Wildcats Host Holy Cross Sunday (1 P.M.)

Sunday, December 9

Durham, N.H.

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

Holy Cross

Tickets

Kari Brekke (Photo by Meghan Murphy)

Photo by: Meghan Murphy

12/7/2018 4:33:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game will be preceded by a book signing by UNH alum Jackie MacMullan.

DURHAM, N.H. - Award-winning author and ESPN journalist Jackie MacMullan, '82, will be signing her newest book, "Basketball: A Love Story," on Sunday before the University of New Hampshire women's basketball game against Holy Cross in Lundholm Gymnasium at 1 p.m.

A former standout for the Wildcats and captain of the 1981-82 team, MacMullan will sign copies of the book – an oral history inspired by the ESPN series of the same name - from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lundholm lobby. MacMullan is donating $5 from each purchase to the UNH program.

UNH will be looking for its third straight win at home.

UNH STORYLINES

Ashley Storey is averaging 16.2 points a game, which is fourth in America East.
Ivy Gogolin scored 23 points, a season-high for a Wildcat, against UNE.
Kari Brekke leads the league's freshmen in scoring at 9.3 points a game.
The Wildcats are tied for second in the league in free throw percentage (88-for-120 for 73.3 percent).
Coach Maureen Magarity is in her ninth season as Wildcat head coach.
Holy Cross is 6-2 and has won five straight games.
The Crusaders are 3-0 against America East teams with wins over Albany, Vermont and UMass Lowell.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Ivy Gogolin scored a career high 23 points and pulled down a career best nine rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 68-44 win over the University of New England, a perennial Division 3 power, on Thursday night in Lundholm Gymnasium.

The win was UNH's second straight at home. The Wildcats improved to 2-7 on the season.

Gogolin became the second Wildcat to score over 20 points in a game this season and the 23 is a season high for the team. Ashley Storey has scored 20 or more points four times this season. Storey had 12 points and eight rebounds on Thursday night. Caroline Soucy added 10 points and eight rebounds.

Storey leads the team in scoring (16.2 points per game) and rebounding (6.6). Brekke averages 9.3 points a game and Ahearn is at 8.4. Caroline Soucy averages 7.6 points per game and Amanda Torres is at 6.8.

Storey ranks fourth in America East in scoring and is tied for fourth in rebounding. She is second in field goal percentage (60-for-117 for 51.3 percent) and is fifth in free throw percentage (24-for-34 for 70.6 percent).

The Wildcats are tied for second in the league in free throw percentage at 73.3 percent (88-for-120).

They are scoring an average of 62.4 points a game and allowing 66.6 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 two years combined were 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 HOLY CROSS

- The Crusaders beat Hofstra, 72-66 in overtime, on Wednesday night at home.
- It was their fifth straight win and they improved to 6-2.
- They are 3-0 against America East opponents.
- The three wins before Hofstra were over UMass Lowell, 63-54, at Vermont, 65-40, and at Albany, 56-50.
- Lauren Manis, a 6-foot-1 junior, averages 22.9 points and 13.4 rebounds a game to lead the Crusaders.
- She was ranked tied for 11^th in the country in scoring and 11^th in rebounding in the latest NCAA rankings.
- Manis was named first-team All Patriot League last season.
- Megan Swords, a 6-foot-3 junior, averages 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds.
- Avery LaBarbera, a 5-foot-6 freshman, averages 12.3 points and 5.1 rebounds.
- LaBarbera has made 27 of her 29 foul shots (93.1 percent) and was inside the top 10 in the nation in the most recent NCAA statistics.
- Manis (26 points, 18 rebounds) had her seventh double-double of the season against Hofstra.
- Swords (19 points, 11 rebounds) and LaBarbera (13 and 13) each had double-double in that game as well.
- Kathryn Pedi has hit 19 three-pointers.
- The Crusaders average 68.5 points a game and allow 64.2.
- The Holy Cross losses were to Boston College, 89-63, and Brown, 89-85.
- Bill Gibbons is in his 34^th season as coach at Holy Cross.
- He has a 608-403 record.
- The Crusaders lead the series against UNH, 15-8.
- UNH won the most recent game between the teams, 68-65, on Nov. 17, 2012.

HOME COOKING

The Wildcats have won two straight games in Lundholm and are 2-1 overall at home.

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

After Holy Cross, they Dartmouth on Friday, Dec. 21 at 11 a.m. and 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: JACKIE MAC IS BACK

Acclaimed author and former UNH basketball captain Jackie MacMullan, '82, will be signing copies of her latest book, "Basketball: A Love Story" before the Holy Cross game.

The book was inspired by the ESPN series of the same name and is in the form of an oral history and includes interviews with well over 100 of the biggest names in basketball, from Bill Russell and Bob Cousy to Larry Bird, from Rebecca Lobo to LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

The book will be available for purchase and MacMullan will sign copies from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The game begins at 1. MacMullan is donating $5 from each book purchased to the UNH women's basketball program.

ASHLEY'S STOREY

Ashley Storey had hit the 20-point mark in a game once in her career coming into the season. She's did it four times in a row from the Brown game through the Bryant game. She had 21 points against Brown, matched her career high with 22 points against Sacred Heart and Northeastern and had 20 against Bryant.

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 third in America East with 2.3 steals per game.

"She's just so long and she moves really well," said coach Maureen Magarity. "Her arms are so long. Someone will think they have an easy pass into the post and she'll get in there and deflect it."

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.

DOUBLING UP

The Bryant game was the first time UNH had five players in double figures in a game since a 71-43 win over Sacred Heart on Dec. 18, 2016.

Ashley Storey had 20 points, Kari Brekke 16, Maggie Ahearn 14, Amanda Torres 13 and Caroline Soucy 10 against Bryant.

Against Sacred Heart two years ago, Storey with 12 points and Soucy with 10 were among the players in double figures. The others were Carlie Pogue with 16, Kat Fogarty with 15 and Aliza Simpson with 10.

Alli Gribbin blocked five shots against Bryant. Pogue was the last Wildcat to block five shots in a game. She did it in a 58-51 win over UMass Lowell on Jan. 14, 2016.

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 132-119 overall record and stands fourth in all-time wins at UNH. She is one win out of the third spot and four 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.