CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Boston University's Jesyka Burks-Wiley (Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln College Prep) and Hartford's Ilicia Mathis (Hamden, Conn./Career) repeat as this week's America East Women's Basketball Player and Rookie of the Week. Entering the second week of the conference season, the Terriers and Hawks are the only remaining undefeated teams at 2-0.
Burks Wiley averaged 21 points and nine rebounds in two conference games last week against Stony Brook and Vermont, while shooting 56% from the field. The senior forward collected a double-double on the road in New York on Wednesday with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and followed that up with a career-high 24 points at home against the preseason league favorite Catamounts. She shot 5-for-11 against Stony Brook and 9-for-14 against Vermont, while going 13-for-17 from the charity stripe in the two games. For the week, Burks-Wiley also recorded three steals, a block and an assist on her way to leading the Terriers to a 2-0 conference mark and a place atop the standings. The Missouri native was named the America East Player of the Game at the conclusion of both contests and has now won the Player of the Week three times in her career.
The freshman guard led the Hawks in their conference-opening win over Binghamton with a career-best 15 points. It was the second time in as many games she had surpassed her career high in points. Mathis netted double-figure points for the third straight game on Saturday at Maine when she put up 10 points, including two three-pointers in her only two attempts. Mathis averaged 12.5 points, three rebounds and two steals last week and finished shooting .571 (8-14) from the field and .875 (7-8) from the foul line. In addition, she kept a good handle on the ball, only turning the ball over three times during 50 minutes on the court. The rookie has earned a spot in the starting line-up, having now started in the last four games for Hartford and has helped the Hawks start off conference play a perfect 2-0.
Honor Roll
University at Albany's Janea Aiken (St. Albans, N.Y./St. Dominic) started the conference season right with a career-high 33 points against Binghamton. It set a new record for points in a single women's game at the Bearcats' Events Center, and it was the most points ever scored against Binghamton by an America East opponent... University of Vermont junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter's) averaged 22.5 points and 9.5 rebounds last week in two games which the Catamounts split. Against UMBC, she recorded her 12th career double-double with 28 points and 11 rebounds... Junior guard Amy Simpson (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) sunk five three-pointers in each of New Hampshire's two games last week and averaged 22.5 points. Her 28 points against UMBC was a career high... University of Hartford's Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) averaged 15 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.5 blocks and 2 steals in two games last week while shooting 55% from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe... UMBC's Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) averaged a team-best 18 ppg last week and continues to lead the league in scoring with 22.3 ppg. The junior guard netted a team-high 26 points in the Retrievers' first conference win of the season over New Hampshire on Saturday... Stony Brook's sophomore forward Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont) recorded 20 points and 5 rebounds in the Seawolves' only game of the week on Wednesday.
The Report Is In
Collegiate Basketball News put out its weekly Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) report this morning, an unofficial look at what the NCAA Selection Committee looks at throughout the season and at the end of the regular season to pick out tournament participants. America East is ranked 20 out of 32 conferences after the first week of the conference season, down one spot from 19 last week. Hartford remains the top-rated team in America East at 59, but both Vermont (108) and Boston University (120) keep creeping up closer to the top-100, stepping up 3 and 4 spots, respectively. Comparing the RPI numbers to the same report a year ago, UMBC is the biggest mover up or down from 2007-08. Last season at the same time, the Retrievers were ranked 273 and the sixth team in the conference, while this year they are at 180 and are the fourth team from the conference listed. Binghamton, Boston U., New Hampshire and Vermont are all also higher rated in this week's report than they were during the same week in 2008.
Underway As Expected
The first week of the conference season has come and gone quickly with 7 of the 9 teams already having two America East games under their belts. Already, the top four teams picked in the coaches' preseason poll have surfaced to the top of the standings, even if they are scrambled just a bit. Boston U. and Hartford, who battled against each other in the 2008 America East Championship title game, are the only unbeaten teams at 2-0. The Terriers were picked to finish third, while the Hawks were predicted to finish second. UMBC and Vermont, sitting third and fourth in the current standings, were selected fourth and first at the beginning of the season. Binghamton and New Hampshire are also in the middle of the pack at 1-1, while Stony Brook, Albany, and University of Maine are still in search of their first America East win this season.
Closing In
While Courtnay Pilypaitis managed to get it out of the way early, several other America East players are eyeing the 1,000 point mark, including four within 89 points. Below is a list of players who may reach that mark by the end of this season, their total points and their 2008-09 points per game average as of today.
Player, School Points PPG
Jesyka Burks-Wiley, Sr., BU 961 16.9
Carlee Cassidy, Jr., UMBC 950 22.3
May Kotsopoulos, Jr., UVM 946 14.4
Amy Rosenkrantz, Sr., UVM 911 8.3
Erica Beverly, Jr., UH 811 10.3
Marylynne Schaefer, Sr., UH 774 6.7
Raising The Bar
Saturday's conference games saw everybody bring their "A" game. Six of the eight teams in action Saturday had a player hit a career high in points, and three players set a personal best in the UMBC-UNH game alone. Players who scored career highs in points include Player of the Week Burks-Wiley (24 points), Hartford's Lisa Etienne (20), Albany's Janea Aiken (33), Binghamton's Viive Rebane (16), New Hampshire's Amy Simpson (28), and UMBC's Top? Obajolu (15) and Tonishea Mack (12).
Going On 30
Janea Aiken's 33-point performance against the Bearcats became the sixth 30-point performance in the league this year. Never have so many 30-point individual efforts come in a single season since the 2004-05 season when there were nine such outbursts. That year, eight of the nine came against an America East opponent, while this season, Aiken's has been the first during league play.
Join The Club
Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis joined two more elite clubs after the game against North Dakota on Sunday, January 4. With five assists, she moved into Vermont's top-five career assists list, handing out 369 in her 2+ seasons. The junior guard also grabbed eight rebounds and became the 12th member of Vermont's 1,000 point/500 rebound club. Pilypaitis is the only active player in the league to achieve that milestone, but could be threatened by the end of the 2008-09 season.
December Report
America East teams went a combined 16-40 (.286) in the month of December with five of those games coming against ranked opponents. UMBC (4-3) picked up a quarter of those victories as part of its five-game winning streak.
Tournament Frenzy
Fifteen regular-season tournaments highlighted the 2008-09 non-conference season, including two hosted by America East institutions, Vermont and Maine. UMBC took home the only tournament title this season with a 2-0 mark at the Iona Thanksgiving Classic.
Rookie Ramblings
UMBC has controlled the rookie of the week award this season, earning six of the first seven honors of the 2008-09 season. Going back to last year, the Retrievers have actually won eight of the past eleven rookie awards. Katie Brooks won weeks two and three, Michelle Kurowski earned recognition three weeks in a row, and Erin Brown retained UMBC's possession in week 7. Meghan Colabella won the America East Rookie of the Week the final two weeks of the 2007-08 season. The last time one team has dominated the rookie category was Vermont in 2006-07. Catamounts Courtnay Pilypaitis, May Kotsopoulos and Sofia Iwobi took home nine of 10 rookie awards spanning November 19, 2006-January 22, 2007.
Rookie Ramblings 2
Rookies around the league have made their way into their teams' respective starting lineups going into the conference season. Seven of the nine teams have started a rookie multiple times, and in most instances, consistently. Four freshmen have started every game this season-- Binghamton's Viive Rebane and Andrea Holmes, and UMBC's Michelle Kurowski and Erin Brown. Boston U. and Vermont have not started a rookie this season, and they are also two of the most experienced squads this season.
Home Court Advantage
Hartford has been exceptional on its home court, winning 30 straight contests at Chase Arena, amongst the top streaks in Division I. The last time the Hawks lost at Chase Arena was November 29, 2006 to Seton Hall, 53-59. Hartford will play at Chase next on Tuesday, January 13, against conference foe UMBC.
Boston University reeled off 13 straight home wins and ranked as high as eighth in Division I, but snapped that streak earlier this season. St. John's defeated the Terriers Tuesday, December 30 to give Boston U. its first loss at Case Gymnasium in nearly two years.
On The Glass
As of late, New Hampshire junior forward Candace Williams and UMBC sophomore forward Meghan Colabella have been trying to one-up each other on the glass. Williams set a new career high on December 14 with 15 rebounds in a win against Northeastern. Colabella took it one step further exactly a week later posting up for 16 rebounds. While Williams matched that with 16 rebounds December 29 against Morehead State, Colabella went to another level with a career-high 20 rebounds, a new conference season-high, against Rider on the same day. All four performances were part of double-doubles. The previous 20-rebound performance in America East was by Boston University's Jesyka Burks-Wiley against Stony Brook at the America East Championship on March 11, 2006.
Handouts
Boston University senior guard Christine Kinneary (Plainedge, N.Y./Holy Trinity) registered the second-most assists in a season last year with 214, and is getting closer to another America East record. Kinneary is currently third all-time in career assists at Boston University and is 26 assists shy of breaking into the top-five in America East history. Former Terrier Andrea Higgins tallied 475 assists between 1989-93 for fifth all-time in the league annals.
Looking Offensive
Five America East teams reached the 80-point water line the week of December 1 led by New Hampshire's 89 points on Friday night against Colgate. UMBC put up 85 points against Navy on Wednesday for their fifth such performance this season, Binghamton poured in 83 points against Niagara on Monday, Boston University took advantage of Brown for 81 points, and Hartford netted 80 on Saturday against St. Joseph's. All five of those performances resulted in wins for the America East squad.
Doubling Up The Triple Double
Vermont junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis completed a feat twice that most players can't accomplish ever in their careers. Pilypaitis recorded her second career triple-double on Saturday, December 6 against Holy Cross with 18 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds. The junior earned her first triple-double, and the first in Vermont's women's basketball history, last winter against conference-foe Hartford. There have only been three triple-doubles in America East over the past five seasons and Pilypaitis is the owner of two of them. Before the Catamount, the previous one belonged to Boston University's Adrienne Norris in February 2004 against New Hampshire.
Retriever Double Threat
In UMBC's game against Towson on Wednesday, December 3, two Retrievers hit the 30-point mark for what is believed to be only the fifth time ever in Division I history. Junior Carlee Cassidy poured in a career-high 32 points, while her backcourt teammate, freshman Michelle Kurowski posted 30 points. The last time two teammates each scored 30 points in the same game was Purdue's Shereka Wright (34) and Katie Geralds (32) at Iowa on February 10, 2004.