UAlbany Women's Basketball Defeats New Hampshire, 67-50, for Fourth Straight Win

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Albany, N.Y. – Kristin Higy and Gia Sanders both recorded double-doubles while Britney McGee scored a team-high 13 points to lead the UAlbany women’s basketball team to a 67-50 win over New Hampshire in America East Conference play on Sunday afternoon. The Great Danes have now won four straight games, the first time since the 1999-2000 season that the team has won four consecutive contests.

New Hampshire (6-15, AE 3-6) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after Amy Simpson hit a 3-pointer at 19:57 to start the game. The Wildcats were able to build up a nine-point lead, 15-6 with 12:14 on the clock on a 3-pointer by Ashley Cerniglia. UAlbany cut the lead to 17-14 at 8:50, but Simpson and Candace Williams scored on back-to-back possessions to hold an eight-point advantage with 7:28 on the clock.

Freshman guard Janea Aiken hit a 3-pointer with 3:40 left to play to give the Great Danes their first lead of the game, 26-24, with 3:40 to play in the half. Kim Clements hit a jumper in the paint with under a minute left to play, but Simpson hit her third trey of the first half to end the period and hold UAlbany to a four-point advantage, 33-29, at the half.

New Hampshire cut the lead to one early in the second half, but UAlbany built up an 11-point lead, 48-37, with 9:21 to play on a layup by Aiken off a Higy steal. Simpson pulled the Wildcats to within six with 7:14 on the clock, but UAlbany embarked on a 12-2 run to get ahead by 18, 65-47, with three minutes to play. McGee drove a layup in the paint with under a minute to go to set the final 17-point advantage.

Higy finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds to go along with three steals, one block and an assist, while Sanders recorded 11 points, 10 boards and five steals. Aiken added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, including 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

“I’m proud of our team effort,” said UAlbany head coach Trina Patterson, whose team swept a single-season series from a conference opponent for the first time since the 2003-04 season. “We played a little sloppy at first, but I had total confidence in our players. Our bench players were crucial in this win. We are playing extremely well.”

Simpson, who was named the America East player of the game along with Higy, scored a game-high 19 points for New Hampshire. Williams added10 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who were forced into 27 turnovers by the Great Danes.


UAlbany 67, New Hampshire 50 (2/10/08 at Albany, N.Y. (SEFCU Arena))

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Official Basketball Box Score
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Official Basketball Box Score
New Hampshire vs ALBANY
2/10/08 2:00 p.m. at Albany, N.Y. (SEFCU Arena)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: New Hampshire 6-15, AE 3-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
10 Beliveau, Denise.... f 1-3 0-0 1-2 0 7 7 1 3 4 1 0 1 36
14 Flowers, Danielle... f 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 2 2 0 2 0 0 17
20 Williams, Candace... f 4-12 1-1 1-2 4 5 9 2 10 1 8 1 0 37
12 Cerniglia, Ashley... g 3-9 3-9 0-0 0 4 4 1 9 0 1 1 2 30
21 Simpson, Amy........ g 7-16 3-8 2-2 0 3 3 4 19 1 6 1 1 34
03 Williams, Jacinda... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 7 0 0 14
13 DeVits, Jenelle..... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
22 Kirsteier, Alexis... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
24 Hall, Chrissy....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
25 Gaines, Althena..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 Fowler, Racheal..... 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 5 1 1 0 0 22
33 McDonald, Jill...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
55 Early, Kathryn...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 4 4 8
Totals.............. 18-49 7-20 7-10 11 27 38 15 50 9 27 3 4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-25 44.0% 2nd Half: 7-24 29.2% Game: 36.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 70.0% 2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: ALBANY 8-14, AE 6-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Mikus, Sherri....... f 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 4 1 3 0 1 25
31 Higy, Kristin....... f 4-10 0-2 3-4 3 9 12 2 11 1 4 1 3 27
02 McGee, Britney...... g 5-11 2-3 1-1 0 1 1 0 13 2 3 0 2 30
05 Thrower, Tanika..... g 2-6 0-3 4-5 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 2 20
23 Iromuanya, Charity.. g 2-8 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 3 4 3 1 0 5 27
01 Ford, Amira......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
10 Aiken, Janea........ 4-5 2-2 1-1 0 0 0 0 11 2 2 0 1 21
14 Clements, Kim....... 2-4 1-1 0-0 2 2 4 0 5 1 1 0 0 16
24 Sanders, Gia........ 5-15 0-0 1-2 4 6 10 2 11 1 0 0 5 28
55 Peterson, Kirsten... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 26-64 5-13 10-13 13 21 34 11 67 11 14 1 19 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 14-32 43.8% Game: 40.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-4 50.0% Game: 38.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-7 85.7% 2nd Half: 4-6 66.7% Game: 76.9% 1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: John Palermo, Patti Fernandes, Duane Mack
Technical fouls: New Hampshire-None. ALBANY-None.
Attendance: 247
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
New Hampshire................. 29 21 - 50
ALBANY........................ 33 34 - 67