Vermont's Alexis Castro (Chula Vista, Calif./Coronado) has been named Wilson America East Player of the Week for the first time in her career, while Hartford’s Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) earns her sixth Rookie of the Week award of the season. The accolades were announced on Monday (January 16).
Castro led Vermont to a 2-0 week as she scored a career-high 34 points in a 73-60 win over Maine and added a team-high 19 points in the win over UMBC. The 6-0 forward Shot 8-for-10 against the Retrievers and 12-for-18 from the field against Maine for 71.4 percent (20-for-28) on the week. She started out the games going 8-for-8 versus UMBC and 6-for-6 versus Maine. The sophomore added 13 rebounds during the week and was two shy of a double-double versus UMBC. She becomes the first Catamount to score 34 points in a game in 10 years and is just 36 points shy of the 500-point milestone.
Beverly opened the week as one of four players who finished in double digits against Boston University with 12 points. She was 5-of-9 from the floor and added 11 rebounds for her fourth double double of the season. In the week’s final game she had 10 points and five rebounds, one of three players to finish with double digits. She finished the game shooting 4-of-5 from the floor for the game.
AMERICA EAST NOTES:
Strong start: America East women’s basketball teams are a combined 57-40 (.588) in the 2005-06 non-conference 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), Atlantic 10 (ninth) and Missouri Valley (11th) are higher ranking I-AA leagues. America East has never finished 12th in the final RPI for a season and only once has it finished fourth among I-AA Conferences (2001-02). America East boasts three teams with RPIs in the top 100. Due in large part to the Seawolves win over ranked Temple, Stony Brook leads the conference teams with an RPI of 33, followed by Hartford (56) and Boston University (89).
HOME Sweet Home: Hartford is 5-0 at home this season and the Hawks are currently riding a 10-game home win streak, which dates back to March 2, 2005. The Hawks home court advantage could loom huge come March as they play host to the America East Women’s Basketball Championship for the fifth-straight season. Hartford has won two of the four conference championships that it has hosted at Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion.
Reversal of fortune:
After starting the season 9-2 and 8-3, respectively, New Hampshire and UMBC have both struggled of late. UNH has dropped three straight, including two league contests, while the Retrievers have lost four conference games in a row. Both teams hope to get back on track this week as they each take on Maine in their next contest.
conference tests: Several of the top teams in America East meet this week in early-season conference match-ups that should help sort out the league standings. On Wednesday, top-ranked Hartford (4-0 America East) and second-ranked Binghamton (3-1) meet in New York, while Boston University (2-1) and Stony Brook (2-1), the league’s third place teams, are also set to do battle. The Seawolves and Hawks will then face off in an America East TV game on Saturday at 2 p.m. in West Hartford, Conn.
America East TV Game:
The 2005-06 women’s America East TV schedule continues this week as Hartford hosts Stony Brook on Saturday at 2 p.m. Carl Reuter (play-by-play) and Leah Secondo (color analyst) will call the game live on New England Sports Network (NESN) and Cablevision (Stony Brook area). The game can also be seen live on the internet through America East All Access. A live streaming feed of the game will be posted once made available. Log on to www.AmericaEast.com on Saturday to follow the action.