UNH Heads to UMass Lowell Wednesday (7 P.M., ESPN+)

Wednesday, January 9

Lowell, Mass.

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

UMass Lowell

Tickets

Kari Brekke (Photo by Meghan Murphy)

1/8/2019 2:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Wildcats seek first conference win of 2019 facing the River Hawks.

DURHAM, N.H. - Junior forward Ashley Storey (Cumberland, Maine) and the University of New Hampshire women's basketball team look for their first America East win in a road game vs. UMass Lowell at the Tsongas Center on Wednesday night at 7.

The Wildcats then return home for their annual Alumni Day game and a clash with Stony Brook on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Lundholm Gymnasium. All alumni are welcome to play in an Alumni Game on Saturday at 10 a.m.

More information for basketball alumni is available by contacting assistant coach Kelsey Hogan at Kelsey.hogan@unh.edu or 603-862-4059.

Storey scored 19 points and collected six rebounds against Binghamton on Saturday in UNH's first America East home game of the season.

The Wildcats take a 3-12 overall record and 0-2 mark in the league into Lowell. The River Hawks are 5-10 overall and 1-1 in the league. They are coming off a 76-56 loss at Stony Brook.

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

STORYLINES

Ashley Storey averages 17.1 points a game to rank second in America East in scoring.
She has been UNH's top scorer in 13 of the team's 15 games.
Coach Maureen Magarity is tied for the No. 3 spot in coaching wins in program history.
She is in her ninth season as head coach of the Wildcats.
Freshman guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc.) and Storey have started every game.
The Wildcats celebrate Alumni Day on Saturday vs. Stony Brook at 1 p.m.
Grad student Brianna Rudolph leads UMass Lowell in scoring at 11.8 points per game.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Wildcats seek their first America East victory in a game at UMass Lowell at the Tsongas Center on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Junior forward Ashley Storey averages 17.1 points a game to lead the team and rank second in scoring in America East. She is among the league leaders in several other categories as well. Storey has scored at least 20 points in seven games this season.

UNH is 3-12 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Head coach Maureen Magarity moved into a tied for the No. 3 spot on the coaching wins list at UNH with a win over Holy Cross. She has a 133-124 record in her eight-plus seasons with the Wildcats.

Magarity is tied with Sue Johnson (133-150 record from 1997 to 2007). Cecilia DeMarco (136-86 from 1977-86) is at No. 2.

Storey hit for a career high 23 points in consecutive games against Holy Cross and Central Connecticut in December.

Caroline Soucy had 18 points and 10 rebounds against Holy Cross for her first career double-double and she also had a career best six assists. Maggie Ahearn had 12 points and 11 rebounds in that game for her second double-double of the season and her career.

Storey is second on the team in rebounding (6.1 per game). Soucy averages 8.3 points a game. Kari Brekke leads America East freshmen in scoring at 8.2 points a game and Amanda Torres is at 6.7.

Storey is also among the league leaders in rebounding (tied for fifth at 6.1), field goal percentage (third, 94-for-197 for 47.7 percent) and free throw shooting (fourth, 59-81 for 72.8 percent). Torres is third in free throw shooting (38-for-53 for 71.7 percent).

Brekke is tied for seventh in the league in assists at 2.7 per game and is second in minutes played at 35.6 per game. She leads UNH with 22 three-point baskets.

The Wildcats are scoring an average of 54.5 points a game and allowing 67.1 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.

UMASS LOWELL

- The River Hawks are coming off a 76-56 loss at Stony Brook on Saturday.
- They beat Vermont, 54-51, at home in their league opener.
- Grad student Brianna Rudolph had 14 points against Stony Brook.
- Sophomore guard Linda Sevenne and grad student forward Katherine Smith each had 13 points in that game.
- Rudolph averages 11.8 points a game to lead UMass Lowell.
- She and junior guard Brianne Stiers each average 5.3 rebounds a game.
- Smith scores 9.1 points per game.
- Junior guard Ren'Cia Rolling averages 8.1 points a game.
- Rolling is second in the league with 5.4 assists per game.
- Sevenne and Rolling lead the team with 19 three-pointers each.
- Tom Garrick is in his first year as head coach.
- He spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Boston College.
- A 1988 guard of the University of Rhode Island, Garrick played four years in the NBA.
- UNH leads the series 10-1.
- The Wildcats have won the last six games in the series.
- The Wildcats won last year's games, 66-45 in Durham and 70-49 in Lowell.

HOME COOKING

The Wildcats are 3-4 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.

The Alumni Day festivities Saturday will include an annual Alumni Game at 10 a.m., preceding UNH's 1 p.m. game against Stony Brook. All alumni are welcome to play in the Alumni Game.

More information is available from assistant coach Kelsey Hogan at Kelsey.hogan@unh.edu or 603-862-4059.

The other 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 FOR THE SEASON

The depth of the Wildcats – especially in the frontcourt – has taken a hit this season with three players 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 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."

HONORS FOR KARI

Kari Brekke was named America East Rookie of the Week for her performances 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. She has a team-high 22 three-point field goals this season.

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

The Rookie of the Week honors for Brekke were the first America East weekly honors earned by a Wildcat this season.

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.

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.

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 133-124 overall record and pulled into a tie for third place in all-time wins at UNH with the victory against Holy Cross. She is three wins out of the No. 2 spot on the list.

Sue Johnson (133-150 record from 1997 to 2007) is tied with Magarity in 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.

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.

"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.

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.