CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of New Hampshire junior forward Denise Beliveau (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) captured her first career America East Player of the Week award after leading the Wildcats to a win over Quinnipiac last week, snapping a six game skid. For the second time this season, University of Maine guard Ashleigh Roberts (Wilmington, Del./Concord) is the Rookie of the Week honoree.
In the Wildcats' only game of the week, Beliveau earned her second double-double of the season, leading New Hampshire to the win. The junior forward registered a season-best 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, and 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc, and pulled in 12 rebounds. She also added two assists, one steal and one block.
Her 19 points marks the sixth straight game Beliveau has notched double-figured points and she now averages 12.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The preseason all-conference selection ranks in the America East top-10 in scoring, rebounding, free-throw percentage (.829) and three-point field-goal percentage (.406). This is the junior's first career Player of the Week award after she won five Rookie of the Week nods in 2007-08 en route to being named the 2008 Rookie of the Year.
Roberts is the Rookie of the Week for the second time this season after two solid performances at Stetson's Hatter Classic last week. The rookie averaged 16.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists per game and was named to the all-tournament team. Roberts set a career high with 16 points in the first game against Winthrop, then set a new career high the very next day with 17 points against Stetson. The games were the first back-to-back twin-figured scoring games of Roberts' career. She shot 6-for-12 in both contests for .500 shooting on the week, while she also collected a pair of rebounds in each contest.
Roberts is averaging 8.8 points per game, third on the team, and 2.1 assists per game, good for second among the Black Bears.
Upcoming Action
Tuesday, December 28
New Hampshire at St. Joseph's (Hawk Classic) 2 p.m. l Live Stats l Live Video l St. Joseph's Radio l
- The Wildcats participate in St. Joseph's 20th annual Hawk Classic, with Quinnipiac and Lafayette potential opponents on the second day.
- This is the third all-time meeting, with the Wildcats taking the last meeting last year, 64-56. UNH is facing its first A-10 foe this year after knocking off two A-10 teams last season.
- UNH continues to lead America East with .400 field-goal shooting, and now also leads the league with .353 three-point shooting after hitting treys at a .500 rate or better in two of the last three games.
Recent Results
Wednesday, December 22
at New Hampshire 75, Quinnipiac 63
- New Hampshire shot .490 from the field and .500 from three-point range as it cruised past Quinnipiac, snapping a six-game skid.
- The Wildcats hit 12-of-24 three-point attempts. The 12 made threes are the most for the Wildcats in a single game this season.
- Forward Denise Beliveau scored a season-high 19 points and grabbed 12 boards for her second double-double this season. Guard Lauren Wells poured in a career-high 18 points, including 16 in the first half, and Cari Reed added 14.
at Fairfield 55, Albany 26
- Albany connected on just nine field goals and shot at a .161 clip against Fairfield. The Great Danes scored just 10 points in the second half and made just one field goal in the last 14 minutes of the game.
- The Great Danes were outrebounded by the Stags, 46-32.
- Forward Julie Forster led Albany with six points and 10 rebounds. Guard Cassandra Callaway also scored six points.
at Hofstra 65, Hartford 51
- Hartford held a 16-15 advantage over Hofstra with 6:31 remaining in the first half before the Pride went on a 26-5 run to open a 20-point lead with 15:32 to play in the game.
- The Hartford offense shot .214 in the first half, hitting 6-of-28 field goal attempts and 1-of-9 attempts from behind the arc. The Hawks shot .304 from the field for the game.
- Guard Alex Hall scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Hawks. Guard Mary Silvia added 14 points off the bench.
Setting The Stage For Conference Play
America East conference play gets underway later this week. The conference schedule is a double round-robin with eight home-and-home series. The last two regular season champions, Boston University in 2009 and Hartford in 2010, finished the league slate with 16-0 marks, but both bowed out of the conference tournament. The Terriers, the preseason favorites of the coaches, will begin the America East schedule at home on Sunday, January 2 against Maine. A rematch of the 2010 Championship Game will take place in Burlington on the same day as Vermont hosts Hartford. Binghamton will be the last team to begin America East play when it opens its conference slate by hosting Stony Brook on Thursday, January 6.
Young Gun
Boston U. junior guard Alex Young (Hickory, N.C./St. Stephen's) is leading the conference in scoring with 14.6 ppg. This year's perfomance is following last year's 14.5 ppg which earned her All-Conference Third-Team recognition, and 4.1 ppg her freshman year. Young has hit a conference-best 28 three-pointers (2.5 per game) and ranks ninth with .368 three-point shooting. Though there is nearly half a season remaining, the last Terrier to top the conference's single-season scoring chart was Katie Terhune in 2001-02 (18.6 ppg).
Juniors Cruising
The junior class across the league this year has put its stamp on the conference with its dominance in the statistical rankings. The top four, six of the top 10, and 10 of the top-20 scorers are juniors. No other class can even boast half as many in the top 10. Four of the top five conference leaders in minutes played are juniors, and five of the top ten spots in the steals rankings belong to the third-year class. Other notable categories that the junior class has succeeded in are free-throw percentage (top four, 7-of-top-10), three-pointers (4-of-5, 6-of-10), and blocks (3-of-5, 5-of-10).
Bearcats' Starting Five
The Binghamton University starting five, which has been intact for all but just the most recent game, has played 87 percent of the team's minutes this year. It's no suprise then that the Bearcats' starters have accounted for 94.3 percent of the team's scoring, 90.3 percent of its assists, and 73.6 percent of its rebounds. All five starters are averaging double-digit points and are in the America East top-20. Guards Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) and freshman Jasbriell Swain (Memphis, Tenn./Horn Lake) have logged the most minutes with 39.0 and 37.5 minutes per game, respectively.
Grand Great Danes
University at Albany began its season with one of its best starts in program history. The Great Danes won their first five games of the season for the first time since 1986-87, and began 6-1 for the first time in its Division I history. The 1986-87 team, which competed at the Division III level, went 5-0 to open the season and finished with a 19-5 overall record.
The Countdown
UMBC's Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) is closing in on 1,000 career points. The junior pulled to within 37 points last week and has 963 points going into Wednesday's game against Loyola. Kurowski would become the second active America East player to top 1,000 career points, joining senior Kirsten Jeter from Stony Brook.
Scheduling Strong
Once again, the Hartford Hawks have one of the toughest slates in the nation. According to Collegiate Basketball News' RPIratings.com, the Hawks have had the 23rd toughest 2010-11 schedule thus far and have played seven top-100 teams. Hartford's opponents combined have a 86-44 record (.662). Boston U. and Vermont have also had challenging slates, the 67th and 78th toughest in the country, while the league as a whole has a combined strength of schedule ranked 11th of the 33 conferences.
Reporting In
Collegiate Basketball News ranked America East 24th out of 33 conferences in the weekly RPI Report, steady with the previous week. Albany, which is the highest-ranked of the America East teams, appears at 149, 120 steps improved from last year's final spot (269). Without having even played any games, Boston U. made the biggest leap, up 14 steps to 201 as the third-highest ranked America East team behind Albany and Hartford (180).
Poll Position... Mid-Major Edition
CollegeInsider.com debuted its first-ever Women's Mid-Major Top-25 poll this year. Three teams (Hartford, Vermont, Boston U.) were either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll. Albany has also been ranked this season as high as 23rd.
Half-Century Mark
A bevy of players have reached the 500 career- point mark already this season, including the youngest to do so, Boston U. sophomore Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross). Juniors Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) of UMBC and Viive Rebane (Talinn, Estonia/Audentes School) from Binghamton have both eclipsed the half-century mark as well. The most recent to make the mark are seniors Tanna Ross (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) of Maine and Jill McDonald (Middlebury, Vt./Middlebury) of New Hampshire. Black Bear junior Samantha Wheeler (Derry, N.H./Timberlane Regional) is just three points away from 500.
Jeter's A Keeper
Stony Brook senior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont), a unanimous preseason all-conference pick, is poised to finish her career with spectacular numbers. She is currently the league's active leader in points (1,195), rebounds (615) and steals (190), and has led the Seawolves to improvement in every season since her freshman year in 2007-08.
Triple Up
Boston University sophomore guard Mo Moran (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) tallied a triple-double of 15 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists on November 17 at home against Yale, one of only 10 players in the country this year, and the first Terrier to accomplish the feat since 2004. It is also the third straight season America East has had a player notch a triple-double, as former America East Player of the Year Courtnay Pilypaitis ('10) from University of Vermont picked up a triple-double in each of the previous two seasons.
Historic Year
America East is coming off arguably its most successful season in the history of the league. Two teams represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000, including Hartford's first-ever at-large bid. Vermont defeated Wisconsin in the first round, America East's third win in the tourney since 2006. Boston U. made it three teams in the postseason when it earned a spot in the postseason WNIT and hosted a game at Case Gym. For the year, the league finished 15th in the RPI, the league's highest finish since 2005-06. America East was the fifth-highest ranked non-FBS conference in the final 2009-10 RPI ratings.
Against The Best
To get into postseason tournaments - and then succeed in them - you must compete against the best teams. Over a third of the league's non-conference games last year (45 of 113) were against teams which qualified for the NCAA or WNIT postseason tournaments the previous season. Below is how the league fared against those teams.
vs. NCAA Teams 5-16 (.238)
->wins over Dartmouth (x2), Temple, Sacred Heart, Louisville
vs. WNIT Teams 7-17 (.292)
->wins over Central Conn., Harvard, Boston College, Coppin St, Dayton, Bowling Green, Canisius
vs. All Postseason Teams 12-33 (.267)
So far during the 2010-11 season, 34 of 98 non-conference opponents competed in the 2010 postseason, including 11 NCAA participants, 21 WNIT competitors and two WBI Tournament teams.
ALBANY GREAT DANES (7-5, 0-0 AE)
Albany dropped two games to non-conference opponents... The Great Danes lost a 90-60 decision at home to Hofstra before falling to Fairfield, 55-26, on the road... Julie Forster (Huntington, NY/Huntington) recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds against Hofstra, and grabbed a game-high 10 boards at Fairfield... Felicia Johnson (Newport News, Va./Woodside) scored a team-high 16 points against the Pride, while also handing out three assists... Ebone Henry's (San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic) scoring production slowed down, but recorded six steals versus Hofstra and four thefts against the Stags... Albany will return to action after the New Year, hosting Fordham on Jan. 2.
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (6-4, 0-0 AE)
Binghamton has won three straight games for the first time since Feb. 21-March 2, 2009. In the process, the Bearcats have captured three out of their last five games away from the Events Center... Junior forward Viive Rebane (Talinn, Estonia/Audentes) had 18 points and nine rebounds against Mt. St. Mary's in the team's last outing. It marked the third time in the past four games she has scored at least 16 points. During that span, Rebane has averaged 16.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. For the season, Rebane is averaging a career-high 11.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game... Freshman forward Jasbriell Swain (Memphis, Tenn./Horn Lake) posted 12 points and six rebounds against Mt. St. Mary's. In the process, she reached double figures for the seventh time in the past 10 games. Swain is second on the team with 11.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game. She is on track to post the highest scoring average by a Binghamton freshman in the program's Division I history. The current record of 11.3 ppg was set by Jen Blues during the 2002-03 season.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS (3-8, 0-0 AE)
The Boston University women's basketball team returns to action this week as it closes out its non-conference schedule with Richmond (Dec. 28) and Providence (Dec. 31) before hosting Maine on Sunday (Jan. 2) in the America East Conference opener ... So far this season, the Terriers are 3-8 with a challenging non-conference slate that included three top-25 teams. Junior Alex Young (Hickory, N.C./St. Stephen's) leads the conference with 14.6 ppg, while junior Caroline Stewart (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet) and Kerry Cashman (Newfields, N.H./Exeter) are the teams leading rebounders both with 8.3 rpg.
HARTFORD HAWKS (2-10, 0-0 AE)
The Hawks played just one game last week, dropping a 51-65 decision on the road at Hofstra on Wednesday afternoon… The Hawks were led by a pair of shooting guards, Mary Silvia (Reading, Mass./Reading) and Alex Hall (Pembroke, N.H./Pembroke Academy) who both finished with 14 points… Silvia led the Hawks' shooting efforts going 5-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 from beyond the three point arc… Hall finished the game shooting 3-of-9 from the field, while also shooting 7-of-8 from the free throw line… As a team, the Hawks finished the game shooting 30.4 percent (17-of-56), while struggling from long range connecting on just 6-of-20 (30 percent)… The Hawks will play their final non-conference game of the season when they travel to Coppin State University on Wednesday for a 5 p.m. start… The Hawks will then travel to Burlington, Vt. for the conference opener on January 2 at 1 p.m.
MAINE BLACK BEARS (1-10, 0-0 AE)
Maine fell to 1-10 on the season after dropping a pair of close games to Winthrop and Stetson at the Hatter Classic in Deland, Fla... The Black Bears had the ball and were down by three points in the final seconds of both contests but could not send the game to overtime... Maine has the longest overtime drought of any America East school... The Black Bears have not appeared in an overtime contest since at Drake on December 7th, 2003, a game they won 63-62... Ashleigh Roberts set a career high with 16 points against Winthrop and topped that with 17 points at Stetson... Roberts was named to the Hatter Classic All-Tournament Team after shooting 50 percent from the floor and averaging 16.5 points per game... Katelyn Vanderhoff tallied back-to-back double-digit games for Maine and recorded her first career double-double in the loss to Stetson... Five players scored in double figures for Maine against the Hatters... The first time that had happened since the trip to Boston U. last season.
UMBC RETRIEVERS (5-7, 0-0 AE)
The UMBC women’s basketball team won its only game of the week against Navy, 65-56. The Retrievers shot 60.7 percent in the second half, and senior guard Michele Brokans (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:54 remaining to lift the Retrievers Tuesday evening at Alumni Hall... Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-19 shooting and added six assists, five rebounds and two steals, while Kristin Coles (Charles Town, W.Va./Notre Dame Academy/American) tallied a career-high 13 points on 6-of-6 from the floor, to go along with six boards and two takeaways. Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) pulled down a game-best eight rebounds... The Retrievers shot 48.1 percent from the floor while holding the Mids to 35.8 percent, and outrebounded Navy, 36-30... The victory was the first on the road for UMBC this season... UMBC returns to the court after the holiday with a 7 p.m. contest at the RAC against cross-town rival Loyola.
NEW HAMPSHIRE (2-7, 0-0 AE)
Last time out the University of New Hampshire women's basketball team earned a convincing, 75-63, victory over Quinnipiac University (Dec. 22) at Lundholm Gymnasium... Junior guard Lauren Wells (West Chester, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) set a career high with 16 points and four three-pointers in the first half alone, finishing with 18 points to lead the 'Cats to victory... Wells, who was named the America East Player of the Game, tallied her 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-7 from deep... Her four three-point field goals were also a career best... Denise Beliveau (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) notched her second double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, and Cari Reed (Oswego, N.Y./Oswego) matched a career high with 14 points... Beliveau's 19 points and 12 rebounds earn the forward her sixth double-double of her career. It is also the sixth straight game she has scored in double-digits... Kelsey Hogan (Nashua, N.H./Nashua) registered eight points, five boards, and matched her career high for the second time this season with seven assists in the win... Jill McDonald (Middlebury, Vt..Middlebury) chipped in with eight points, six rebounds and two blocks... UNH, which snapped a six-game skid while improving to 2-1 on its home floor, shot 49 percent (25-of-51) for the game and hit a season-best 50 percent from beyond the arc, hitting 12 three-point field goals on 24 tries... The Wildcats return to action against St. Joseph's University, the host school of the 20th annual Hawk Classic in Philadelphia, Pa., at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 28. l UNH vs. Quinnipiac Highlights l
STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES (3-8, 0-0 AE)
The Seawolves fell to Old Dominion, 71-47, on Tuesday... It was Stony Brook's fifth straight loss... It was also the fourth of five consecutive road games... It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs... Junior Whitney Davis (Muskegon, Mich.) scored a career-high 13 points for the Seawolves... Stony Brook held ODU to 33 percent shooting in the second half... It was the fourth straight game that Stony Brook has been held under 50 points... SBU forced the Lady Monarchs into a season-high 28 turnovers... It was the seventh time this season that the Seawolves have forced their opponents into 20 or more turnovers... Stony Brook will wrap up its non-conference schedule on Friday at St. Francis (N.Y.)... The Seawolves open up conference play at home against UMBC next Monday... It will be the sixth time in the last seven seasons that SBU will open conference play at home.
VERMONT CATAMOUNTS (0-10, 0-0 AE)
Vermont dropped to 0-10 on the season with a 67-33 loss at No. 12/16 Michigan State in the final game before the holiday break... Lauren Buschmann (St. Catharines, Ontario/Governor Simcoe) and Lauren Wheeler (Ancaster, Ontario/Westdale) led Vermont in scoring with eight points each... The Catamounts return to action with four games in seven days... UVM takes on Wagner on Dec. 29 and Kansas State on Dec. 30 at the Blue Sky Classic hosted by Dartmouth... Vermont hosts Hartford on Jan. 2 in the America East opener and a rematch of the 2010 America East Championship game... The Catamounts wrap up the stretch by traveling to Stillwater, Okla. for a game against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Jan. 4.