Women's Hoops Returns Home For Conference Game With New Haven
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team returns home for their seventh home game of the season on Saturday afternoon as they will host the New Haven Chargers at Hammel Court. Merrimack is looking to improve to 6-1 at home this season and are 3-1 in conference home games so far. The Warriors are coming off of a 73-60 loss to conference foe Adelphi on Wednesday night on the road. Meanwhile the Chargers enter the contest losers of three straight games inlcuding losing their last game at home to Stonehill by the score of 73-70.
ABOUT MERRIMACK:
The Warriors offensive attack has been very spread out this season as they have had six players lead the team in scoring.The Warriors are led by their senior captain Kelly Schatzlein who leads the NE-10 in rebounding averaging 10.5 rebounds per contest. Schatzlein also is averaging 11.9 points per contest for the Warriors. Sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has continued to grow this season, averaging 11.6 points to go along with 5.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds a game while shooting 40 percent from the floor. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 9.1 and 5.2 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 8.0 points per game. Shelby Secor also has played well in her starting role as she is averaging 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest while shooting 39 percent from the floor.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Chargers enter the contest with a overall record of 6-6 while posting a conference mark of 5-3 so far this season. The Chargers have lost three straight games inlcuding two straight conference matchups. Briana Bradford leads the Chargers offensively averaging 13.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest while Aquillin Hayes is averaging 11.0 points and a team-high 9.0 rebounds per contest. For the season, New Haven is averaging 69.9 points per game while holding opponents to shooting 27.9 percent from deep.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 7-4 against New Haven all-time including beating the Chargers in their only matchup last season by the score of 91-78 on the road.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 60 - ADELPHI 73):
The Merrimack women's basketball team dropped their second straight conference game on Wednesday night to the Adelphi Panthers by the score of 73-60. The Warriors were outscored 11-2 in a crucial stretch of seven minutes in the second half, leading to the loss. For the game, the Warriors were led in scoring by Kelly Schatzlein who finished with 15 points to go along with six boards. Chloe Rothman continued to score for the Warriors as she finished with 12 points and eight rebounds to go along with two steals and a assist. Leading Merrimack's attack off the bench were a pair of freshman, Ashley Weissmann and Tia Scott. Weissmann finished with a team-high nine points off the bench to go with a career-high three steals while Scott finished with seven points, two steals and two boards in the loss.
SCHATZLEIN LEADS NORTHEAST-10 IN REBOUNDING:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein continues to be the best player on the floor for the Warriors as she led the team in scoring once again with 15 on Wednesday. Schatzlein also grabbed six boards while scoring 10 of her points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Schatzlein now leads the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.5 boards per contest and if she can rack up 222 more rebounds this season she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
SECOND HALF DROUGHT SINKS WARRIORS:
After playing well in the first half and taking a four point lead into the half, the Warriors went cold for a eight minute stretch down the line. Down just three with 9:43 to play, the Warriors were outscored 11-2 over the next eight minutes. The Warriors shot 1-for-12 from the floor and turned the ball over three times during the crucial stretch of the game. The lone Warrior to score during the stretch was Jaclyn Lyons who converted on a contested layup.
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS KEY FOR PANTHERS IN WIN:
A strenght of the Warriors all season long was forcing turnovers and turning them into points but on Wednesday this was not the case. The Panthers forced 22 Merrimack turnovers which ultimately led to 23 points for Adelphi. The Warriors forced 17 Panthers turnovers but could only turn those into 13 points on their end of the court. The Warriors failed to force 19 turnovers for the first time in seven games, since only forcing 14 against Saint Anselm on November 28.
WARRIORS COULDNT HANDLE SPREAD OUT SCORING ATTACK:
The Panthers were able to give the Warriors a taste of their own spread out scoring on Wednesday as five players scored in double figures. Jessica Kitrys led the way for the Panthers, scoring 15 points while Kelly Mannix scored 14. Jenna Halaby and Lauren Nuss finished the contest with 12 points each while Sade Jackson scored 11 points to go along with eight rebounds, eight assists and three blocks.
MERRIMACK HOLDS HUGE MARGIN OF VICTORY IN EIGHT WINS:
Merrimack already has three more wins than they had all last season, through only 12 games. The Warriors average margin of victory in their eight wins this season is impressive. The Warriors win their games by a average of 14.8 points. The Warriors have recorded wins of 48, 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.
