CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Boston University senior forward Jesyka Burks-Wiley (Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln College Prep) and University of Hartford freshman guard Ilicia Mathis (Hamden, Conn./Career) both started the 2009 year off on a good foot as both women's basketball players collected weekly honors for the period ending January 4. Burks-Wiley earned her second career America East player of the week, while Mathis took home the rookie of the week heading into the conference slate this week.
In two games last week, Burks-Wiley averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 50% (13-for-26) from the field. She also chipped in an assist and a steal in each game. At UMass on Friday, Burks-Wiley posted 21 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of action to help lead the Terriers in a winning effort. She hit 2-of-5 three-pointers and went 3-for-4 from the charity stripe. A few days earlier, she was one board shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds against St. John's. The senior, the first Terrier to receive the recognition this season, is second in America East scoring 16.3 points per game and is sixth with 6.3 rebounds per game.
Mathis was the only Hawk in double figures, scoring 10 points, in Hartford's only action of the week, a loss at #1 Connecticut on New Year's Eve. Those 10 points were a career high for the rookie. She struggled from the field, but excelled at the free-throw line, converting six of her eight attempts. Mathis also grabbed four rebounds for the Hawks against a much bigger Huskies squad. This is the first rookie of the week for University of Hartford since Diana Delva earned the same recognition February 18, 2007.
Honor Roll
University of Maine junior forward Brittany Boser (Palmer, Mass./Palmer) scored a career-high 24 points at Holy Cross on Friday, hitting 11-of-13 field goal attempts in the process. She also collected three rebounds, two assists and a block... University at Albany's Britney McGee (Bakersfield, Calif./West) led the Great Danes to a 10-point victory over Rhode Island last week with a team-high 17 points. The guard also contributed five rebounds and four assists... Andrea Cihal (Calgary, Alberta/Cawthra Park), a senior forward for Vermont, came off the bench to notch her second career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds against North Dakota... New Hampshire junior forward Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass./St. Raphael) has opened up the season with 13 straight games in double-figure points, including 17 at #10 Louisville and 11 at Xavier last week.
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 tournment participants. America East is ranked 19 out of 32 conferences, up two spots from 21 last week. Boston University and New Hampshire each launched up in the rankings by more than 20 spots. The Terriers moved up 26 spots while the Wildcats stepped up 24 spots. Hartford, at 54, remains the league's top-ranked team in terms of RPI, and is ranked fourth in strength of schedule. Helping the league's RPI is overall strength of schedule. Vermont joins Hartford in top-100 strength of schedule at 27, while the league is eighth.
Winding Down...
The first part of the regular season will soon be over with just three non-league games remaining, including Binghamton's final non-conference match tonight at Cornell. America East is 37-76 (.327) so far, while the league was 44-69 (.389) at the same point last season. However, the league's current RPI of 19 is higher than the 21 it finished as last season.
...And Gearing Up
The first conference game is scheduled for Tuesday, January 6 with Maine at New Hampshire with tip-off at 7 p.m. The rest of the league gets underway the next night with Hartford, Stony Brook, and Vermont getting the home games. The Hawks are the defending regular season champs after going 14-2 in America East play last season.
Join the Club
Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter's) joined two more elite clubs after Sunday's game against North Dakota. 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.
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
Fifteeen 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 eight honors, including six straight. Going back to last year, the Retrievers have actually won eight of the past ten 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 experience squads this season.
Home Court Advantage
The Hartford Hawks return to Chase Family Arena this week for the first time since December 6 and are probably pretty relieved. The Hawks, on a three-game losing streak, have been exceptional on their home court, winning 29 straight contests at Chase, which ranks second in the nation. The only team currently with more consecutive wins at home? Top-ranked Connecticut, which defeated Hartford at the XL Center just last week for its 30th straight home victory. 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 Wednesday, January 7, opening conference play with Binghamton.
Boston University reeled off 13 straight home wins and ranked as high as eighth in Division I, but snapped that streak last week. 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 34 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 (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) 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.
November Report
Now that the first month of the season is complete, it's time to see where the league is in non-conference play to date. America East teams are 18-34 in out-of-conference contests, and have a .500 or above record against six diferent conferences (ACC, Big South, Colonial, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, and Patriot). Last season through three weeks of play, America East had a 22-27 non-conference record and had an even record or better versus 10 leagues.
Pair of Nines
A pair of guards dished out a then-conference-high nine helpers during the week of November 24. Albany guard Britney McGee handed out nine assists in the Great Danes' loss to VCU on Saturday, November 29, and finished just one assist shy of her first career double-double. Twenty-four hours later, freshman Katie Brooks also recorded nine assists in a 92-70 victory over UMES. Brooks finished one assist and three boards shy of a triple-double.
Most Outstanding, Most Impressive
UMBC rookie Katie Brooks earned the Most Outstanding Player award at the Iona Thanksgiving Classic after the Retrievers finished the tournament 2-0. The freshman averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.5 blocks per game against Western Michigan and UMES for a stellar performance. In the first game against Western Michigan, Brooks finished with a game-high 23 points, including the final seven points of the first frame to give UMBC a three-point intermission lead. On the second day, she nearly had a triple-double and handed out nine assists, the most helpers by a Retriever since January 2007.
What A Win
The University of Hartford pulled off one of the biggest wins in America East history. On Friday, November 21 at the DePaul Invitational, the Hawks defeated #6/5 Duke, 53-51, for the program's first win over a top ten opponent ever. It was the second time an America East squad upended a top ten opponent, and the highest-ranked victim. University of Maine defeated Alabama, ranked 10 in the AP poll, 75-73, on January 5, 1995.
Free-Throwing Into The Books
The 64 combined fouls in the UMBC-Northern Illinois game on Saturday, November 22, which the Retrievers won, 88-73, was a new NCAA record. The mark knocked off a 22-year old record of 56 combined personal fouls in 1986 between Eastern Michigan and Kent State. UMBC took advantage, hitting 41 of 53 free-throw attempts.
Deja-Two
A glance at the conference scoring leaders as of November 24 would tell you that not much has changed since last season. Cassidy (24.3 ppg) and Vermont junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis (18.0 ppg) finished 1-2 in scoring for 2007-08 and topped the list once again early on this season. Boston University senior Jesyka Burks-Wiley, who finished fourth in scoring last year, and is the next returning scorer from a year ago, was third this year with 15.8 ppg.
Closing In
While Pilypaitis managed to get it out of the way early, several other America East players are eyeing the 1,000 point mark. 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
May Kotsopoulos, Jr., UVM 920 14.6
Jesyka Burks-Wiley, Sr., BU 919 16.3
Carlee Cassidy, Jr., UMBC 914 23.0
Amy Rosenkrantz, Sr., UVM 903 8.9
Erica Beverly, Jr., UH 781 9.5
Marylynne Schaefer, Sr., UH 762 6.8