Women's Hoops Heads To Stonehill For Conference Showdown Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team will hit the road on Sunday to try and snap their current five game losing streak as they travel to take on the Stonehill Skyhawks. The Warriors enter the game with a 1-5 record over their last six road games. The Warriors lost their last contest to #2 Bentley by the score of 72-58. The Skyhawks enter the game with a 17-3 record and a 13-3 conference mark. Stonehill lost their last game at Franklin Pierce by the score of 72-50 after winning three straight conference games.
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 10.6 rebounds per contest after recording her ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. 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 12.5 points to go along with 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 10.3 and 4.4 points per game so far. The bench has been a strength of the Warriors all year, Ashley Weissmann leads the bunch off the bench, scoring 9.1 points per game and Tia Scott is averaging 4.6 points and 2.1 assists. Shelby Secor has been solid all year in her starting role averaging 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Skyhawks enter the contest with a overall record of 17-3 and a conference mark of 13-3 after losing their last conference game. The Skyhawks are led offensively by Mary Louise Dixon who is averaging 12.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per contest while Tori Faieta is averaging 12 points and a team-high 8.0 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the floor. Asia Ewing is playing well so far this season as she is averaging 10.8 points and 7.0 rebounds per outing.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 10-61 against Stonehill all-time including losing 84-67 to the Skyhawks last time out earlier this season at Bert Hammel Court.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 58 - BENTLEY 72):
The Merrimack women's basketball team could not stop their four game skid on Wednesday night as they were downed by the #2 Bentley Falcons by the score of 72-58 at Bert Hammel Court. The Warriors were only given three free throw attempts all game while the Falcons took 24. The Warriors biggest problem of late has been ball security and they turned the ball over 20 times which led to 26 points for the Falcons. Kelly Schatzlein led the way for the Warriors as she racked up her ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards while Chloe Rothman came off the bench for the first time and scored 13 points on 5-of-8 from the floor including 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Merrimack drops to 2-9 on the season when they lose the turnover battle.
FREE THROW DIFFERENTIAL COSTS WARRIORS GAME:
The stat that stuck out the most from the Warriors loss on Wednesday was the free throw differential. The Warriors only attempted three free throws, two of which they made, while the Falcons attempted 24 free throws, making 15. For the game, Merrimack was whistled for 22 fouls as a team while the Bentley Falcons only committed 10 fouls all game.
ROTHMAN LEADS WAY OFF BENCH FOR FIRST TIME:
Sophomore Chloe Rothman came off the bench for the Warriors last game for the first time in her young career. Rothman performed well off the bench as she scored a team-high 13 points on 5-of-8 from the floor including going 3-of-3 from three point range. She also dished out a team-high four assists in the loss in only 22 minutes of action.
TURNOVERS HURT WARRIORS FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT GAME:
One of the keys to every Merrimack win this season has been forcing their opponents to turn the ball over more than they do. The Warriors hold a 9-0 record when they force more turnovers but on Wednesday Merrimack lost this battle and eventually lost the game. The Warriors turned the ball over 20 times compared to 13 Falcons turnovers. Bentley converted on their forced turnovers scoring 26 points of their own on Merrimack mistakes while Merrimack only scored 13 points off turnovers.
SCHATZLEIN CONTINUES TO LEAD NE-10 IN REBOUNDING:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein got back on track on Wednesday night against Bentley as she finished the game with her ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Warriors. Schatzlein leads the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.6 boards and 11.8 points per contest and is one of two players in the conference to average a double-double. If she can rack up 135 more rebounds this season, she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
MERRIMACK HOLDS HUGE MARGIN OF VICTORY IN 11 WINS:
Merrimack already has more than doubled the amount of wins that they had all last season, through 20 games. The Warriors average margin of victory in their 11 wins this season is impressive. The Warriors win their games by a average of 16.2 points. The Warriors have recorded wins of 48, 30 points, 20 points, 18 points twice, 15 points, 11 points and eight 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, winning three games by five points of less.
