UNH Faces UVM Wednesday (7 P.M., ESPN+)

Wednesday, January 16

Burlington, Vt.

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

Vermont

Tickets

Caroline Soucy (Photo by Audrey Powell)

1/15/2019 1:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball

The Wildcats are looking to stay hot on the road facing the Catamounts

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team, seeking a second straight America East Conference road victory, plays at Vermont on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Freshman guard Kali Grimm (Norwood Young America, Minn.) leads the Wildcats into Burlington on Wednesday night. Grimm was named America East Rookie of the Week on Monday for her efforts in two games last week.

Grimm came off the bench to score a career-high 15 points and lead the Wildcats to a 56-53 triumph at UMass Lowell on Jan. 9. Fellow freshmen Ivy Gogolin (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis.) added 10 points each in the UMass Lowell game.

Grimm had 13 points in UNH's loss at home to Stony Brook on Saturday.

The Wildcats will play Vermont without their leading scorer, junior forward Ashley Storey (Cumberland, Maine). Story has missed the last two games and is expected to miss at least six weeks with a foot injury.

The Wildcats take a 4-13 overall record and 1-3 mark in the league into the Vermont game. The Catamounts are 5-11 overall and 1-3 in the league.

After Vermont, UNH's next game is Wednesday, Jan. 23 at home in Lundholm Gymnasium against Hartford at 7 p.m.

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

STORYLINES

Freshman guard Kali Grimm was named America East Rookie of the Week on Monday.
She has averaged 14 points a game in UNH's last two contests.
Leading scorer Ashley Storey has missed the last two games and is expected to be out at least six weeks with a foot injury.
UNH's win over UMass Lowell was the 134^th at UNH for Coach Maureen Magarity.
Magarity moved into the No. 3 spot in career wins in the program.
Junior forward Hannah Crymble leads Vermont in scoring (15.4 points per game) and rebounding (5.8 per game).

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Kali Grimm came off the bench to score 15 points to lead the Wildcats to a 56-53 win at UMass Lowell on Jan. 9 in the team's most recent road game.

The win was No. 134 at UNH for head coach Maureen Magarity, moving her into sole possession of the No. 3 spot on the program's list of career wins.

The Wildcats have played their last two games – the win at UMass Lowell and a loss at home to Stony Brook on Jan. 12 – without leading scorer Ashley Storey. The 6-foot-3 junior forward leads the team in scoring and is sixth in America East in rebounding. Storey is expected to miss at least six weeks with a foot injury.

Freshman Ivy Gogolin has averaged nine points and 5.5 rebounds in the last two games while replacing Storey in the starting lineup.

Grimm made four of the eight three-point shots she attempted in both the game against UMass Lowell and Saturday's game against Stony Brook. The four three-pointers matched the team's high for the season, set by Kari Brekke in the season opener at Minnesota.

UNH is 4-12 overall and 1-3 in America East.

Magarity has a 134-125 record in her eight-plus seasons with the Wildcats. She is two wins out of the No. 2 spot on the career wins list. Cecilia DeMarco went 136-86 from 1977-86.

Junior Caroline Soucy scored 17 points to lead UNH against Stony Brook and averages 8.6 points a game. Brekke leads America East freshmen in scoring at 8.5 points a game and Amanda Torres is at 6.8.

Torres is third in America East free throw shooting (41-for-58 for 70.7 percent).

Brekke is tied for eighth in the league in assists at 2.6 per game and tied for fourth in minutes played at 35.4 per game. She leads UNH with 25 three-point baskets.

The Wildcats are scoring an average of 55.1 points a game and allowing 67.2 per game.

Magarity 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 last 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.

VERMONT

- The Catamounts are 5-11 overall and 1-3 in America East.
- They lost at Hartford, 61-32, in their most recent game Saturday.
- They had 41 turnovers in that game.
- Hannah Crymble, a 6-foot-3 junior forward, had 11 points and five rebounds against Hartford.
- Vermont's league win was over Albany, 52-39.
- The other league losses were to UMass Lowell, 54-51, and Maine, 63-51.
- Crymble ranks fourth in America East in scoring at 15.4 points per game and is seventh in rebounding at 5.8 per game.
- Crymble is second in the league in field goal percentage (92-for-176 for 52.6).
- She is first in free throw percentage (60-for-70 for 85.7 percent).
- Candice Wright, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, averages 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.
- Wright leads the league in blocked shots with 51, 3.2 a game.
- Vermont averages 51.3 points per game.
- The Catamounts allow 60.4 points per game.
- Vermont has made 80 three-point baskets.
- UNH has made 78 three-pointers.
- Sophomore guard Josie Larkins leads Vermont with 22 three-pointers.
- Freshman guard Rose Caverly leads the team with 2.7 assists per game.
- Alisa Kresge is Vermont's interim head coach.
- She is a 2007 graduate of Marist.
- Vermont leads the series 43-39.
- The teams split their two games last year.
- UNH won at Vermont, 52-49.
- The Catamounts won the game in Durham, 58-53.
- Vermont was 8-22 overall last year and 5-11 in America East.

HOME COOKING

The Wildcats are 3-5 in Lundholm Gymnasium this season.

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

UNH's remaining home game in January is against Hartford on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m.

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

SIDELINED

The depth of the Wildcats – especially in the frontcourt – has taken a major hit this season.

Junior forward Ashley Storey (Cumberland, Maine) is the latest to be sidelined. She's been out of the lineup since the UMass Lowell game on Jan. 9 and is expected to miss at least six weeks with a foot injury.

Three Wildcats – including two frontcourt players – are out for the year with knee injuries.

Sophomore forward Maggie Ahearn (Marshfield, Mass.) started seven of the first eight games of the season and played in nine games total before being injured. She averaged 8.7 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds in her nine games.

Ahearn had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds against Brown and another with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Holy Cross. The 14 rebounds are a UNH high for the season.

Ahearn sat out last season as a transfer from Providence College.

Freshman forward Faith Bonett (Moorestown, N.J.) played in the first three games of the season as a backup and then was injured during practice.

Junior guard Sarah Clement (Falmouth, Maine) has missed the entire season as she rehabilitates from offseason surgery.

ASHLEY'S STOREY

Ashley Storey was one of the leading scorers in America East at 17.1 points per game when she was sidelined and also was among the league leaders in several other categories.

Storey had hit the 20-point mark in a game once in her career coming into the season.

She's done it seven times this year, including 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. She set a new career high with 23 points against Holy Cross and matched that, too, against Central Connecticut State.

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 double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) came against Stony Brook on Jan. 4, 2017.

Storey also leads the team with two 2.0 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."

WEEKLY HONORS

Freshman guard Kali Grimm (Norwood Young America, Minn.) was named America East Rookie of the Week, the league announced Jan. 14.

Grimm came off the bench and averaged 14 points and two rebounds a game in a pair of America East Conference contests.

Grimm led three Wildcat freshmen in double figures with 15 points in a 56-53 win at UMass Lowell on Jan. 9. It was UNH's first conference win of the season.

Grimm had 13 points in an 82-63 loss to Stony Brook on Jan. 12.

In each game, Grimm made four of her eight three-point attempts. The four three-pointers matches the UNH best for the season.

Grimm was the second Wildcat to earn Rookie of the Week honors this season.

Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis.) earned the award for games the week of Dec. 3-10.

Brekke averaged 7.5 points and six assists per game in a pair of Wildcat wins.

Brekke had nine points and doubled her career high with eight assists in UNH's 74-62 win over Holy Cross on Dec. 9 in Lundholm. She made two of her four three-point field goal attempts in the game.

Brekke had six points and four assists in UNH's 68-44 win over the University of New England on Dec. 6.

RAINING TREYS

The Wildcats made 10 of the 16 three-point shots they attempted against Holy Cross, their highest total for made threes in seven years. They matched that number with 10 three-pointers against Stony Brook on Jan. 12.

The last time the Wildcats had as many as 10 three-pointers was Dec. 3, 2011 when they hit 12 in a loss to Harvard.

Ashley Storey made all three of the three-pointers she took against Holy Cross. Caroline Soucy also made three and Kari Brekke had a pair. Maggie Ahearn and Alli Gribbin each made one three-pointer in the game.

Kali Grimm and Caroline Soucy each had four three-pointers against Stony Brook.

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 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 134-125 overall record and grabbed the sole possession of the No. 3 spot in all-time wins at UNH with the victory against UMass Lowell. She is two wins out of the No. 2 spot on the list.

Cecilia DeMarco (136-86 from 1977-86) is at No. 2 on the wins list. Kathy Sanborn (170-126 from 1986-97) is at the top of the list.

JACKIE CAME BACK

Acclaimed author and former UNH basketball captain Jackie MacMullan, '82, signed 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.

MacMullan donated $5 from each book purchased to the UNH women's basketball program.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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