ALBANY, N.Y. – #4 University at Albany women's basketball will visit #1 Maine in the Hercules Tires America East semifinal after defeating #5 New Hampshire in the quarterfinal.
 
Game Info
Sunday, March 7 vs. #1 Maine at 1:00 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+ 
 
Leading the Pack

• Four Great Danes shot in double-figures in the Great Danes' 49-43 quarterfinal win over New Hampshire
• Ellen Hahne was one rebound shy of a double-double in the quarterfinal game as she had 11 points and nine rebounds
• Lucia Decortes leads the conference with 1.6 blocks per game, Helene Haegerstrand leads the conference with a .860 free throw percentage and Hahne ranks fourth with 6.9 rebounds per game
• Haegerstrand paces UAlbany's offense with 10.8 points per game
• UAlbany is 0-2 against Maine this season and has been outscored 129-95
• Maine's Blanca Millan was named America East Player and Defensive Player of the Year. She leads the conference with 21.7 points per game (next closest is 13.3) and 2.9 steals and ranks top-five in field goal percentage (.479), three-point field goals per game (1.7) and rebounds (7.4)
• The Black Bears ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense after allowing just 52.4 points per game 

Scouting Maine
The preseason America East favorite and reigning conference champion enters the tournament as the #1 seed. Maine enters their first playoff game with a 13-2 conference record and won 11 of its last 12 games of the season. They rank seventh-best nationally with 52.4 points per game against and lead the America East with 66.5 points for. The Black Bears are led by America East Player and Defensive Player of the Year Blanca Millan, who ranks 17^th in the nation with 21.7 points per game and 15^th nationally with 2.94 steals per game. Dor Saar and Anne Simon also earned America East First Team honors. Saar leads the conference with 5.1 assists per game and 2.3 three-point field goals per game. Simon ranked fifth in the conference with 12.8 points per game. 
 
Last Time vs. Maine
UAlbany lost at home twice to Maine, 66-48 and 63-47, in mid-January. In the first game, Lucia Decortes scored 12 points and Helene Haegerstrand added 10, but the Black Bears had four scorers between 14 and 16 points as they won 66-48. In the second game, Kyara Frames and Decortes scored season-highs with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Blanca Millan, however, scored 27 points and led Maine to a 63-47 win. UAlbany is on an eight-game losing streak against Maine, with the Great Danes' last win coming on Jan. 13, 2018.  

Last Time Out
#4 UAlbany defeated #5 New Hampshire 49-43 in the Hercules Tires America East Playoffs Quarterfinal. The Great Danes had four players score in double figures: Helene Haegerstrand with 12 and Ellen Hahne, Lucia Decortes and Kyara Frames with 11. Hahne fell one rebound shy of a double-double and Decortes was two rebounds shy. UAlbany was outscored 6-0 early but strung together a 25-6 run for the rest of the first half. "I can't say enough about how excited I am that our team gets to continue on and play Maine," said coach Colleen Mullen. "To do this in the circumstances of the pandemic and all the adversity this teams faced, I feel so lucky.

Around the America East
#3 UMass Lowell defeated #6 NJIT, 72-52, and #4 UAlbany defeated #5 New Hampshire, 49-43, in the Hercules Tires America East Playoffs Quarterfinals. As a result, #1 Maine will host #4 UAlbany on Sunday, March 7 at 5:00 p.m. and #2 Stony Brook will host #3 UMass Lowell the same day at 3:00 p.m. The championship game between the winner of each matchup is scheduled to be broadcasted on ESPNU Friday, March 12 at 5:00 p.m.

Upcoming Milestones

• Kyara Frames: 881 points

Milestones Reached

• Kyara Frames: 100 appearances – vs. New Hampshire, January 23, 2021
• Kyara Frames: 250 assists – at UMBC, December 19, 2020

America East All-Conference Honors
Sophomore Helene Haegerstrand was named All-Conference Third Team. The Sweden native earns her second conference selection after being named to the 2019-20 All-Rookie Team. Haegerstrand scored a career-high 26 points in December and ended the regular season with three-straight double-digit point outings. She improved by two points-per-game since her freshman season and started all-16 games this year. 
 
Freshman Kayla Cooper earned an All-Rookie Team selection. Cooper earns the selection after being named America East Rookie of the Week on two separate occasions in February. She ranked second for UAlbany with 4.8 rebounds per game, despite only averaging 18.2 minutes per game with no starts. Over the final month of the season, Cooper averaged 9.8 points per game across five contests.
 
Major award winners for the 2020-21 season were honored to Player and Defensive Player of the Year Blanca Millan from Maine, Sixth Player of the Year McKenzie Bushee from Stony Brook, Rookie of the Year Anna Olson from Vermont and Coach of the Year Amy Vachon from Maine.
 
Cooper's Second Rookie of the Week Honor
Freshman guard Kayla Cooper earned her second Rookie of the Week honor for averaging eight points per game and 4.5 rebounds in two games against Stony Brook. In game one, Cooper tied a team lead with four rebounds and scored eight points off the bench. In the second game, she had five rebounds and played 28:46 minutes, third most on the team. Cooper's second honor came after her first on Feb. 1 and the selection made her UAlbany's only player to win a weekly award this season.
 
America East Reworks Schedule
The America East revamped the basketball schedule, shifting the playoffs up one week to begin on Feb. 28. All-six remaining America East teams have locked in their seed after Binghamton joined UMBC, Vermont and Hartford as the fourth team to opt out. No. 1 Maine and No. 2 Stony Brook receive a bye, while No. 3 UMass Lowell hosts No. 6 NJIT and No. 4 UAlbany hosts No. 5 New Hampshire. The new tournament format will re-seed the teams prior to the semifinals and spread the timeline over a three-week span. The semifinals are scheduled for March 7 and the championship game is schedule for March 12 at 5:00 p.m. and will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

Rookie of the Week
Freshman guard Kayla Cooper won UAlbany's first America East weekly award this season, earning Rookie of the Week honors following the series at UMass Lowell.  Cooper averaged 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds of 50.0% shooting in two games, including matching her career-high 10 points in the series finale on Sunday.  Cooper is the first UAlbany player to win a weekly award since Helene Haegerstrand was named Rookie of the Week in the penultimate week of the 2019-20 regular season.
 
100
On January 23, 2021, senior guard Kyara Frames made her 100th career appearance at UAlbany.  Frames is one of two Great Danes on the roster with postseason tournament experience, appearing in the women's WNIT opening round game at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017.  At the time of her 100th appearance, Frames had started each of the previous 69 games in which she had appeared.
 
250
On December 19, senior guard Kyara Frames recorded her 250th career assist.  With 9:25 remaining in the fourth quarter at UMBC, Frames found Haegerstrand for a layup to hit the personal milestone.  Frames is just the 15th woman in program history to reach 250 assists in her career, with Ebone Henry's 254 next on the all-time list.
 
Down the Stretch
Against Seton Hall, Kyara Frames scored nine of UAlbany's final 11 points, including seven-straight, and shot a perfect 6-6 from the line to clinch a five-point victory against the Pirates.  UAlbany went 10-10 from the line as a team, and ultimately held Seton Hall to 35 points under their season average to date.  Helene Haegerstrand scored 26 points, a career high, on 9-11 shooting.
 
Double-Double II
Ellen Hahne once again recorded a double-double, her second in her first two games at UAlbany, at Seton Hall, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  Hahne also added five assists on the day, as part of a 19-assist team effort against the Pirates.
 
Late Addition
A disruption in Saint Peter's MAAC schedule had forced the Peacocks to postpone their road series at Niagara, opening up an opportunity for the Great Danes to secure another game at home.  Coming together in less than 24 hours, UAlbany added Saint Peter's to its schedule, moving the home opener up three days to December 13.  Originally, the Great Danes were schedule to open at home against Marist on December 16, a game that was cancelled just before news of Saint Peter's availability broke.  A day later, Saint Peter's pulled out in favor of starting their conference schedule at Iona, leaving UAlbany without an opponent for Sunday.  The Great Danes, Friday evening, secured a road matchup with Seton Hall instead.
 
Double-Double
In her debut as a Great Dane, junior guard Ellen Hahne scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double to lead UAlbany in both categories in their season opener at Hofstra.  It mirrored the season opening double-doubles last season against Columbia, from Alexi Schecter (31 points, 11 rebounds), and fellow Swedish national Amanda Kantzy (10 points, 10 rebounds).
 
Layoff
On December 11, the UAlbany women's basketball team returned to the court for the first time since March 4, a layoff of 282 days.  They were the first UAlbany team to start back up again following the shutdown.  The last UAlbany team to take the field was women's lacrosse at Siena on March 11.
 
Late Start
December 11 is the latest date on record that the UAlbany women's basketball team has played its first game.  In prior years, the Great Danes have started as late as November 25, most recently in 1986.
 
Preseason Disruptions
Since returning to campus, the Great Danes have seen their team activities interrupted multiple times due to COVID-19 protocols.  On September 11, a cluster of presumptive positive cases within the UAlbany athletics community paused all athletic-related activities for a total of 24 days, with full activities not resuming for another seven when the pause was finally lifted.  On November 10, an increase in cases within the campus community triggered SUNY's remote learning protocols, including pausing athletics activities.  The women returned to practice on November 25.  Less than a week later, the women had to pause again after presumptive positive tests within the team's Tier 1 personnel, before returning to practice on December 4.
 
Captains
This year, the team has selected three captains to lead the program through the unprecedented 2020-21 season.  Redshirt-senior guard Khepera Stokes, senior guard Kyara Frames, and sophomore forward Helene Haegerstrand will take up leadership roles for the Great Danes this year.  Stokes and Frames are the longest-tenured Great Danes in the program, and the only two on the roster with postseason experience in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT.
 
Reunited
Swedish nationals Helene Haegerstrand and Ellen Hahne have reunited as teammates at UAlbany after playing together previously on Sweden's national team.  Haegerstrand is a sophomore this season and with her second year with the team and Hahne joined the team this year as a transfer from Wake Forest.  The duo were teammates on Sweden's U15, U16, and U20 teams, competing in the European Championships in 2014-15 and 2018-19.  They placed third together at European Championships as members of the U16 team in 2015.
 
Last Holdout
Redshirt-senior Khepera Stokes is the only player on the roster who was a member of the Great Danes' last America East title and NCAA appearance.  Stokes was a freshman when UAlbany defeated Maine 66-50 in the 2016-17 America East finals to win the program's sixth-straight conference championship.  Stokes appeared in all 33 games for UAlbany that season, starting 19 after moving into the starting lineup halfway through the season.  She finished the year with 95 assists, second in program history for a freshman, behind only then-teammate Mackenzie Trpcic, who finished the year with 103.
 
First Years
Including this year's seven new recruits, 13 of 16 players on the roster have just one year or fewer in the program.  Only Khepera Stokes, Kyara Frames, and Lucia Decortes have two or more seasons under their belts.  Only Stokes and Frames have made postseason appearances in the NCAA Tournament or the WNIT.
 
Transfers
In addition to a freshman class of four, UAlbany welcomes three transfer players in guards Ellen Hahne (Wake Forest), Grace Heeps (UMass), and Fatima Lee (Providence).  Heeps hails locally from East Greenbush, N.Y., and played high school at Northfield Mount Herman.
 
Roster Changes
The Great Danes return three starters from last season, but will have to replace top scorer Alexi Schecter and top rebounder Amanda Kantzy, who combined accounted for 38% of UAlbany's total scoring.  Returning this year are second and third leading scorers Helene Haegerstrand and Kyara Frames, as well as fifth-year senior guard Khepera Stokes.  Stokes is the only player on the team this season who appeared and started in all 30 games for UAlbany last season.
 
Picked Fourth
The Great Danes were selected to finish fourth in this year's America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  UAlbany drew 54 points overall, clear of Binghamton and UMBC's 53, tying for fifth.  Ahead of UAlbany was Maine (78 points and six first-place votes), Stony Brook (76 points and four first-place votes) and UMass Lowell.
 
America East Announces Basketball Schedule Format
On October 19, 2020, the America East debuted its revised schedule format for the 2020-21 season.  The conference season will begin on December 19-20, with teams playing back-to-back games at the same site against the same opponent on Saturdays and Sundays.  There are built-in off weekends to accommodate potential postponements throughout the season.  It will also be the first year that the conference schedule expands to 18 games to account for NJIT joining the conference.
 
Next: The winner of #1 Maine and # 4 UAlbany will face the winner of #2 Stony Brook vs. #3 UMass Lowell on March 12 at 5:00 p.m. on ESPNU.