Hartford’s Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) has broken the conference record for most Rookie of the Week awards as she earns her ninth such accolade of the 2005-06 season. University of Maine’s Abby Schrader (Pt. Pleasant, N.J./Pleasant) and UMBC’s Sharri Rohde (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) have been named America East's Wilson Players of the Week. The awards were announced Monday (February 13).
Beverly finished as the team’s leading scorer over last week’s two games. She averaged 14.5 ppg over the two contests including a 14-point effort at home and a 15-point effort on the road. She opened the week with 14 points against Albany on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. She also had three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Against New Hampshire on the road, Beverly had a team-high 15 points on 3-of-6 from the floor and connected on 9-of-10 free throw attempts. She finished the game one rebound shy of her sixth double-double with nine rebounds.
Schrader recorded her America East-leading ninth double-double of the season Sunday with 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in Maine’s 61-52 road win at Albany. The win was the first conference road win for Maine this season and snapped a four-game losing streak overall. Schrader shot 50 percent from the floor (7-of-14), while handing out three assists and blocking a pair of shots.
Rohde paced UMBC to back-to-back wins, playing all 40 minutes in both games to average 19.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 4.5 apg last week. The Retrievers junior shot 66.7 percent from the field, going a combined 16-for-24 including 4-for-5 outside the arc for an 80.0 percent three-point field goal percentage last week. Rohde opened the week at Boston U., scoring a career-high 23 points on making 9-of-12 attempts from the field. Rohde added eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals to her line on the day. She completed the week with her second double-double of the season, scoring 16 points to go with 10 rebounds against Vermont in a come-from-behind win at home. Rohde scored nine of her points and corralled seven of her rebounds in the second half as UMBC erased a 12-point halftime deficit for the win.
America East Notebook
RPI Watch:
America East has maintained its 11th ranking in The Collegiate Basketball News Women’s RPI Report and now ranks third among I-AA conferences. Only the Colonial (eighth) and Atlantic 10 (10th) are higher ranking I-AA leagues. America East has never finished as high as 11th in the final RPI for a season and never as high as third among I-AA Conferences. America East boasts three teams with RPIs in the top 100. Stony Brook leads the conference with an RPI of 33, followed by Hartford (46) and Boston University (84).
League Improvement:
With five regular-season contests and at least one game in the conference tournament remaining, UMBC (14-8 overall) and Stony Brook (14-7) both boast six-game improvements in the wins category. The Retrievers are currently one of the hottest teams in America East, having won six league outings in a row, and are well over their eight wins from a season ago. The Seawolves boast the conference’s top RPI (33) and also have six more wins now (14) than last season (eight).
Home sweet home:
Hartford is 9-0 at home this season and the Hawks are currently riding a 14-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.
America East TV Game:
The 2005-06 women’s America East TV schedule continues next week as Hartford hosts Maine on Saturday, February 25. Eric Frede (play-by-play) and Leah Secondo (color analyst) will call the game live on the New England Sports Network (NESN) with a tape delay on College Sports Television (CSTV) at 6:30 p.m.). 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.