Women's Basketball Aims For 10th Win Of Season At Home Tuesday Against Le Moyne
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team stays home on Tuesday looking to win back-to-back conference games as they will host Le Moyne for a 5:30 p.m. tip. Merrimack is looking to improve to 7-1 at home this season and are 4-1 in conference home games so far. The Warriors are coming off of a season-high 92 point effort in their last game against New Haven. The Warriors defeated the Chargers 92-74 at Hammel Court. Meanwhile the Dolphins enter the contest losers of two straight games and three straight conference games. The Dolphins were defeated by Franklin Pierce on the road by the score of 67-41 in their last contest.
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 11.3 rebounds per contest after hauling in 21 rebounds in their last outing. Schatzlein also is averaging 11.8 points per contest for the Warriors while sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has continued to grow this season, averaging 12.1 points to go along with 5.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds a game while shooting 41 percent from the floor. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 10.2 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 7.9 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 38 percent from the floor.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Dolphins enter with a 4-9 overall mark including a 2-7 conference record. Offensively Emily Greer leads the way averaging 10.1 points abd 7.5 rebounds per contest while Alex Marple is also averaging 10.0 points. Maggie Brown is averaging 8.7 points and 6.6 points for the Dolphins. As a team, Le Moyne averages 9.2 steals per game.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 15-12 against Le Moyne all-time including losing to the Dolphins last season by the score of 61-53.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 92 - NEW HAVEN 74):
The Merrimack women's basketball team scored a season-high 92 points in their 92-74 victory over the New Haven Chargers last time out at Hammel Court. The Warriors built a 24 point first half lead behind 59.4 percent from the floor. The Warriors were outscored by six in the second half but held on for the 18 point victory. Kelly Schatzlein had herself a monster game as she finished with 16 points, a season-high 21 rebouds, a career-high six blocked shots and four assists in the win. Two other Warriors recorded double figure scoring outputs as Jaclyn Lyons scored a career-high 22 points while point guard Chloe Rothman scored 18 points and dished out four assists. The Merrimack bench outscored the Chargers bench 24-9 and the Warriors converted 17 Chargers turnovers into 29 points of their own.
SCHATZLEIN RACKS UP SIXTH DOUBLE-DOUBLE OF SEASON:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein dominated the Chargers last time out as she finished the game with 16 points, 21 rebounds, a career-high six blocks and four assists for her sixth double-double of the season. Schatzlein finished the game 6-11 from the floor and grabbed seven offensive boards for the Warriors. Schatzlein now leads the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 11.3 boards per contest and if she can rack up 201 more rebounds this season she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
HOT SHOOTING FIRST HALF PROPELS WARRIORS:
The Merrimack Warriors had the best shooting half of the season on Saturday as they finished the half going 19-32 from the floor which was 59.4 percent. The Warriors scored a season-high 58 points in the half as they also made a season-high 16 first half free throws as they raced to a 24 point first half lead. The Warriors cooled down slightly in the second half but still finished the game shooting 44.3 percent from the floor.
POINTS OFF TURNOVERS KEY FOR MERRIMACK IN WIN:
A strenght of the Warriors all season long was forcing turnovers and turning them into points. The Warriors improved to 8-0 when they force more turnovers than their opponents. The Warriors forced 17 Chargers turnovers and Merrimack turend those into 29 points on the offensive side of the ball while they limited their 16 turnovers to only 12 points for New Haven. Tia Scott led the way defensively as she forced two turnovers and turned those into five points of her own in the second half.
WARRIORS DOMINATE BENCH BATTLE:
Another strength of the Warriors all season long has been the production of their bench players. On Saturday this continued as the Warriors improved to 7-2 on the season when their bench outscores their opponents bench. Merrimack finished the game with 24 bench points while the Chargers had nine. Ashley Weissmann and Tia Scott came off the bench and scored seven apiece while Cassi Amenta contributed with six points of her own in 17 minutes of action.
MERRIMACK HOLDS HUGE MARGIN OF VICTORY IN NINE WINS:
Merrimack already has four more wins than they had all last season, through only 13 games. The Warriors average margin of victory in their eight wins this season is impressive. The Warriors win their games by a average of 18.4 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.
