As UAA heads into its 4th straight NCAA tourney, Robertson provides dependability, experience

Heading into its fourth straight NCAA Division II tournament, the UAA women's basketball team has a point guard at the helm who has seen it all.

Senior Kiki Robertson has piloted the Seawolves since starting all 29 games as a freshman during the 2012-13 campaign. Along with fellow senior Alysha Devine, she is one of two UAA players who have been with the team all four years.

Robertson has twice seen defeats in the first round of the West Regional, including a heartbreaking first-round loss at the Alaska Airlines Center in 2015 when UAA was the No. 1 seed. But she's also experienced the joy of making it to the national championship game last season, where UAA fell to undefeated Lubbock Christian.

It's those experiences that Robertson said she'll lean on when UAA tips off against Hawaii Pacific at 7:30 p.m. Friday in its latest NCAA tourney journey.

She said UAA's home loss in the first round two years ago is still fresh in her mind.

"To get our hearts broken (when) we were No. 1 in the nation, that's the thing I remember," said Robertson, who is from Honolulu. "That's what drives me to keep pushing our team this year, since it's my last year, to make sure we never feel that."

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At 5-foot-5, Robertson is often the shortest player on the court, but that didn't stop her from becoming the biggest defender in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season.

Robertson was named the GNAC's defensive player of the year after averaging a conference best 3.5 steals per game and leading UAA to the No. 1 spot nationally in steals and the No. 2 spot in turnover margin.

Robertson is the first line of defense in coach Ryan McCarthy's fast-paced, full-court press "mayhem" defense — something she takes pride in.

"I can score, but I know my thing on the team this year is about getting stops and stealing the ball and (getting) the ball to Auti (Williams) and my other teammates," Robertson said. "That's what gets me excited."

Those who have seen Robertson on the court know the reckless abandon she plays with. Sometimes, her full-speed effort results in a mistake — she averages 2.2 turnovers a game and she's second on the team with 74 fouls — but it has also helped UAA win 25 straight games and its third straight GNAC championship.

"Like our shirts (say), 'mayhem' — that's about it," Robertson said of the relentless defense. "If you make a mistake, as long as you're making it hard, it's OK … I think sometimes those mistakes that we make are good for our defense."

Robertson also averages 8.8 points, 5.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game, and her 87.9 free-throw percentage is third-best in the GNAC.

Robertson said the ability to play at a high tempo all the time starts in practice, where McCarthy puts the Seawolves through drills designed to test their mental strength.

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One of Robertson's favorite drills is called "30-second stop," which is a 3-on-3 drill where the offense tries to score within 30 seconds.

Every time the offense scores or gets a rebound, the 30-second clock is reset and the drill continues. But if the defense gets a stop, the offense gets the ball back with however much time is remaining on the clock.

One time, Robertson's team was on offense and it scored for 30 straight minutes before the defense finally won the drill.

"It was crazy. I was on offense and I was yakking it up," Robertson said. "It's mentally draining (for the defense). That's why I think it helps our team out a lot.

"We're pushing them — the people that were on defense. We're not going to let up. We need to mentally prepare for other teams and you gotta stay strong through it all."

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With as much as the Seawolves push each other in practice, there is still time for laughs and fun, Robertson said. Sometimes, players will make up goofy bench celebrations as punishments for losing a drill.

When practicing by herself, Robertson likes to improve her ball handling by dribbling multiple basketballs at the same time. Her record is six.

Robertson has been playing basketball since she was 4, and she's never played another sport competitively. It's all basketball all the time.

When she was younger, she sometimes played on as many as three teams at the same time.

"Even in high school, middle school, elementary school, it was only always basketball," Robertson said. "I used to play for like three teams at once, so I would just go from one game to the next, or one practice to the next."

Robertson doesn't want her basketball journey to end yet. She's hungry for a second straight West Region crown, and she's eager to extend a season that's been as fun as it's been successful.

"This is one of my favorite teams to be a part of," she said. "Everyone is … always fun to be around, so it's great knowing my senior year was around such positive energy the whole time."