UNH Hosts Stony Brook for Senior Day Saturday (1 P.M.)

2017-2018 New Hampshire Women's Basketball
Saturday, February 17, 2018
New Hampshire (17-10, 8-6 AE) vs.
Stony Brook (16-11, 8-6 AE); 1:00 p.m.
Lundholm Gymnasium - Durham, N.H.
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DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team plays its second to last game of the season at Lundholm Gymnasium this Saturday, Feb. 17 at 2 P.M. Being the last home game of the regular season, UNH will honor its seven senior players. The game will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App.

STORYLINES

UNH is 8-6 in America East and 17-10 overall after Wednesday's 76-58 home win over Hartford.
The Wildcats and Stony Brook are tied for fourth place in the league standings.
UNH celebrates Senior Day – honoring seven senior players and one manager – on Saturday.
Carlie Pogue is No. 5 on UNH's career scoring list and needs 17 points for 1,500.
Quarterfinals, semifinals of the league tournament are March 3 and 4 in Portland, Maine.
UNH is 9-3 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 scored a season-high 29 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 76-58 win over Hartford in an Education Day game in Lundholm Gymnasium on Wednesday morning. Senior Kat Fogarty added 17 points and seven rebounds and senior guard Brittni Lai had 13 points and eight assists. The Wildcats got some revenge with the win. They had lost at Hartford, 85-49, on Jan. 31.

UNH improved to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in America East. The Wildcats and Stony Brook are tied for fourth place in the America East standings heading into Saturday's game. Maine leads the league at 11-3 and Albany is 10-3. Binghamton is third at 9-4. Hartford sits sixth with a 6-7 league record.

Pogue scored with two seconds left to lift UNH to a 51-50 win at Stony Brook on Jan. 21. UNH outscored Stony Brook 15-10 in the fourth quarter on the way to that victory.

Pogue leads three Wildcats in double figures in scoring at 15.2 points a game. Healy is next at 12.4 and senior Fogarty is at 11.6. Lai averages 9.9 points. Healy leads the team in rebounds at 6.4, Pogue's at 6.1, Fogarty at 5.9 and senior Aliza Simpson at 4.8.

The Wildcats are third in America East in scoring defense, allowing 57.3 points a game. Stony Brook is fourth at 57.7. The Wildcats average 59.6 points a game, which is seventh-best in the league in scoring offense. Stony Brook is fifth at 63.2.

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 STONY BROOK

The Seawolves earned their third straight conference win on Wednesday night, 53-49, at UMBC. After trailing at halftime, the Seawolves outscored UMBC 30-17 in the second half en route to their victory.

Senior guard Aaliyah Worley was the team's leading scorer with 13 points and also contributed six rebounds. Junior guard Shania Johnson pitched in with 10 points to go along with eight assists. Freshman Forward Mckenzie Bushee notched her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Since Stony Brook last played UNH on January 21, the Seawolves have gone 6-2, dropping games to Albany and Binghamton. On the season, the Seawolves are 16-11 overall and 8-6 in America East play.

Johnson leads the team in scoring with 15.6 points per game and is fifth in America East. Matthews is not far behind with 14.1 points per game and is ranked first in the conference in three-point percentage (.391). Junior Cheyenne Clark leads the team and is ranked second in the conference in rebounds per game with 9.1. Johnson is second in the conference in assists per game with 5.5 and ranks first in the conference in three-point field goals made with 83.

Stony Brook averages 63.6 points per game, which is the fifth-best scoring average in the conference. The Seawolves are fourth in scoring defense at 58 points per game. They are second in field goal percentage and second in three-point field goal percentage.

Caroline Mccombs is in her fourth season as the head coach of the Seawolves. Last season Mccombs lead her team to a 12-18 overall record and a 5-11 mark in America East.

UPCOMING: Including Saturday's Senior Day game against Stony Brook, the Wildcats have just two regular season games remaining. The regular season closes with a game at UMass Lowell on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.

SENIOR DAY: The women's basketball team celebrates its eight seniors on Saturday. These seniors helped take the program to new and unprecedented heights over their four years. Their many accomplishments included the team's first outright America East regular season championship in 2016-17 when they also put up a best-ever overall record of 26-6. The Wildcats smashed the previous record of wins in a season of 23. They also had a program-best 15-1 record in America East last season, a 13-game winning streak and made an appearance in the NIT tournament. Kudos to the seniors: Carlie Pogue, Kat Fogarty, Brittni Lai, Olivia Healy, Aliza Simpson, Peyton Booth, Morgan Bassett-Smith and head team manager Andrew Marden.

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 9-3 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 128-110 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 1,483 career points. 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 697. Candace Williams (2006-10) is No. 8 at 699. Elizabeth Belanger (2012-16) is No. 7 with 703. Theresa Redmond (1979-83) is No. 6 at 645. 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 third in America East in scoring defense. The Wildcats allow 57.3 points a game. 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 90. 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 eight 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 three 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. On Feb. 14, UNH trailed Hartford 32-31 at the half and won 76-58.

GOOD MORNING: The Wildcats played four games with 11 a.m. start times this season. They went 3-1 in those contests with wins over Wagner, UMBC at home and Hartford at home.

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.

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