All About The Triples

Albany's Britney McGee went off for a career-high 30 points Wednesday night, including 7 three-pointers, leading the Great Danes to the 92-80 win over UMBC and snapping Albany's 10-game losing streak. Her fifth triple of the night pushed her into sole possession of second-place on the program's all-time three-pointer list. She now only trails alumnus Jen Schumacher's 197, which McGee should be able to eclipse during her senior season next year. UMBC was led in the game by freshman Michelle Kurowski's 25 points, while the league's leading scorer, Carlee Cassidy, was held to 4 points.

Despite leading for much of the way, Stony Brook fell victim to UNH in the end, 50-49. Junior Candace Williams paced the Wildcats with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but freshman Lauren Wells and junior Amy Simpson also ended up in double figures. Williams also added 3 blocks on the night. The Seawolves led in several categories, including steals (11-1), turnovers (9 against UNH's 20) and bench points (15-12), but ultimately, New Hampshire's rebounding (53-30) gave it the late-game surge to take its first lead of the game with 3 seconds remaining in the contest.

The third game of the night resulted in Vermont's fifth-straight win, 61-44 over Maine. Sy Janousek went 5-for-6 from behind the arc and finished with a team-high 17 points. Courtnay Pilypaitis ended up with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for another well-balanced night. The Catamount defense, which has proved to shut down conference opponents better than anybody else in the league, forced 20 turnovers and 13 steals, while limiting Maine's leading scorer, Brittany Boser to just 5 field goal attempts and and 2 points. Senior Colleen Kilmurray recorded a game-high 19 points for the Black Bears and pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds.

UNH Matches Last Year's AE Win Total

In Head Coach Kristin Cole's second year with the University of New Hampshire program, the Wildcats have matched their America East win total from the last two seasons, when they finished 4-12 both years in the conference. Just 9 games into the 2008-09 conference slate, UNH picked up its fourth win with a 73-65 win over visiting UMBC on Sunday. The Wildcats used a 15-0 run in the last 5 minutes of the first half to break away from a 17-17 tie with the Retrievers, and never relinquished the lead. Junior Candace Williams, who led all scorers with 11 points at the intermission, finished with 19 points, for her 23rd straight game in double figures this season. Williams, one of 4 Wildcats in double digits, recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and handed out 4 assists. Freshman point guard Abigail LaRosa also had a very strong game with her first career double-double of 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. She went 7-for-8 from the foul line, including 5-for-6 in the latter stages of the second half.

The league's leading scorer, UMBC junior guard Carlee Cassidy, came off the bench to net 24 points, leading the Retrievers. One of Cassidy's 4 three-pointers brought UMBC to within 4 points, 68-64 with 45.8 seconds left, but UNH's Williams sunk 1-of-2 free-throws after a Wildcat timeout to seal the home team victory.

Player and Rookie of the Week will be named Monday afternoon and action then returns on Wednesday evening with 3 more games. UMBC will return to Baltimore to host Vermont, while UNH travels to Orono on Thursday night for a rematch with Maine.

Eight Game Win Streak Alive & Well

The Boston University senior class is making sure it makes its mark on the 2008-09 season. For the fifth straight game, at least three of the four seniors--Kristi Dini, Christine Kinneary, Amarachi Umez-Eronini, and Jesyka Burks-Wiley--finished with double figure points. It was also the 15th time this season, in an 84-57 rout of UMBC at Case Gym. All four of those seniors are in America East's top-13 scorers this season, led by Burks-Wiley's 18.6 ppg, which is one major reason the Terriers are undefeated in 8 games and are 7-0 in conference play.

Wednesday night against the Retrievers, who were led by junior Carlee Cassidy's game-high 33 points, Burks-Wiley finished with 21 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a steal. Kinneary stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, a career-high 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals. Umez-Eronini put up 17 points, while sophomore Kerry Cashman also got in on the scoring with a career-high 11 points. The efficient Terrier offense shot 50% or better in both halves, and wound up going 33-for-64 (.516) for the game.

Across the Northeast in Vestal, N.Y., Binghamton and New Hampshire battled it out in the Events Center. The Bearcats won their third straight home game, topping the Wildcats, 76-59. The teams moved into a tie for 5th-place with 3-3 conference records. Four Bearcats netted double-figure points, including senior Laura Franceski who had a solid night with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks and a steal. The senior forward from Moscow, Pa. moved into third-place all-time in America East with 198 career blocks, one ahead of Delaware's Colleen McNamara (1991-95). Next up for Franceski: Northeastern's Katasha Artis with 220 rejected shots to her name. Binghamton's rookie point guard Andrea Holmes also continued to shine in conference play, finishing with 11 points, while adding 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The Wildcats, in the meantime, were led by juniors Candace Williams and Amy Simpson. Williams recorded her league-leading 7th double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Simpson registered 17 points.

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.

Terriers Take Out Crimson

Boston University cruised by Harvard Tuesday night 80-61. Jesyka Burks-Wiley finished with 23 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal and Aly Hinton chipped in with 11 points, nine boards, two assists, two steals and a block. Boston earned its 13th straight win at Case Gym, moving into a tie for 10th on the NCAA Division I chart for home court win streaks.

New Hampshire was further down the green line at Boston College, but couldn't get overcome the difference in size, falling, 85-43 to the Eagles. Albany fell to NJIT, 58-47, and Maine dropped a close game to Hofstra on Long Island, 60-56, despite Amanda Tewksbury's season-high 16 points.

Wednesday night brings two more games against Big East opponents. Hartford is at Louisville and Binghamton plays host to Villanova. The Bearcats' game will be televised regionally by Time Warner. Both of those games tip-off at 7 p.m.

Wildcats Win #1 On The Season

University of New Hampshire won its first game of the 2008-09 season, an 89-61 decision at Colgate Friday night. Five different Wildcats hit double figures, including junior Amy Simpson with a game-high 24 points. UNH shot 61.8% from the field and hit 14 treys for the game.

Five teams are in action Saturday. Hartford hosts St. Joseph's for a 1 p.m. game on NESN. The Hawks will try to extend their home win streak to 29 games. Also, Binghamton is at La Salle for a 1 p.m. tipoff, Holy Cross and Vermont face-off in Patrick Gym at 1:00, Northeastern is at Stony Brook for a 2 p.m. game, and UMBC hosts Towson beginning at 7 p.m.

UMBC, Boston U. and Maine Win At Home

UMBC defeated Navy, 85-77, in the first half of a women's-men's doubleheader in Catonsville. The win was backed by junior Carlee Cassidy's 32 points and freshman Michelle Kurowski's 30 points. The Terriers also won on their home court, 81-54 over Brown, extending their win streak at Case Gym to 15 games. Maine picked up its first win of the season at Alfond Arena over NEC foe Robert Morris, 54-52.

New Hampshire, Stony Brook, Albany and Hartford all fell Wednesday night against Harvard, Sacred Heart, Army, and Quinnipiac, respectively. Thursday is an off day and the Wildcats travel to face Colgate in the only game featured Friday night.

Hartford, Vermont Win Friday

Hartford defeated the Big South Champions, Liberty, 46-39, Friday afternoon in the George Washington Tournament and will play the Colonials Saturday at 5:30 p.m. for the tournament trophy. Erica Beverly posted her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards in the victory. Vermont also posted a win, 69-50 over Manhattan. The Catamounts have now won three-straight games after losing the first game of the TD Banknorth Classic in Burlington.

Three other teams played on Friday as New Hampshire fell to Long Island, 74-60, Stony brook dropped a match to St. John's, 61-49, and Brown upended Maine, 65-52, in Orono.

Seven teams are in action Saturday. Maine, Albany and Binghamton are at home, while New Hampshire, Boston U., UMBC and Hartford are all in tournament action on the road.