UAA hosts basketball doubleheader; hockey team hosts Wildcats

The ninth-ranked UAA women's basketball team is on the rebound and looking for revenge this week, while the men's team faces the best and the worst of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The women will play the late game in a pair of basketball doubleheaders at the Alaska Airlines Center, where the men's team will tip off Thursday and Saturday at 5:30 p.m., followed by the women at 7:30 p.m.

Also at home this week is UAA's hockey team, which hosts Northern Michigan Friday and Saturday at Sullivan Arena.

The women's basketball team is on the rebound after a surprising 66-48 loss at Seattle Pacific, where the Falcons ended UAA's 33-game, regular-season GNAC winning streak. The setback came nearly two years after UAA's last regular-season conference loss.

The Seawolves (16-2 overall, 9-1 GNAC) slipped five spots in the national rankings as a result of Saturday's loss. They'll try to get back on track against a pair of teams that are struggling this season after making the NCAA tournament last season.

Western Washington (7-11, 3-7) made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament and Simon Fraser (8-10, 3-7) made it to the Sweet 16.

Saturday's game against Simon Fraser is a bit of a revenge game for the Seawolves. On their way to the Sweet 16, the Clan upset then-No. 2 UAA at the West Region tournament in Anchorage.

The men's basketball games will feature the best and the worst of the GNAC. UAA (8-10 overall, 4-6 GNAC) meets last-place Concordia-Portland (4-14, 0-10) on Thursday and sixth-ranked Western Oregon (17-1, 9-1) on Saturday.

Concordia comes to town with a 14-game losing streak, although several of those losses have been close. Western Oregon has won 10 in a row.

At Sullivan Arena, the UAA hockey team faces one of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's top teams in Northern Michigan.

The Wildcats (15-10-3 overall, 13-5-2 WCHA) are in second place in the 10-team league with 43 points, trailing Minnesota State (15-5-0), which has 45.

The Seawolves (2-18-4, 2-13-3 WCHA) are in last place with 12 points. The only team within striking distance is ninth-place Lake Superior State with 15 points.

Looking ahead

Hockey

Friday and Saturday — UAA vs. Northern Michigan, 7 p.m., Sullivan Arena

Men's basketball

Thursday — UAA vs. Concordia-Portland, 5:30, Alaska Airlines Center

Saturday — UAA vs. Western Oregon, 5:30 p.m., Alaska Airlines Center

Women's basketball

Thursday — UAA vs. Western Washington, 7:30, Alaska Airlines Center

Saturday — UAA vs. Simon Fraser, 7:30 p.m., Alaska Airlines Center

Indoor track and field — Husky Invitational, Seattle, all day Friday and Saturday

Looking back

Gymnastics

UAA scored 188.3 points to finish second in a three-team meet Friday at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, and scored 188.15 points in a dual-meet loss Saturday against Illinois State.

Isabella Fox and Mackenzie Miller went 1-2 in the all-around Friday, with Fox scoring 38.425 points and Miller notching a career-best 38.050. Among UAA's top performances was Isabella Scalapino's fourth-place finish in vault with a score of 9.625.

On Saturday, Fox's three-meet streak of all-around wins ended — she finished second with 37.725 points. Kendra Daniels won the balance beam (9.675) and Kaylin Mancari placed second in floor exercise (9.75).

The team does not compete this week.

Skiing

The Seawolves placed sixth among nine teams at last week's Utah Invitational.

In slalom competition in Huntsville, Utah, Anthony Naciuk led the men in 18th place, followed by Dominic Unterberger in 19th and Erik Cruz in 22nd. In the women's race, Georgia Burgess placed 17th, Charley Field was 20th and Alix Wells was 24th.

Nordic races were at Soldier Hollow, where five skiers registered top-30 results in Friday's classic races and six did the same in the Saturday's freestyle races.

In the classic races, Marcus Deuling and Toomas Kollo placed 17th and 18th to lead the Seawolves. Sadie Fox paced the women in 20th place, followed by Jenna DiFalco in 23rd and Casey Wright in 26th.

In the freestyle races, DiFalco was 20th, Fox 22nd and Michaela Keller-Miller 27th for the women. Tracen Knopp led the men in 28th place, followed by Toresson in 29th and Deuling in 30th.

The skiers return to action at the University of New Mexico Invitational on Feb. 3-4.

An earlier version of this story used the wrong nickname for Northern Michigan.