CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- The final America East women's basketball weekly awards of the season are repeat winners, as Boston University senior guard Amarachi Umez-Eronini (Washington, D.C./Woodrow Wilson) is the recipient of the Player of the Week for the third time in five weeks, and Binghamton's Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) has been named the Rookie of the Week for the fourth time this season.
Last week, helping the Terriers complete a perfect 16-0 conference season, Umez-Eronini, averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Her best game of the week came against Albany on Senior Day in the regular-season finale where she topped her career high with 24 points. Earlier in the week, Umez-Eronini posted 13 points, 6 assists, a block and a steal in 31 minutes at UMBC. She shot 75% from the field for the week, including a 11-for-13 performance against Albany. On the season Umez-Eronini is averaging 11.3 ppg and leads the conference with 2.6 steals per game.
In a 1-1 week for the Bearcats, Holmes put up numbers all across the board with 8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6 assists and 2.5 steals per game. The rookie, who had the assist on Jackie Ward's buzzer-beating three-pointer in a win at New Hampshire on Wednesday night, dished out 7 helpers and scored 9 points against the Wildcats. In Burlington on Saturday, Holmes finished with a stat line of 7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. In conference games this season, she led Binghamton with 11.4 points per contest.
Honor Roll
In a 1-1 week for Vermont, junior guard Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) averaged 14.5 ppg and shot 47.4% from the field and 70% from three-point range... Senior forward Colleen Kilmurray (Wall, N.J./Wall) led Maine in scoring for the third straight game with 17 points against Stony Brook on 56% shooting from the field. She enters the tournament scoring 18.3 points per game over the last three contests... UMBC freshman guard Katie Brooks (Maryville, Tenn/Heritage) made her second career start against Boston U. and responded with a career-high-tying 28 points, including 10-for-12 at the free-throw line and 9-for-17 from the field... Stony Brook sophomore guard Misha Horsey (Wyncote, Pa./Cheltenham) averaged 13.5 points, 3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in two losses last week... Hartford junior forward Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) scored a team-high 16 points in the Hawks' win over Vermont to wrap up the second seed for the Championship. She averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds in two games while shooting 62.5% from the floor.
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 22nd of 32 conferences, down one spot from last week. Hartford continues to be the top-rated team from the conference, and improved six spots to move up to 59 in the week before the NCAA Selection Show. Boston U. remained at 83, which would probably leave it short of an at-large bid to the Big Dance should it not receive the automatic bid by winning the conference championship this week.
Sweet 16
The Boston University Terriers won the regular season conference crown, the program's first since 1988, going 16-0 in conference play. Boston U. is one of just five teams in Division I to go undefeated in league action, joining top-ranked Connecticut, Liberty, UW-Green Bay and Sacred Heart in that category. Only five teams in America East history have gone undefeated against conference foes in the regular season. Below are the four previous teams and how they did in the tournament following their undefeated regular season.
Team Tourney Result
Maine (02-03) Lost in Finals
Maine (95-96) Won Championship
Vermont (92-93) Won Championship
Vermont (91-92) Won Championship
Tournament Seeds Set
Highlighted by Boston University as the top seed and host Hartford as the second seed, the tournament bracket has been set for this week's 2009 America East Women's Basketball Championship at University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena March 12-15. Preseason favorite Vermont enters as the third seed, while Binghamton follows with the No. 4 seed. UMBC and New Hampshire tied for fifth-place, but the Retrievers will enter the tournament as the fifth seed based on a series split with the Bearcats. Stony Brook finished seventh after the regular season and will be the No. 7 seed, while Albany and Maine tied for 8th and will occupy the eighth and ninth seeds.
Championship Coverage
All eight games of the 2009 America East Women's Basketball Championship will be available via electronia media either at www.AmericaEast.com or on regional television. The first round game and all four quarterfinals will be streamed online at the America East Zone in conjunction with Pack Network and JumpTV. Eric Frede will have the play-by-play and Adrienne Norris will provide the color commentary. America East TV will produce both semifinals on Saturday and the title tilt on Sunday. The AETV tandem of Frede and Leah Secondo will provide the call of the game and the color commentary. New England Sports Network will air all three games, including the first semifinal and the championship live. The second semifinal of the day Saturday will be aired on taped delay Sunday at 12:30 p.m. All three televised games will also be available at the America East Zone as part of packages or individual games.
First-Place Showdown, Part II
With first-place ultimately on the line, Boston U. and Hartford put on quite a show Tuesday, February 24 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 senior guard Kristi 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
The league has had outstanding efforts at the free-throw line late this season as all five perfect performances of 8 free-throws or more have come on February 21 or later. UMBC's Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) accounts for two of those perfect games at the line, the most recent coming in a 10-for-10 effort in the regular-season finale vs. Boston U. New Hampshire's Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass./St. Raphaels), Hartford's Ilicia Mathis (Hamden, Conn./Career) and UMBC's Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) can also claim the feat since February 21.
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. The Terriers' conference record is the best in program history, and their current 17-game winning streak is the longest for a Terrier women's hoops team. Boston U. is one of only five teams in the country to still be undefeated in conference play, and it's win streak is fifth in the nation right now.
The Difference A Year Makes
For four teams this year, conference games were a little easier to come by than last season. Boston University (16 wins), UMBC (6), New Hampshire (6) and Stony Brook (4) all exceeded their America East win total from the 2007-08 season. All four teams went above and beyond expectations, finishing higher in the regular season standings than where they were chosen in the preseason coaches' poll.
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 through the regular season. The 2009 All-Conference teams and players of the year will be announced at the Championship banquet brunch at the National Basketball Hall of Fame the morning of Thursday, March 12.
Player, Team Stats
E. Beverly, UH 11.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.0 bpg C. Pilypaitis, UVM 14.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 5.2 apg
J. Burks-Wiley, BU 18.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .466 fg%
C. Cassidy, UMBC 20.8 ppg, .819 ft%, 2.8 3fgm
D. Delva, UH 11.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, .617 fg%
What A Good Shot
Maine's Boser currently leads the conference in free-throw percentage (.857), and has a cushion of nearly .40 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 tied for 18th in Division I free-throw percentage. She is also one of four 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 Britney McGee (Bakersfield, Calif./West)-- are rewriting school and conference record books this year. McGee is the most recent to come up big, nailing 7 treys against UMBC 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 now has 80 to sit in second behind Dini, who now has 92. Cassidy has already broken Kowalski's record for three-point field goals attempted (218) with 244 this season. Cassidy, Dini and McGee are all in the nation's top-26 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 is now third all-time in America East history with 529 career assists. Second-place is Hartford's Maureen DiJulia (94-99) with 605.
Rejected
Binghamton's Laura Franceski (Moscow, Pa./North Pocano) has had her own personal block party this season, rejecting 77 shots (3.1 blocks per game) to lead the conference despite missing 4 games. Franceski has 216 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 four 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 994 11.3
Diana Delva, Jr., UH 905 11.7
MaryLynne Schaefer, Sr., UH 858 6.1