SCORE: UAlbany 50, New Hampshire 39
 
LOCATION: SEFCU Arena - Albany, N.Y.
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 8-4, 1-0 America East | New Hampshire 3-10, 0-2 America East
 
SHORT STORY: After a slow start, the Great Danes came out to play. A lead earned in the second quarter was not given up as UAlbany defeated New Hampshire, 50-39, Saturday afternoon, in their first America East contest of the season.
 
COACH COLLEEN MULLEN: "I am so proud of the effort and grit that the team played with tonight. New Hampshire showed a lot of pressure, and their changing defenses were very effective. The last two weeks have been about handling adversity, and I feel that propelled us through the game today. We will clean up a few things before we head into a three-game road stretch as we continue America East play."
 
KEY STATS

• Sophomore Kayla Cooper led the offense with 13 points and the defense with eight rebounds.
• Senior Lucia Decortes led the team with six blocks and seven steals. As a team, the Great Danes totaled seven blocks and 14 steals.
• Freshman Freja Werth (66.7%) and Helene Haegerstrand (60%) own team-high percentages from outside the arc.
• Werth (75%) and Cooper (57%) led from the field.
• Freshman Lilly Phillips tallied a team-high five assists.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Wildcats started scoring first, gaining a 6-0 lead before the Great Danes tallied their first basket with 3:49 left in the first quarter.
• Freshman Abby Ray came off the bench to tally a good jumper for UAlbany's first conference basket of the 2021-22 season.
• The rest of the first quarter remained scoreless from the field. A Lucia Decortes free throw made the score 6-3 New Hampshire to close the first 10-minutes.
• The Wildcats compiled the first three points of the second quarter, but the Great Danes closed the lead to one, 9-8, with 7:19 on the clock.
• A three-pointer from junior Grace Heeps gave UAlbany a 13-11 advantage, a lead they would not relinquish. 
• The Great Danes closed the half with an 11-2 scoring run for a 24-15 lead at halftime.
• New Hampshire worked to close the scoring gap in the third quarter. The Wildcats were within one, 27-26, at 3:43 but UAlbany pulled away to head into the final quarter with a 32-28 lead.
• New Hampshire tallied a basket within 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.
• The Great Danes' next two three-pointers, from Heeps and Freja Werth, proved too much for the Wildcats as they would not be able to close the scoring gap.
• A second fourth-quarter three-pointer from Werth pushed UAlbany into a double-digit point lead.
• New Hampshire scored a basket from outside the arc with less than a minute left, but the Great Danes tallied the win, 50-39, with four successful Kayla Cooper free-throws in the final thirty seconds.

 
NEXT: The Great Danes head to UMass Lowell for a night game on January 12.

For more information on the University at Albany women's basketball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanywbb
Instagram - @ualbanywbb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyWBB