Women's Basketball Heads to Tsongas for Showdown with UMass Lowell
Complete Game Notes (pdf)
The Particulars:
The Merrimack women's basketball team travels to the Tsongas Center for its third consecutive road contest as they will take on the UMass Lowell River Hawks on Saturday. The Warriors are coming off of an 70-64 OT loss to Saint Anselm. UMass is coming off of an 76-72 win on the road at Stonehill.
About Merrimack:
The Warriors are led by Kelly Schatzlein who is averaging 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest. Genn Roy is the teams second leading scorer at 15.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest. Roy is coming off of a season-high 26 point performance against Saint Anselm. The freshman guard duo of Chloe Rothman and Allison Wagner have performed well so far as Wagner is averaging 7.0 per contest while Rothman is scoring at a 6.7 point per game clip. Jaclyn Lyons has played well off the bench averaging 8.3 points per contest.
About The Competition:
The River Hawks enter Saturday's contest with a 2-4 (1-3 NE-10) record after winning their last contest against Stonehill 76-72. UMass Lowell is led offensively by Brianna Wilson who is averaging 13.7 points per contest and 4.7 rebounds per game. Sha'Nay Bushner is hard to handle down low as she is averaging 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest so far this year.
All-Time Series:
The Warriors are 14-23 all-time against UMass Lowell including losing both games against the River Hawks last season.
1,116 and counting:
Senior guard Gennifer Roy got back on track against Saint Anselm as she scored a game-high 26 points on 10-21 from the field. With her performance on Wednesday, Roy moved into 13th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,116 career points. Roy is just 45 points shy of entering the top ten on the Merrimack womens basketball scoring charts. The senior has led the team in scoring four times this season.
Schatzlein records fourth double-double of the season:
Junior forward Kelly Schatzlein put together aother solid performance in Merrimack's loss on Wednesday as she recorded 14 points and 11 rebounds. Schatzlein's performance on Wednesday was her fourth double-double of the season. Schatzlein finished the game 7-13 from the field to go along with three blocks. Schatzlein snagged a season-high five offensive rebounds in the losing effort. Schatzlein is averaging a team best 16.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and two blocked shots per contest so far this season for the Warriors. Schtzlein is leading the Northeast-10 conference in field goal percentage shooting an amazing 65 percent from the field on the season. Her 9.8 rebounds per contest also ranks her third in the conference in rebounding.
Offensive rebounds hurt merrimack against Saint Anselm:
The Warriors were dominated on the offensive boards by the bigger Saint Anselm squad on Wednesday night. The Hawks outrebounded Merrimack 47-39 including 21 offensive rebounds to Merrimacks 16. The Hawks also responded with 19 second chance points off of their offensive boards which proved to be the key factor in their victory. Saint Anselm also controlled the points off turnover category as they outscored Merrimack 25-13 for the game. The Warriors limited the points off turnovers in the second half but they dug themselves too much of a hole in the first half to come out with the victory.
Newcomers continue to make strides:
The newcomers for the Warriors contributed 18 points on the afternoon as Jaclyn Lyons led the way with 11 points on 3-10 from the field and 4-4 from the line to go along with one assist. Chloe Rothman continued her solid play as she recorded five points on 1-5 from the floor and 1-1 from deep. Rothman also added six assists in the losing effort and ranks second in the conference in three point percentage making 54.5 percent of her shots from downtown. Melissa Miller put in a solid game on the boards as she recorded five rebounds, all on the defensive side of the ball and two points to go along with an assist. Angie Michalski put in a career-high 19 minutes for the Warriors in the loss.
Points in the paint Favored Hawks:
The Warriors were dominated on Wednesday night inside the paint as they were outscored 34-28 by the Hawks. Megan Howard and Curran Leighton were a forced down low all day as they scored most of their points within the paint. Kelly Schatzlein led the way for the Warriors in the paint as she regularly does as she had 14 points, all of which from inside the painted area. The Hawks did a good job of securing rebounds inside the paint as well as they outrebounded the Warriors 47-39 inclduing 21 offensive boards that turned into points for the home team. The Hawks doubled up the Warriors in the first half in points in the paint as they scored 20 points within the paint to start.
Merrimack's New Head Coach Monique LeBlanc:
Monique LeBlanc is enterng her first season as head coach of the Merrimack Warriors. LeBlanc brings over seven years of division I coaching experience to North Andover. LeBlanc spent the last three seasons as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Northern Arizona University. LeBlanc also served as the teams academic mentor, Northern Arizona had a team GPA of 3.4 in 2010, which ranked 13th among all division I women's basketball programs. LeBlanc also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater Bucknell where her team captured the Patriot league title in 2007 and 2008 and earned a NCAA Tournament Berth in 2008. LeBlanc was a two year captain of the Bisons as a player. She led her team to its first-ever Patriot League Championship and NCAA Tournament Berth, while compiling back-to-back 20-win seasons.
