Wildcats Host Bulldogs Sunday Afternoon (1 P.M.)

Sunday, November 25

Durham, N.H.

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

Bryant

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Amanda Torres (Photo by Matthew Troisi)

Photo by: Matthew Troisi

11/23/2018 6:03:00 PM | Women's Basketball

UNH plays final home game of the opening month.

DURHAM, N.H. – As the first month of play wraps up, the University of New Hampshire women's basketball squad plays its second of two home games as they host the Bryant Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at Lundholm Gym.

UNH STORYLINES

Ashley Storey has scored 22, 22 and 21 points in her last three games.
The 22 points match her career high.
Alli Gribbin had a career-high eight rebounds against Sacred Heart.
Amanda Torres scored a career-high 14 points vs. Brown.
Kari Brekke has 10 of UNH's 17 three-point baskets.
UNH has won its last two games against Bryant.
Coach Maureen Magarity is in her ninth season as Wildcat head coach.
Bryant won its first two games of the season and has lost its last three.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

The young Wildcats – seven of the 13 players on the roster are freshmen – are looking for their first win of the season against Bryant.

Junior forward Ashley Storey leads the team in scoring (17.2 points per game) and is second in rebounding (6.2) to sophomore forward Maggie Ahearn (6.3). Storey is third in the league in scoring, third in field goal percentage (35-68 for 51.5 percent) and fifth in free throw percentage (15-for-19 for 78.9 percent).

UNH has five players averaging at least 7.4 points per game with Ahearn at 9.0, freshman guard Kari Brekke at 8.8, junior guard Caroline Soucy at 7.8 and sophomore guard Amanda Torres at 7.4 points per game.

The Wildcats rank third in the league in free throw percentage at 73.4 percent (47-for-64). They are scoring an average of 56.4 points a game and allowing 68.4 per game.

Maureen Magarity has led UNH to its best two-year run in the history of the program the last two seasons.

UNH went 19-12 overall and 9-7 in America East least season, following up on 26-6 and 15-1 marks in 2016-17. The Wildcats advanced to the America East semifinals each season. The team's 45 victories over the last two years combined is the best two-year win total in school history.

Storey and senior Alli Gribbin, the lone senior on the team, are the Wildcat captains.

SCOUTING BRYANT

- Bryant's overall record is 2-3.
- The Bulldogs average 60.6 points a game and allow 68.9.
- Bryant won at UMass Lowell (58-57) and home against Brown (75-57) in its first two games.
- The Bulldogs lost at home to Maine (74-57), at No. 25 West Virginia (94-48) and at Boston University (67-65) in their last three.
- They had 21 turnovers in the loss at BU.
- Junior guard/forward Sydney Holloway is averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds a game.
- She averaged 17.6 and 10.8 last year and was named first-team All Northeast Conference.
- Sophomore forward Hannah Scanlan averages 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
- Senior guard Kierra Palmer averages 4.6 points and 5.3 assists per game.
- Senior guard Haley Connors averages 12.6 points per game.
- Connors has made 11 of Bryant's 18 three-point baskets.
- UNH has won its last two games against Bryant, 75-65 last year in Smithfield, R.I., and 62-60 on Nov. 22, 2016 in Lundholm.
- Mary Burke is in her 28^th season as Bryant head coach.
- She's a 1987 graduate of Providence College.
- Bryant was 9-21 overall and 8-10 last year in the Northeast Conference.

HOME COOKING

Only two of UNH's eight games in November are at home. In contrast, the Wildcats play four of their five December games in Lundholm Gymnasium.

UNH plays home games against the University of New England on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.; against Holy Cross on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m.; against Dartmouth on Friday, Dec. 21 at 11 a.m. and against Princeton on Saturday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m.

The Wildcats open the America East portion of the schedule with a game at Maine on Wednesday, Jan. 2.

They play their first home league game against Binghamton on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m.

Tickets for all home games are available by calling 603-862-4000 or at www.unhwildcats.com.

NEXT UP

UNH hits the road for its next two games, at Boston University on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. and at South Florida on Friday, Nov. 30., at 6 p.m.

The Wildcats return to Lundholm Gymnasium for games against the University of New England on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. and Holy Cross on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 1 p.m.

ASHLEY'S STOREY

Ashley Storey had hit the 20-point mark in a game once in her career coming into the season. She's done it three times in a row going into the Bryant game. She had 21 points against Brown and then matched her career high with 22 points against Sacred Heart and hit for 22 again at Northeastern.

Storey, who missed all of last season while she rehabilitated from surgeries, added a career-best 12 rebounds against Sacred Heart for the second double-double of her career.

Her first career 22-point night was against Binghamton on Feb. 6, 2016. Her first double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) came against Stony Brook on Jan. 4, 2017.

Storey also is second in America East in steals with 12 per game.

BRYANT'S BACK

Led by Brittni Lai, then a junior, UNH roared from behind in the fourth quarter to beat Bryant, 62-60, the last time the Bulldogs came to Durham on Nov. 22, 2016.

The Wildcats trailed by 10 points entering the fourth quarter. Lai scored 17 straight UNH points toward the end of the game and finished with 31 points total. She made five of her six three-pointers in the contest.

HOW YOUNG IS YOUNG?

So just how young are these Wildcats?

UNH has one senior on the roster with three juniors, two sophomores and seven freshmen.

The average age of the Wildcats on opening day, Nov. 9, was 19 years, eight months and 12 days.

FOR STARTERS

Juniors Ashley Storey and Caroline Soucy, sophomores Maggie Ahearn and Amanda Torres and freshman Kari Brekke started each of the first four games of the season for the Wildcats.

The five starters had a total of 26 starts as Wildcats going into the season. Storey started 17 games in the 2015-16 season and Torres started nine games last season.

By contrast, UNH's five starters in its final game last March had a total of 273 starts between them.

THE FRONTCOURT

Ashley Storey, 6-foot-3, returns to lead the team in the frontcourt. Storey started 17 games her freshman year and was named to the America East All Rookie team after averaging 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds She averaged 4.9 points and 4 rebounds as a sophomore before missing last season.

"We expect a lot from Ashley," Magarity said. "She's come back much stronger and on the court she hasn't missed a beat. We're going to rely on her to rebound and score. She can score in a lot of different ways and can run the floor very well for a big kid."

Sophomore Maggie Ahearn, 6-foot-2, sat out last season after transferring to UNH from Providence College. She played five games as a freshman at Providence.

Storey and Ahearn are joined up front by three freshmen: 6-foot Faith Bonett, 6-foot-2 Ivy Gogolin and 6-foot-3 Mary Foster.

THE BACKCOURT

Sophomore Amanda Torres, 5-foot-7, is the lone returning starter from last season.

"Amanda had a great freshman year and gained a lot of valuable experience when she ended up as the starting point guard," Magarity said. "She needs to step up even more with her leadership this year. She pushes the ball in transition and gets the team going. She's very aggressive off the bounce and her first step is really quick and her outside shooting continues to improve."

Alli Gribbin, a 5-foot-11 senior captain, junior Caroline Soucy, 5-foot-9, and junior Sarah Clement, 5-foot-8, are the upper classmen in the backcourt.

The freshmen guards are 5-foot-6 Kari Brekke, 5-foot-9 Kali Grimm, 5-foot-10 Mariah Gonzalez and 5-foot-5 Sarah Serbascewicz.

THE COACH

Maureen Magarity, in her ninth year as head coach, has led UNH to winning seasons in each of the last two and four of the last five seasons.

She guided the team to a record-smashing mark of 26-6 overall and 15-1 in America East in 2016-17. The 26 wins were three more than the Wildcats had ever won in a season and the league record was the team's best ever and earned the school's first America East women's basketball regular season championship.

Along the way, the team set a school record with 13 consecutive wins.

UNH went 19-12 overall and 9-7 in the league last year. The 45-18 overall record over the last two seasons was the top mark for any two-year stretch in program history.

Magarity has a 130-117 overall record and stands fourth in all-time wins at UNH. She is three wins out of the third spot and six out of the No. 2 spot on the list.

Sue Johnson (133-150 record from 1997 to 2007) holds down the No. 3 spot in wins. Cecilia DeMarco (136-86 from 1977-86) is at No. 2. Kathy Sanborn (170-126 from 1986-97) is at the top of the list.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

UNH played Minnesota and North Dakota State for the first time to open the season.

The Wildcats played in front of a sold-out crowd of 14,625 at Minnesota as the Golden Gophers celebrated the return of former school and WNBA standout Lindsay Whalen as head coach.

The opening weekend was not the first time UNH teams had squared off with the Golden Gophers and North Dakota State Bison.

Among the encounters:

The UNH women's hockey team beat Minnesota, 4-1, in the semifinals of the American Women's College Hockey Alliance tournament in 1998.
The Wildcats went on to win the AWCHA title, before the NCAA sponsored the event, with a 4-1 win over Brown.
The Minnesota men's hockey team beat UNH, 5-1, in the NCAA championship game in 2003 in Buffalo.
The UNH football team fell at North Dakota State in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I FCS tournament on Dec. 20, 2013.
The Bison went on to win the national championship. They have won six of the last seven FCS national titles.