UAA Athletics

UAA women’s basketball to open conference play against two heavy hitters

The No. 9 UAA women's basketball team didn't get much of a break following a tough week in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout.

The Seawolves (4-1) open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at home Wednesday against Simon Fraser (8-1) — which hasn't lost since the first week of the season — before hosting Western Washington (5-1) on Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Simon Fraser and Western Washington were the only teams picked ahead of the two-time defending-GNAC champion Seawolves in the conference's preseason coaches poll and were the only conference teams to beat UAA last season on its way to a 38-3 record and a NCAA Division II national championship appearance.

"We're excited to be able to play those games here at home and excited about the challenge because both Simon Fraser and Western Washington are playing really good basketball right now," UAA coach Ryan McCarthy said. "Both have very talented lineups that will be a good way for us to measure where we're at at this point in the year in early December."

Simon Fraser returns eight of 10 players from last year's team that spoiled UAA's senior night last season. The Clan beat the Seawolves 67-66 on Feb. 27, but UAA got revenge a week later with an 82-47 beatdown in the first round of the GNAC tournament.

McCarthy said a focus against the Clan will be getting out to their perimeter shooters on defense. The Seawolves allowed Portland and Missouri State to go a combined 14 of 29 from the 3-point line in two Shootout losses last week.

"In both games, we got beat by shooters," McCarthy said. "Simon Fraser has a lot of those, so it will actually be a good test to see how well we focus on personnel."

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The Clan have five players in the top 30 in the GNAC in 3-point shooting this season.

A positive for UAA this week is the probable return of leading scorer Autummn Williams. The 5-foot-10 transfer from Arkansas-Little Rock missed UAA's Wednesday loss to Missouri State with a sprained wrist. She leads UAA with 15.8 points per game.

"Autummn creates a completely different dynamic for our offense 'cause she is a playmaker and she can score from the perimeter," McCarthy said.

Stephan Wiebe

Stephan Wiebe writes about all things Alaska sports.

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