Women’s #AEHoops Championship Comes Down to Final Day
BOSTON – The women’s #AEHoops regular season championship and overall top seed in the #AEPlayoffs will be decided on Saturday between UAlbany and Maine to highlight and strong Saturday of action across the league.
For a complete breakdown of relevant tiebreaks for playoff seeding, see the bottom of this release.
UAlbany (13-2) at Maine (13-2) – 1 PM
The schedule makers set it up perfectly as the two teams battling for the regular season crown will face each other on the final day of the season. Maine is 7-1 over its last eight contests, averaging 66.3 points per game and allowed just 53.9. UAlbany, meanwhile, is 6-2 over that same span and giving up a league-best 51.1 ppg. However, the Great Danes are only averaging 52.3 ppg.
This game features three of the top five scorers in the league, led by Anne Simone (18.7) and Adrianna Smith (16.2) of Maine. Kayla Cooper has been UAlbany’s rock with 15.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. These teams met in UAlbany back on Jan. 25 as the Great Danes earned the 54-47 victory. These two programs have won at least a share of the regular season championship nine times in the last 11 years. UAlbany graduate student Helene Haegerstrand will be appearing in her conference-record 140th career contest.
Binghamton (7-8) at New Hampshire (3-12) – 1 PM
The Bearcats have clinched the No. 5 seed in the #AEPlayoffs and have their best conference record since 2020, but look for more on Saturday. New Hampshire, meanwhile, has dropped six straight games and needs to win and get some help to clinch a berth in the #AEPlayoffs. The Bearcats earned a 73-63 victory over the Wildcats earlier this season and had the third-best scoring offense in the league during the month of February (60.3 ppg). UNH was seventh in scoring offense at 51.1 ppg last month, while allowing 61.0 ppg. The Bearcats allowed just 53.4 for the third best scoring margin in the league at +6.9 ppg.
Bryant (8-7) at NJIT (3-12) – 2 PM
Over the last month the Bulldogs have come into their own. They are 8-7 overall and have secured the No. 4 seed in the #AEPlayoffs no matter the result of Saturday thanks to a 2-0 sweep of Binghamton during the regular season. NJIT kept its season alive on Thursday night with a 77-76 overtime victory at UMBC, improving to 3-12. The Highlanders own the tiebreak over New Hampshire, if both teams lose or win on Saturday. They’ve won 2 of 3 after starting league play 0-9. Bryant’s Mariona Planes Fortuny has been a force ranking second in the league in February in scoring at 18.3 ppg while shooting 51 percent from the floor. Bryant won the first contest between the teams, 73-64.
Vermont (11-4) at UMass Lowell (4-11) – 3 PM
The Catamounts have secured a top-four seed for the third consecutive season as they are locked in the No. 3 position in the #AEPlayoffs. Vermont had a league-best scoring margin of +13 in February, scoring 64.4 points per game while shooting 39.6 percent from beyond the arc and going 5-3 in the month. Andjela Matic had a league-best 21 threes in the month and averaged 11.3 ppg. UMass Lowell went just 1-7 in the month of February, averaging a league-low 51.1 ppg while allowing 65.3 ppg. Freshman Abbey Lindsey has been a bright spot for the offense, averaging a team-best 12.3 points per game over that span. Vermont earned a 62-53 win in the first matchup between the two teams.
America East Tiebreak Procedures
Tie-breaking procedure. Ties for championship seeding will be broken from the top of the standings
down. In the event of a tie between two or more teams, the tie shall be broken using the following
criteria in order:
(a) Winning percentage in conference games versus the other teams with which it is tied (i.e., head-to-head-competition).
(b) 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 (i.e., teams with identical records yet to be broken by tie break) when comparing records, each team’s record (winning percentage) versus the tied teams is used rather than the performance versus the individual tied teams.
(c) 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.
(d) Better NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking through end of conference regular-season games.
(e) Draw conducted by the Commissioner or his/her/their designee.
Note: Once a tie is broken among three or more teams, immediately return to (a) to break the tie between the remaining teams.
Current Tiebreaks In Play
UMass Lowell and New Hampshire (4-12)
- New Hampshire wins the tiebreak.
- UNH and UMass Lowell both went 1-1 against each other
- Both teams are 0-2 against Maine, UAlbany, Vermont and Bryant
- UNH is 1-1 against Binghamton while UMass Lowell is 0-2
UMass Lowell and NJIT (4-12)
- NJIT wins the tiebreak.
- UMass Lowell and NJIT both are 0-2 against UAlbany, Maine and Vermont
- NJIT is 1-1 against Bryant while UMass Lowell is 0-2
New Hampshire and NJIT (4-12)
- NJIT win the tiebreak
- UNH and NJIT both went 1-1 against each other
- Both team are 0-2 against Maine, UAlbany and Vermont
- UNH is 0-2 against Bryant while NJIT is 1-1
New Hampshire and NJIT (3-13)
- NJIT wins tiebreak
- UNH and NJIT both went 1-1 against each other
- Both team are 0-2 against Maine, UAlbany, Bryant and Binghamton
- UNH and NJIT are both 1-1 against UMBC and UMass Lowell
- UNH is 0-8 on the road while NJIT is 2-6
UMass Lowell, New Hampshire, NJIT Three-way Tiebreak (4-12)
If UMass Lowell, New Hampshire and NJIT finish tied at 4-12, NJIT would win the tiebreak and the No. 7 seed. UNH would be the No. 8 seed and UML would be eliminated.
- UMass Lowell, UNH and NJIT all went 2-2 against each other.
- All three teams went 0-2 against Maine, UAlbany and Vermont.
- NJIT went 1-1 against Bryant, while UMass Lowell and UNH went 0-2
- NJIT earns the No. 7 seed and the tiebreak reverts back to UMass Lowell and NJIT head-to-head.
- UNH and UMass Lowell both went 1-1 against each other
- Both teams are 0-2 against Maine, UAlbany, Vermont and Bryant
- UNH is 1-1 against Binghamton while UMass Lowell is 0-2
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