It started with a conversation. In 2023, UAA women’s basketball coach Ryan McCarthy sat down Elaina Mack for a come-to-Jesus moment about her future as a Seawolf.

The former two-time Alaska Class 1A Player of the Year from King Cove had been a part of the NCAA Division II program for three years with little progress. The 5-foot-8 guard was an elite scorer in high school, but in college she could neither score off the dribble nor rebound and play adequate defense.

Mack had run out of life jackets with McCarthy. It was time for her to sink or swim.

“I told her, ‘You will not play meaningful minutes in this program if you can’t guard at this level,’” said McCarthy, a 300-game winner.

Hard truths can be difficult for some players to hear, but Mack took it to heart and blossomed last season from reserve to role player. She didn’t stop there. This year she took her commitment to another level after changing her diet, adding muscle and revamping her game to become a three-level scorer.

Now in her fifth season, Mack has emerged as the Seawolves’ top scorer at 17.7 points per game. She also leads the team in minutes (27.7) and 3-point percentage (.418) while averaging a career-best 5 rebounds.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the type of player and leader she has become; total buy-in,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think many people will fully understand the amount of time and sacrifice that it takes to improve to the level she is at right now.”

When Mack arrived at UAA in 2020, she was 16, two years younger than most college freshmen. Her first season was canceled because of COVID and she redshirted her second season. Those two years helped her catch up; however, the college game was still too fast when she was eligible to play. As a result, she logged only 7.9 minutes per game.

“Coming from 1A to Division II basketball, that was a difficult transition. I wasn’t as good as I thought I was,” Mack said. “I got humbled and had to work my way up, but I stuck with it. I feel like I’m a gritty player and I like to work hard and accomplish what I set my mind to.”

Her scoring average has increased year by year from 3.0 to 4.4 to 7.7 to 17.7 as her 3-point shooting percentage has skyrocketed from .273 to .418. Mack doesn’t need much daylight to let one fly as she possesses one of the quickest releases you will ever see from a pure jump shooter.

“It’s a lot more fun now than when I first started,” Mack said, “just because I have bought into the program and bought into what we’re about here at UAA.”

Under McCarthy, UAA has been about winning. In his 13 seasons on the bench, the Seawolves are 287-63 as the Peters Creek native stands No. 4 on the Division II list for active winning percentage. UAA has won six of seven games this season entering the Great Alaska Shootout, which tips off Friday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout
At Alaska Airlines Center
FRIDAY
5:15 pm North Dakota State vs Vermont
7:30 pm Troy vs UAA
SATURDAY
6:15 pm Third Place Game
8:30 pm Championship Game

At the top of her game, Mack is eager to test herself against Division I competition. The Seawolves have never played Troy or Vermont and defeated North Dakota State 73-47 in the 2012 Shootout.

“I’m really excited for this year,” Mack said. “As the only Alaskan on the roster, there’s definitely a lot of pride playing in the Alaska Airlines Center in front of our fans. There’s not necessarily a whole bunch of pressure because all my teammates, they are all family to me now, and I know that they are prideful to play for Alaska as well.”

This year’s Shootout will be the 41st edition of the storied women’s tournament, which used to be known as the Northern Lights Invitational. In 1990, the Seawolves became the first Division II team to win an eight-team tournament against all-D1 competition and won again in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017 and 2022. UAA owns a 40-58 all-time record in the Shootout, including an impressive 20-22 showing since the current format began in 1999.

Mack was part of last year’s Seawolves squad that lost to No. 4-ranked Utah and the 2022 team that beat UC Riverside in the first round and La Salle in the title game when the tournament returned after a five-year hiatus.

“That was an amazing feeling,” Mack said of winning the Shootout. “Just to know that Division II can compete and beat Division I teams is a great feeling.”

In a way, Mack’s journey from small town to big city resembles UAA’s underdog spirit in the Shootout. The Southwest Alaska fishing village of King Cove has about 800 residents and just about everyone hoops.

“Basketball is, like, really the only sport that everybody plays or has a connection to, and it’s great,” Mack said. “It’s like every other village in Alaska, where basketball is the main focal point.”

The biggest name in King Cove basketball history used to be Jonny Samuelson, the 2010 Alaska 1A Player of the Year who averaged 30 points and had highs of 55 and 52.

Now, Mack is the biggest name in town.

She was a big deal before she even stepped foot on UAA campus. Her senior year in King Cove she averaged 40.1 points and set state records for single-game scoring (58) and single-season scoring (1,002) while finishing third on Alaska’s all-time scoring list with 2,577 points, trailing only Alissa Pili (now in the WNBA) and Sayvia Sellers (now in the Big Ten).

“I didn’t really score that much in high school until my junior season (when she averaged 35 points). That summer was the first time I had played AAU basketball and I think that put things into perspective,” Mack said.

“There was so much better competition out there, especially just in Alaska, so spending a lot of my summer in the gym really helped my game and I think having that confidence from playing against better players and coming back to 1A, I was able to go out and do what I wanted, plus I had a great high school team as well. They were about it and we won a lot of games.”

Led by Mack, King Cove went undefeated with a state title her junior season and carried a 55-game winning streak prior to COVID shortening the end of 2019-20 season, costing her a shot at setting the Alaska high school girls scoring mark.

Mack didn’t get the record, but she did secure a scholarship to UAA.

“One thing she could always do is shoot the ball at a high level,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think there are a lot of D2 players who could score 40 points in a game regardless of level and Elaina did that every night her senior year.

“She was also a winner and took a lot of pride in representing her hometown. To me, that means a lot. That kid really cares about being good. At this level, you have to have some athleticism and some intangibles, Elaina had those things. It took her a while to fully buy-in and make the sacrifices necessary to play at this level, but once she did, her game has grown substantially.”

Mack went from being the top scorer on her high school team to the top scorer on her college team, something that only happens to the toughest, most dedicated players.

“Elaina had to make one of the biggest jumps in the country,” McCarthy said. “Alaska is the second smallest state in the country and Elaina played for the smallest division.”

Mack is the first UAA player from Alaska’s 1A level (60 students and fewer) since Sand Point’s Diana Gundersen (1999-02) and joins a sorority of small-school Alaska women to score more than 300 points at the NCAA level, joining Unalakleet’s Myra Slwooko (Whitworth) and Klawock’s Louise Wilcott (Pacific).

The King Cove community takes notice every time Mack takes the court for the Seawolves. They follow the games online and some even make the nearly 1,000-mile trek to Anchorage to watch their hometown hero in person.

“I have so much support from back home,” said Mack, 21, a Kinesiology major. “Every game I have gotten a bunch of messages about how I played, how my team played, and they are just super excited about it. Just a lot of love coming out of there.”