ALBANY, N.Y. - The #1 UAlbany women's basketball team is set to host #8 New Hampshire for the quarterfinals of the Jersey Mike's America East Women's Basketball Playoffs.
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
#8 New Hampshire at #1 UAlbany
DATE: Thursday, March 6
TIME: 6:30 PM
SITE: Broadview Center - Albany, N.Y.
RECORDS: UAlbany 24-5, 14-2 America East | New Hampshire 10-19, 4-12 America East
SERIES RECORD: 40-18, UAlbany leads
STATS: UAlbanySports.com
STREAM: ESPN+
INT'L STREAM: AmericaEast.TV
TICKETS: Ticket Return
 
All UAlbany students are welcome to enjoy all UAlbany Athletics events for FREE with a valid game ticket. Download the UAlbany Sports app to claim your ticket today.
 
*records as of March 4
 
LAST WEEK IN REVIEW

• The Great Danes ended the regular season strong with wins over UMBC and NJIT to claim regular-season champion status.
• On Thursday, graduate students Kayla Cooper and Jessica Tomasetti led the scoring with 19 and 18 points, respectively, against UMBC. 
• UAlbany collectively shot 58.3% from the field.
• Graduate students Kaci Donovan (19), Jessica Tomasetti (18), and Kayla Cooper (12) each recorded double-digit points against NJIT on Saturday. 
• As a team, UAlbany scored 18 points off turnovers, 19 second-chance points, and 31 points off the bench.

 
GREAT DANE REWIND

• With one week remaining in the regular season, UAlbany is 22-5 with a 12-2 conference record.
• UAlbany ended the regular season 24-5 with a 14-2 conference record for the America East Regular Season title.
• The Great Danes ended the non-conference season with just three losses while securing the best 10-game start in Division I history (9-1).
• During the 2024 portion of the schedule, UAlbany competed against three Power-Four teams. The team beat Syracuse (11.20) and fell to Wisconsin (12.20) and #6 LSU (12.29).
• The Great Danes went undefeated throughout the month of November.
• UAlbany kicked off the conference season with six consecutive wins. UMBC broke the win streak with an upset on the road (1.23).
• Since the loss in Maryland, the Great Danes have completed regular-season sweeps over Bryant, Binghamton, UMass Lowell, Maine, New Hampshire, and NJIT and split the regular-season series against Vermont and UMBC.
• Kayla Cooper leads with 17.4 points per game, 6.8 rebounds per game, 97 assists, and 47 steals.
• Kaci Donovan follows as the team's second-leading scorer averaging 11.6 points per game.
• Jessica Tomasetti ranks second in rebounds with 4.3 per game, in assists (64), and in steals (32).
• Junior Gabriela Falcão owns a team-high 31 blocks.
• As a team, the Great Danes are shooting .457 from the field, with a 33.3% accuracy from downtown, and .745 from the line.

 
MILESTONE WATCH

• With her very last shot in the game against NJIT, Jessica Tomasetti totaled 500 field goals in her career.
• Senior Laycee Drake is three assists away from making it 100 in her career.
• Junior Gabriela Falcão needs four more blocks to hit 50 career blocks. 
• Kaci Donovan is nearing two milestones - nine three-pointers away from 200 in her career and 27 points away from 1,250.
• Kayla Cooper is 20 field goals away from 750 in her career.

 
GREATNESS RANKED

• The team has been dominant defensively and ranks eighth in the nation in scoring defense by allowing just 53.6 points per game while also holding opponents to 25.9% from three, the 10th-best mark in the country.
• Their success is reflected in their .815 winning percentage, tied for 25th nationally, while their efficiency on offense has led to a 45.7% field goal percentage, ranked 37th in the country.

 
MULLEN MAGIC

• Head coach Colleen Mullen won her 20th game of the season against UMass Lowell on February 13.
• The win marked Mullen's fourth consecutive season with 20+ wins.
• She is the second UAlbany women's basketball coach to achieve four 20-win seasons, both consecutive and overall. Former head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was the first to do this for the women's basketball program during the 2014-15 season.
• Throughout the history of both UAlbany basketball programs, Mullen is just the third coach to achieve four consecutive 20+-win seasons. UAlbany men's basketball's Will Brown was the second UAlbany basketball coach to achieve four consecutive 20-win seasons in 2017-18.
• The legendary Doc Sauers was the first UAlbany basketball coach to achieve four 20-win seasons. He is the only UAlbany basketball coach to achieve this accomplishment without doing so in consecutive seasons. 
  • Brown earned his fourth 20-win season in 2014-15. The 2014-15 season would prove to be the first of his four-year 20-win season streak.
• Overall, Mullen's arrival at four 20-win seasons is the second fastest in UAlbany basketball history. Taking seven seasons to accomplish this, she is behind only Abrahamson-Henderson who did it in five seasons. 

 
HISTORY MADE

• The Great Danes finished a spectacular performance in the non-conference season, fueled by the leadership of head coach Colleen Mullen.
• After defeating St. Bonaventure on Saturday (12.14), UAlbany sealed the best 10-game start in Division I program history with just one loss. 
• Previously, the best 10-game start in Division I program history was 8-2, including one season under head coach Colleen Mullen. Five teams earned the 8-2 start: 2012-13, 2013-14, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2023-24.

 
HAPPY AT HOME

• The Great Danes have paved the way for a historic season with an incredible record at home as they remain undefeated through the 2024-25 season in the Broadview Center.
• UAlbany has lost just five games at home since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Going undefeated at home in non-conference play, Maine took the second-to-last regular-season home game of the 2021-22 season.
• Flipping the book for the 2022-23 season, UAlbany fell to Colgate and Cornell at "home" (Saint Rose and HVCC, respectively) while Broadview Center was undergoing its transformational overhaul. 
• The Great Danes fell only twice during the 2023-24 season at home; both times being against Vermont.

 
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE

• The Wildcats concluded the regular season at 10-19 with a 4-12 conference record.
• Both UNH and the Great Danes faced Merrimack, Boston U, Dartmouth, and Stonehill. UAlbany defeated all four opponents while UNH beat all except Merrimack.
• New Hampshire opened the season with wins against Worcester State (11.4) and UMass (11.7) before adding two more against Northeastern (11.14) and BU (11.16).
• Throughout the next eight games, the Wildcats beat just two opponents - Dartmouth (12.1) and Stonehill (12.30).
• New Hampshire opened conference play with four consecutive losses before earning back-to-back wins against UMBC (1.16) and NJIT (1.18). 
• The Wildcats have been swept by Bryant, Vermont, Maine, and UAlbany and they have split their series against UMBC, NJIT, and UMass Lowell. 
• Eva DeChent is leading the team with 17.9 points per game, 52 steals, and 14 blocks.
• Clara Gomez tops the team's defense with 7.5 rebounds per game while assisting with the most shots (55). 
• Maggie Cavanaugh follows DeChent in scoring by averaging 8.6 points per game. 
• Collectively, the Wildcats are shooting 35.3% from the field, 25.7% from three-point range, and maintaining a 74.0% free-throw percentage.

 
SERIES AGAINST THE WILDCATS

• The Great Danes lead the series, 40-18.
• Current head coach, Colleen Mullen, owns a 14-2 record against UNH during her time with UAlbany. Both losses came in the 2019-20 season with margins of one and three.
• After beating New Hampshire, 67-49, the Great Danes renewed the longest win streak in the series against the Wildcats. They have totaled 12 wins having been undefeated since the 2020-21 season.
• During Mullen's tenure, UAlbany has faced UNH twice in the postseason. The most recent contest was a 49-44 win at SEFCU Arena in 2022. The first was a 49-43 win at home in 2021.

 
PAST CONNECTIONS

• Head coach Colleen Mullen both attended and graduated from New Hampshire.
• Following two years of play at Rhode Island, Mullen concluded her collegiate career as a two-year captain for the Wildcats. Within just two seasons, she achieved the 14th-highest mark in program history with 218 assists as a Wildcat.

 
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 fourth consecutive year.
• Coaches Colleen Mullen and Dwayne Killings, along with select student-athletes, will join ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team's Dan Bahl and Michael Johnson Jr. 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 Killings, 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.

 
AMERICA EAST STANDINGS

• The Great Danes enter the America East tournament as the top seed with a 14-2 record. 
• Vermont finished the season close behind with just one less win.
• Bryant won the tiebreaker with Maine to claim the third seed with the Black Bears taking fourth. Both finished with a 9-7 record.
• NJIT (8-8) will be at Maine as the fifth seed.
• Binghamton (6th), UMBC (7th), and New Hampshire (8th) round out the teams set to compete in a quarterfinal game.
• Tallying just one win in conference play, UMass Lowell will not compete in the America East tournament.

 
AMERICA EAST TOURNAMENT

• Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 6
  • #7 UMBC at #2 Vermont, 5 pm
  • #6 Binghamton at #3 Bryant, 6 pm
  • #5 NJIT at #4 Maine, 6 pm
  • #8 New Hampshire at #1 UAlbany, 6:30 pm
• Semifinals - Monday, March 10
  • Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed
  • Second-lowest remaining seed at second-highest remaining seed
• Championship - Friday, March 14
  • Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed

 
UP NEXT: If the Great Danes win against New Hampshire, they will host a semifinal on Monday (Mar. 10). The opponent will be the lowest remaining seed.
 
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