CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Following the final week of the regular season, University of Hartford senior center Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) has earned her fourth America East Player of the Week accolade of the season, while University at Albany freshman forward/guard Ebone Henry (San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic) captured the Rookie of the Week award for the second time in three weeks.
Delva led the Hawks to a pair of victories and undefeated conference season, the first time in school history, with back-to-back 22-point games at Albany and at home against Vermont. For the week, the senior center averaged 22 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, all while shooting a spectacular 73.7 percent (14-for-19) from the floor and 84.2 percent (16-for-19) from the foul line.
She began the week shooting 6-of-11 at Albany, but missed only one of her 11 free throw attempts to finish with a season-high 22 points. She added seven rebounds, three steals, three blocks and two assists for the complete game. Delva returned home to match her season best on senior night against Vermont, finishing a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and missing two of her eight free-throw attempts. She also completed her team-high ninth double-double grabbing 10 rebounds to go along with her two blocks shots.
Delva leads the top-seeded Hawks in scoring and rebounding with 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. She ranks second in the country with a field-goal percentage of 65.5, and is 54th in Division I with 1.9 blocks per game.
Henry eclipsed the all-time freshman single-season scoring standard while helping the Great Danes secure the seventh seed in the America East Championship. The rookie, capturing her second award of the season, finished the week with averages of 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 42.3 percent (11-for-26) from the field and 33 percent (3-for-9) from long-distance.
Henry started the week by netting 14 points and grabbing four rebounds as Albany took league-leading Hartford to the limit before dropping a 63-57 decision to the Hawks. She followed up that performance by scoring 15 points and pulling down six rebounds in the team's 62-57 road win over Maine.
Henry is averaging 11.0 points per game this season, second on the team and third among all league rookies, and 5.2 rebounds per game, also second on the team, as well as second among all rookies.
In addition, the women's bracket for the 2010 America East Basketball Championship is official as the tournament kicks off with the first round game on Thursday, March 4 at 6 p.m. at The Chase Family Arena on University of Hartford's campus. Fans can buy single-session tickets by contacting the Hartford ticket office HERE or by calling 860-768-HAWK.
Honor Roll
The best of the rest last week....
Kirsten Jeter, Jr., F, Stony Brook
16.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2.0 spg, 40% FG
Carlee Cassidy, Sr., G, UMBC
17.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 85.7% FT
May Kotsopoulos, Sr., G, Vermont
19.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 3.0 spg
Andrea Holmes, So., G, Binghamton
28.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.0 spg
Katia Bratishko, Sr., F, Maine
12 ppg, 11 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 spg
Caroline Stewart, So., F, Boston U.
11.5 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 1.5 spg, 60% FG
Denise Beliveau, So., F, New Hampshire
13.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.5 spg, 1.0 apg
Poll Position
Three weeks after Hartford earned the program's first-ever national ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, the Hawks are now #23 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll as announced earlier today. The Hawks received 135 votes to move up from a tie for 24 last week. In the most recent coaches' poll, which is released every Tuesday, Hartford received 119 votes for a place at #23, while Vermont earned six votes. Both teams have received votes in the polls throughout the entire 2009-10 regular season. The Catamounts had entered the AP Poll at #24 six 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.
Sweet Sixteen
Hartford followed suit with the 2009 Boston University Terriers, completing a perfect 16-0 America East record, just the sixth undefeated conference slate in the league's 26-year history. The Hawks used a school-record 18-game win streak to complete the feat and earn the top seed for the America East Championship held on their own home court. Hartford took home the regular season trophy for the fourth time in five years to earn homecourt advantage for the championship game on March 13 should the Hawks advance that far in the tournament. Listed below are all six undefeated seasons in America East history.
Season Team Record Tourney result
1991-92: Vermont 14-0 won tourney (NCAA)
1992-93: Vermont 14-0 won tourney (NCAA)
1995-96: Maine 18-0 won tourney (NCAA)
2002-03: Maine 16-0 lost in final (WNIT)
2008-09: Boston U. 16-0 lost in final (WNIT
2009-10: Hartford 16-0 TBD
Steady Improvement
Stony Brook finished the regular season with nine total wins and seven conference wins. Both win totals are the best under third-year head coach Michele Cherry, who led her team to the fourth seed in the championship despite being picked in the preseason poll to finish seventh. The Seawolves have increased their conference win total each year, winning two games in 2008 and four contests in 2009.
Remarkable Run
Albany started the season with one of their most successful non-conference schedules in its Division I history, but stumbled, losing its first nine America East games. Seemingly bound for the first-round game Thursday night, the Great Danes won four of their final seven conference match-ups, including holding leads at the half against Hartford, Vermont and Boston U., the top three seeds for the tournament, and will now enter the America east Championship as the seven seed.
Comeback For The Ages
UMBC used one of the largest comebacks in NCAA Division I history last Wednesday to defeat Boston U., 58-57. Down 23 points at 17:14 in the second half, the Retrievers went on a 40-16 run to end the game and secure the important league victory. It was the fourth-largest deficit in NCAA history to win a game. The largest deficit overcome was a 32-point deficit in 2006 in which Texas State came back to defeat UTSA, 73-71.
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 now has a career total of 251 made 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 246 long field-goals, also moved past Kowalski for second place, only behind Pilypaitis. Carter moved into a tie for fourth place along with recent Hartford graduate MaryLynne Schaefer with 222 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. 251, Courtnay Pilypaitis, Vermont, 06-
2. 246, Carlee Cassidy, UMBC, 06-
3. 245, Melissa Kowalski, Northeastern, 00-04
4. 222, MaryLynne Schaefer, Hartford, 05-09
222, Erica Carter, Binghamton, 06-
6. 219, Cindy Blodgett, Maine, 94-98
7. 210, Ashley Underwood, Maine, 03-07
8. 208, Kristi Dini, Boston U., 05-09
9. 197, Jen Schumacher, Albany, 02-06
Block Party
Hartford senior forward 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 2.2 per game this year, currently has 193 career rejections and is five 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. 193, 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 five more assists last week to reach 614 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. 614, 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 21st 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 (24) remains the highest-ranked America East team in the report after moving up two spots from last week. Vermont (45) is also ranked in the top 50, staying even with last week's ranking. Stony Brook, who fell to the Catamounts and defeated UMBC last week, made the biggest move, soaring 16 spots to 234 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, 6.9 rpg, 2.2 bpg, 2.3 apg
C. Pilypaitis, UVM 14.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.9 apg, 2.8 spg
M. Kotsopoulos, UVM 17.9 ppg, 2.6 apg, 1.8 spg
C. Cassidy, UMBC 13.1 ppg, 2.3 3FGM, 2.1 apg
D. Delva, UH 14.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.9 bpg, 65.5% FG
ALBANY GREAT DANES (11-18, 4-12 AE)
Albany regrouped to win four of its last seven conference games to close out the regular season … The Great Danes took nationally-ranked Hartford to the limit before dropping a 63-57 decision on Feb. 24 in Charity Iromuanya’s (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast) final game at SEFCU Arena … It marked the second time in program history that UAlbany hosted a nationally-ranked opponent … UAlbany dropped a 62-57 decision to No. 18 Mississippi State on Dec. 27, 2000 … The squad closed out the week with a 62-57 road win over Maine on Feb. 27… Ebone Henry (San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic) broke the single-season school record for points by a freshman, while Felicia Johnson (Newport News, Va./Woodside) has eclipsed the program standard for assists by a sophomore… Henry ended the regular season with 320 points, which bettered the mark of 316 posted by Becky Ayers in 2001-02… Johnson, who has 105 assists this winter, surpassed the standard of 101 helpers recorded by Tanya Johnson in 1990-91… Keyana Williams added a career-high 15 points, including nine consecutive down the stretch, in the victory over the Black Bears… Julie Forster, who broke the single-season program record for rebounds by a freshman (251), continues to lead the conference in the category (8.7 pg)… She grabbed 12 rebounds against Hartford and another 13 in the Maine win… Albany is still the only team that currently starts three true freshmen… Furthermore, Iromuanya is the only upperclassman who has seen significant playing time over the past few games for the youngest team in the league… Practically all the remaining minutes have been logged in by freshmen and sophomores… Albany will enter the America East Conference Tournament as the seventh seed and will open up the postseason against second-seeded Vermont in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 5 at 12 p.m.… Last year, the Great Danes almost pulled off an historic upset against top-seeded Boston University in its quarterfinal game before dropping a 77-75 decision in overtime… Senior guard Charity Iromuanya (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Northeast) was honored in a pre-game ceremony on Feb. 24… Iromuanya scored in double figures 19 times this season, including a team-high 16 at Maine.
BINGHAMTON BEARCATS (11-18, 7-9 AE)
Binghamton is in the 4-5 game of the America East Tournament for the sixth consecutive season. The Bearcats square off against Stony Brook for the first time in their nine trips to the conference tournament… Sophomore point guard Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) tied a season high with 28 points in the Bearcats’ 78-61 win over New Hampshire last Thursday. She has now reached the 20-point mark in scoring six times this season and eight times during her career. Holmes now ranks ninth in the conference in scoring (13.0 ppg.), third in assists (4.8 apg.) and is also averaging 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest. In addition, she leads all America East players with 37.6 minutes played per game… Senior guard Erica Carter (Naperville, Ill./Naperville) heads into her final America East Tournament with 1,138 career points, which ranks ninth all time in program history. This season, she leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage (.476) and three-point field goals per game (3.4)… At last season’s America East Tournament, current sophomore forward Viive Rebane (Talinn, Estonia/Audentes School) averaged 11.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Current sophomore point Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell), meanwhile, averaged 11.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest during the tournament last season.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY TERRIERS (15-13, 11-5 AE)
The Boston University women's basketball team closed out the America East regular season on a high note, claiming a 79-65, victory on Senior Day at the Roof. Sophomore Alex Young (Hickory, N.C./St. Stephen's) had a prolific game as she netted 27 points, including 15 from behind the arc. Additionally, she dished out four assists, and pulled down three boards in the victory. Also reaching double-figures in that game was sophomore Caroline Stewart (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet), recording her second-straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) with 13 points and a career-high nine assists. Earlier in the week, the Terriers suffered a 58-57 setback at UMBC on Wednesday night.
HARTFORD HAWKS (25-3, 16-0 AE)
The #23/24 Hartford women’s basketball team completed its first ever undefeated conference season with wins over Albany (63-57) and Vermont (61-51) to close out the 2009-10 regular season … The Hawks improve to 25-3 on the season, the fourth 25-plus win season in school history with all four coming in the last five years… The two wins also extended the Hawks school record win streak to 18-straight games… Hartford opened the week with a battle in its final road game of the season at Albany… The game saw seven lead changes and 10 ties before the Hawks clamped down and held the Great Danes to just three free throws in the final five minutes to secure the victory… Senior forward/center Diana Delva (Stamford, Conn./Westhill) led the Hawks with a season high 22 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 10-of-11 at the free throw line… Fellow classmate, Erica Beverly (Bridgeport, Conn./Kolbe Cathedral) compiled her sixth double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds… In the regular season finale, the Hawks again used a 22 point performance from Delva to overcome a second half surge from the Vermont Catamounts, securing the undefeated conference record with nine-straight points to end the game… Delva finished a perfect 8-of-8 from the field, while missing two of her eight free-throw attempts to match her season best… Freshman Ruthanne Doherty (Richmond, Va./L.C. Bird) completed her first collegiate double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Ilicia Mathis (Hamden, Conn./Career) rounded out the leading scorers with 12 points… The Hawks will now enter the 2010 America East Basketball Championship presented by Newman’s Own as the top seed and will take on the winner of the first round game between the eighth and ninth seeded teams … The Hawks first game in the championship will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 5.
MAINE BLACK BEARS (8-20, 4-12 AE)
Maine dropped the regular season finale to Albany Saturday and will play New Hampshire Thursday at 6 p.m. in the first round of the America East Tournament. The Black Bears got two double-doubles and three double-digit scoring performances but could not take down the Great Danes. Sophomore Samantha Wheeler recorded her fourth double-double with 11 points and 11 boards while senior Katia Bratishko added her first with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Katelyn Vanderhoff led Maine with 15 points.
UMBC RETRIEVERS (13-16, 7-9 AE)
UMBC split a pair of games during the last week of the season… The Retrievers trailed by 23 points with 17:14 remaining against Boston University on Wednesday but rallied for an improbable 58-57 victory… It was the fourth-largest comeback in NCAA Division I history… Senior guard Carlee Cassidy (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) led UMBC with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists on her Senior Night… She scored 16 points during UMBC’s second-half rally… Junior forward Meghan Colabella (Upper Montclair, N.Y./Montclair) scored 11 points and was 3-for-3 from three-point range for her first double-digit performance since Dec. 20… She had averaged just 4.6 ppg over her last 18 contests with just one three-pointer in the last eight games… Sophomore guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) added 14 points and six rebounds… The Retrievers shot 55.6 percent in the second stanza and committed just three turnovers after shooting just 21.7 percent in the first half with 12 miscues… Sophomore forward Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) posted her first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds in UMBC’s 59-48 loss at Stony Brook on Saturday in the regular-season finale… Kurowski added 14 points and seven boards… Cassidy took over sole possession of second place in America East history with 246 career three-pointers… She ranks 22nd all-time in the league with 1,609 career points… UMBC’s seven conference victories match its highest total of America East wins, set in 2005-06… The Retrievers finish the season in a three-way tie with Binghamton and Stony Brook for fourth place in the league standings, their highest finish ever as a member of the America East… UMBC garners the sixth seed for next week’s America East Championship by virtue of tiebreakers and will take on No. 3 Boston University in the quarterfinals on Friday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE (8-21, 3-13 AE)
Last time out the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team fell to Boston University, 79-65, on Feb. 28 at Case Gymnasium… Sophomore Denise Beliveau (Framingham, Mass.) dropped in a team-high 15 points, nine rebounds and two steals, earning America East Player of the Game honors for New Hampshire... Candace Williams (Norfolk, Mass.) notched her fourth double-double of the season, tallying 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, along with two blocks and two steals… Lauren Wells (West Chester, Pa.) scored a career-high 15 points and collected three rebounds... Williams has scored in double digits in 19 of the last 21 games, including 30 of the last 35 dating back to last year… Williams now has 1,254 points and 689 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.) 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 5.3 per game this season … Jill McDonald (Middlebury, Vt.) currently ranks second in the conference in blocks with 53 this season, which is good for an average of 2.0 per game... She has notched a block in 21 of the last 23 games… The ‘Cats rank second in the conference in blocked shots with 132, the best single-season mark in program history... Since the start of conference play, the ‘Cats have racked up 74 blocks, a total that ranks first in the conference... New Hampshire is shooting an impressive .392 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 .381 from the floor.
STONY BROOK SEAWOLVES (9-19, 7-9 AE)
Stony Brook secured itself the No. 4 seed in the America East Championship by defeating UMBC, 59-48, on Saturday afternoon… The Seawolves swept UMBC on the season… Junior Kirsten Jeter (Elmont, N.Y.) led the Seawolves with 22 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists… Junior Misha Horsey (Wyncote, Pa.) also scored in double-figures with 13… SBU trailed by as many as seven in the first half, but back-to-back threes by freshman Gerda Gatling (Woodbridge, Va.) sparked a 12-0 run for Stony Brook early on in the second half… The Seawolves had 16 assists on their 20 made field goals… SBU lost its first game of the week, 64-49, to Vermont… The Seawolves led by seven in the first half, but Vermont used an 18-0 run in the second half to put the game out of reach… Sophomore Destiny Jacobs (Glen Burnie, Md.) led Stony Brook with 14 points and grabbed five rebounds.
VERMONT CATAMOUNTS (23-6, 13-3 AE)
Vermont picked up its nation-leading 14th road win of the year to start the week with a 64-49 win at Stony Brook... UVM closed the week with a 61-51 loss at Hartford... Senior May Kotsopoulos (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo) averaged 19.5 points and shot 42.9 percent from three-point range on the week... Kotsopoulos moved into fourth place among UVM's all-time leading scorers and surpassed the 1,700-point mark with a team-high 20 points against the Hawks... Kotsopoulos became the third UVM women's basketball player to earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors. The 5-10 guard owns a 3.66 GPA as a business administration major and was named to the second team... Kotsopoulos has poured in 519 points on the year, the fifth most by a senior all-time and the 12th most in a single-season by a Catamount... Teammate Courtnay Pilypaitis (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Peter) moved into third place among the all-time leading scorers and begins the week with 1,912 points... She is the only active player in Division I with over 1,900 points, 800 rebounds and 600 assists... Up next for the Catamounts is the America East Tournament where the No. 2-seeded Vermont takes on the No. 7 seed.