Women's Hoops Heads to Pace for Opening Round of the Northeast-10 Championship
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team hits the road for their first conference tournament game under Monique leBlanc. The Warriors took the #10 seed and will play at #7 Pace on Friday night. Merrimack finished the regular season with 15 wins, marking a 10 game improvement from last season. Merrimack has won four out of their last five conference games while the Setters enter the game with a overall record of 14-12 and a conference mark of 12-10. The Setters beat Merrimack earlier in the year by the score of 71-61.
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 ranks second in the NE-10 in rebounding averaging 10.6 rebounds per contest after finishing the Warriors last game with 16 points and 19 rebounds. Schatzlein also is averaging 12.1 points per contest for the Warriors while sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has continued to grow this season, averaging 11.8 points to go along with 4.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game. Seniors Jaclyn Lyons and Katie Ganser have enjoyed nice starts to the season as they are averaging 9.8 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 8.6 points per game and Tia Scott is averaging 5.3 points and 3.0 assists while starting the last seven contests. Shelby Secor has been solid all year in her starting role averaging 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds per game after scoring 12 points last time out on 6-for-6 from the floor.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Setters are led offensively by Brittany Shields who is averaging 15.1 points and 8.2 boards per game. The guard combo of Margo Hackett and Jessica Scannell are averaging 10.1 and 10.0 points per contest respectively.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 10-13 against Pace all-time including losing to the Setters earlier in the year at Bert hammel Court by the score of 71-61.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 70 - FRANKLIN PIERCE 50):
The Merrimack women's basketball team clinched the #10 seed in the upcoming Conference Championships after they defeated the Franklin Pierce Ravens by the score of 70-50 on Senior Night at Bert Hammel Court on Tuesday. The Warriors closed out the season series sweep of the Ravens behind 48 percent shooting from the floor. Leading the way for Merrimack offensively was senior captain Kelly Schatzlein who finished the game with 16 points and a game-high 19 rebounds in her final contest at Bert Hammel Court. Jaclyn Lyons also finished off her senior night with 14 points while going 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The freshman duo of Tia Scott and Ashley Weissmann continued their growth on Tuesday. Scott finished the game with five points, seven assists, three steals and three rebounds while Weissmann came off the bench and scored nine points, dished out three assists and grabbed two rebounds in only 17 minutes of action.
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE PLAYOFFS:
Merrimack qualified for the NE-10 Tournament for the first time under head coach Monique LeBlanc. The Warriors enter as one of the youngest teams in the field as only two players on their roster have Conference Tournament experience, Kelly Schatzlein and Katie Ganser. Schatzlein and Ganser played in the conference playoffs as freshman and sophomores. Of the nine other playoff teams, Merrimack has beat two of those teams including a sweep against Franklin Pierce.
SCHATZLEIN DOMINATES ON SENIOR NIGHT AT HAMMEL COURT:
Kelly Schatzlein continued her solid play on Senior night at Bert Hammel Court as she closed out the regular season with her 12th double-double, finishing with 16 points and 19 rebounds in the win over the Ravens. Schatzlein hauled in 17 defensive rebounds while going 6-for-9 from the floor in 32 minutes of action. Schatzlein finished the regular season with 18 games of 10 plus rebounds for the Warriors including a season-high 21 boards against New Haven.
SECOR AND WEISSMANN PUT UP BIG SECOND HALF NUMBERS:
The Warriors increased their lead in the second half mainly due to the efforts of Shelby Secor and Ashley Weissmann. Secor scored eight points in 10 minutes of action while Weissmann scored seven in just eight minutes for the Warriors. The two combined to go 6-for-7 from the floor in the second half after going 3-for-5 in the first half.
SCHATZLEIN SECOND IN NE-10 IN REBOUNDING:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein had a great senior day as she grabbed 19 boards and scored 16 points for her 12th double-double. Schatzlein finished the season ranked second in the NE-10 in rebounding, averaging 10.6 boards and 12.1 points per contest and is one of three players in the conference to average a double-double. If she can rack up 72 more rebounds this season, she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
LYONS LEADS NE-10 IN THREE POINT PERCENTAGE:
Merrimack senior Jaclyn Lyons has been the most consistent player on the court for the Warriors all season long as she ranks third on the team in points per game averaging 9.8 points. Lyons had a solid night as she scored 14 points on 2-for-4 from the three point line and 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Lyons finished the season ranked first in the NE-10 Conference in three point percentage, shooting 42.2 percent from behind the arc.
