Women's Basketball Heads To Stonehill On Sunday For The NE-10 Quarterfinals
Game Notes (PDF)
THE PARTICULARS:
The Merrimack women's basketball team hits the road for their NE-10 quarterfinal matchup with the Stonehill Skyhawks on Sunday at 3 pm. The Warriors defeated #7 Pace in their opening round game by the score of 75-70 in overtime. The Skyhawks enter the quarterfinal game with a 23-3 overall record and are entering their 32nd straight NE-10 Conference Tournament.
ABOUT MERRIMACK:
The Warriors offensive attack was very spread out in their opening round victory over Pace on Friday night as they had four players score in double figures. 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 11.8 points per contest for the Warriors while sophomore point guard Chloe Rothman has flourished off the bench, averaging a team-high 11.9 points to go along with 4.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game. Senior Jaclyn Lyons has been the most consistent Warrior all season long as she is averaging a career-high 9.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while fellow senior Katie Ganser is averaging 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, starting all 27 games. Freshman Tia Scott has taken over the point guard duties for the Warriors and has done an excellent job as she is averaging 5.6 points, 3.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game while starting the last eight games. Newcomer Shelby Secor has started all 24 games she has appeared in and is averaging 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
ABOUT THE COMPETITION:
The Skyhawks are led offensively by Mary Louise Dixon who is averaging 13.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists per contest. Tori Faieta is averaging 12.3 points and 8.0 rebounds while Asia Ewing is averaging 12.2 points and 7.2 boards per game. As a team, the Skyhawks are shooting 76 percent from the free throw line.
ALL-TIME SERIES:
The Warriors are 10-62 against Stonehill all-time including losing both contests to the Skyhawks in the regular season.
LAST GAME (MERRIMACK 75 - PACE 70 OT):
The Merrimack women's basketball team won their first playoff game in two seasons on Friday night as they came back from as many as 19 points in the second half to win, 75-70 in overtime. Chloe Rothman drilled the game-tying jumper to force overtime and then in the overtime session Allison Wagner scored six big points and drew a game-winning charge. Four Warriors scored in double figures as Tia Scott scored a caree-high 15 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. Ashley Weissmann and Rothman came off the bench and scored 14 and 13 points respectively in the win. The Warriors also held the Setters to only 21.7 percent from the floor in the second half and only 2-for-10 from the floor in the overtime period.
SECOND HALF DEFENSE LEADS WARRIORS TO COMEBACK WIN:
After allowing the Setters to shoot 53.6 percent from the floor in the first half and falling behind by 15 points, the Warriors defense in the second half clamped down. The Warriors overcame a 19 point second half deficit behind a stingy defense that held the Setters to 21.7 percent from the floor in the second half and 20 percent in the overtime period. The young Warriors also forced eight turnovers in the second half and overtime to propel them into the quarterfinals for the first time under head coach Monique LeBlanc.
FOUR WARRIORS SCORE IN DOUBLE FIGURES AT PACE:
The Warriors had four players score in double figures against Pace for the first time since the Warriors defeated Le Moyne on January 15. Tia Scott led the way with 15 points while fellow freshman Ashley Weissmann finished with 14. Chloe Rothman and Shelby Secor were the other Warriors to break the 10-point plateau with 13 and 10 points respectively.
BENCH SCORING AND REBOUNDING PROPELS MERRIMACK:
Two major keys to the Warriors success this season is rebounding and bench play and on Friday night the Warriors won both of these categories in the overtime win. The Warriors bench dominated by outscoring the Setters 38-12 while they out-rebounded Pace 47-39. The Warriors improved to 10-2 this season when they grab more rebounds than their opponents and 13-6 when their bench outscores their opponents. Leading the way off the bench for Merrimack was Ashley Weissmann who scored 14 points and Chloe Rothman who finished with 13.
SENIORS HELP WARRIORS MOVE ON TO QUARTERFINALS:
Two of the three Warrior seniors were the only players on the team that had any playoff experience before Friday night and on Friday night, the senior class stepped up and hit big shots to seal the win for the Warriors. Although the seniors only combined for 12 points, Jaclyn Lyons hit a huge three pointer in overtime and Kelly Schatzlein made a huge layup at the end of the half to lead Merrimack to victory. Lyons finished the season ranked first in the NE-10 Conference in three point percentage, shooting 43.1 percent from behind the arc.
SCHATZLEIN EARNS THIRD TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES:
Senior Kelly Schatzlein finished the regular season as one of only three players in the Northeast-10 to average a double-double with 11.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per contest. She currently ranks sixth on the Warriors all-time scoring list and second on the rebounding list. If she can rack up 62 more rebounds this season, she will be only the second Warrior ever to rack up 1,000 career rebounds and 1,000 career points.
