CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- University of Hartford senior center Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) takes home the America East Player of the Week Award for the period ending January 31, while Boston University freshman guard Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) keeps a hold on the Rookie of the Week honor. Both players led their teams to 2-0 weeks.
Delva is the third straight Player of the Week winner to average a double-double for that respective week. Delva finished with averages of 18.5 points and 10.5 rebounds and helped Hartford distance itself from everybody else atop the league standings. She added 2.5 blocks and 1.0 assist per game in two contests last week, shooting 68.2 percent (15-for-22) from the floor and 87.7 percent (7-for-8) from the foul line.
Delva single-handedly lifted the Hawks over Vermont last Tuesday night, scoring 20 of her team's 38 points. The senior collected 12 rebounds, including the most important one of the game with 2.2 seconds remaining which she promptly deposited in the basket for the game-winning layup. Delva added five blocks to her performance against the Catamounts.
Later in the week at Stony Brook, Delva finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and two assists on 70 percent field-goal shooting and a 3-for-4 effort at the charity stripe. The center, who leads the league-leading Hawks in scoring with 14.1 ppg, is receiving the weekly award for the third time this season.
Alford is making a name for herself with her fifth straight Rookie of the Week performance, and her sixth overall this season. The five consecutive awards is the most since Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis accomplished the same in 2006-07. In two games last week, Alford averaged 15.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.5 steals while shooting 52 percent (13-for-25) from the field and 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
Aflord's best outing of the week was at home against Maine where she finished with 18 points, six rebounds, six steals and three assists. Alford went 8-for-12 from the floor in that game and hit her only three-point attempt. Earlier in the week, the freshman netted 13 points at New Hampshire and added two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Nine of her points came via the trey as she finished 3-of-7 from long-range. Second in the conference, Alford leads the team with 15.2 ppg, including 17.4 ppg in conference action.
Honor Roll
The best of the rest last week....
Alex Young, So., G, Boston U.
18.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 44.8% FG
Candace Williams, Sr., F, New Hampshire
15.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1 spg, 100% FT
Samantha Baranowski, So., F, Maine
12.5 ppg, 7 rpg, 1.5 spg, 1 bpg
Kirsten Jeter, Jr., F, Stony Brook
16.5 ppg, 9 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.5 spg
Pulling Away
Hartford won last week's contest at Vermont, putting the Hawks in the driver's seat for the top seed in the tournament and home court advantage for the conference title tilt should the Hawks reach that round. Including a win later in the week against Stony Brook, Hartford has won 11 straight games, its longest winning streak since the 2005-06 season. Sitting in first place with a 9-0 record, the Hawks are two full games ahead of second-place Vermont and Boston U. who each have 7-2 records. Both the Terriers and Catamounts visit Chase Arena later this month to cap off the regular-season.
Halfway Home
All nine schools have completed at least eight games of the 16-game conference schedule, marking the halfway mark of the America East season. Vermont and Hartford, picked first and second in the preseason poll, sit atop the standings, with the Hawks having a two-game lead over the Catamounts. Boston U. has exceeded expectations so far this season after losing four starters to graduation. Picked in a tie for fourth, the Terriers are currently tied with Vermont in second and own the tiebreaker with the head-to-head win. The Seawolves (4-5) were chosen seventh in the preseason poll, but sit just a half game behind fourth-place Binghamton (4-4). At 3-5, just another half game distances UMBC out of fifth-place, while Maine (3-6), New Hampshire (2-7) and Albany (0-8) have the second half of the America East slate to pick up ground.
Pink Zone
The WBCA Pink Zone® initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond, and the America East Conference will once again be a participant as all nine member institutions will hold events. The official dates for Pink Zone is February 12-21, but schools are allowed to pick a date as close to that time frame as possible if they have have no home games during that period. The 2009 campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, unified more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw 56+ schools break attendance records at their event. Below are this year's Pink Zone dates by school.
January 24 Boston U. (vs. UMBC)
February 10 Vermont (vs. Boston U.)
February 16 Maine (vs. New Hampshire)
February 13 Albany (vs. Binghamton)
February 18 UMBC (vs. Albany)
February 20 Binghamton (vs. Maine)
February 21 Hartford (vs. Boston U.)
New Hampshire (vs. Albany)
February 27 Stony Brook (vs. UMBC)
Poll Position
Vermont and Hartford have three and 29 points, respectively, in the latest edition of the Associated Press Top-25 Poll announced earlier today. The Catamounts had entered the AP Poll at #24 two weeks ago for the first time since March 15, 1993 when the program entered the NCAA Tournament that year ranked 18th. In the most current USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, released every Tuesday, the Hawks received 16 votes, while the Catamounts earned six. Both teams have received votes in the polls throughout the entire 2009-10 regular season.
America East In The RPI Report
This week's edition of Collegiate Basketball News' RPI Report ranks America East 14th among 33 Division conferences, staying even with last week's ranking. In comparison, the league ranked 21st a year ago. The improvement can be heavily attributed to the league's non-conference strength of schedule, which ranked sixth-toughest in the country. Only four other non-FBS conferences rank higher than America East in the RPI: Colonial (8th), Atlantic-10 (9th), Missouri Valley (11th) and WCC (13th). America East teams have a combined 14-11 record against those three leagues, including an 11-6 mark against the A-10. The highest the conference has been ranked in the final RPI is 11th in 2005-06. Last season when the league tied a record with three teams in the postseason, America East finished with an RPI rank of 24.
The Teams in the RPI Report
Hartford (28) remains the highest-ranked America East team in the report, not budging from last week's ranking. Vermont (51) is also ranked in the top 100. Eight of the nine teams are ranked higher in this week's RPI than where they finished in last season's final ranking, with all of those eight seeing improvements of at least 25 spots. Stony Brook saw the largest leap from last week to this week, moving up 27 spots after a 1-1 week (win at UMBC; loss at Hartford). Binghamton (+9), Boston U. (+8), Maine (+4) and New Hampshire (+2) also all saw positive movement this week.
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 this year (45 of 113) were against teams which qualified for the NCAA or WNIT postseason tournaments last 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 State, Dayton, Bowling Green, Canisius
vs. All Postseason Teams 12-33 (.267)
Out Of League, Out of Sight
The regular-season non-conference schedule is officially complete with the conference finishing with a 51-62 (.451) record against some of the toughest competition in the country. It is the highest non-conference winning percentage since the 2006-07 season when the league finished at 56-60 (.483).
Star Tracker
Throughout the season, we will track the statistics of the five players named to the preseason all-conference team by the coaches.
Player, Team Key Stats
E. Beverly, UH 9.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2.3 bpg
C. Pilypaitis, UVM 14.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 5.0 apg
M. Kotsopoulos, UVM 18.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 1.6 spg
C. Cassidy, UMBC 13.3 ppg, 2.3 3FGM, 2.1 apg
D. Delva, UH 14.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg, 65.7% FG
Two to One-Thousand
A pair of America East players reached the 1,000-point milestone during the week of January 18. Binghamton senior Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) was the first to do so on Monday, as part of a career night. She scored a career-high 27 points in the Bearcats' victory over the Retrievers to reach the mark. On Sunday, January 24 in Binghamton, New Hampshire senior Amy Simpson (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) accomplished the same feat, scoring eight points to place her at exactly 1,000 points for her career. Carter and Simpson join Hartford's Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) and New Hampshire's Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass./St. Raphael) as the third and fourth players to eclipse the point total this season. There are currently eight active America East players with at least 1,000 career points.
Clawing Away
There are two more players within striking distance of the 1,000-point milestone. Boston University senior Aly Hinton (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock) has 990 career points, while Stony Brook junior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont) sits at 941 points.
A Little Unpredictable
Home teams have typically proved to have the upper hand in America East play, owning a 43-29 (.597) record in 2008-09. So far in 2009-10 though, home teams have a winning percentage of just .436 (17-22). Hartford is the only team not to have a conference loss on their home court this year. This should be something to watch as the conference season progresses to see if this continues to be a trend.
Efficiency Is The Name Of The Game
Hartford senior center Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) is on a torrid shooting pace that doesn't seem to let up anytime soon. Delva ranks first in America East and second in the country in field-goal shooting percentage with a .657 mark, over 13 percent more efficient than the second-best percentage. She is challenging the conference single-season record of .649 set by New Hampshire's Pam Brandell during the 1996-97 season. Through 21 games, Delva is 119-for-181 from the floor while averaging 14.1 points per game.
Streaking in America East
Boston University picked up its 25th straight regular-season conference win before having it snapped against Hartford on January 21. Only twice in league history have there been longer such streaks. Maine won 39 straight against America East opponents over three seasons, while Vermont won 31 straight spanning four seasons.
# wins Team Started Ended
38 Maine Jan 28, 1995 Jan. 30, 1997
31 Vermont Mar 2, 1991 Jan. 20, 1994
25 Boston U. Feb. 27. 2008 Jan. 21, 2010
Triple The Delight
Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) completed her third career triple-double on Sunday, January 10 against Albany to give her one in each of her last three seasons. Her performance of 12 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists was the 17th triple-double in Division I this season, and her rebounds total was the highest of any of the triple-double efforts this season. All three of her feats have been of the points, rebounds, assists variety.
TV Record
America East was 7-4 in non-conference televised games this season. Two of those losses came against top-ranked Connecticut on CPTV. The next televised women's game is Hartford's visit to Vermont on Tuesday, January 26. The game will air live on NESN beginning at 7 p.m.
Coaching Milestones
Vermont Head Coach Sharon Dawley reached a career mark with her team's win over Maine on January 7. Dawley earned her 250th career coaching win and now enters this week with a career record of 255-146 (.636) over 16 seasons. Earlier this season, Hartford Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti reached her 200th career victory on December 21 in the Hawks' win over Coppin State at Chase Arena. Rizzotti, who has spent her entire coaching career in West Hartford, has a 209-119 (.637) record. Boston University's Kelly Greenberg (188 wins) and UMBC's Phil Stern (183) are next up to reach the 200-win mark. Greenberg also just picked up her 100th victory with the Terrier program on Wednesday, January 13 at Stony Brook.
Home Cookin'
Home courts have been kind to both Hartford and Albany this year. The Hawks own an unblemished 9-0 mark at home this season, while the Great Danes are 5-4, but started out going 5-0 for the first time in their Division I history. Hartford puts its record to the test against UMBC on February 2, while Albany looks for its first America East win at SEFCU Arena this Saturday, hosting Vermont for the Big Purple Growl, a game being televised live on Time Warner.
Nine of a Kind
Binghamton senior guard Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) tied an all-time conference single-game record on December 7 at Bryant with nine three-pointers. The nine three's, a school record, tied former Great Dane Jen Schumacher who achieved the feat against conference foe Vermont in 2005, and was part of Carter's 35-point performance.
Raining Three's
Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter), UMBC's Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) and Binghamton's Carter are all climbing up the America East record book for three-pointers made. Pilypaitis remains in second place in conference history with 235 career treys made. Cassidy, with 227 long field-goals, leaps into third place, only behind Pilypaitis and Northeastern's Melissa Kowalski ('04) who holds the record of 245. Carter jumped into the eighth spot with 204 career three-pointers made. All three are already the all-time leaders at their respective schools and rank 1-2-4 in America East this season.
All-Time Three-Point Field Goals Made
1. 245, Melissa Kowalski, Northeastern, 00-04
2. 235, Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont, 06-
3. 227, Carlee Cassidy, UMBC, 06-
4. 222, MaryLynne Schaefer, Hartford, 05-09
5. 219, Cindy Blodgett, Maine, 94-98
6. 210, Ashley Underwood, Maine, 03-07
7. 208, Kristi Dini, Boston U., 05-09
8. 204, Erica Carter, Binghamton, 06-
9. 197, Jen Schumacher, Albany, 02-06
Helping Hand
Pilypaitis is also among the league's all-time elite in dishing out assists. She handed out five assists last week to reach 583 career handouts. That total gives Pilypaitis the program record and puts her third all-time in conference history. Pilypaitis' 500th assist earlier this season made her the first-ever America East player to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
All-Time Assists
1. 759, Amy Vachon, Maine, 96-00
2. 605, Maureen DiJulia, Hartford, 94-99
3. 583, Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont, 06-
4. 571, Lori Taylor, Vermont, 94-98
5. 554, Christine Kinneary, Boston U., 05-09
6. 487, Cindy Blodgett, Maine, 94-98
7. 475, Andrea Higgins, Boston U., 89-93
ALBANY GREAT DANES (7-14, 0-8 AE)
After winning six of its opening 10 games and seven of its first 13 to start the 2009-10 campaign, UAlbany ended last week still searching for its first America East Conference win… The squad suffered a pair of close losses to Maine, 61-58, and Binghamton by a 65-60 score… Despite their recent struggles, the Great Danes have been competitive with three of their eight conference losses coming by five points or less and five of the setbacks coming by 10 points or less... Ebone Henry (San Diego Calif./Mater Dei Catholic), one of a conference-high three freshmen in UAlbany’s starting lineup, averaged 15.5 points in the two games to pace the squad which does not have a player who scores in twin figures… She is averaging a team-best 9.8 points per game… Julie Forster (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) continues to lead all America East freshmen in rebounding (7.5 pg), blocked shots (1.3 pg) and field-goal percentage (.414)… The walk-on player is on pace to break the program’s freshman rebounding record, which is currently held by Danielle Hutcheson ’05… Hutcheson is the only Great Dane to garner America East first-team all-conference honors… Melia Basavand (Glendale, Calif./Glendale/Pasadena City) has made 13 three-point field goals over the past four games after sinking 18 in the previous 17 … UAlbany will entertain Vermont at SEFCU Arena in the first game of the Big Purple Growl, the University’s Winter Homecoming, on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 4:30 p.m.
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (8-13, 4-4 AE)
Binghamton has won its past two conference games as well as three out of its last four contests... Senior guard Erica Carter has averaged 21.0 points in the past five games. She has reached the 20-point mark in scoring three times. With five three-point field goals against Albany on Saturday, Carter now has 80 so far this season. That breaks the single-season record of 77 set by Bess Greenberg during the 2000-01 season... Carter currently ranks 10th all time in program history with 1,062 career points and second with 204 career three-pointers. She is 26 points away from tying Laura Sario (2004-08) for ninth place all time with 1,088 points and 12 three-pointers away from tying Greenberg for first-place all time with 216 treys... Sophomore forward Viive Rebane (Talinn, Estonia) now has six career double-doubles following her 19-point, 11-rebound effort against Albany on Saturday. She has reached double figures in scoring four straight games and has averaged 16.5 points and 6.9 rebounds during that span... Sophomore point guard Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn..Mitchell) has averaged 9.0 assists in the past two games.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS (11-10, 7-2 AE)
The Boston University women's basketball moved into second place in the America East standings with two wins last week over UNH, 66-59, and Maine, 56-49. At New Hampshire on Thursday night, the Terriers rallied from a nine-point deficit with a 14-0 run that gave them the lead for good. Freshman Mo Moran (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) iced the Wildcats attempt at a rally late in the game, knocking down eight-straight free-throw attempts to hold on for the seven-point win. She finished the game 11-for-13 from the line, 20 points, four assists and five steals, while sophomore Alex Young (Hickory, N.C./St. Stephen's) drained a career-high five treys and finished with 17 points. Two days later, Young poured in 20 points vs. Maine to earn AE Player of the Game accolades. Rookie Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) added 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting. This week, Boston U. will host Binghamton on Wednesday (Feb. 3) at 7 p.m., before enjoying a week-long break before it travels to UVM the follow Wednesday (Feb. 10).
HARTFORD HAWKS (18-3, 9-0 AE)
The Hawks remained unbeaten in America East with wins over Vermont and Stony Brook… The Hawks opened the week squeezing out a 38-36 win in a defensive battle at Vermont, the preseason favorite to win the conference… Against the Catamounts, Hartford was led by Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) who finished with the teams’ sixth 20-point performance of the season, and as the only player in double figures in the game… She finished the game 8-of-12 from the field and was perfect at the free-throw line in four attempts… Delva also added 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season, while tying her career high with five blocked shots… Rookie Ruthanne Doherty (Richmond, Va./L.C. Bird) led all players in the game with 13 rebounds, one shy of her career high… The Hawks closed out the week with a trip to Stony Brook University to play the first game in the second round of conference play… The Hawks came away with a 60-42 win against the Seawolves, finishing with two players in double figures… Leading the was junior point guard Jackie Smith (Westfield, Mass./Holyoke) who finished with a career-best 19 points, tying a school record in the process with six three-pointers … Smith finished the game a perfect 6-of-6 from the field… Joining her in double figures was Delva, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 at the line… The Hawks will play a pair of road games as they open the month of February against the UMBC Retrievers (Tuesday, 7 p.m.) and the New Hampshire Wildcats (Saturday, 4 p.m.).
MAINE BLACK BEARS (7-14, 3-6 AE)
Maine split last week’s action, picking up a 61-58 win over Albany before falling to Boston 56-49. The 2009-10 squad is tied with the 2007-08 team for the most wins in a season under Head Coach Cindy Blodgett. UMaine led by as many as 12 in the first period but was ahead by only two after committing 14 turnovers. The Black Bears corrected the mistake though and sophomore Samantha Baranowski scored a career-high 16 points in the win over Albany. Sophomore Samantha Wheeler tied her career best with a game-high 18 points... The Albany contest also marked the return of Tanna Ross from injury. Ross played three minutes in her first action of the season... Rookie Katelyn Vanderhoff led the Maine attack against Boston U. and helped cut the lead to two points midway through the second period. The Terriers, however, pulled out a 56-49 win. Senior Katia Bratishko added 10 points in the close loss.
UMBC RETRIEVERS (9-12, 3-5 AE)
The Retrievers’ woes at home continued, as they dropped their sixth straight game at the RAC Arena, falling to America East rival Stony Brook, 74-56, on Thursday in their only game of the week… Sophomore guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) scored all of her team-high 13 points in the second half and was named UMBC’s America East Player of the Game… Senior guard Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) drained three three-pointers and finished with 12 points… She became the 30th player in America East history to amass 1,500 points and now has 1,508 in her career, second-most in UMBC history and the school’s Division I record… She also owns UMBC’s career three-point record with 227, third-most ever in the conference… Sophomore center Topé Obajolu (Randallstown, Md./Archbishop Carroll) pulled down seven rebounds and tied her career high with four blocks to go along with nine points against the Seawolves… She leads the league with 2.6 blocks per America East contest and ranks third with a .540 shooting percentage against conference foes… UMBC is the only team with five players ranking among the league’s top 30 scoring leaders, led by Kurowski with 13.7 ppg… The Retrievers travel to league-leading Hartford on Tuesday, then host Maine on Saturday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE (7-13, 2-5 AE)
Last time out the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team fell to Vermont, 78-64, at Patrick Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon… Junior Jill McDonald (Middlebury, Vt.) was named the America East Player of the Game, tallying career highs in both points (19) and rebounds (10) … She also notched a pair of blocks in the contest … McDonald has now tallied a block in 15 of the last 16 games… She currently ranks second in the conference in blocks with 41 this season, which is good for an average of 2.1 per game... Senior Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass.) registered 17 points and six boards in the contest... Williams now has 1,163 points and 628 rebounds in her career and is one of just eight Wildcats all-time to tally at least 1,000 points and 600 rebounds in program history… Amy Simpson (Waterford, Conn.) finished with 12 points and six assists... Simpson ranks second in the conference in assists, with an average of 5.1 per game this season... She is the first Wildcat to notch over 1,000 points, 300 assists and 100 steals in program history... The ‘Cats rank second in the conference in blocked shots with 100... Since the start of conference play, the 'Cats have racked up 42 blocks, a total that ranks first in the conference ... New Hampshire is shooting an impressive .393 clip from the floor this season, a mark that currently ranks second in the conference... The Wildcats also rank second in defensive field-goal percentage in the America East, allowing opponents to shoot just .371 from the floor.
STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES (6-15, 4-5 AE)
Stony Brook went 1-1 on the week, winning its road game against UMBC before falling to Hartford at home… Junior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y.) scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the 74-56 victory over UMBC… Jeter shot 50 percent from the field including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc… The four three’s are a new career-high for Jeter… Stony Brook’s 74 points were a new season high… SBU also grabbed 51 rebounds against the Retrievers… It was the second time this season the Seawolves have grabbed 50 or more boards… Senior Crystal Rushin (Valley Stream, N.Y.) joined Jeter in double-figures with 11 points while grabbing eight rebounds… Junior Misha Horsey (Wyncote, Pa.) led the Seawolves with 12 points in their 60-42 loss to Hartford… Rushin scored 10 while grabbing nine rebounds in that game… Jeter (16.5), Rushin (10.5) and Horsey (10.0) all scored in double-figures for the week… SBU takes to the road this week to face UNH before hosting Binghamton on National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Saturday.
VERMONT CATAMOUNTS (17-5, 7-2 AE)
Vermont went 1-1 on the week. The Catamounts dropped a 38-36 decision to Hartford and bounced back with a 78-64 victory over New Hampshire to wrap up a three-game homestand. Senior May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate) scored a game-high 26 points (4-for-4 3FG and 6-for-6 FT) to lead UVM past UNH. Classmate Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) added her fifth double-double of the year and 19th of her career with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Pilypaitis also went over the 1,800-point plateau and became the second player in school history to reach the 4,000-minute mark. She is 18 minutes shy of becoming the all-time leader in minutes played at Vermont. The Catamounts will wrap up the regular season by playing five of the final seven games on the road. UVM travels to Maine on Wednesday (Feb. 3 – 7:30 p.m.) and is at Albany on Saturday (Feb. 6 – 4:30 p.m.).