fast forward

Prep

Basketball

Alaska Airlines Classic

The premier regular season tournament in the state for both the boys and girls divisions will take place at West High this week. The girls event runs from Tuesday-Thursday and will feature defending 4A, 3A, and 2A state champions. The boys tourney goes from Thursday-Saturday and will include the defending 4A state champions and runner-ups as well as three out-of-state teams from Georgia, California, and New York packed with players highly recruited by major universities.

Cross Country Skiing

Lynx Loppet Invitational at Kincaid

One of the biggest regular season races in the state will take place in town this week with a 5K Classic on Friday at 12 p.m. and a 5K Pursuit on Saturday at 11 a.m.

College

Gymnastics

UAA vs UC Davis, Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Alaska Airlines Center

The Seawolves will be taking the mat for the first time at home this season when they host the Aggies for a pair of meets with the first taking place on Friday night and the second on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

NAHL

Anchorage Wolverines vs Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Ben Boeke Arena

For the first time in six weeks, the Wolverines will be back on their home ice in front of the hometown fans where they will take on their in-state rivals for the second weekend in a row with the hopes of further strengthening their stronghold on the top spot in the Club 49 Cup standings.

Last week’s results

Boys Hockey

Wednesday

Chugiak 2, Palmer 1 (OT)

West Valley 3, North Pole 2

South 10, Bartlett/East 1

Thursday

Dimond 8, Service 2

South 7, Eagle River 0

Friday

West 4, South 3

Lewis-Palmer 4, Service 1

Kenai Central 9, Kodiak 1

Saturday

Kenai Central 12, Kodiak 2

Hoston 3, Palmer 1

Lewis-Palmer 5, Bartlett/East 3

West 8, Dimond 0

Bowling

Tuesday

Boys

South 32, Bartlett 3

South - Trinity Vojtasek 217

Bartlett - Sean Yoon 175

East 32, Chugiak 3

East - Colton Penetac 229

Chugiak - Michael Nelson 153

Dimond 27, Eagle River 8

Dimond - Preston Xayamonty 184

Eagle River - Michael Jennings 216

West 33, Service 2

West - Jahdyn Odom 254

Service - Cyrus Varela 230

Girls

Bartlett 29, South 6

Bartlett - Tida Xiong 167

South - Sharon Cho 99

Chugiak 29, East 6

Chugiak - Abigail Lanehart 193

East - Chacity Kuamoo 214

Dimond 35, Eagle River 0

Dimond - Abigail Jokela 191

Eagle River - Morgan Van Slyke 158

Service 27, West 8

Service - Alyssa Porcelli 183

West - Anika Stanley 156

Thursday

Boys

Bartlett 29, Chugiak 6

Bartlett - Jeremija Henderson 174

Chugiak - Michael Nelson 183

Dimond 25, South 10

Dimond - Tim Kiehn 221

South - Patrick Vottis 214

West 29, East 6

West - Marcos Vian 224

East - Colton Penetac 193

Service 25, Eagle River 10

Service - Sebastian Malaqui 182

Eagle River - Mike Jennings 266

Girls

Chugiak 29, Bartlett 6

Chugiak - Abigail Lanehart 190

Bartlett - Kara Lyman 147

Dimond 35, South 0

Dimond - Abigail Jokela 169

South - Noelle Jones 99

East 23, West 12

East - Chacity Kuamoo 213

West - Anika Stanley 139

Service 20, Eagle River 15

Service - Payton Stokes 160

Eagle River - Alyssa Porcelli 172

Boys Basketball

Tuesday

Service 67, Dimond 36

Hydaburg 51, Gustavus 38

West 63, Eagle River 52

South 60, Bartlett 59

Colony 65, Mountain City 37

East 66, Chugiak 26

Kake 63, Hoonah 21

Redington 49, Lumen Christi 35

North Pole 65, Hutchison 55

Wednesday

Birchwood Christian 60, Tanalian 24

West Valley 61, Barrow 39

Bristol Bay 39, Dillingham 30

Hydaburg 47, Gustavus 24

Unalakleet 71, Scammon Bay 68

Bethel 77, Kenai Central 43

Ketchikan 75, Chugiak 63

Thursday

Tanalian 67, Holy Rosary Academy 38

Seward 45, Valdez 39

Birchwood Christian 61, Nanwalek 24

North Pole 33, Hutchison 28

Juneau-Douglas 67, Nome-Beltz 62

Ben Eielson 44, Nenana 29

Minto 58, Redington 45

Klawock 54, Gustavus 44

Dimond 78, Houston 55

Scammon Bay 102, Shaktoolik 99

Bartlett 81, South 80

Bethel 72, Homer 46

West Valley 70, Lumen Christi 7

Colony 48, Soldotna 41

East 66, Eagle River 24

Birchwood Christian 69, Fort Yukon 17

Lathrop 64, Kodiak 55

Unalakleet 67, Shishmaref 53

Grace Christian 71, Palmer 53

Ketchikan 48, Mountain City 35

Friday

Seward 58, North Pole 45

Chugiak 73, Minto 48

South 65, Palmer 63

Monroe Catholic 51, Lathrop 42

Juneau-Douglas 77, Dimond 73

East 52, Colony 32

Soldotna 64, Eagle River 61

Mountain City 48, Lumen Christi 16

West Valley 57, Ketchikan 42

Thunder Mountain 64, Sitka 47

Petersburg 66, Haines 42

Nome-Beltz 61, Houston 46

Nanwalek 50, Tanalian 34

Anthony Andrews 115, Koyuk Malimiut 31

Grace Christian 71, Bartlett 55

Galena 63, Jimmy Huntington 57

Walter Northway 57, Birchwood 52

Klawock 57, Gustavus 28

Scammon Bay 64, Shishmaref 52

Shaktoolik 72, Unalakleet 66

Galena 62, Andrew K. Demoski 44

Saturday

Birchwood Christian 36, Namwalek 30

Tanalian 51, Holy Rosary Academy 48

Ket’acik/Aapalluk Memorial 58, Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 57

White Mountain 67, Koyuk Malimiut 16

Dimond 61, Ketchikan 44

West Valley 79, Juneau-Douglas 34

Bartlett 81, Palmer 69

North Pole 56, Eielson 17

Seward 57, Delta 50

Bethel 69, Nikiski 36

East 76, Soldotna 24

Northway 56, Birchwood 50

Minto 55, Lumen 22

Thunder Mountain 61, Sitka 49

Petersburg 63, Haines 48

Grace Christian 65, South 64

Nome-Beltz 59, Mountain City 55

Houston 48, Lumen 33

Girls Basketball

Tuesday

Dimond 51, Service 46

Kake 32, Hoonah 22

West 63, Eagle River 50

Chugiak 50, East 34

Mountain City 55, Colony 54

Bartlett 42, South 31

Lumen Christi 26, Redington 18

Wednesday

Tanalian 53, Birchwood Christian 16

Newhalen 69, Manokotak 52

Bethel 59, Kenai Central 45

West Valley 42, Ketchikan 39

Dimond 47, North Pole 33

Bristol Bay 31, Dillingham 28

Thursday

Seward 42, Valdez 40

Birchwood Christian 49, Nanwalek 14

Metlakatla 60, Nikiski 39

Fort Yukon 63, Birchwood Christian 39

Ketchikan 37, Lathrop 29

Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat 59, Tuluksak 24

Newhalen 43, Dillingham 26

Bethel 58, Homer 48

Dimond 39, Monroe Catholic 34

Nenana 56, Ben Eielson 18

Grace Christian 67, West Valley 30

Unalakleet 68, Shishmaref 61

Glennallen 31, Delta 8

Thunder Mountain 55, Houston 15

Friday

Metlakatla 56, Bethel 43

Manokotak 39, Dillingham 23

Newhalen 63, Tri-Valley 45

Birchwood Christian 34, NVTO 30

North Pole 44, Seward 40

Delta 60, Ben Eielson 15

Z John Williams 59, Tuluksak 24

Manokotak 44, Bristol Bay 38

Grace Christian 66, Eagle River 27

Fort Yukon 49, Walter Northway 44

Nenana 38, Glennallen 27

Dimond 45, Ketchikan 38

Thunder Mountain 52, Bartlett 27

West Valley 47, Palmer 33

Redington 35, Tok 25

Tanalian 34, Birchwood Christian 21

Homer 49, Nikiski 31

Haines 42, Petersburg 23

South 29, Chugiak 24

Newhalen 52, Bristol Bay 20

Juneau-Douglas 48, Sitka 44

Saturday

Ben Eielson 50, Hutchison 10

Metlakatla 65, Homer 47

Seward 41, Glennallen 39

West Valley 56, Eagle River 38

Newhalen 42, Bristol Bay 28

Fort Yukon 57, Tanalian 38

Bethel 48, Nikiski 22

Sitka 55, Juneau-Douglas 49

Dimond 45, Lathrop 39

Grace Christian 67, Palmer 43

Newhalen 47, Manokotak 44

Haines 23, Petersburg 16

Thunder Mountain 62, Lumen Christi 13

Valdez 48, Delta 29

College

Men’s Basketball

Thursday

UAA 75, Central Washington 61

Saturday

UAA 71, Northwest Nazarene 68

Women’s Basketball

Saturday

UAA 84, UAF 55

Hockey

UAA 2, UAF 2 (tie)

NAHL

Friday

Anchorage Wolverines 4, Fairbanks Icedogs 2

Saturday

Anchorage Wolverines 3, Fairbanks Icedogs 1