ALBANY, N.Y. - The UAlbany women's basketball team returns home for their final non-conference contest.
GAME INFORMATION
Navy at UAlbany
DATE: Saturday, December 30
TIME: 2:00 PM
SITE: Broadview Center - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 10-2, 0-0 America East | Navy 4-6, 0-0 Patriot League
SERIES RECORDS: 4-3, UAlbany leads
STATS:
UAlbanySports.com
STREAM:
ESPN+
INT'L STREAM:
AE.TV
TICKETS:
UAlbanySports.com
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.
HEAD COACH COLLEEN MULLEN
"Navy is a well-balanced team that likes to get out and run in transition. They have a young but talented backcourt and a lot of size inside. We need to execute a focused defensive game plan and win the board battle. It will be critical to be the more physical and tougher team and win every 50/50 play for 40 minutes."
LAST TIME OUT
- UAlbany recently returned home from a trip to UMass with their sixth consecutive victory.
- In a 74-52 win over the Minutewomen, four Great Danes tallied double-digit points.
- Junior Meghan Huerter led with 15 points; freshman Deja Evans and junior Lilly Phillips followed with 14 while senior Kayla Cooper totaled 13 points.
- As a team, the game in Amherst served as the second-straight contest with a three-point shooting percentage over .500. Huerter went 5-7 while Phillips went 4-6 to lead the team's downtown shooters.
- In a true team fashion, the Great Danes totaled 23 assists. Graduate student Sarah Karpell led with nine. Sophomore Gabriela Falcão added five and graduate student Helene Haegerstrand contributed four. Cooper and Phillips compiled three and two, respectively.
GREAT DANE REWIND
- UAlbany nears the end of the non-conference season with 10 wins and two losses.
- Seeing two teams for losses in November (Fordham (11.10) and #4 Stanford (11.26)), the Great Danes opened the season with a win over Merrimack (11.6) and a record-breaking victory over Sarah Lawrence (11.13) for the home-opener.
- After additional wins at St. Bonaventure (11.16) and Cornell (11.22), UAlbany hosted Siena for its third-straight Albany Cup victory in the Grand Opening of Broadview Center (12.2).
- With victories over CCSU (12.6), Marist (12.9), Dartmouth (12.12), and Stonehill (12.16), the Great Danes have won each game since opening Broadview.
- Most recently, UAlbany defeated UMass on the road (12.20).
- Kayla Cooper leads the Great Danes on all sides of the court - offense (14.4 points per game, .516 field goal percentage), defense (7.6 rebounds per game), and in transition (24 steals).
- Sarah Karpell owns the team-high in assists with 42 while Deja Evans leads with 14 total blocks.
WATCH YOUR POCKETS
- UAlbany leads the America East with 9.08 steals per game (109 total) and first in turnover margin with 2.75.
- Turning defense into offense, the Great Danes have averaged 20.0 points off turnovers.
- Two Great Danes are ranked in the top 10 in steals in the conference:
AUTOMATIC SHOOTING
- The Great Danes lead the America East in Team 3-Point FG Percentage (39.6%).
- Accurate shooting has made UAlbany have the highest-scoring offense in the conference (66.4 ppg).
- UAlbany has leaders across all the shooting categories:
MILESTONE WATCH
- Kayla Cooper is one point away from scoring 1,000 career points. She will most likely reach the milestone during the final non-conference game of the year.
- Cooper is one game shy of recording her 20th career 10-rebound performance.
PLAY AS A TEAM, WIN AS A TEAM
- The Great Danes have utilized great teamwork to fuel their success so far this season.
- In 12 contests, the Great Danes have had five different players lead the team in points.
- As a team, UAlbany ranks first in the conference in 10 stats with at least one conference-high mark in all categories:
- 66.4 points per game
- 50.8 points allowed per game
- 15.7 scoring margin
- .359 opponent FG percentage
- .396 3PT FG percentage
- .772 opponent free throw percentage
- 30.1 opponent rebounds per game
- 6.0 rebounding margin
- 2.75 turnover margin
- 9.08 steals per game
BETTER BACK-UP
- UAlbany's bench has scored 19.2 points per game this season.
- Meghan Huerter leads the way, averaging 8.8 points (third on the team) while also ranking third on the team in rebounds with 3.5 per game. A knock-down shooter, she leads the team with a .500 percentage from outside the arc.
- Fellow junior Abby Ray is third on the team in offensive rebounds (19) and fifth with 16 assists.
- Recording 10 steals and four blocks, fourth on the team in both, Gabriela Falcão has had an impact on defense.
ABOUT NAVY
- Nearing the end of the non-conference season, the Mids are 4-6 on the season.
- Seeing three Division I schools, Navy went 2-2 in the first three weeks of competition with wins over Susquehanna (11.8) and Binghamton (11.21) and losses to Penn State (11.10) and Mount St Mary's (11.15).
- Hosting the Navy Classic over Thanksgiving Weekend, the Midshipmen defeated Quinnipiac (11.25) and fell to Abilene Christian (11.26).
- Navy recently broke a four-game losing streak (ACU, Wagner (11.30), William & Mary (12.3), and Dartmouth (12.8)) with a 105-50 victory over Goucher (12.19).
- Zani Barnett-Gay is the team's most prevalent player. She owns the team-high in points per game (20.0), rebounds per game (6.7), assists per game (3.7), and steals per game (3.1).
- Kyah Smith follows with 11.6 points per game with a team-high 35 total assists.
- Morganne Andrews tops the team with 28 blocks.
SERIES AGAINST THE MIDS
- The Great Danes lead the series, 4-3.
- In head coach Colleen Mullen's first contest as a Great Dane, she led the team to a 64-50 victory on November 16, 2022.
- Prior to the 2022-23 season outing, UAlbany and Navy's most recent meeting was a win for the Capital Region school in 2003.
DRIVE THE LANE WITH UALBANY HOOPS
- UAlbany will continue its partnership with ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team and City Line Bar & Grill for the third consecutive year.
- 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 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.
AROUND THE AMERICA EAST
- UAlbany leads the way as the only team to have reached double-digit victories in non-conference play.
- Vermont is close behind with eight wins in 13 contests.
- NJIT and Maine are tied with seven wins however the Highlanders hold the slight lead with five losses to the Black Bears' six.
- Bryant sits even with a 6-6 record.
- New Hampshire follows with just one more loss than wins (6-7).
- Binghamton (4-8), UMBC (3-8), and UMass Lowell (0-11) round out the conference.
AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK
- Friday
- Princeton at Vermont, 1 pm
- Colgate at UMass Lowell, 2 pm
- Saint Francis at UMBC, 4 pm
- Saturday
- Maine at Penn, 1 pm
- Chestnut Hill at Binghamton, 1 pm
- Navy at UAlbany, 2 pm
- Bridgewater St at Bryant, 2 pm
- Sunday
UP NEXT: The Great Danes are set to continue at home as they begin conference play against Bryant (1.4) and NJIT (1.6).
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 & Threads - @ualbanywbb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyWBB
