SHOWDOWN AT SEFCU: UAlbany Women's Basketball Hosts Maine in Battle of 2014-15 AE Regular Season Co-Champions
UAlbany Game Notes
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ALBANY, N.Y. – A battle of the 2014-15 America East regular season co-champions will commence at the SEFCU Arena on Saturday, January 16th on ESPN3 as the UAlbany women's basketball team hosts Maine at noon.
Tickets for the game are available through ualbanysports.com and at the UAlbany ticket office before the start of the contest. Courtside seats are $15, chairbacks are $10, reserved are $5 and child/senior seats are $3.
In addition, at the box office on the day of the game, youth tickets may be purchased for $1 each.
There will be a pregame ceremony honoring Shereesha Richards for scoring her 2,000-career point last weekend. At the end of the game, fans may get a piece of cake in celebration the achievement.
The game will be broadcast online on ESPN3, called by Eric Frede and Kim Adams.
UAlbany is on a four-game winning streak and is undefeated in conference play at 3-0 after a 78-52 victory at New Hampshire, standing at 12-3 overall. Maine is also umblemished in league play at 3-0 following a 74-44 home win over UMass Lowell and hold a 12-6 overall record. UAlbany, Maine and Stony Brook are tied for first place in the America East, each at 3-0.
UAlbany and Maine shared the regular season championship after each went 14-2 in-conference last year. The two split the regular season series with the Great Danes winning 49-43 in Bangor and Maine winning 52-44 in Albany on Feb. 1st, UAlbany's lost home loss. Maine leads the all-time series 17-14 with UAlbany winning 10 of the last 11.
SHEREESHA RICHARDS JOINS THE 2,000 POINT CLUB: Shereesha Richards, the all-time leading scorer in UAlbany women's basketball history, surpassed the 2,000-point mark on January 9th, 2016 with a 25-point performance vs. Vermont. Only eight other America East women's basketball players have more than 2,000 points, with none since the 2000 season.
UALBANY HOLDS AT #15 IN MID-MAJOR POLL: UAlbany was placed at #15 in the ninth week of the College Insider Women's Mid-Major Top-25, released on January 14th. It is the 18th consecutive poll, dating back to last season, where the Great Danes are in the top-20 of the poll.
The Great Danes picked up 348 points in the poll, released every Tuesday. UAlbany is currently the second highest-ranked mid-major in the state of New York and the only ranked mid-major from the America East Conference.
UALBANY PREDICTED TO FINISH FIRST IN AMERICA EAST: For the fourth straight year, UAlbany, the 2014-15 regular season co-champion, has been predicted to finish first in the America East in the preseason coaches poll. UAlbany picked up 62 points, receiving six first place votes.
Maine, also a 2014-15 regular season co-champion, was predicted second with 58 points with two first-place votes. New Hampshire was selected third with 44 points with one first-placevote, while Stony Brook got fourth. The rest of the teams in order were Hartford, UMBC, UMass Lowell, Vermont and Binghamton.
STAR SENIORS: UAlbany seniors Shereesha Richards and Erin Coughlin have entered their final year in a UAlbany uniform in the 2015-16 season. In their careers, UAlbany has gone a combined 91-21 overall and 48-3 in America East play, earning three conference titles.
GOING FOR AMERICA EAST HISTORY: In the 2015-16 season. the UAlbany women's basketball team will look to do what no other America East team has done, win five straight conference tournament titles.
UAlbany became just the second women's basketball program to earn four straight America East titles last season, tying the achievement recorded by Maine from 1993-96.
No America East basketball program, men's or women's, has won five straight tournament titles in conference history.
SCOUTING THE UALBANY GREAT DANES: UAlbany sports the #1 scoring offense in the America East, averaging 69.1 points per game going into Saturday.
Senior forward Shereesha Richards is the America East's leading scorer, and sixth in Division I, with 24 points per game, adding 8.9 rebounds a contest. Junior guard Imani Tate rounds out the conference's two scoring duo, earning 18 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 steals per contest. UAlbany also has the league's top assistant with junior guard Zakiya Saunders tallying 10.1 points and 7.3 assists a game.
SCOUTING THE MAINE BLACK BEARS: Maine comes into this game with the ninth ranked scoring defense in all of Division I, allowing 51.7 points per game.
Junior point guard Sigi Koizar serves as the team's primary scorer for Maine, averaging 16.7 points per game, fourth in the America East and sixth in assists with 4.1 a contest. Reigning America East Co-Defensive Player of the Year senior Liz Wood earns a team-best 2.6 steals and 7.6 rebounds a game, adding an average of 8.8 points a contest. Senior forward Mikaela Gustafsson shoots 46.8% and picks up nine points and 4.6 rebounds a game.
