Wildcats Host Hawks for Education Day (11 A.M.)

Wednesday, February 14

Durham, N.H.

11AM

University of New Hampshire

University of Hartford

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Amanda Torres (Photo by Alec Anterni)

Photo by: Alec Anterni

2/13/2018 1:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

The Wildcats are back home for the first of their final two regular season home games.

2017-2018 New Hampshire Women's Basketball
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
New Hampshire (16-10, 7-6 AE) vs.
Hartford (14-11, 6-6 AE); 11:00 a.m.
Lundholm Gymnasium - Durham, N.H.
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DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team returns home to Lundholm Gymnasium for two of the last three games of the regular season. They begin the homestand on Wednesday morning hosting the Hartford Hawks at 11 A.M. on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App.

STORYLINES

UNH is 7-6 in America East and 16-10 overall after Sunday's 51-46 at UMBC.
The Wildcats are tied for fourth place in the league standings with Stony Brook.
UNH plays its Senior Day game against Stony Brook on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Carlie Pogue is No. 5 on UNH's career scoring list with 1,454 points.
Quarterfinals, semifinals of the league tournament are March 3 and 4 in Portland, Maine.
UNH is 8-3 in Lundholm Gymnasium this season.
The Wildcats won their first outright America East regular season championship with a 15-1 league record last year.
Tickets for UNH home games are available at www.unhwildcats.com, by calling 603-862-4000 or at the Whittemore Center box office.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Senior Carlie Pogue had 16 points and five rebounds and senior Olivia Healy had 14 points and seven rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 51-46 win at UMBC on Sunday. UNH improved to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in America East.
The Wildcats and Stony Brook are tied for fourth place in the America East standings heading into Wednesday morning's game. Hartford is just behind at 6-6. Albany and Maine share the league lead with 10-3 records and Binghamton is in third place at 8-4.

UNH lost at Hartford, 85-49 on Jan. 31. The Wildcats had 26 turnovers and Hartford had 16 steals in that game. Healy led UNH with 15 points and nine rebounds, Pogue had 13 points and eight rebounds and Fogarty had 12 points.
Pogue leads three Wildcats in double figures in scoring at 14.3 points a game. Healy is next at 12.5 and senior Kat Fogarty is at 11.3. Brittni Lai averages 9.8 points. Healy leads the team in rebounds at 6.4, Pogue's at 6.0, Fogarty at 5.9 and senior Aliza Simpson at 4.8.

The Wildcats are second in America East in scoring defense, allowing 57.3 points a game. They average 59 points a game, which is seventh-best in the league in scoring offense.

The Wildcats went 26-6 overall last season and were 15-1 in the America East Conference to grab their first outright regular season league title. They return a veteran group – led by Carlie Pogue, the reigning America East Player of the Year, and three other players who won league postseason honors.

The returning players combined to score 55.7 points of the 61.3 points UNH scored per game last year. Pogue averaged 16.6 points and 7.9 rebounds a game to lead the team in both categories and pull down the program's first Player of the Year honors in nearly three decades.

UNH was picked to finish sixth in last year's America East preseason coaches' poll. Coach Maureen Magarity's squad was picked to finish first in the preseason poll this year.

Pogue was also a first-team All-Conference pick last year. Kat Fogarty averaged 10.4 points and 5.8 rebounds and was named second-team All-Conference. Brittni Lai and Olivia Healy both were named to the All-Conference third team. Lai averaged 11.1 points and 3.3 assists a game and Healy scored 8.7 points and pulled down 5.7 rebounds.

The 2016-17 Wildcats set a program record for wins (the previous mark was 23 in 1982-83) and with their regular season league title earned a spot in the WNIT.

SCOUTING HARTFORD

Senior forward Janelle Harrison scored 16 points and Lindsey Abed had 12 in a 66-53 loss at Albany on Sunday. Senior forward Darby Lee had 10 points and five rebounds. The Hawks led 22-20 at the half, but was outscored 46-31 in the second half.

Hartford has lost three straight games since beating UNH at home on Jan. 31. The Hawks have dropped games to Stony Brook, 66-58, and Maine, 59-56, leading into the Albany game.
Hartford is 14-11 overall and 6-6 in America East.

Abed averages 13 points and 4.7 rebounds a game for the Hawks. Harrison is at 11.8 points and 5.7 rebounds a game. Lee averages 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds.

The Hawks lead the league in steals with 13.3 per game. They had 16 steals in the win over UNH on Jan. 31. Junior guard Alexia Douglas had six steals in that game and Harrison had five. Harrison is second in the league in steals at 2.7 per game and Abed is fourth with 2.2 per game.

Hartford averages 64 points a game, which is the fourth-best scoring average in the league. The Hawks are fifth in scoring defense at 60.1 points a game. They are sixth in the league with 137 three-pointers, 5.5 per game. UNH has made 81 three-pointers, or 3.1 per game.

Kim McNeil, a 2000 graduate of Richmond, is in her second season as Hartford's head coach. She led the team to a 17-14 overall record and 7-9 mark in America East last season.

UPCOMING: The Wildcats have just three regular season games remaining. The Wildcats play their final regular season home game against Stony Brook on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. for Senior Day. The regular season closes with a game at UMass Lowell on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

PORTLAND TOWN: Tickets are on sale for the quarterfinals and semifinals of the America East tournament that will be played for the second year at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. The quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday, March 3 and the semifinals for Sunday, March 4. Tickets for the games in Portland are available at www.crossarenaportland.com. The championship game will be played on Friday, March 9 at the home of the top seed remaining in the tournament. The games in Portland will be on ESPN3 and the title game will be on ESPNU. A first-round game will be played Wednesday, Feb. 28 with the No. 8 team in the standings playing host to the No. 9.

PLAY4KAY: The Saturday, Feb. 3 contest against Albany was the team's Play4Kay game in support of the Kay Yow Cancer Foundation, breast cancer awareness and the fight against all women's cancers. Originally called Think Pink, the organization was founded by the late Kay Yow, the head women's basketball coach at North Carolina State University. Yow battled breast cancer off and on for 22 years before passing away from the illness in 2009.

GOOD SEATS ARE AVAILABLE: Individual and group tickets for UNH women's basketball games are available at www.unhwildcats.com, by calling 603-862-4000 or at the Whittemore Center box office.

HOME AGAIN: The Wildcats are 8-3 at home in Lundholm Gymnasium this season. They were 14-2 in their Lundholm games last season.

THE COACH: Maureen Magarity is in her eighth season as head coach of the Wildcats. She directed the program to a 26-6 record and its first outright America East regular season championship in 2016-17. The team won as many as 20 games for only the third time in its history and first since the 1983-84 season. The program's previous record for wins was 23 in 1982-83.

One of last season's featured victories was a 50-44 decision over Maine in Lundholm Gymnasium on Jan. 19. That win was Magarity's 100^th as head coach of the Wildcats. She owns a 127-110 overall record at UNH.

Magarity ranks fourth in all-time coaching wins at UNH. Kathy Sanborn (1986-97) was 170-127 in her 11 seasons. Cecelia DeMarco (1977-86) went 136-86 in her nine seasons and Sue Johnson (1997-2007) was 133-150 in her 10 seasons.

Magarity earned America East Coach of the Year honors last season. She was also a finalist for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year award.

CARLIE'S CLIMBING: Carlie Pogue, the America East Player of the Year last season, has broken into the Top 10 on a few UNH career lists. She is at No. 5 on the scoring list with 1,454 career points. She moved past Elizabeth Belanger (2012-16) with 16 points against UMBC. Maren Matthias (2000-04) is No. 4 at 1,503. Sheila Danker (1993-97) is No. 3 1,539. Pogue is No. 9 in rebounding with 688. Candace Williams (2006-10) is No. 8 at 699. Elizabeth Belanger (2012-16) is No. 7 with 703. Pogue is No. 8 in career blocked shots with 76. Kris Kinney (1985-89) is No. 7 with 77 and Ray Williams (2003-07) is at No. 6 with 84.

FOR THE DEFENSE: UNH is second in America East in scoring defense. The Wildcats allow 57.3 points a game. Maine leads the league at 54.9. UNH led the league in scoring defense last year when it gave up 55 points a game.

SIMPSON ON THE MOVE: Aliza Simpson has moved into the Top 20 in a couple of career categories. She's No. 15 in three-point field goals with 89. Marcie Lane (1991-94) is at No. 14 with 95. Simpson is No. 15 in assists with 253. Christine Gulas (1982-84) is No. 14 with 264.

DOUBLE THE FUN: Carlie Pogue scored 20 points and had 12 rebounds in UNH's 74-68 win over league-leading Albany on Feb. 3 for her first double-double of the season. It was the fifth double-double for the team. Olivia Healy scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds in a 54-52 loss to Binghamton on Jan. 27 for her third double-double. Healy had a career high 23 points and had 11 rebounds in a 63-61 win at Binghamton on Jan. 10. She had 17 points and 10 rebounds against Dartmouth on Dec. 5. Kat Fogarty had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Xavier on Nov. 11 for UNH's first double-double of the season.

BUZZER BEATERS: Three of UNH's four straight league wins from Jan. 10 to Jan. 21 came on baskets in the closing seconds. A Brittni Lai bucket with a couple of seconds left beat Binghamton, 63-61, on the road Jan. 10. A Fogarty basket with 9.3 seconds left at Vermont on Jan. 18 put UNH on top in what became a 52-49 win. Carlie Pogue scored with two seconds left to lift the Wildcats over Stony Brook on Jan. 21. All three of those wins came on the road.

RALLY TIME: The Wildcats have rallied from behind in the fourth quarter on the way to four of their seven America East wins this season. They trailed Vermont 37-34 after three periods before rallying to a 52-49 win on Jan. 18. They trailed UMBC, 38-33, heading into the fourth quarter on Jan. 3 and roared back for a 56-51 victory. Binghamton owned a 49-46 lead going into the fourth period on Jan. 10 and UNH pulled out a 63-61 win. UNH led at Stony Brook going into the fourth quarter, but trailed in the last minute before pulling out a 51-50 victory. The Wildcats came from behind to win two other America East games as well. On Jan. 15, they trailed UMass Lowell 25-22 at the half and took their first lead at 32-30 with 5:18 left in the third period on the way to a 66-45 win. On Feb. 11 they trailed at UMBC 23-22 at the half and rallied for a 51-46 win.

GOOD MORNING: The Wagner, Dartmouth and UMBC games had morning start times. The Wildcats are 2-1 in morning games with wins over Wagner and UMBC heading into the Hartford game.

THE CAPTAINS: Kat Fogarty, Brittni Lai, senior guard Peyton Booth (Wadsworth, Ohio) and junior guard Emily Peters (Lindstrom, Minn.) are captains for the 2017-18 Wildcats.

"All four are tremendous leaders and each brings something different to the group," Magarity said. "Kat and Peyton were our captains last year and obviously did a great job and were deserving again. All four of them stood out as leaders during the offseason and we're excited to have them as our captains."

TITLE TIME: Last year's America East regular season championship was UNH's first outright league title. The Wildcats shared the championship of what was then the Seaboard Conference with Northeastern in 1984-85. Both teams had 4-1 records in the league.