Hot ‘Cats Host Catamounts Wednesday (7 P.M., ESPN3)

Wednesday, February 13

Durham, N.H.

7 PM

University of New Hampshire

Vermont

Tickets

Ivy Gogolin (Photo by Audrey Powell)

2/12/2019 5:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

UNH seeks third straight win on Spread Respect night.

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team shoots for a third straight win when it takes on Vermont in its America East Spread Respect game Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Lundholm Gymnasium.

The Wildcats are coming off a 54-53 win at Binghamton on Saturday.

The victory was No. 136 in her career at UNH for Maureen Magarity, who is in her ninth season as the Wildcat head coach. Magarity moved into a tie for second place in career victories with the program.

Junior guard Caroline Soucy (Beverly, Mass.) had 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season at Binghamton. Freshman guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis.) scored 14 points and collected five rebounds and sophomore guard Amanda Torres (Hudson, N.H.) had 12 points with three rebounds.

UNH improved to 6-18 overall and 3-8 in America East with the win.

Vermont is 9-14 overall and 5-6 in the league.

The Catamounts fell at Albany, 65-40, on Saturday and have lost their last two games.

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

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

STORYLINES

Junior guard Caroline Soucy had 11 points and a career-best 11 rebounds for a double-double at Binghamton.
Freshman guard Kari Brekke led the Wildcats with 14 points against Binghamton.
She averages 10.4 points a game to lead America East freshmen in scoring.
Leading scorer Ashley Storey has missed the last nine games and is expected to be out at least six weeks with a foot injury.
The win was No. 136 at UNH for coach Maureen Magarity.
That puts her tied for second in career wins at UNH.
Junior forward Hannah Crymble leads Vermont at 14.6 points per game.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Junior guard Caroline Soucy's 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds led the Wildcats at Binghamton.

Freshman guard Kari Brekke had 14 points and five rebounds and sophomore guard Amanda Torres added 12 points with three rebounds.

UNH took the lead on a three-pointer by Brekke with 4:30 left in the game at Binghamton. The Wildcats led by as many as seven points in the final minutes and held on late for the win.

Brekke has either led the Wildcats in scoring or shared the lead in scoring in the last three games and six of the last seven.

UNH has is on a two-game winning streak for the second time this season. The Wildcats have not won three games this year.

Saturday's was victory No. 136 at UNH for head coach Maureen Magarity and she moved into a tie for No. 2 on the program's career list for wins.

The Wildcats have played their last nine games without leading scorer Ashley Storey. The 6-foot-3 junior forward leads the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game and averages 6.1 rebounds per game. Storey is expected to miss at least six weeks with a foot injury.

Senior forward Alli Gribbin (Keller, Texas) has missed the last two games with an injury.

Brekke is averaging 13.9 points a game through the last 10 games to lead the Wildcats. Her overall average of 10.4 points a game is tops among America East freshmen.

Freshman forward Ivy Gogolin has averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds in the last eight games while replacing Storey in the lineup.

Brekke has 43 of the team's 113 three-pointers. She has made 33.3 percent of her treys (43-for-129).

UNH is 6-18 overall and 3-8 in America East.

Magarity has a 136-130 record in her eight-plus seasons with the Wildcats. She is tied with Cecilia DeMarco at No. 2 in career wins. DeMarco went 136-86 from 1977-86.

Soucy averages 8.7 points a game and sophomore guard Amanda Torres is at 6.9.

Torres is fourth in America East free throw shooting (60-for-83 for 72.3 percent).

Brekke is 40-for-50 in free throws (80 percent) but does not have enough shots to qualify for the league rankings.

Brekke is tied for 10th in the league in assists at 2.5 per game and is fourth in minutes played at 35.9 per game.

The Wildcats are scoring an average of 54.2 points a game and allowing 65.3 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 coming into the game with an overall record of 9-14.
- They are 5-6 in America East.
- Overall, they are 6-7 at home, and 3-7 away
- The Catamounts have lost their last two games, Feb. 6 at Maine, 66-45, and Saturday at Albany, 65-40.
- Junior forward Hanna Crymble (6-foot-3) is averaging 14.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game.
- Crymble is leading the Catamounts in points (336), field goals attempted (250), and free throws attempted (92).
- She is shooting 49.6 percent from the field, which is first in America East.
- Crymble leads the league in free throw percentage (82-for-92 for 88 percent).
- Senior forward Candice Wright, (6-foot-3) is averaging 9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1 assist per game.
- Wright leads the team in rebounds (6.1 per game) and leads the league in blocked shots (2.9 per game).
- Sophomore guard Josie Larkins (5-foot-9) is averaging 8.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
- Larkins is third on the team in three-point percentage, shooting 29.5 percent from beyond the arc.
- She leads the Catamounts in assists (61) and steals (20).
- Senior forward Lauren Handy (6-foot-2) is averaging 6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
- Senior forward Courtney Wright (6-foot) is second in field goal percentage and three-point percentage, shooting 46 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc.
- Vermont has 128 three-point field goals.
- Alisa Kresge is Vermont's interim head coach.
- She's a 2007 Marist graduate.
- Kresge was a freshman and UNH coach Maureen Magarity was a senior and both were starters on the Marist team that won the 2004 MAAC championship.
- Courtney Wright hit a three-pointer with 2:58 left in regulation to help secure a 69-60 victory for the Catamounts over UNH in Burlington on Jan. 16.

HOME COOKING

The Wildcats are 4-7 in Lundholm Gymnasium this season.

The Wildcats have four home games in February and one in March.

After the Spread Respect game against Vermont on Wednesday, UNH plays at Stony Brook on Saturday at 2 p.m. and at Hartford on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

The Wildcats play Albany at home on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at noon.

They close the regular season with a home game against UMBC on Saturday, March 2 at noon.

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) has 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 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 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 Kari Brekke was named America East Rookie of the Week on Feb. 11.

It was the second time Brekke was named Rookie of the Week in the past three weeks and the third time this season. It was the fourth time a Wildcat has received the award.

Brekke had 16 points in a 54-46 come-from-behind win over UMass Lowell in Lundholm Gymnasium on Feb. 6 and had 14 in a win at Binghamton on Feb. 9.

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

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

She 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.

Brekke also earned the award for games the week of Dec. 3-10.

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

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 136-130 overall record and is tied for the No. 2 spot in program wins.

Cecilia DeMarco (136-86 from 1977-86) shares the second spot on the list. Kathy Sanborn (170-126 from 1986-97) is at the top of the list.

THOSE DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Caroline Soucy's double-double (11 points, career-high 11 rebounds) was the seventh for the Wildcats by five different players this season. Soucy also had one with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Holy Cross.

Alli Gribbin had a double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) against UMBC on Jan. 26.

Ivy Gogolin had 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double against Hartford on Jan. 23.

Only three of the five players with double-doubles were active as the America East portion of the schedule passed its midway point.

Maggie Ahearn had two double-doubles in the nine games she played and Storey had one before being sidelined.

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.

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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