CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- After losing its first nine America East games, University at Albany has won three of its last five games, including a 2-1 record last week with help from this week's player and rookie of the week. Senior guard Charity Iromuanya (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast) earns her first career America East Player of the Week accolade for the week ending February 21, while freshman guard Julie Forster (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) is the second straight Great Dane to capture the league's Rookie of the Week award.
Iromuanya, who had never eclipsed 20 points in a game for her career, averaged 22 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals for the week in which Albany went 2-1. She also shot 53.8% (21-for-39) from the field, 58.85 (10-for-17) from long-distance, and 73.7% (14-for-19) from the charity stripe.
In a win over Binghamton on Monday, Iromuanya netted 14 of her 22 points in the second half, setting a new career high at the time. She added three rebounds and four steals, while going 8-for-13 from the field, 4-for-4 from three-point range and 2-for-2 from the foul line. After netting a team-high 15 points in Albany's loss to UMBC, the senior scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Great Danes to a 64-62 overtime victory at New Hampshire. Iromuanya added nine rebounds and six assists on the day and knocked down three treys. She grabbed an offensive rebound and put back what later proved to be the game-winning shot in overtime.
On the season, Iromuanya leads the Great Danes in scoring with 11.3 ppg, including 12.4 ppg in America East action. She also averages 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.0 assists per game this season.
The Great Dane freshman finished last week with 7.7 points, 13 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.0 blocks and 0.7 assists per game, and broke Albany's single-season program record for rebounds by a freshman. Forster started the week with a 13-point, eight-rebound performance against Binghamton. She also added two assists, one steal and one block while going 6-for-11 from the field. Forster finished with six points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks at UMBC on Thursday.
In the Great Danes' overtime victory at New Hampshire, the rookie put up a new conference single-game high this season with 20 boards, falling just two rebounds shy of Albany's single-game record. With her performance, Forster now leads the league in rebounding with 8.4 rebounds per game. She is also averaging 9.0 points, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
Honor Roll
The best of the rest last week....
Jill McDonald, Jr., F, New Hampshire
15.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.5 bpg, 1.5 apg, 1.5 spg
Courtnay Pilypaitis, Sr., G, Vermont
17 ppg, 10 apg, 4 rpg, 4 spg
Kristin Baker, Sr., G, Maine
14.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 5 apg, 2.5 spg
Kirsten Jeter, Jr., F, Stony Brook
22 ppg, 6 rpg, 2 spg, 1 bpg
Poll Position
Two weeks after Hartford earned the program's first ever national ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, the Hawks have entered the Associated Press Top-25 Poll as well earlier today. The Hawks received 114 votes to enter the poll in a tie with Georgia at #24. In the most recent coaches' poll, which is released every Tuesday, Hartford received 82 votes for a place at #24, while Vermont earned four points. Both teams have received votes in the polls throughout the entire 2009-10 regular season. The Catamounts had entered the AP Poll at #24 five weeks ago for the first time since March 15, 1993.
Few Can Say The Same
Now that both Hartford and Vermont have been ranked nationally at some point during the 2009-10 season, the conference has something to boast. America East is one of three non-BCS conferences to have two teams nationally-ranked in women’s basketball this season. The others are the Atlantic-10 (Dayton, Xavier) and Mountain West (TCU, San Diego State). America East and the Atlantic-10 are the only two non-FBS Conferences able to make that claim.
Down The Home Stretch
Hartford, 14-0 in league play, locked up the tournament's #1 seed with a win over Boston U. on Sunday, February 21. The victory also guaranteed the Hawks at least a share of the regular-season title for the fourth time in the last five years. Hartford has never before gone through the America East schedule unbeaten. Following behind is Vermont and Boston University who have both already clinched a seed no worse than three. UMBC, Stony Brook and Binghamton are fighting for the 4-6 slots, Maine has played its way out of the ninth seed and will try to fight its way out of the play-in game along with Albany and New Hampshire. The Great Danes, who just two weeks ago were 0-9 against league opponents, can still finish as high as seven.
Tie-Breakers
In the event of a tie in the conference standings at the end of the season, the following are the tie-breakers to determine seeds for the tournament. Once a tie between more than two teams has been broken, conference officials return to the first tie-breaker to break the ties among the remaining two or more tied teams.
- Winning percentage in conference games versus the other teams with which it is tied (i.e. head-to-head-competition.)
- Winning percentage in conference games versus the other conference opponents in descending rank order. In the event of arriving at another group of tied teams when comparing records, each team’s record (winning percentage) versus the tied teams is used rather than the performance versus the individual tied teams.
- Winning percentage in conference road games. In the event a conference game was played on a neutral court, the team awarded the home game by the conference office when the schedule was issued is considered the home team.
- RPI ranking as determined by the College RPI Report through the end of regular-season conference games.
- Draw conducted by the Commissioner or his/her designee.
Steady Improvement
Stony Brook picked up its eighth win of the season on Saturday, February 13 and its sixth conference win. The overall win total matches a team best under third-year head coach Michele Cherry, while the six wins in America East play is the most since Cherry took over the helm. The Seawolves have increased their conference win total each year, winning two games in 2008 and four contests in 2009. Stony Brook, which was picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, now sits in a tie for fourth place.
Sitting At The Top
Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) broke the league's all-time career mark for three-pointers made with her second of the afternoon on Saturday, February 13 at Binghamton. She hit two more after that to bring her career total to 248 treys. Pilypaitis passed Northeastern's Melissa Kowalski ('04) for the top spot.
Raining Three's
Also climbing up the career three's made list are UMBC's Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) and Binghamton's Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville). Cassidy, with 242 long field-goals, remains in third place, only behind Pilypaitis and Kowalski. Carter stays in the sixth spot with 218 career three-pointers made. All three are already the all-time leaders at their respective schools and rank 1-2-3 in America East this season.
All-Time Three-Point Field Goals Made
1. 250, Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont, 06-
2. 245, Melissa Kowalski, Northeastern, 00-04
3. 242, Carlee Cassidy, UMBC, 06-
4. 222, MaryLynne Schaefer, Hartford, 05-09
5. 219, Cindy Blodgett, Maine, 94-98
6. 218, Erica Carter, Binghamton, 06-
7. 210, Ashley Underwood, Maine, 03-07
8. 208, Kristi Dini, Boston U., 05-09
9. 197, Jen Schumacher, Albany, 02-06
Pink Zone
The WBCA Pink Zone® initiative, 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, wrapped up last week. The America East Conference once again participanted as all nine member institutions held events. The official dates for Pink Zone were February 12-21, but schools were 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 15 Albany (vs. Binghamton)
February 16 Maine (vs. New Hampshire)
February 18 UMBC (vs. Albany)
February 20 Binghamton (vs. Maine)
Feburary 21 Hartford (vs. Boston U.)
New Hampshire (vs. Albany)
February 27 Stony Brook (vs. UMBC)
Block Party
Hartford senior foward Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral), who stands at 6-feet tall, passed Maine's Stacey Porrini ('97) for fifth place on the all-time career blocks list. Beverly, averaging 2.3 per game this year, currently has 191 career rejections and is seven away from moving into fourth place.
All-Time Blocks
1. 231, Jamie Cassidy, Maine, 1996-2000
2. 220, Katasha Artis, Northeastern, 1992-95
3. 218, Laura Franceski, Binghamton, 2005-09
4. 197, Colleen McNamara, Delaware, 1991-95
5. 191, Erica Beverly, Hartford, 2005-
6. 185, Stacey Porrini, Maine, 1993-97
Making The Grade
Vermont senior May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario) was named to the five-player 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I First Team for the second straight year as announced by CoSIDA (College Sports Information Director's of America) on Thursday, February 4. Kotsopoulos, the league's leading scorer, is now eligible to be named a member of the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Team, which will be released in March, for the second straight season. Kotsopoulos is a business administration major at Vermont and boasts a 3.66 GPA. She was named both the 2008 and 2009 America East Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete and is a four-year Dean's List student.
Helping Hand
Pilypaitis is also among the league's all-time elite in dishing out assists. She handed out 10 more assists last week to reach 609 career handouts. That total gives Pilypaitis the program record and moves her into second 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. 609, Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont, 06-
3. 605, Maureen DiJulia, Hartford, 94-99
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
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 22nd a year ago. The improvement can be heavily attributed to the league's non-conference strength of schedule, which ranked eighth-toughest in the country. Only four other non-FBS conferences rank higher than America East in the RPI: Colonial (8th), Atlantic-10 (10th), 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 (26) remains the highest-ranked America East team in the report. Vermont (45) is also ranked in the top 50. Even this deep into the season, eight of the nine teams are ranked higher in this week's RPI than where they finished in last season's final ranking, with seven of those eight seeing improvements of at least 21 spots.
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 9.2 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.3 bpg, 2.4 apg
C. Pilypaitis, UVM 15.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 5.1 apg, 2.9 spg
M. Kotsopoulos, UVM 17.8 ppg, 2.6 apg, 1.7 spg
C. Cassidy, UMBC 12.9 ppg, 2.4 3FGM, 2.1 apg
D. Delva, UH 13.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 65% FG
Freshman Scorers
Whenever a high-scoring rookie such as Boston U.'s Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) comes into the league, the question always arises: who is the highest scoring freshman in league history? Alford does currently rank among the highest-scoring freshmen ever in America East, but there have been quite a few talented freshmen in conference history, led by current Maine coach Cindy Blodgett's 20.1 ppg during her rookie campaign.
Name, School GP Pts. Avg.
1. Cindy Blodgett, Maine (94-95) 30 602 20.1
2. Laura Seiden, UNH (89-90) 28 514 19.0
3. Rachel Bouchard, Maine (87-88) 28 484 17.3
4. Katrina Martin, Drexel (00-01) 29 479 16.5
5. Katie Terhune, Boston U. (00-01) 27 438 16.2
6. Joanne McKay, Vermont (84-85) 24 379 15.8
7. Keisha Carmichael, CCSU (88-89) 26 407 15.7
8. Kris Kinney, UNH (85-86) 28 436 15.6
9.Liz Coffin, Maine (84-85) 28 433 15.5
10.Chantell Alford, Boston U. (09-10) 25 384 15.4
11.Kate Gordon, Hofstra (94-95) 28 416 14.9
Season of One-Thousand Scorers
Stony Brook junior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont) became the latest player to reach 1,000 career points, the sixth player to reach that mark this season and the 10th active player to boast the accomplishment. Jeter scored 22 points on Wednesday, February 17 at Boston University, including her 1,000th career point. Boston University senior Aly Hinton (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock) did the same against Binghamton on February 3. Hinton became the fifth player to reach the mark this season. Binghamton senior Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) reached it on Monday, January 18 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.
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. Hovering at .500 or below .500 for much of 2009-10 though, home teams finally have a winning percentage of .554 (36-29). Hartford is the only team not to have a conference loss on its home court this year.
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 second in the country in field-goal shooting percentage with a .648 mark, over 11 percent more efficient than the second-best percentage in America East. She is challenging the conference single-season record of .649 set by New Hampshire's Pam Brandell during the 1996-97 season. Through 24 games, Delva is 142-for-219 from the floor while averaging 13.9 points per game.
ALBANY GREAT DANES (10-17, 3-11 AE)
UAlbany won two of its three games last week to climb into a tie for eighth place with New Hampshire… The Great Danes started the week with a 65-51 win over Binghamton on Feb. 15… After dropping a 51-40 decision to UMBC on Feb. 18, the team regrouped and earned a 64-62 overtime win over New Hampshire on Feb. 21… UAlbany has won three of its last five conference games after dropping its first nine league contests… Charity Iromuanya (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast), who had never scored more than 20 points in a game entering this week, eclipsed that mark in both wins by scoring 22 points against Binghamton and 29 versus New Hampshire… The team captain, who averaged 22.0 points in the three games, also shot 53.8 percent from the field and 58.8 percent from beyond the arc… Iromuanya stands eighth on the program’s all-time list for steals (206) and ranks third in the conference with 2.4 per game… Julie Forster (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington) broke the program’s single-season record for rebounds by a freshman by pulling down 39 last week, including 20 in the New Hampshire win… Her 20 boards against the Wildcats was a conference best by an America East player this season and just shy of breaking the program's single-game record of 22, which was registered by Casey Stanley versus Nazareth on Feb. 22, 1992... The walk-on player now has 226 boards this year and averages a league-best 8.4 per game… Danielle Hutcheson, who previously held the freshman rebounding record, finished with 216 during the 2001-02 campaign… UAlbany controls its own destiny and can finish as high as seventh in the regular-season standings if it can register wins in the final week of the season against Hartford on Feb. 24 and Maine on the Feb. 27… Iromuanya, the team’s lone senior, will be recognized for her contributions to the program prior to the home finale versus the Hawks.
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (10-18, 6-9 AE)
Binghamton currently has three players averaging double figures in scoring. Senior guard Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) is pumping in 13.1 points per game followed by sophomore point guard Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) (12.5) and junior guard Jackie Ward (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford) (10.6). The last time Binghamton had three players finish a season averaging double figures in scoring was during the 2005-06 campaign. Laine Kurpniece averaged 12.3 points per game followed by Rachel Laws (11.3) and Jen Blues (10.1)... With her 22-point effort against Maine on Saturday, senior guard Erica Carter has now reached the 20-point mark in scoring eight times during her career, including six times this season ... With 218 career three pointers, senior guard Erica Carter now is the Binghamton program's all time career leader in that category. Against Maine on Saturday, she passed Bess Greenberg (1997-01) for first place all time. A former Division II All-American, Greenberg had 216 three-point field goals during her career.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS (14-12, 10-4 AE)
Boston University split its two games last week to move its overall record to 14-12 overall and 10-4 in the America East. The Terriers began their week with a 69-59 victory over Stony Brook on Wednesday evening at Agganis Arena, backed by a 15-point effort from freshman Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross). Senior Aly Hinton added 14 and sophomore Alex Young and freshman Caitlynn Moran each chipped in 13. Just a few days later, Boston U. made the short trek to No. 24 Hartford, but came away with a 61-38 loss to the Hawks. Young led the way with 13 points, while Moran added 10. The Terriers will travel to UMBC this week for a 7 p.m. match-up in Baltimore on Feb. 24 and close out the regular season with UNH on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. at Case Gym. In a pre-game ceremony, Boston U. will honor its two seniors.
HARTFORD HAWKS (23-3, 14-0 AE)
The #24 Hartford women’s basketball team extended its win streak to a school record 16 games, defeating Binghamton (72-54) and Boston University (61-38) to improve to 23-3 overall and 14-0 in conference play… With the win over Boston University on Sunday the Hawks clinched at least a share of their fourth regular season title in school history, while guaranteeing home court advantage throughout the 2010 America East Championship presented by Newman’s Own should the Hawks advance to the title game… Hartford opened the week against the Bearcats, who are the first team to score more than 45 points against the Hawks since January 16… Hartford was led in that game by junior captain Jackie Smith (Westfield, Mass./Holyoke) who finished with 18 points after tying a school record for three-pointers made in a game with six, it is the second time this season she has hit six three-pointers… After being held to two points against the Bearcats, senior Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) took revenge against the Terriers to finish as the team's leading scorer and rebounder with her team-best eighth double-double, 17 points, 13 rebounds… Smith led the Hawks on the week, finished with back-to-back double-figure scoring games for the first time in her career, adding 12 against the Terriers, averaging 15.0 points-per-game… She was one of two players to average double figures on the week as senior Erica Beverly averaged 13.5 points over the two games… The Hawks will close out the regular season in the coming week with their final road game at Albany (Wednesday, 7 p.m.) and then the regular season finally against the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday at 4 p.m.… With a victory against the Great Danes on Wednesday, the Hawks would clinch the regular season conference title outright.
MAINE BLACK BEARS (8-19, 4-11 AE)
Maine split last week’s conference games and will host senior night Saturday against Albany. The Black Bears defeated New Hampshire to take the season series in the first game of the week, before falling to Binghamton. Sophomore Samantha Wheeler scored her 400th point against the Wildcats. Junior Tanna Ross was one of four scorers in double figures against the Bearcats. Ross set a new season high with 12 points. Senior Kristin Baker recorded her first double-digit game since the win over Albany.
UMBC RETRIEVERS (12-15, 6-8 AE)
UMBC split a pair of America East games last week, defeating Albany at home, 51-40, on Thursday, before falling at Vermont, 67-50, on Sunday… Sophomore guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-3 from long distance, to lead the Retrievers past Albany… Sophomore center Topé Obajolu (Randallstown, Md./Archbishop Carroll) netted 11 points and added two blocks and two steals… Senior guard Carlee Cassidy (Sryacuse, N.Y./Westhill) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and dished out four assists to go along with six points… Junior guard Michele Brokans (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) tied her career high with five steals, the most by a Retriever this season… UMBC shot 50 percent in the second half and held Albany to just five field goals and 16 points in the period… UMBC has held its opponents to under 50 points in each of its last three victories… The 40 points scored by Albany tied a season low by a UMBC opponent… The Retrievers have trailed at halftime in six of their 12 wins… Thursday was just UMBC’s fourth win at home this season and only the second against an America East opponent… Kurowski again led the Retrievers with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and added team bests with eight rebounds and five assists against Vermont… Cassidy tallied 11 points with three triples and grabbed eight boards… UMBC trailed by one with 6:35 remaining, but Vermont ended the game on a 23-7 run… UMBC’s all-time leader in three-pointers, Cassidy ranks third in America East history with 242… She also ranks second in school history with 1,575 career points… The Retrievers conclude the regular season with a home game against Boston University on Wednesday and a trip to Stony Brook on Saturday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE (8-19, 3-11 AE)
Last time out the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team fell to the University at Albany, 64-62, in overtime on Feb. 21 at Lundholm Gymnasium… Jill McDonald (Middlebury, Vt.) led four Wildcats in double figures, pouring in 16 points and tallying a career-high 10 rebounds, earning America East Player of the Game honors for New Hampshire… She also notched four blocks, two steals and two assists on the afternoon … She has now scored in double figures in each of the last three games and has tallied a block in 20 of the last 21 games… Sophomore Denise Beliveau (Framingham, Mass.) added 15 points, nine boards, three assists and a steal in the loss… Cari Reed (Oswego, N.Y.) and Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass.) rounded out UNH's double-digit scorers, notching 11 points apiece… Williams has scored in double digits in 17 of the last 19 games, including 28 of the last 33 dating back to last year… Williams now has 1,225 points and 671 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.) added four rebounds, three points and three assists in the contest… She is the first Wildcat to notch over 1,000 points, 300 assists and 100 steals in program history... She ranks first in the conference in assists, with an average of 5.1 per game this season … McDonald currently ranks second in the conference in blocks with 51 this season, which is good for an average of 2.0 per game... The ‘Cats rank second in the conference in blocked shots with 126, the best single-season mark in program history... Since the start of conference play, the ‘Cats have racked up 68 blocks, a total that ranks first in the conference... New Hampshire is shooting an impressive .389 clip from the floor this season, a mark that currently ranks third in the conference ... The Wildcats also rank fourth in defensive field goal percentage in the America East, allowing opponents to shoot just .375 from the floor.
STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES (8-18, 6-8 AE)
Stony Brook lost its only game of the week, 69-59, to Boston University… Junior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y.) recorded her 1,000th career point with 16:33 remaining in the second half… She became the 14th player in school history to reach the milestone and only the sixth to do so in just three years… Jeter finished the game with 22 points and six rebounds… Senior Crystal Rushin (Valley Stream, N.Y.) also scored in double-figures with 10 and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds… Stony Brook led by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Terriers' balanced scoring attack, which resulted in four players scoring double-digits, proved to be too much for SBU… This week the Seawolves will host Vermont and UMBC… The game against UMBC will be Stony Brook’s Pink Zone game and also the final home game for SBU’s senior class of Rushin and Joia Daniels (Silver Spring, Md.).
VERMONT CATAMOUNTS (22-5, 12-2 AE)
Vermont earned its sixth straight win with a 67-50 victory over UMBC in the lone game of the week for the Catamounts. UVM's starters accounted for 66 of the 67 points in the game for the Catamounts. A crowd of 2,001 turned out for Senior Day at Patrick Gymnasium, marking the largest attendance for a women's game since Feb. 19, 2002. Vermont finished the 2009-10 regular season with a record of 9-3 at Patrick Gymnasium. The Catamounts' three losses all came against teams that are currently nationally-ranked (#3 Nebraska, #17 Oklahoma State, #24 Hartford). UVM's margin of victory at Patrick Gym this season in America East action was +25.7 points per game. The seniors went 43-13 in four years at Patrick Gymnasium and have won 86 games overall, the fifth most in school history by a four-year class. Vermont improved to 59-22 versus America East opponents since 2000-01. All four seniors reached double figures in the win over UMBC. Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) led UVM with 17 points and 10 assists for her 22nd career double-double, the eighth of the season and fourth in six games. Pilypaitis also became the first Catamount to reach the 600-assist milestone and she moved into second among the all-time league leaders in assists. Alissa Sheftic (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex) and Sofia Iwobi (Fairfield, Iowa/Maharishi School) chipped in season-highs of 16 and 13 points, respectively and classmate May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Collegiate) added 12 points, all in the second half. The Catamounts improved to 18-3 in February over the last three seasons. The Catamounts, who lead the nation in road wins with 13, will close out the regular season at Stony Brook on Tuesday (Feb. 23) and at Hartford on Saturday (Feb. 27).