ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany women's basketball team is set to open the 2022-23 America East season by hosting Vermont.
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
Vermont at UAlbany
DATE: Thursday, December 29
TIME: 7:00 PM
SITE: McDonough Sports Complex (HVCC) - Troy, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 6-8, 0-0 America East | Vermont 8-4, 0-0 America East
SERIES RECORD: 26-21, UAlbany leads
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
TICKETS: UAlbanySports.com
STREAM: ESPN+
INT'L STREAM: AE.TV
 
All UAlbany students are welcome to enjoy all UAlbany Athletics events for FREE with their student ID. Come out and support the Great Danes with the scan of a card - tactile or mobile. This year, all HVCC students are welcome to UAlbany events FREE with their student ID.
 
HEAD COACH COLLEEN MULLEN
"We are eager to open up conference play and to be back home in Albany to play in front of our family, friends and fans. Vermont has a well-balanced attack with many capable scorers. We need to compete for 40 minutes and play four quarters of team defense."
 
GREAT DANE REWIND

• UAlbany opened the season 3-0 with victories over Merrimack (11/11), Siena (11/13), and Navy (11/16).
• Before heading to the UNLV Thanksgiving Tournament to compete against UNLV (11/25), ETSU (11/26), and Stetson (11/17), the Great Danes hosted Colgate (11/19) for their first loss of the season.
• Closing out November, UAlbany visited Canisius for its fourth victory (11/30). The Great Danes came back from a 10-point deficit in the beginning of the second half to take the 11-point victory.
• Hosting its final non-conference game of 2022, UAlbany fell in a close matchup to Cornell (12/3).
• The Great Danes saw a five-game road streak throughout December. Beginning with a win at Dartmouth (12/6) and a loss at Boston College (12/10), UAlbany defeated Stonehill (12/14) before falling to #3 Ohio State (12/16). 
• The Great Danes closed the non-conference season with a loss at Syracuse (12/21).
• Junior Kayla Cooper leads the team with a .520 field goal percentage and redshirt-junior Morgan Haney leads from outside the arc (50%).
• Ellen Hahne leads the team with 14.9 points per game and 34 assists.
• Senior Grace Heeps and Haegerstrand are tied with a team-high six blocks while sophomore Lilly Phillips leads in transition with 12 steals.
• Cooper owns a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game from three contests. Hahne follows with 5.5 rebounds per game.
• As a team, UAlbany is hitting 42.1% from the field, 32.1% outside the arc, and 71.5% from the free-throw line. The Great Danes are averaging 55.9 points per game and 32.2 rebounds per game with 11.5 assists per game, 5.2 steals per game, and 2.0 blocks per game.

 
ABOUT VERMONT

• The Catamounts will start America East play with an 8-4 non-conference record.
• Vermont has worked to be ranked 24th on the December 20 College Insider Mid-Major Top 25.
• After opening the season with a victory over Saint Michael's (11/4), the Catamounts fell to #11 Indiana (11/8) and Miami (Ohio) (11/11). 
• Hosting five-straight home games, Vermont earned wins over AIC (11/15), Army (11/21), Stonehill (11/26), and Siena (11/27) with just one loss to Delaware (11/18).
• The Catamounts added five games in December. Working for just one loss against Duquesne (12/10), Vermont notched victories against Dartmouth (12/1), Marist (12/4), Saint Francis (12/8), and Holy Cross (12/20).
• Emma Utterback leads the team with 14.9 points per game and 60 assists.
• Maria Myklebust owns a team-high success rate from the field (70.8%) while Anna Olson follows (48.2%).
• Olson leads the Vermont defense with 6.5 rebounds per game. 
• Aryana Dizon is the lone Catamount to earn double-digit blocks with 11.
• Bella Vito owns a team-high 14 steals.
• As a team, the Catamounts are hitting 43.6% from the field, 39.5% outside the arc, and 68.9% from the free-throw line. Vermont is averaging 63.7 points per game and 36.0 rebounds per game with 13.9 assists per game, 6.1 steals per game, and 2.6 blocks per game.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE CATAMOUNTS

• UAlbany leads the all-time series, 26-21.
• Current head coach, Colleen Mullen, owns a 4-3 record against Vermont during her time with the Great Danes.
• Vermont and UAlbany met three times throughout the 2021-22 season.
• The regular season was split, 1-1, with the two games happening in a three-day span. Each team won its home game. 
• On February 12, 2022, the Great Danes hosted the Catamounts for a 54-52 win. On February 14, Vermont defeated UAlbany, 63-55, in Burlington.
• The teams met in the postseason for the semifinal round at SEFCU Arena. After a close first quarter, the Great Danes took a gradual lead throughout the final three quarters for a 67-54 victory on March 8, 2022.

 
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• Vermont (8-4) and Binghamton (7-6) are the only teams in the conference to finish the non-conference slate with a winning record.
• UAlbany rounds out the top three with a 6-8 record against a tough non-conference schedule.
• Bryant, New Hampshire, and NJIT are tied with a 5-7 overall record.
• Maine (4-8), UMBC (2-8), and UMass Lowell (1-9) round out the America East.
• America East games will begin on Thursday, December 29.

 
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Thursday
  • Maine at Bryant, 1 pm
  • New Hampshire at NJIT, 7 pm
  • Vermont at UAlbany, 7 pm
  • Binghamton at UMBC, 7 pm
• Sunday
  • UMBC at Vermont, 2 pm
  • UAlbany at New Hampshire, 2 pm
  • Bryant at Binghamton, 2 pm
  • NJIT at UMass Lowell, 2 pm

 
WHAT'S UP, PRESEASON

• With seven first-place votes and 59 total points, the Great Dane women's basketball team was picked to finish first in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll. Maine was just behind them with 54 points while Vermont came in third with 46 points and one first-place vote.
• Last season's offensive and defensive leaders, respectively, Helene Haegerstrand and Kayla Cooper were named to the America East Preseason All-Conference Team.
• UAlbany added three new players to the roster for the 2022-23 season - Taylor Moffat, Karyn Sanford, and Marie Sepp.

 
DRIVE THE LANE WITH UALBANY HOOPS

• UAlbany has expanded its partnership with ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team and City Line Bar & Grill.
• Coaches Colleen Mullen and Dwayne Killings, along with select student-athletes, will join ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team's Charlie Voelker and Dan Bahl every Monday from 6-7 pm live from City Line Bar & Grill for a weekly segment entitled 'Drive the Lane with UAlbany Hoops'.
• Fans are invited to come out to City Line Bar & Grill to join Coach Mullen, Coach Kills, the student-athletes, and the ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team crew. 
• Food and drink specials will be available on a weekly basis as the teams embark on their new seasons and talk hoops every Monday.

 
UP NEXT

• The Great Danes will head on the road for New Hampshire on January 1.

 
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