The UAA men's and women's basketball teams opened the new year with a pair of conference blowouts on the road Thursday.
The seventh-ranked UAA women dismantled Western Oregon 106-62 in Monmouth, Oregon, and the men crushed Simon Fraser 77-47 in Burnaby, British Columbia.
For the UAA women (12-1, 5-0 GNAC), it was their eighth straight win and first time surpassing the century mark against a Great Northwest Athletic foe. The UAA men (10-3, 4-1) earned their fifth consecutive victory.
Seniors Spencer Svejcar (31 points) and Autummn Williams (24) were the leading scorers for their respective teams.
The UAA women scored first on a Williams layup and never trailed against the Wolves. The Seawolves led by double digits four minutes into the game and shot 62.9 percent from the field — UAA's best field goal percentage in the GNAC era.
"Offensively we were really good and those are fun ones to coach in," UAA coach Ryan McCarthy said by cellphone. "When you get up by a lot, it's easy to become complacent and take possessions off and I thought our ladies did a good job staying engaged."
All 11 Seawolves scored and no one played more than 24 minutes.
Freshman guard Kimija King (17 points) and junior forward Sierra Afoa (10) provided double-digit scoring off the bench.
The Wolves (5-7, 1-4) got 14 points from forward Jasmine Miller and 11 from guard Sydney Azorr.
The UAA men also got off to a fast start. The Seawolves scored the game's first eight points, six coming from Svejcar, whose 31 were a career high. The 6-foot-4 guard hit 6 of 9 shots from long range.
Suki Wiggs added 19 points and nine rebounds, Connor Devine chipped in 10 points and Corey Hammell snagged 12 rebounds.
Svejcar was hot from 3-point land, but most of the Seawolves' damage came in the paint, where they outscored Simon Fraser 38-14.
Othniel Spence led the Clan (2-11, 0-5) with 16 points off the bench.
Both UAA squads stay in the road this weekend with the women playing Concordia in Portland, Oregon, and the men heading to Bellingham, Washington, to face Western Washington. Both games are Saturday.
Against the Caveliers, the UAA women will conclude a seven-game road stint going back to a Dec. 10 game at UAF.
The Seawolves have enjoyed big UAA crowds at several road games this past month, including another big Seawolf showing against Western Oregon. McCarthy said it felt like UAA was the home team.
"A couple (fans) will come up and introduce themselves to me before the game," McCarthy said. "We had a guy from Palmer out there and his grandson. It's kind of neat to see other people from different parts of Alaska coming out to watch us play."