The UAA women’s basketball team made a grand home debut Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Seawolves, the 16th-ranked team in the nation, controlled every aspect of the game to blow out Chaminade 93-45 on the first day of the Division II West Coast Classic.
In the first game of the two-day, round-robin tournament, the Nanooks of UAF edged San Francisco State 71-66.
UAA had seven players with eight or more points, 11 with rebounds, eight with steals and eight with assists.
Nicole Pinckney, a sophomore from Chugiak coming off a redshirt injury season, poured in a game-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range.
Multitudes of others also made big contributions.
Sala Langi and Safiyyah Yasin scored 12 points apiece, Tennae Voliva grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points and four steals and Yazmeen Goo handed out eight assists and had three steals to lead UAA’s veterans.
A couple of newcomers also made their presence known. Stephanie Jackson, a junior transfer, furnished eight points, five assists, three steals and three rebounds; Kedranea Addison, another junior transfer, had nine points, four assists, two steals and two rebounds; and Rachel Ingram, a true freshman, added nine points and three rebounds.
The Seawolves (2-0 overall) posted a 42-27 rebounding advantage, shot 43 percent (31 of 72) and swiped the ball 20 times.
Chaminade (0-1) was led by Destiny Castro’s 12 points and five rebounds.
The tournament is one of two happening Saturday and Sunday at the Alaska Airlines Center. The UAA men are hosting the Alaska-Hawaii Challenge, which opened with Chaminade’s 90-64 victory over the Nanooks. The Seawolves faced Hawaii Pacific in Saturday’s late game.
Four more games — two women’s, two men’s — are on tap Sunday beginning at noon.