UMBC’s Sharri Rohde (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) has been named America East's Wilson Player of the Week for the first time in her career, while Boston U.’s Jesyka Burks-Wiley (Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln College Prep) earns her first Rookie of the Week accolade of the season. The awards were announced Monday (January 30).
Rohde recorded back-to-back 20-point performances, including notching her first career double-double in leading the Retrievers to consecutive conference wins over Albany, 48-41, and Stony Brook, 70-48, last week. Rohde opened the week at home against Albany, going 7-for-14 from the field and 1-for-2 from outside the arc to score a career-high 20 points. Rohde added nine rebounds, three assists, one block and a steal to her line as she surpassed the 600-point plateau for her career. Rohde at Stony Brook matched her career-high with another 20-point performance, going 9-of-10 from the field with her only miss a three-point attempt. Rohde corralled 11 rebounds to secure her first career double-double while adding three assists and two steals. Rohde now has five consecutive double-digit performances and has scored double figures in six of seven conference games.
Burks-Wiley made the most of her first career start, recording a double-double with personal bests of 20 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in the Terriers’ 69-52 victory over Albany on Tuesday. The freshman went 6-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe. On Sunday, Burks-Wiley tallied six points and four rebounds in Boston U.’s 80-61 triumph against Maine.
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 (10th) 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. Hartford leads the conference with an RPI of 33, followed by Stony Brook (34) and Boston University (77).
League Elite: Despite boasting the most conference championships in America East history, the University of Maine (seven titles) and the University of Vermont (four titles) are both off to slow starts to the 2005-06 league schedule. The Black Bears (2-5) and the Catamounts (3-5) both have five conference losses already this season. Maine and Vermont have never each had more than five league losses in the same season while conference members, which dates back to the 1984-85 season. Regardless of early struggles by these perennial America East powerhouses, the conference as a whole is as strong as ever with its RPI rating of 12th in the nation.
Home sweet home: Hartford is 7-0 at home this season and the Hawks are currently riding an 12-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.
Tough stretch continues for Black Bears: Maine (2-5 America East) is one-game into a three-game stretch where the Black Bears face the top three teams in America East. Maine was defeated 80-61 at Boston University (5-2) on Sunday and now the Black Bears host Hartford (7-0) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. and then head to Binghamton (5-2) on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tilt.
America East TV Game: The 2005-06 women’s America East TV schedule continues this week as Albany hosts Boston University on Saturday, February 4 in a basketball doubleheader. Both the women’s game (5 p.m.) and the men’s game (7:30 p.m.) will be featured on TV as part of Albany’s winter homecoming, Big Purple Growl. Rodger Wyland (play-by-play) and Leah Secondo (color analyst) will call the game live on New England Sports Network (NESN) and Time Warner Cable (Albany). 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.