CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of New Hampshire junior forward Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass./St. Raphaels) and UMBC freshman guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) are this week's recipients of the America East Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively. Williams led her Wildcats to a 2-0 record last week, including a come-from-behind victory, while Kurowski put up some impressive numbers for any player, much less a freshman.
Williams posted averages of 19.5 points and 11 rebounds per game on 13-for-26 field-goal shooting. Against Stony Brook midweek, the junior notched her league-leading 10th double-double of the season, netting a game-high 17 points and pulling in 14 rebounds. Eleven of those points and 10 of those rebounds came in the game's final 9 minutes when New Hampshire was down 15 points and mounted a come-back to eventually win, 50-49. Williams pulled down 2 crucial defensive rebounds with just seconds remaining that led to the field goals putting UNH within 1 point and then up by 1 to end the game. She also accumulated a career-high 3 blocks, 2 of which came during the rally in the final 9 minutes. At Albany, Williams led the Wildcats in scoring for the third straight game as she tallied 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. She also pulled down eight rebounds in the game. Williams was tabbed a Player of the Week for the second time this season and for her career. She is third in the league in scoring, while pacing the rest of the conference in rebounding with 8.2 rpg. With the two wins last week, the Wildcats are now positioned to earn their best seed for the conference tournament since the 2004-05 season.
Kurowski led the Retrievers with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals per game to go along with 2 assists per game, a .400 field goal percentage (12-for-30) and a .923 free throw percentage (12-for-13). She also drained four triples and was named UMBC's America East Player of the Game in both contests. Kurowski scored a team-high 25 points at Albany, including 3 treys and an 8-for-8 effort at the foul line. She also added 3 assists and 4 steals in the game, both tying career bests. The rookie then posted her first career double-double at Binghamton, tallying 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to go along with 4 steals. Kurowski scored 8 straight points early in the second half, sparking a 13-3 Retriever run. She moved up to 6th in the conference with 13.7 points per game this season, and is 10th in the league averaging 1.6 steals per game. Her .819 free throw percentage is 2nd among all America East players. This is Kurowski's fourth weekly award of the season, and her first since December.
Honor Roll
Boston University's Kristi Dini (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) hit the most crucial three-pointer of the Terriers' season with one eight seconds left in regulation to send the game at Hartford into overtime, where the Terriers went on to win. The same trey also broke the conference's single-season three-pointer mark for her 77th of the season... Hartford's Ilicia Mathis (Hamden, Conn./Career) finished with double-figure points in both games of the Hawks' 1-1 week, including a career-high 20 points at Stony Brook Saturday night. She opened the week with 15 points against Boston U. ... Vermont senior guard Sy Janousek (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol) made her first start of the season and scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Catamounts past Maine in their lone game of the week...Britney McGee (Bakersfield, Calif./West) led Albany to a win over UMBC during the week with a career-high 30 points. For the week, the junior guard shot 60.9% from the field and averaged 23 points... Senior Colleen Kilmurray (Wall, N.J./Wall) from University of Maine notched her first double-double of the season against first-place Boston U. with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Kilmurray also netted 19 points earlier in the week against Vermont... Stony Brook's Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont) tallied 13.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game last week for the Seawolves.
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 moved up one spot to 21st of 32 conferences. Hartford fell four spots but still remains the top-rated team from America East at 65. Boston U. moved up 7 spots and is now ranked 83, more than 100 spots improved from the first RPI Report of the season where it sat at 198. Binghamton was the biggest mover upward, climbing 9 spos to 229.
21 Years in the Making
The Boston University Terriers clinched at least a share of the regular season title on Sunday with a win over Maine at Agganis Arena. One more win or a Hartford loss in the final week of the regular season will give the Terriers sole possession of the regular season crown, which the program has not won since 1988 when the conference was still named the Seaboard Conference. Even with a tie atop the standings, the Terriers have also ensured themselves the top seed for the America East Championship beginning March 12 at University of Hartford.
What?
All nine teams are entering the final week of the regular season, and all but the top seed is still to be determined before the conference tournament begins. Each game from this point forward means everything for the teams involved.
Who?
Below is the remaining schedule for each team.
Albany - at SBU, at Boston
Binghamton - at UNH, at Vermont
Boston - at UMBC, vs. Albany
Hartford - vs. Vermont, vs. UNH
Maine - vs. SBU
UMBC - vs. Boston
UNH - vs. Binghamton, at Hartford
SBU - vs. Albany, at Maine
Vermont - at Hartford, vs. Binghamton
When?
Several seeds can be clinched Wednesday. Binghamton can clinch the fourth seed with a win at New Hampshire on Wednesday, and Hartford can also lock up the second seed with a home win over Vermont. Any other scenarios will have to wait for Saturday to be played out in full.
Tie-Breakers
If a tie were to happen at all in the league standings, a tie would be called for historical records, but it would have to be broken for seeding purposes. The tie-breakers to determine tournament seeds are as follows:
- winning percentage against other conference teams in descending rank order
- winning percentage in conference road games.
- RPI rating as determined by the College RPI Report.
First-Place Showdown, Part II
With first-place ultimately on the line, Boston U. and Hartford put on quite a show last Tuesday night in front of a live TV audience on Comcast SportsNet. The Terriers and Hawks showed fans a little bit of everything, including a huge rally where Boston U. recovered from a 17-point second-half deficit, a broken record when Dini netted the trey that broke the America East single-season mark of 76 triples, and down-to-the-wire theatrics as Dini's shot also sent the game into overtime where the Terriers eventually prevailed, 80-75.
Free-throw Perfection
Two players had outstanding efforts at the free-throw line two weekends ago, and two more followed suit last week. Hartford's Mathis and UMBC's Kurowski, both freshmen, joined UMBC's Carlee Cassidy and Williams, with a perfect game at the foul line. Mathis went 10-for-10 against Boston U. on Tuesday, while Kurowski hit all 8 of her attempts on Wednesday at Albany. Cassidy has the best perfect free-throw shooting game of the season with a 13-for-13 effort on February 21 against Stony Brook.
And Then There Was One
Boston U. became the last undefeated squad in America East this season when it knocked off Hartford at Case Gym on January 21, and it remains undefeated at 14-0. The Terriers' start in conference play is the best in program history, and their current 15-game winning streak is the longest for a Terrier women's hoops team. Boston U. is one of only six teams in the country to still be undefeated in conference play, and is seventh in active win streaks around the nation. The last time an America East team finished the season undefeated in conference play was the 2003 season when Maine finished 16-0. It has only happened 4 times ever in conference history.
The Difference A Year Makes
For four teams this year, conference games are a little easier to come by than last season. Boston University (14 wins), UMBC (6), New Hampshire (6) and Stony Brook (4) have already exceeded their AE win total from the 2007-08 season. The Terriers, Wildcats and Seawolves have all either clinched or are in position to earn a seed at least two steps higher than last season for the conference tournament.
February Frenzy
The Hartford Hawks hosted fellow mid-major giant Marist on ESPN2 Sunday, February 15 for February Frenzy, where a record 3,217 fans showed up at Chase Arena to watch. Though the Hawks fell in overtime, 78-73, it was the largest in-house attendance at Chase to watch a women's basketball game.
Pink Zone
All nine schools have held their Pink Zone games over the past two weeks, raising over $20,000, with more still to report, through ticket sales, auctions and donations at both women's and men's basketball games. The games were part of WBCA's Pink Zone week, an initiative to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer via women's basketball games across the country. The campaign officially took place at games between Febuary 13-22, 2009. Below is a list of Pink Zone dates for each America East school.
Pink Zone Dates
Albany: Saturday, Feb. 21, vs. Hartford
Binghamton: Saturday, Feb. 21 vs. Maine
Boston U.: Sunday, March 1 vs. Maine
Hartford: Sunday, Feb. 15 vs. Marist (ESPN2)
Maine: Sunday, Feb. 15 vs. UMBC (WABI)
UMBC: Saturday, Feb. 21 vs. Stony Brook
New Hampshire: Sunday, Feb. 15 vs. Boston U.
Stony Brook: Tuesday, Feb. 17 vs. Vermont
Vermont: Saturday, Feb. 14 vs. Albany
Class Acts
Vermont's May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate) and University of Maine's Brittany Boser (Palmer, Mass./Palmer) were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I Teams earlier this month by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Based on nominations from school SIDs, CoSIDA members voted Kotsopoulos to the All-District I first team and Boser to the All-District I second team. Kotsopoulos, the reigning America East Scholar-Athlete for women's basketball, is a business administration major with a 3.62 GPA. Boser, a repeat selection for the honor, is a chemical engineering major with a GPA of 3.85.
Were They Right?
The nine America East coaches named five players to the preseason all-conference team as predictions for who would make first-team all-conference at the end of the season. Below is a look at how those five players have done this season.
Player, Team Stats
E. Beverly, UH 11.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg C. Pilypaitis, UVM 14.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 5.3 apg
J. Burks-Wiley, BU 18.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .466 fg%
C. Cassidy, UMBC 20.7 ppg, .809 ft%, 2.7 3fgm
D. Delva, UH 12.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .626 fg%
What A Good Shot
Maine's Boser currently leads the conference in free-throw percentage (.851), and has a cushion of over .30 over the next closest in the rankings. If Boser were to remain on top through the end of the 2008-09 season, she would become the third different Black Bear to lead America East in that statistic in the last five seasons. Bracey Barker did it in 2006-07 and Ashley Underwood led the conference in 2004-05. Boser is 26th in Division I free-throw percentage. She also joins three Terriers as the only players to rank in the America East top-10 of both free-throw and field goal percentages.
Hitting The Mark
Five players have reached 1,000 career points this season, with the latest being Vermont's Amy Rosenkrantz (Tempe, Arizona/Corona del Sol) who did so February 11 at UMBC. Rosenkrantz became the third Catamount to reach the milestone this season, the first time in program history that has happened. The other players who have earned their 1,000th career point earlier this season are junior Courtnay Pilypaitis (Vermont), senior Jesyka Burks-Wiley (Boston U.), junior Carlee Cassidy (UMBC), and junior May Kotsopoulos (Vermont).
500-Strong
Just as America East players have done to the 1,000-point plateau this season, they are also rapidly surpassing 500 career rebounds. Pilypaitis, Burks-Wiley and Rosenkrantz each collected their 500th rebound this season and are the only active members of the 1,000-point/500-rebound club in America East. While the former two collected the points prior to the rebounds, Rosenkrantz earned the status once compiling her 1,000th point, having had the 500 rebounds under her belt a week earlier.
Three's Company
A trio of hotshots from beyond the arc--UMBC's Cassidy, Boston U.'s Dini and Albany's McGee-- are rewriting school and conference record books this year. McGee is the most recent to come up big, nailing 7 treys on Wednesday night on her way to setting a single-game scoring record at Albany with 30 points. She also moved into second-place all-time for career three's at the school, and is on pace to become the all-time leader before her career is done. Dini and Cassidy, who both became their respective schools' all-time leaders in three-pointers, are also setting single-season marks. Dini's three against Hartford was her 77th of the season, breaking the previous America East record of 76 in a season. Cassidy is tied with Melissa Kowalski (03-04) with 76 to sit second behind Dini, who now has 82. Cassidy has already broken Kowalski's record for three-point field goals attempted (218) with 236 this season. Cassidy, Dini and McGee are all in the nation's top-25 for three-pointers made.
Dishing Out The Record
Boston University senior guard Christine Kinneary (Plainedge, N.Y./Holy Trinity) broke a school record that had been firm in place for over 25 years when she dished out her 478th career assist on February 4 at Albany. Kinneary now is fourth all-time in America East history with 513 career assists, 4 shy of Vermont's Lori Taylor who sits in third (1994-98).
Rejected
Binghamton's Laura Franceski (Moscow, Pa./North Pocano) has had her own personal block party this season, rejecting 75 shots (3.3 blocks per game) to lead the conference despite missing 4 games. Franceski has 214 for her career, which is third in America East all-time. Her eight-block performance against Maine helped the cause, tying a school and America East mark for blocked shots in a single game. She became the fifth player in America East to reject an opponent 8 times in one game and it is only the second time it has happened in a conference game. Franceski is six swats away from matching Northeastern's Katasha Artis' career mark of 220 for second-place all-time.
Hawks In The Hunt
A trio of Hartford Hawks are still closing in on 1,000 points, and could possibly join the other five players who have already reached it this season.
Player, School Points PPG
Erica Beverly, Jr., UH 972 11.3
Diana Delva, Jr., UH 892 12.1
Marylynne Schaefer, Sr., UH 846 6.1