AOTW: Emilia Long, Coach McCarthy & company lead UAA Women’s basketball to bounce back season

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The UAA Women’s basketball program is back. After missing the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships the past two seasons, the Seawolves dominated the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and earned the No. 4 seed in the regional tournament later this week.

This is not unfamiliar territory for the Seawolves, who won their 7th GNAC Tournament title last week and have made 15 of the last 18 NCAA DII Tournaments.

The bounce back season was of course led by the program’s anchor —Head Coach Ryan McCarthy, who was named GNAC’s Coach of the Year for a 6th time. In his 13th season, McCarthy has produced a record of 308-66, with one of the highest winning percentages in all of NCAA DII at .823.

“We want to continue to get better, we want to continue on the trajectory we’re on now. I think our ladies are getting better every game and we’ve learned a couple lessons the hard way this year but I think that so long as we continue to learn from our game film and whether or not we win or lose, I think we’re going to be on a good path to compete for a championship,” McCarthy said.

One addition to this year’s roster is Cal Poly Humboldt transfer Emilia Long, who was named First-Team All-Conference, GNAC Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year after leading NCAA DII with 4.3 steals per game to go with 12.4 points and 5.2 assists per game.

“When we got her (Emilia Long), I was pretty sure we got a program changing talent,” McCarthy said. “I honestly think she’s the best defender in America.”

Fellow senior Tori Hollingshead was also recognized for her performance this season, tabbed a unanimous First-Team All-Conference member with top-10 GNAC stats of 13.9 points (10th), 7.4 rebounds (3rd), 1.4 blocks (t-1st) and 2.0 steals (8th) per game, and .510 field-goal shooting (5th).

Ranked 20th in both national polls, the Seawolves (27-4) will face No. 5 seed and Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Montana State Billings (25-7) on Friday at the Torodome in Carson, Calif.

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