CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-- Just two games into her UNH career, junior forward Morgan Frame (Waterville, Maine/Waterville Senior) earns her first America East Player of the Week award, while Stony Brook freshman forward Kellie Krueger (Wilsonville, Ore./Wilsonville) makes it three in a row with the Rookie of the Week honor.
Frame, a transfer from St. Anselm's College, erupted for a career-high 35 points and 12 rebounds in an overtime win at Wagner Wednesday night. Frame shot 15-for-26 from the floor in the Wildcats' only game last week and fell just one point shy of matching the school record for points in a game. She also collected three steals in 41 minutes off the bench. Frame was instrumental throughout the contest as she scored nearly half of UNH's points in the first stanza (13-of-27) to keep the Wildcats within reach at halftime. She went on to net 18 in the second half and four points in overtime to seal the victory.
Frame has notched a double-double in each of her first two games since becoming eligible as a mid-year transfer last season. She is averaging 25 points and 11 rebounds in the two games this season.
Krueger led the Seawolves on offense with a career-high 14 points in a 65-48 victory over Morgan State Wednesday night. The rookie also grabbed six rebounds, shot 5-for-8 from the field and was perfect from the foul line (4-for-4).
Since entering the starting lineup on Dec. 8, Krueger is tied for the team lead with 8.4 points per game. She is also averaging 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the field during that five-game span.
Progress Report
The conference stands at 48-52 (.480) this season. The latest RPI Report from RPIratings.com ranks America East 11th out of 33 conferences for the second straight week. Hartford dropped to 28 but remains as the league's top-rated team. UMBC improved 23 spots to 93 to give America East two teams in the top-100.
Conference Rankings America East Teams
1. Big 12 28. Hartford (8-4)
2. Big East 93. UMBC (6-5
3. Big Ten 115. Boston U. (6-4)
4. SEC 131. Albany (6-5)
5. ACC 209 New Hampshire (6-4)
6. Pac-12 223. Binghamton (5-6)
7. Colonial 228. Vermont (6-5)
8. Atlantic 10 234. Stony Brook (2-10)
9. West Coast 314. Maine (3-9)
10. Missouri Valley
11. America East
12. Summit
13. Ivy
14. Big Sky
15. Horizon
Against The Best
Among the league's first 100 games, 35 have been against teams that advanced to a 2011 postseason tournament. America East is 16-19 against those teams, including 2-3 last week. Most of those wins have come against WNIT participants as the league owns a 10-6 record against those teams. America East is 3-12 against NCAA teams, with victories coming at Central Florida (Hartford), against Marist (Boston U.) and at Navy (UMBC). The league is also 3-1 against the WBI field.
Gimme A Break
With final exams and the holiday season, there have been just 17 games over the last two weeks as many teams took long layoffs to study and then observe the holidays. The action will pick up as there are 17 non-conference games scheduled this week, most in holiday tournaments, and all nine teams will be out on the court. Additionally, the first four conference games will take place on Monday, Jan. 2.
The Second Season
Non-conference games are winding down and eight teams will open conference play on Monday, Jan. 2. Seeding for the 2012 America East Championship March 1-4 will be based on regular-season standings. Also, for the third straight year, the highest remaining seed will earn the chance to host the America East Championship final on its home court. The first day of America East play features one tournament quarterfinal rematch from last season as Hartford will host Albany at 7p.
TV Guide
Hartford will celebrate the New Year with a televised contest at Providence on Dec. 31. The 1p tip-off will air on CPTV Sports in Connecticut as part of Hartford's television package. The Hawks are 2-0 on TV this season.
Happy To Be Home
America East teams are 24-16 (.600) overall this season on home courts. Particularly, the teams atop the standings have taken care of business on their home courts. Hartford (5-0), Boston U. (4-0) and Albany (4-0) all remain undefeated at home, while Vermont is 3-1. The Hawks put that record on the line Dec. 29 against Harvard, while the other three teams will have to wait until conference play.
Reed's Hot Hand
University of New Hampshire junior Cari Reed found her shooter's touch Dec. 6 against Harvard. The guard exploded for a then-league-high 32 points including a school-record eight three-pointers. The eight treys marks the highest number of made shots from downtown by an America East player since Binghamton's Erica Carter's conference-record nine on Dec. 7, 2009. Reed tied three others for the second-highest single-game three-point field goals made in America East history.
Playing With The Big Boys
Hartford and Boston U. each upended Boston College during a three-day span, Dec. 10 and Dec. 13. It was the Hawks' first win over the Eagles in program history, and the Terriers' first over their crosstown rivals since 1990. The wins marked the league's first over an ACC team this season, and the first since Vermont's two wins against the ACC (vs. Boston College, NC State) in 2009-10. The victories wer also the second and third win for an America East team over a Big 6 Conference team this season. Boston U. defeated Providence out of the Big East on Nov. 11.
Join The Club
Sat. Dec. 3 marked a special day for three players who all reached the 1,000 point milestone within hours of one another. New Hampshire senior Denise Beliveau first hit the mark against Holy Cross, followed by UMBC senior Erin Brown against Princeton. Boston U. junior Chantell Alford tallied her 1,000th career point in the first half against West Virginia. Alford is the first junior to accomplish the feat since UMBC's Michelle Kurowski and Binghamton's Andrea Holmes each scored their 1,000th points last January. The league now has six active 1,000-point scorers, the highest number of active members since there were 10 during the 2009-10 season. Binghamton senior Viive Rebane should be the next to reach the milestone as she is just three points shy.
Going National
The America East announced a national broadcast package last week that made league history. First, a five-year deal with ESPN includes a minimum of 47 national appearances for the league's men's and women's basketball programs on ESPN platforms, the most in conference history. The package includes seven women's hoops games on ESPN3, including the America East Championship semifinals and final. The league also signed a contract with CBS Sports Network, putting five America East basketball games on national television. A February 19 matchup between UMBC and Hartford at Chase Family Arena will mark the first-ever nationally televised conference women's basketball game.
America East Women's Basketball
TV Package
Jan. 25 Boston U. at UMBC (ESPN3)
Feb. 1 Vermont at Boston U. (ESPN3)
Feb. 11 Binghamton at Hartford (ESPN3)
Feb. 19 UMBC at Hartford (CBS Sports Network)
Feb. 25 Boston U. at Hartford (ESPN3)
March 4 America East Semifinals (ESPN3)
TBD America East Championship (ESPN3)
Team Notebooks:
Albany (6-5, 0-0 AE) dropped its only game of the week, a 64-60 loss to Canisius on the road... Ebone Henry (San Diego, Calif./Mater Dei Catholic) paced Albany, recording her second double-double of the season, scoring 20 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, while also totaling four steals... Lindsey Lowrie added 14 points, while the Great Danes shot 34.9 percent in the game... Albany will return to action after the holidays, traveling to Miami for the FIU Invitational... The Great Danes will take on the host Golden Panthers on Dec. 29 before facing off against either Auburn or Charlotte on Dec. 30.
Binghamton (5-6, 0-0 AE): Senior point guard Andrea Holmes (Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell) now has 1,256 career points and moves into fifth place all time in program history. Against UMass, she passed Rachel Laws (2002-06) who scored 1,246 points. In fourth place sits Cathy Mackin (1994-98), who finished with 1,269. Holmes now has scored the most points by a Binghamton player who has played all four years at the NCAA Division I level... Senior forward Viive Rebane (Talinn, Estonia/ Audantes) now has 997 career points. She is just three points shy of becoming the 14th player in Binghamton program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career. She would be the sixth player to do so at the NCAA Division I level.
Boston U. (6-4, 0-0 AE) is on a three-game winning streak entering this week's Fordham Holiday Classic... The Terriers were off during the holiday week, but previously defeated Boston College for the first time since Jan. 31, 1990 as BC had won the last five meetings... Two Terriers scored in double-digits. Junior Chantell Alford (West Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) posted 23 points and junior Mo Moran (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) added 17... Senior Caroline Stewart (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional) hauled in game-high 10 rebounds... The Terriers will play Coppin State at Fordham on Thursday at 2p, then will face either Navy or the host Rams on Friday at 1 or 3p.
The Hartford women's basketball team (8-4, 0-0 AE) dropped its fourth game of the season on Thursday when the Hawks fell at Richmond 69-56... Against Richmond, junior Ruthanne Doherty (Richmond, Va./L.C.Bird) led the Hawks in front of her hometown crowd with 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting and 2-of-3 at the free throw line... She was joined by one other player in double figures as Daphne Elliott (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) who finished with 10 points, while leading the team with a season-high eight rebounds and a career-high six assists... Sophomore point guard Alyssa Englert led the Hawks with seven assists, a career best, in her first career start... The Hawks will play a pair of games to close out the non-conference schedule, first hosting Harvard on Thursday at 7 p.m. before travling to Providence for a 1 p.m. start on New Year's Eve in a game that will be televised live on CPTV Sports throughout Connecticut.
Maine (3-9, 0-0 AE) dropped two games at the Gator Holiday Classic against Duquesne and Charleston Southern... The Black Bears would open its finale at the Gator Holiday Classic with a solid opening of the first half before falling behind after Charleston Southern staged one of its few big runs of the game. Maine was unable to close the gap in the second half as it dropped the contest to the Buccaneers 78-63... Shareka Maner (Spring Hill, Fla.) tallied a career-high 12 points while pulling down eight rebounds to lead the Black Bears... The Dukes defeated Maine 76-38 in the opening round of the Gator Holiday Classic. Courtney Anderson (Greene, Maine) paced Maine with six points, three rebounds and three assists... The Dukes used 34 points off turnovers and 14 fastbreak scores to build their runs as Alex Gensler led the Duquesne attack with 15 points on 3-for-12 shooting from the field. Duquesne had four scorers in double-figures... The Maine defense recorded seven steals paced by Rebecca Knight's (Alfred, Maine) solid game of six points, three rebounds, two steals and a block... Maine will next host Siena on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Black Bears' non-league finale before traveling to Binghamton on Mon., Jan. 2 for the league opener.
UMBC (6-5, 0-0 AE) defeated in-state rival Navy 54-46 on Tuesday… Senior forward Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) scored 20 points on a career-high six three-pointers and also added seven rebounds. She had 17 points and five treys in the first half… Brown has eclipsed the 20-point plateau in three of her last four games, all Retriever wins… Junior guard Brittany Crowell (Gwynn Park, Md./Brandywine) scored nine points on three triples, all in the second half… Senior center Topé Obajolu (Randallstown, Md./Archbishop Carroll) tallied eight points, five assists and three steals… The Retrievers set a school record for fewest fouls in a game, committing just five… Brown leads UMBC with 16.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg this season… The America East’s leading scorer, she has reached double figures in all 11 of the Retrievers’ games on the year… Senior guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) ranks third all-time at UMBC with 1,403 career points, while Brown is 11th with 1,088… They are two of just 12 Retrievers ever with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their career… The Retrievers now head to Blacksburg, Va., for the Hilton Garden Inn Hokie Classic, hosted by Virginia Tech… UMBC will take on High Point on Wednesday and either Cincinnati or the host Hokies on Thursday.
UNH (6-4, 0-0 AE) picked up a thrilling 73-72 overtime victory over Wagner on Wednesday night in the team's lone contest of the week... Down by one with three seconds left in overtime, senior Denise Beliveau (Framingham, Mass.) scooped up the team's second offensive board of the possession and knocked down a short jumper to seal the victory. Beliveau's heroics were set up by junior Cari Reed (Oswego, N.Y.), who drilled a three-pointer from the corner with 13 seconds left in regulation to ultimately send the game into extra time... In just her second career game as a Wildcat, junior Morgan Frame (Waterville, Maine) paced the Wildcats with a career-high 35 points, one point shy of the school record, and 12 rebounds for her second double-double in as many games. The junior transfer shot 15-of-29 from the floor and added five free-throws and three steals. Her 35 points mark the highest single-game scoring output in the America East this season and the most by a Wildcat since Orsi Farkas netted 35 during the 1999-2000 campaign. Reed finished with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field... As a team, the Wildcats shot 40.6 percent from the floor, including 54.5 percent in overtime... UNH is now 5-1 on the road this season and has won three straight games... The Wildcats will compete at the Iowa State Cyclone Challenge on Dec. 29-30. UNH will first take on the host Cyclones on Dec. 29 at 8:30 p.m. (CST).
Stony Brook (2-10, 0-0 AE) defeated Morgan State 65-48 in its only game of the week... SBU used a 12-0 run midway through the second half to turn a one-point deficit to take a 11-point lead... Morgan State got no closer than nine the rest of the way... Freshman Kellie Krueger (Wilsonville, Ore.) led a balanced scoring attack with a career-high 14 points and six rebounds... Junior Sam Landers (Springfield, Va.) added a season-high 13 points and junior Dani Klupenger (Aurora, Ore.) chipped in with 10... SBU shot 40 percent from the field and went 7-for-15 from three-point range... Stony Brook won the battle of the boards 45-28 and went 18-for-24 from the foul line. SBU also held Morgan State to 32.2 percent shooting... The Stony Brook bench out-scored the Morgan State bench 37-9... Senior Destiny Jacobs (Glen Burnie, Md.) added eight points and nine rebounds... Stony Brook returns to action this week against Youngstown State in its final non-conference game of the season.
Vermont (6-5, 0-0 AE) dropped a 71-60 decision at Marquette on Wednesday as Apiew Ojulu scored a career-high 25 points and added five rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles... Junior Lauren Buschmann (St. Catharine's, Ontario) led Vermont in scoring with 21 points, scoring 12 in the first half, and added five rebounds.... Freshman Kayla Burchill (Portland, Maine), who made her first career start, added 12 points, all from three-point range, and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds... Sophomore Sam Simononis (Perkasie, Pa.) added 10 points to round out the leading scorers for UVM... The Catamounts continue to lead America East in scoring offense with 62.1 points per game. UVM also paces the conference with 13.2 assists per game, 41.5 rebounds per game and holding opponents to 26.2 percent three-point shooting... Vermont closes out its eight-game road swing at the Blue Sky Classic hosted by Dartmouth on Dec. 29-30 in Hanover, N.H. On December 29, UVM takes on No. 15 Georgetown at 5 p.m. and will face La Salle on December 30, also at 5 p.m. The Hoyas will be the Catamounts' second ranked opponent in three games.