Women’s Basketball Heads to Sacred Heart for First NEC Contest

Matchup	Merrimack (7-4) at Sacred Heart (3-8)
Date/Time	Thursday, January 2, 2019 // 5 p.m.
Venue	Pitt Center // Fairfield, Conn.
Multimedia	Live Stats // Watch // Twitter // Instagram

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team will travel to Sacred Heart University for its first Northeast Conference (NEC) game in school history.  The Warriors are currently in first place in the conference with a 7-4 record after non-conference play.  Merrimack also holds the only winning record in the conference after the first two months of the season.  Heading into NEC play women's basketball will look to be the second school of year to capture the conference regular season crown.

Five Things to Know:

• Fresh off the heels of her third NEC Player of the Week award, senior Denia Davis-Stewart will look to continue her excellent statistical season for the Warriors.  Davis-Stewart currently leads the conference in scoring (18.3) rebounding (13.3) and blocks per game (5.0).  Last time out against the University of Vermont she scored 21 points and pulled in 22 rebounds for her second 20-20 game of her career.
• Freshman Jayme DeCesare currently ranks second in the country in assist to turnover ratio.  The point guard has 46 assists to only nine turnovers on the season.  She is also averaging 9.1 points a game to help the Warriors in the scoring department.    
• Sophomore guard Kate Mager currently ranks in the top 20 in the country in three-point percentage on the season.  Mager is shooting the long ball at a 46% clip which puts her tied for 18^th in the nation.
• Merrimack College has committed the fourth fewest fouls in the country so far this season.  The Warriors have only fouled their opponents a total of 128 times, which only ranks them behind Texas Tech, Penn, and UConn.  
• Sacred Heart comes into NEC play with a 3-8 record.  Junior Adrianna Hagood leads them in scoring with 15.9 points a game.

Scouting the Opposition

Merrimack (7-4)	Stat Category	Sacred Heart (3-8)
69.4	Points Per Game	58.2
58.4	Points Allowed Per Game	69.7
.391	Field Goal Percentage	.358
.366	Three-Point FG Percentage	.305
41.4	Rebounds Per Game	32.7
Denia Davis Stewart (18.3 ppg­)	Points Leader	Adrianne Hagood (15.9 ppg)
Davis-Stewart (13.3 rpg)	Rebounds Leader	Jessica Woods (6.8 rpg)
Jayme DeCesare (4.2 apg)	Assists Leader	Nikki Johnson (3.6 apg)
Courtney Clasen (1.6 spg)	Steals Leader	Johnson (2.5 spg)
Davis-Stewart (5.0 bpg)	Blocks Leader	Olivia Dabney (1.7 bpg)

 
Up Next:
The Warriors get right back to business when they host Robert Morris on January 4^th at 1 p.m.  The game will be a part of a Merrimack College triple header that features men's basketball and men's ice hockey.