Women's Hoops Wraps Up Non Conference Slate On Wednesday; Hosts St. Thomas Aquinas
Game Notes (PDF)
Admission to the game on Wednesday night against St. Thomas Aquinas at 5 p.m. is free. Come support your Warriors in their final game before break.
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team returns home for their fourth of five straight home games at Bert Hammel Court on Wednesday night against St. Thomas Aquinas. Merrimack has won their previous three home games and are 4-0 at home so far this season. The Warriors are coming off of a 57-42 victory over the Molloy Lions Saturday afternoon to improve to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in NE-10 action. St. Thomas Aquinas enters the contest after their their last game against Pace by the score of 57-54. The Spartans enter the game with a overall record of 4-6 and a conference mark of 1-1. The Lions were defeated by the lone NE-10 team they played this season, Pace.
ABOUT MERRIMACK:
The Warriors offensive attack has been very spread out this season as they have had six players lead the team in scoring through nine games. The Warriors are led by their senior captain Kelly Schatzlein who recorded her fourth double-double in five games last time out and now averages 10.9 points and a NE-10 best 10.7 rebounds per contest. Sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has continued to grow this season, averaging 10.2 points to go along with 6.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds a game. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 8.8 and 5.9 points per game so far. The bench has been a strenght of the Warriors all year, Ashley Weissmann leads the bunch off the bench, scoring 8.6 points per game. Melissa Miller has also impressed as of late as she is averaging 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Spartans enter the game with a 4-6 overall mark and a 1-1 conference record. They have won two of their last three games. Shpresa Liharevic leads the Spartans offensively as she is averaging 12.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest. Briana Cook is averaging 8.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and shooting 43 percent from the floor. The Spartans are holding opponents to 56.7 points per game so far.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 1-1 against St. Thomas Aquinas all-time.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 57 - MOLLOY 42):
The Merrimack women's basketball team stayed hot at home winning their fourth straight home contest on Saturday as they defeated Molloy by the score of 57-42. Merrimack was led all afternoon by their two senior captains who combined for 23 points and 20 rebounds for the game. Kelly Schatzlein continued to lead the way offensively as she scored a game-high 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Katie Ganser scored 11 and grabbed a season-high nine boards. Shelby Secor also gave the Warriors a presence down low as she finished off her impressive game with 10 points and five rebounds in a season-high 23 minutes of action. Getting her first collegiate start, Ashley Weissmann finished off her game with seven points to go along with a career-high seven rebounds in the victory.
SCHATZLEIN HAULS IN ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein continued to play well on Saturday as she recorded her fourth double-double in five games against Molloy. Schatzlein finished the game with a game-high 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Warriors to go along with two blocks and two steals to lead Merrimack. Schatzlein now leads the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.7 boards per contest and if she can rack up 252 more rebounds this season she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
STRONG GAME FROM GANSER PROPELS WARRIORS:
Senior captain Katie Ganser has provided some much need experience all season long to this young Warrior team and on Saturday Ganser led by example, scoring 11 points and grabbing a season-high nine rebounds to secure the victory for Merrimack. Ganser grabbed five offensive rebounds to go along with two assists, one block and one steal in 27 minutes of action on Saturday. Her 11 point effort, is the most points in a game since her 17 point effort in the season opening win at Franklin Pierce.
WARRIORS DOMINANT THE LIONS IN THE PAINT:
In their two losses this season, Merrimack has been outscored in the paint so on Saturday the Warriors did not allow this to happen. The Warriors outscored the Lions 32-14 in points in the paint for the game, led by Schatzlein, Ganser and Secor, who all broke the 10 point plateau in the win. The Warriors also received 13 second chance points on the afternoon with a majority of those points coming in the paint. For the season, Merrimack is undefeated when they outscore their opponent in the paint.
WARRIORS WIN TURNOVER BATTLE AGAIN:
One of the keys to success this season for the Warriors has been turning the ball over less than their opponents and on Saturday this continued. The Warriors forced 19 turnovers, marking the fourth straight game of causing at least 19 turnovers from their opponents. The Warriors took the 19 turnovers and turned those into 14 points of their own. Merrimack improves to 6-0 on the season when they turn the ball over less than their opponents.
MERRIMACK HOLDS HUGE MARGIN OF VICTORY IN SEVEN WINS:
Merrimack already has two more wins than they had all last season, through only nine games. The Warriors average margin of victory in their seven wins this season is impressive. The Warriors win their games by a average of 14.3 points. The Warriors have recorded wins of 30 points, 20 points, 18 points, 15 points and 11 points so far this season. The young Warriors are learning how to close out games which was a problem they could not overcome last year with the game in the balance, nearing the end of the game.
