American East Conference

Raffo turned in the top two offensive performances of her career, tallying 19 points in the Terriers’ 73-59 road win at Brown before recording 20 points in a 62-54 setback against Indiana in the RCA Dome. In both games, Raffo was spectacular in the early stages, as she went a combined 7-of-9 from behind the arc before halftime to help her record first-half totals of 15 and 16 points, respectively. In the triumph over the Bears, Raffo added seven rebounds and three assists. She now leads the Terriers in scoring with an average of 12.1 points per game.

Smith’s play was key once again for the Seawolves in a 1-1 week that included a 58-56 upset victory over No. 19/20 Temple. She averaged 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals while shooting 50 percent (15-for-30) from the field. The junior posted a team-high 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists in the upset of the Owls and added 12 points and five boards at George Washington.

Beverly was the team's second leading scorer last week and the second of three players to finish, averaging double digits for the week at 11.5 ppg. She finished with double digits in both games. Against Fairfield she finished with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting and 7-of-10 from the free throw line. She also finished one rebound shy of her fourth double double of the season. Against Miami she finished with 10 points and six rebounds on 4-of-10 from the floor and 2-of-2 from free throw. For the season, Beverly is averaging 9.8 ppg and a team-best 8.5 rpg. She adds nine assists, nine steals and eight blocked shots.

AMERICA EAST NOTES:
Strong start: America East women’s basketball teams are off to a strong 39-25 combined start to the 2005-06 season. As a conference, America East currently ranks 12th in the nation in The Collegiate Basketball News Women’s RPI Report, but more importantly, is fourth among I-AA conferences. Only the Colonial (eighth), Missouri Valley (10th) and Atlantic 10 (11th) are higher ranking I-AA leagues.

Pender paces Retrievers: Behind a game-high 22 points from Matea Pender, UMBC improved to 6-1 on the 2005-06 campaign with a 60-46 victory over Lafayette. The Retrievers are off to their best start since the 1985-86 season. UMBC is also a perfect 4-0 at home for the first time since 1993-94. The Retriever schedule gets tougher this week as they take on the Colonial Athletic Association’s Drexel on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Ray of light: New Hampshire’s Ray Williams came off the bench last week for the Wildcats and averaged 14.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg. Williams dominated former America East foe Northeastern on Sunday afternoon as she dropped in a career-high 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting and pulled down a game high eight rebounds.

Beverly top freshman in Am-Erica East: Hartford freshman Erica Beverly has proven to be one of the top freshman in America East this season. Beverly averaged 11.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg on the week enroute to be named Rookie of the Week for the third time in four weeks to start her collegiate career. The 6-0 freshman ranks 20th in the league in scoring (9.8 ppg), third in rebounding (8.5 rpg), 11th in field goal percentage (45.9 percent) and sixth in blocks (1.00 bpg). She is also the top rookie in the conference in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage.

Win streaks snapped: Boston University had its five-game winning streak snapped at Indiana, while New Hampshire had its three-game run ended at Northeastern and Hartford had its mini two-game win streak broken at Miami. UMBC now boasts the longest win streak in America East as the Retrievers have been victorious in their last four games.