UNH Gets A Leg Up On The Field

New Hampshire and Maine played the league's first conference contest last night at Lundholm Gym with the Wildcats coming out victorious, 51-47 behind 18 points from junior Candace Williams and 17 points from Amy Simpson (on her 21st birthday, no less). The Black Bears' top scorer was point guard Kristin Baker with 11 points, but junior Brittany Boser also chipped in 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Home teams won over 62% of the time last season (45-27) in conference play. Home teams are now up 1-0 this year; we'll see if that trend continues tonight as three more conference openers will be played tonight. Here are quick previews of each:

Boston University (6-6) at Stony Brook (2-10), 7 p.m.
In the conference-opener for both teams, both squads come in going 1-1 in the last two games... Boston University picked up last season's game at Stony Brook on March 1 by a 12-point margin to finish the season sweep... The Seawolves are 1-3 at Pritchard Gym this season, while the Terriers are 3-3 on the road.

Binghamton (5-8) at Hartford (5-7) 7 p.m.
The Hawks return home for the first time in over a month (December 6) with 29 straight home-court victories under their belts... Binghamton finishes up a season-long five-game road stretch with its visit to Chase Arena.

UMBC (8-5) at Vermont (6-7) 7 p.m.
In a role reversal, the preseason favorite Catamounts host the first-place Retrievers for both teams' conference-openers... This game features four of the top-six scorers in America East this season (Carlee Cassidy, Michelle Kurowski, May Kotsopoulos and Courtnay Pilypaitis).

Also, as a closing note, Burlington Free Press writer John Fantino published his mid-season prediction of how the America East will look on March 7, the final day of the regular season.

Vermont Uses 3OTs to Defeat Dartmouth

Vermont defeated Dartmouth in the consolation round of the TD Banknorth Classic, 82-77, taking three overtime periods to do so. Junior May Kotsopoulos finished with a game-high 24 points, along with five assists and three steals. Junior Courtnay Pilypaitis netted 21 points, while senior Amy Rosenkrantz finished with her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Maine picked up its first win of the season, a 54-45 victory over UMass at the Augusta Civic Center. Kristin Baker filled her stat sheet with 16 points, five rebounds, six assists and a steal.

Also around the America East, Binghamton dropped Bryant at the Events Center, 68-61, led by Darryll Peterson's career-high 16 points. Boston U. fell to Portland at the KCRG-TV9 Tournament in Iowa City, Iowa, 62-74, to fall to 2-2 on the season.

Boston U. Wins Big Over Siena

Jesyka Burks-Wiley scored a game-high 20 points to lead Boston University to an 84-62 win over Siena in its home opener . Amarac Umez-Eronini added 18, while Kristi Dini tallied 14 points, five rebounds and four steals for the Terriers, who canned half of their 3-point attempts (9-of-18). In other action, Kristin Baker stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but Maine fell at Central Connecticut State, 65-57.

Three America East squads take floor on Friday. Hartford takes on No. 5/6 Duke in the first game of DePaul's tournament at 6:30. Binghamton hosts Portland St. at the Events Center in its home opener at 7, while UMBC faces Northern Illinois in the Seton Hall Basketball Classic at 8.