Women's Basketball Stays Home For Tuesday Night Game Against Saint Rose
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS: The Merrimack women's basketball team returns home for a midweek conference showdown with the Saint Rose Golden Knights on Tuesday evening at 5:30 pm. The Warriors are coming off of an 62-50defeat at the hands of the Owls, while the Golden Knights are coming off of an 67-47 loss against Bentley on Saturday afternoon.
ABOUT MERRIMACK: The Warriors are led by Gennifer Roy who is averaging a team-high 16.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per contest this season. Roy is coming off of a 10 point outing against Southern Connecticut State, shooting 3-15 from the field. Kelly Schatzlein is second on the team in scoring averaging 14.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest. Schatzlein is coming off of her eighth double-double of the season, scoring 11 and grabbing 10 rebounds. The freshman guard duo of Chloe Rothman and Allison Wagner have performed well so far with Rothman averaging 9.4 points and 4.8 assists and Wagner averaging 6.8 points and hitting a team-high 20 threes.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION: The Golden Knights enter Tuesday's contest with a 9-6 overall record after losing their last game to the Bentley Falcons 67-47. Saint Rose is led offensively by Ashley Rath who is averaging 17.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Ola Shajuyigne is averaging 11.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game so far this season. Ali Johnson is contributing with 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game this season while starting all 15 contests. The Golden Knights are shooting a remarkable 76.3 percent from the free throw line on the season led by Ashley Rath who is making 86.2 percent of her free throws.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Warriors are 9-11 all-time against Saint Rose. Merrimack lost their only matchup with the Golden Knights last season by the score of 77-73 in Overtime. Gennifer Roy led the way for the Warriors with 18 points and five rebounds on 6-11 from the field.
Last Game (Merrimack 50 - Souther Connecticut State 62): The Merrimack women's basketball team was defeated on Saturday afternoon in front of the home fans at Hammel Court by the score of 62-50. The Warriors were down two points at halftime but they were unable to hold onto the ball in the second half as they turned the ball over 29 times in the loss. Three Warriors scored in double figures on Saturday as Allison Wagner led the team with 13 points on 5-9 from the field and 3-7 from the three point range. Kelly Schatzlein recorded her eighth double-double as she scored 11 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. Gennifer Roy had 10 points and four rebounds in the loss. The Warriors shot 41.7 percent from the field but were unable to win the game on Saturday afternoon.
ROY CONTINUES TO CLIMB ALL-TIME SCORING CHARTS: Senior guard Gennifer Roy put together another steady performance for the Warriors Saturday. Roy finished the game with 10 points on 3-15 from the field including 4-4 from the free throw line. With her performance on Saturday Roy moved is now 7th place on the all-time scoring list with 1,252 career points. Roy is just nine points shy of sixth place on the Merrimack womens basketball scoring charts. The senior has led the team in scoring seven times this season. Roy is averaging 16.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this year.
SCHATZLEIN TALLIES EIGHTH DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Junior forward Kelly Schatzlein continued her steady play for the Warriors as she recorded another double-double in the loss. Schatzlein scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on 5-10 from the field and 1-5 from the free throw line. Schatzlein is third in the conference in rebounds with 9.9 per contest and second in blocks per contest with 1.7 a game. She is also sixth in the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 55.5 percent. Schatzlein is now averaging 14.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per contest this season. Schatzlein has racked up a team-high eight double-doubles through fourteen games this year and has led the team in rebounding in 12 of 14 games.
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS AND SECOND CHANCE SCORING KILL WARRIORS: One of the biggest problems for the Warriors team all year has been allowing their opponents to get on the offensive glass. The Warriors allowed 17 offensive rebounds on Saturday and were outscored 12-5 in the second chance scoring category. The Warriors biggest problem on Saturday however was protecting the ball against Southern Connecticut, turning the ball over 29 times. The Owls turned the 29 turnovers into 23 points as they outscored Merrimack 23-9 in points off turnovers. Another key to the Merrimack loss was points in the paint. The Owls outscored the Warriors 30-24 in points in the paint as Moni Smith-Ocran scored all 12 of her points in the paint against Merrimack. Kelly Schatzlein led the Warriors in paint scoring as she racked up 10 points.
ROTHMAN CONTINUES STRONG POINT GUARD PLAY: Freshman point guard Chloe Rothman continued her solid play running the team on Saturday afternoon as she recorded seven points in the loss. Rothman went 3-5 from the field including 1-2 from three point range. Rothman also chipped in grabing six defensive rebounds and dishing out five assists. Rothman only played 28 minutes against the Owls as Allison Wagner took away some minutes in her return to the lineup.
MERRIMACK'S NEW HEAD COACH MONIQUE LEBLANC: Monique LeBlanc is entering 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.
