Women's Hoops Travels To Take On Saint Anselm On Wednesday
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team will hit the road on Wednesday to try and snap their current six game losing streak as they travel to take on the Saint Anselm Hawks. The Warriors enter the game with a 1-6 record over their last seven road games. The Warriors lost their last contest to #14 Stonehill by the score of 67-55. The Hawks enter the game with a 4-17 record and a 1-16 conference mark. Saint Anselm has lost 11 straight conference games including their last game vs. Bentley by the score of 61-21 at home.
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 10.4 rebounds per contest after finishing the Warriors last game with five rebounds and four points in the loss. Schatzlein also is averaging 11.5 points per contest for the Warriors while sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has continued to grow this season, averaging a team-high 12.4 points to go along with 4.8 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 10.0 and 4.3 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 8.7 points per game and Tia Scott is averaging 5.0 points and 2.3 assists while starting the last two contests. Shelby Secor has been solid all year in her starting role averaging 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Hawks enter the contest with a overall record of 4-17 and a conference mark of 1-16 after losing their last 11 conference games. Offensively the Hawks are led by Briana Jones who is averaging 9.7 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds per game while Allie Jones is averaging 8.1 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds. Saint Anselm is averaging 10.4 steals per contest, 2.0 more steals than the Warriors.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 23-39 against Saint Anselm all-time including defeating the Hawks last time out earlier this season at Bert Hammel Court by the score of 64-53.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 55 - STONEHILL 67):
The Merrimack women's basketball team could not stop their five game skid on Sunday night as they were downed by the #14 Stonehill Skyhawks by the score of 67-55 on the road. The Warriors were able to win the turnover battle by a margin of 22-16 but they could not convert on those turnovers as they were only able to score 15 points off 22 turnovers. Leading the way offensively for the Warriors was Shelby Secor who finished with a team-high 11 points and three rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes. Chloe Rothman came off the bench for the second straight game and scored 10 points while Melissa Miller scored seven points and grabbed four boards in just 12 minutes of action in the loss.
REBOUND BATTLE COSTS WARRIORS AGAINST STONEHILL:
One of the biggest problems for the Warriors during their current losing streak has been losing the rebounding category. This was the case on Sunday once again as the Warriors were out-rebounded by 19 as they fell to 4-7 on the season when their opponent grabs more boards. The Skyhawks grabbed 30 defensive rebounds on the night compared to 24 total rebounds grabbed by the Warriors.
SECOR LEADS WAY IN CAREER-HIGH 29 MINUTES:
Junior transfer Shelby Secor led the Warriors offensively on Sunday as she scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in a career-high 29 minutes of action in the loss. Secor finished the game going 5-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-3 from behind the arc to go along with one assist and one steal. Secor is now averaging 6.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in her first season.
WARRIORS WIN TURNOVER BATTLE BUT LOSE 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. Entering Sunday's game the Warriors held a 9-0 record when forcing more tunrovers but they were handed their first loss when doing so against the Skyhawks. The Warriors turned the ball over only 16 times compared to 22 Skyhawks turnovers. Stonehill turned the Warriors turnovers into 18 points while the Warriors were only able to score 15 points on Skyhawk mistakes.
SCHATZLEIN CONTINUES TO LEAD NE-10 IN REBOUNDING:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein could not get going offensively on Sunday against the Skyhawks as she only scored four points in the Warriors loss. She did grab a team-high five rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. Schatzlein leads the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.4 boards and 11.5 points per contest and is one of two players in the conference to average a double-double. If she can rack up 130 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 21 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.
