ALBANY, N.Y.-- With just one previous all-time title game appearance between them, the University at Albany Great Danes and UMBC Retrievers meet up at Albany's SEFCU Arena Saturday night at 8p to decide the 2012 America East Women's Basketball Champion. The winner will earn the right to go dancing as the league's automatic selection to the NCAA Tournament.
The 2012 America East Women's Basketball Championship Title Game can be seen live on ESPN3, as well as on Time Warner Cable Sports in the Capitol Region, MASN in the Mid-Atlantic and Comcast SportsNet New England.
Title Game Notebook:
Dandy Danes
Albany will be making the program's first-ever America East Women's Basketball Championship appearance on Saturday night. Not only are the Great Danes making an appearance, they are also hosting it as the higher seeded team. Albany is seeking its first America East title and first bid into the NCAA Tournament. All-time, the Great Danes are 6-8 (.429) in league tournament action.
Retriever Believer
UMBC, the five seed, is making yet another Cinderella run after winning the program's first-ever America East championship as a seven seed in 2007. Saturday's game, in fact, will be just one-day shy of the five-year anniversary as the Retrievers captured the 2007 title on March 11, 2007. UMBC is 6-7 (.462) in tournament play in nine appearances since joining America East and is playing in its second title game.
Homecoming
When Albany and UMBC square off at the Great Danes' SEFCU Arena Saturday night, it will be the third straight year the America East women's basketball title game will be played the weekend following the semifinals and will be on the court of the highest remaining seed. The men's tournament has played with this format since 1996, but 2010 was the first season on the women's side. The first round, quarterfinals and semifinals were held Thursday, March 1-Sunday, March 4 at University of Hartford's Chase Arena.
The Jeanne Rowlands Trophy
The America East Women's Basketball Tournament Champions each year receive the Jeanne Rowlands Trophy named for the former Northeastern women's basketball head coach and the university's first women's athletic director from 1974-91. The trophy is named in her honor for her influence on the conference and the sport. Rowlands was a Title IX advocate before, during and after the bill's passage. Rowlands passed away in 2008 with Alzheimer's disease.
Put On Your Dancin' Shoes
A trip to the Big Dance is on the line Saturday night as the America East Champion will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament's field of 64 teams. For Albany, it would be a program first, and it would be the second time for UMBC. ESPN will present the exclusive live announcement of the 64-team NCAA Tournament field as part of its Selection Monday Special Show on Monday, March 12, from 7 to 8 p.m. ET.
Most Outstanding Player Award
The Most Outstanding Player Award is given each year to the most outstanding player in the America East Women’s Basketball Championship. Past winners include four-time honoree and the conference's all-time leading scorer Maine's Cindy Blodgett (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998), Maine's Rachel Bouchard, who won the award the first two years it was given (1990, 1991), and Sharon Bay, who led Vermont to back-to-back championships (1992-1993). Only four players have won multiple Most Outstanding Player Awards, including former Catamount Courtnay Pilypaitis who led Vermont to back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. Hartford junior guard Alex Hall took home the honor last season.
A Rare Matchup
A five seed and a two seed have not only never met for a tournament final, but the two seeds have never met in any round of the tournament. Albany and UMBC, two of the newest league members, can also cross each other off the list of teams they have never met in tournament play as this will be their first meeting. Stony Brook is now the lone current league member Albany has never played in the America East Championship, while Maine remains UMBC's last team to meet.
The Terrible Twos
This is the third straight year a number two seed has advanced to the title game after missing it eight of the previous nine years. The two seed has gone 1-1 in the previous two championship game appearances, with Vermont winning the title in 2010, and has won four championships in 14 all-time trips to the final. After Albany's quarterfinal and semifinal wins, No. 2 seeds are now 36-23 (.610) in tournament play.
Five And Alive
This will be just the second title game which features a No. 5 seed and the first since 2002. Hartford took home the title as the five seed 10 years ago in what was then the lowest seeded team to take home the Rowlands Trophy until UMBC's magical run as the seven seed five years later. The No. 5 seed is just 9-21 (.300) in America East Championship history with two of those wins belonging to UMBC last weekend and three to Hartford in 2002.
A Tale Of Two Teams
Albany and UMBC have taken two very distinct paths to the title game. Albany is having the best season in the program's Division I history, and after being picked fifth in the preseason coaches' poll, the Great Danes have overachieved for much of the season. Albany was in the running for the top seed up until the very last day of the regular season and even still has the program's highest-ever seeding for the America East Championship. The Great Danes defeated the tournament's seventh and sixth seeds to advance to Saturday's final. UMBC had high expectations entering the season as the preseason coaches' favorite. The Retrievers were coming off their best season in program history, a 2010-11 season which saw them win the America East Regular Season Championship but get bumped from the conference tournament as the one seed in the semifinals. UMBC, with a strong senior class, encountered injury after injury during the non-conference season and then failed to get one of the top four seeds for the tournament with a 9-7 America East mark. The Retrievers pulled off upsets over the four seed and the top seed en route to the conference championship game.
A Tale Of Two Teams Part II
The championship game pits the conference's top offense in UMBC against the conference's stingiest defense in Albany. The Retrievers average 60.3 points per game, including a season-high 77 points in the semifinal win against Boston U. Meanwhile, the Great Danes have held opponents to a conference-low 52.6 points per game and lead America East in steals (11.1 spg) and turnover margin (+3.9). Albany forced 50 turnovers in its first two tournament games. (28 - Vermont, 22 - Binghamton). During the regular season home-and-home series, the Great Danes swept the Retrievers with scores of 53-41 and 65-63.
Coach Abe Is Awesome
Albany Head Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, better known as Coach Abe, captured the 2012 Coach of the Year Award after leading the Great Danes to the program's first-ever 20-win season in the Division I era. Albany finished the regular season with a 20-9 mark, including 14-2 in conference play. Albany's overall wins and conference wins both mark the most for the program since the Great Danes joined America East for the 2001-02 season. Coach Abe has led Albany to nine straight wins including tournament play and the two seed, again a program best.
At The 'Stern'
UMBC head coach Phil Stern, now in his 10th season and the recipient of last year's Coach of the Year award, is the only other active coach besides Hartford's Jen Rizzotti to have won an America East Championship. He guided the Retrievers to the 2007 title as the seven seed. Prior to this season, Stern's only other tournament win aside from the title-run came in last year's quarterfinals when the top-seeded Retrievers topped Stony Brook to advance to the semifinals. In nine appearances including this year, Stern is 6-7 with a .462 winning percentage.
High Speed Chase
Freshman point guard Lauren Chase became the first UMBC player to pick up the America East Rookie of the Year award last week. Chase has been an impressive component to the Retrievers' offense which ranks tops in the league. The rookie is the top-scoring rookie in the conference with 8.5 points per game, but also leads America East with 4.6 assists per game. She is among league leaders averaging 33.1 minutes per game as well as 1.5 steals per game. Chase earned America East Rookie of the Week four times this year and dished out a league-high 11 assists on two occasions.
Hand It To Henry
Albany's Ebone Henry, the junior guard/forward from San Diego, Calif., is the first-ever two-time recipient in the 10 years of the Defensive Player of the Year award. She led the Great Danes to a league-low 52.4 points allowed per game during the regular season. Henry leads all active America East players in career steals and this season leads the conference with 2.7 thefts per game. As a team, the Great Danes lead the conference with 11.1 steals per game and a +3.9 turnover margin. Additionally, Henry ranks third with 14.1 points per game and eighth with 7.2 boards per game on her way to earning first-team all-conference honors for the second straight year.
Senioritis
UMBC sits on the shoulders of its senior class. The three member class of Erin Brown, Michelle Kurowski and Topé Obajolu has combined for 3,942 points, 1,807 rebounds and 489 assists over the last four years. Kurowski led the Retrievers to their semifinal win over Boston U. on Sunday with a tournament-high 25 points and averaged 17.0 ppg and 8.0 rpg through two tournament games. Brown averaged 13.0 ppg and Obajolu accumulated 12.5 ppg last week.
The 'Royals' Treatment
Albany freshman guard Sarah Royals led the Great Danes to their quarterfinal win over Vermont, having a career night while also writing herself into the record book. She scored a career-high 21 points on the strength of 14-of-18 shooting from the free-throw line. Her 14 made free throws tied the tournament's single-game mark, while her attempts set a new championship high. The rookie also snagged seven of the team's 18 steals, tying the record for second-most steals in the tournament game along with Maine's Cindy Blodgett and Northeastern's Charlene Blake.