NEWARK, Del. – The Albany women’s basketball team looks for its first-ever and America East’s fifth NCAA win as the Great Danes take on North Carolina on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2 at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark, Del. The game will be regionally televised on ESPN2 with Pam Ward and Rebecca Lobo on the call. The game also will be available nationally on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app for smartphones and tablets.
The 14th-seeded Great Danes (27-3) beat Hartford in the America East title game on Saturday to win its second-straight league crown and reach the NCAA tournament for the second time. The third-seeded Tar Heels (27-5) received an at-large bid out of the ACC.
Albany vs. North Carolina, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN2) – ESPN3
NCAA Primer
Albany claims Crown
The University at Albany won its second-straight America East title on Saturday, March 16 with a 61-52 win over No. 2 seed Hartford. The Great Danes became the eighth team in league history to win back-to-back titles. Albany won its first ever America East regular-season title to become the No. 1 seed and defeated the No. 5 seed and No. 2 seed on its championship run.
Danes Are Dancin'
Albany earned the America East's automatic NCAA berth by virtue of its America East Championship. The Great Danes, making the program's second-ever Division I postseason appearance, garnered a 14 seed and will face No. 3 seed North Carolina in Newark, Del., on Saturday night on ESPN2. The game will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. EST, 30 minutes following the No. 6 Delaware-No. 11 West Virginia matchup.
The League And The NCAAs
America East teams have found relative success as of late in the NCAA Tournament. Owning a 4-24 (.143) mark in 24 overall appearances, the league is 3-8 (.272) since 2006 with three of its NCAA wins coming in the seven most recent appearances. The last win for an America East team came when No. 10 Vermont upended No. 7 Wisconsin in the first round of the 2010 tournament. That year was also the last time the conference had multiple bids in the field of 64 teams as Hartford earned an at-large berth in 2010. Albany's No. 14 seed is just the third time an America East team has been seeded such. Hartford also received a No. 14 seed in 2005 and fell to No. 3 Rutgers in the first round. The highest seed given to an America East team was an eight seed to Vermont in 1993.
Dandy Danes
Albany has won 19-straight games entering the postseason, having won a school record 27 games this year. The 27-3 record is the best for an America East team since Hartford finished 27-4 in 2005-06. The team has set the program record for win in back-to-back seasons after winning 23 games last year. Albany became the fourth team in conference history and the first since Maine in 1996 to go undefeated in the conference regular season and win the league title.
Awesome Abe
University at Albany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson has led the Great Danes to more wins in each of her first three seasons in the Capital Region. After going 16-14 in her first season at the helm, Abrahamson-Henderson guided Albany to a program record 23-10 record in 2011-12 and the team's first-ever America East Championship title. The Great Danes went on to lose to reigning national champion Texas A&M in the NCAA Championship. This season, the Great Danes have set a program record yet again with 27 wins entering the tournament, winning their first-ever America East regular-season title, second America East tournament title, and completing just the seventh unbeaten conference season in league history.
Hand It To Henry
Albany's Ebone Henry became just the second player in conference history to earn both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors in the same season. The first player to ever win Defensive Player of the Year three times in a career, Henry is second in the conference in steals with 81, averaging 2.9 per game. She has been the anchor of a defense that allows only 49.0 points per game, which ranks third in the nation and is the lowest opponent points per game average in conference history. The senior is the one of only two players in the conference to rank in the top five of scoring, assists and steals.
National Rankings
Albany ranks in the top-15 of the country in six different categories. the Great Danes are No. 3 in scoring defense (49.0), 10th in scoring margin (18.4), 12th in field goal percentage (44.8), fifth in field goal percentage defense (33.2), seventh in rebound margin (+10.4) and 13th in steals (11.9).
On the Rebound
Albany forward Julie Forster enters the tournament third on the America East all-time rebounding list with 1,136 career boards. She is third in the league in rebounding aveage at 8.3 per game and is the active leader in double-doubles with 30.
America East All-Time Rebounding List
1. 1,351, Liz Coffin, Maine, 1984-88
2. 1,299, Rachel Bouchard, Maine, 1987-90
3. 1,136, Julie Forster, Albany, 2009-
4. 1,063, Colleen McNamara, Delaware, 1991-95
5. 1,056, Sheri Turnbull, Vermont, 1990-94