Women's Basketball Aims for Second Consecutive Win as They Head to Saint Michael's on Tuesday
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 Genn Roy who is averaging a team-high 17.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest so far this year. Roy is coming off of a season-high 27 point performance against UMass Lowell. Kelly Schatzlein is second on the team in scoring averaging 16.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per contest. Schatzlein is coming off of a career performance as she recorded 18 points and a career-high 22 rebounds in Saturday's win over UMass Lowell.The freshman guard duo of Chloe Rothman and Allison Wagner have performed well so far averaging 6.7 and 6.4 points per game respectively.
About The Competition:
The Purple Knights enter Tuesday's contest with a 4-5 (1-4 NE-10) record after losing their last contest to Stonehill 58-53. Saint Michael's is led offensively by Coreen Hennessey who is averaging 14.8 points and 3.0 assists per game. Nicole Adach is averaging 13.4 points and 7.7 rebounds so far this season.
All-Time Series:
The Warriors are 23-27 all-time against Saint Michael's including losing both matchups last season.
Last game (Merrimack 70 - UMass Lowell 65):
The Merrimack women's basketball team traveled to the Tsongas Center and defeated the River Hawks 70-65. Gennifer Roy scored a game-high 27 points and Kelly Schatzlein recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and a career-high 22 rebounds. Katie Ganser played well as she racked up seven points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes of action.
1,143 and counting:
Senior guard Gennifer Roy put together another great game on Saturday as she rackedup 27 points on 12-16 from the field. With her performance on Saturday, Roy moved into 12th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,143 career points. Roy is just 18 points shy of entering the top ten on the Merrimack womens basketball scoring charts. The senior has led the team in scoring five times this season. Roy is averaging a team-best 17.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game this year.
Schatzlein records fifth double-double of the season:
Junior forward Kelly Schatzlein put together her biggest game as a member of the Warriors as she reacked up 18 points and a career-high 22 rebounds in Saturday's victory at UMass Lowell. Schatzlein finished the game 7-12 from the field and 4-5 from the free throw line to go along with two assists and one block. The 22 rebounds is the biggest output in a Northeast-10 conference game this year. Schatzlein is now averaging a double-double with 16.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per contest. Schatzlein has racked up a team-high five double-doubles through seven games this year and has led the team in rebounding in all seven games.
Good rebounding key to Merrimacks first conference win:
One of the biggest problems for the Warriors team all year was rebounding the ball and giving up second chance points. Not somuch on Saturday afternoon in Merrimack's first conference victory of the season. The Warriors out rebounded the River Hawks 41-36 for the game and Kelly Schatzlein out rebounded the whole starting five for UMass Lowell. Merrimack racked up eight offensive rebounds that turned into 7 second chance points. The Warriors also limited the second chance poin ts of the River Hawks to win the contest.
Experienced returners lead way for Warriors:
The Warriors experienced players showed their true colors on Saturday afternoon as senior captain Gennifer Roy scored a team-high 27 points and junior Kelly Schatzlein scored 18 points and recorded a career-high 22 rebounds in the 70-65 victory over UMass Lowell. Junior Katie Ganser chipped in with one of her better performances of the young season a she racked up seven points and seven rebounds to give the Warriors the victory.
Points in the paint and Bench scoring favored River Hawks:
Umass Lowell's bench completly dominated the Warriors bench by outscoring them 25-8 for the game. Bianca Simmons led the River Hawks with 14 points off the bench and Sarah Bennett chipped in with eight points on 4-4 from the field. The Warriors eight bench points came from Jaclyn Lyons (four points), Angie Michalski (two points) and Melissa Miller (two points). The River Hawks also dominated the points in the paint battle as they outscored Merrimack 38-22 for the game. The Warriors only real inside threat was Kelly Schatzlein who scored 14 points inside the paint and racked up 22 rebounds.
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.
