A pair of undefeated top-25 women’s basketball teams will meet in an early season clash of giants Saturday afternoon at the Alaska Airlines Center.
One of the teams, of course, is perennial power UAA, the 11th-ranked NCAA Division II team in the country.
The other is Westminster College of Salt Lake City, which is ranked 23rd.
Both teams warmed up for Saturday’s 3:15 p.m. meeting with lopsided victories Friday on the first day of the Seawolf Hoops Classic.
UAA spanked Wisconsin-Parkside 86-57, and Westminster routed UAF 84-64.
Safiyyah Yasin, a senior guard, and Tennae Voliva, a junior center, turned in dominant performances as the Seawolves moved to 4-0.
Yasin poured in 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added four rebounds and four assists, and Voliva racked up 14 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Voliva hit 5 of 7 shots and Nicole Pinckney made 4 of 7 to help the Seawolves shoot 49 percent from the field. Pinckney connected on her first four shots, all of them 3-pointers.
Senior point guard Yazmeen Goo added 11 points with five assists and two steals for the Seawolves, who held the Rangers to 30 percent shooting while outrebounding them 46-26.
UAA led by double digits for nearly the entire second quarter. With a little more than three minutes left , the Seawolves went on a 12-2 run to grab a 55-33 halftime lead.
In Friday’s other game, Westminster ran its record to 5-0 by overwhelming the Nanooks. Westminster got big games from Mariah Martin (26 points, 8 assists), Sarah McGinley (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Kaitlyn Toluono (14 points, 9 rebounds).
The victory was Westminster’s third this season over a team from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Last weekend, the Griffins beat Central Washington 70-60 and Northwest Nazarene 72-64. UAA will be their fourth straight GNAC opponent.
UAF and Wisconsin-Parkside will play at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both teams are 2-3.