UNH Heads to Binghamton for Saturday Matinee (2 P.M., ESPN3)

Saturday, February 9

Vestal, N.Y.

2 PM

University of New Hampshire

Binghamton

Tickets

Mariah Gonzalez (Photo by Audrey Powell)

UNH Heads to Binghamton for Saturday Matinee (2 P.M., ESPN3)

2/8/2019 1:53:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Wildcats are looking for their second straight America East win.

DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire women's basketball team aims for a second consecutive win when it plays at Binghamton on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Wildcats rode a fourth quarter rally to a 54-46 win over UMass Lowell on Wednesday night at home in Lundholm Gymnasium to close out a season sweep of the River Hawks.

Freshman guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis.) scored 16 points and added four rebounds and four assists to lead UNH over UMass Lowell. Sophomore guard Amanda Torres (Hudson, N.H.) had 12 points with four rebounds and four steals.

UNH improved to 5-18 overall and 2-8 in America East with the win.

Binghamton is 9-14 overall and 4-6 in the league.

The Bearcats lost at Stony Brook, 68-53, on Wednesday for their second defeat.

The Wildcats are still without their leading scorer, junior forward Ashley Storey (Cumberland, Maine). Storey has missed the last eight 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

Freshman guard Kari Brekke led the Wildcats with 16 points against UMass Lowell.
She averages 10.2 points a game to lead America East freshmen in scoring.
Leading scorer Ashley Storey has missed the last eight games and is expected to be out at least six weeks with a foot injury.
UNH's win vs. UMass Lowell on Feb. 6 was the 135^th at UNH for coach Maureen Magarity.
Sophomore guard Amanda Torres scored 12 points and had four steals against UMass Lowell.
Senior Rebecca Carmody leads Binghamton at 13.4 points per game.
The Wildcats play their Spread Respect game against Vermont in Lundholm Gymnasium on Wednesday night at 7.

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Freshman guard Kari Brekke scored 16 points and sophomore guard Amanda Torres had 12 to lead the Wildcats over UMass Lowell, 54-46, in Lundholm Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

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

UNH completed a season sweep of UMass Lowell with the win. The Wildcats beat the River Hawks, 56-53, in Lowell on Jan. 9.

Wednesday's was win No. 135 at UNH for head coach Maureen Magarity. She is No. 3 on the program's career list for wins, one victory out of the No. 2 spot.

The Wildcats have played their last eight 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) missed the UMass Lowell game with an injury.

Brekke is averaging 13.9 points a game through the last nine games to lead the Wildcats. Her overall average of 10.2 points a game is tops among America East freshmen.

Freshman forward Ivy Gogolin has averaged 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds in the last eight games while replacing Storey in the lineup.

Brekke matched her career-high with four three-point baskets in the last two games against Maine and UMass Lowell. She was four-for-seven from behind the arc in each game. She has 42 of the team's 109 three-pointers. Brekke has made 33.6 percent of her treys (42-for-125).

UNH is 5-18 overall and 2-8 in America East.

Magarity has a 135-130 record in her eight-plus seasons with the Wildcats. Cecilia DeMarco is No. 2 in career wins. She went 136-86 from 1977-86.

Soucy averages 8.6 points a game and sophomore guard Amanda Torres is at 6.7.

Torres is fifth in America East free throw shooting (57-for-77 for 74 percent).

Brekke is 37-for-44 in free throws (84.1 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 third in minutes played at 35.9 per game.

The Wildcats are scoring an average of 54.2 points a game and allowing 65.9 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.

BINGHAMTON
- The Bearcats are coming into the game with an overall record of 9-14.
- They are 7-5 at home and 4-6 in America East.
- The Bearcats have lost their last two games, Feb. 2 at home to Albany, 71-62, and Wednesday at Stony Brook, 68-53.
- Senior forward Rebecca Carmody (5-foot-9) is averaging 13.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and three assists per game.
- Carmody is leading the Bearcats in points, rebounds, assists, steals, field goals attempted (293), three pointers attempted (97) and free throws attempted (88).
- She is shooting 37.5 percent from the field, 30.9 percent from beyond the arc and 67 percent from the free throw line.
- Junior Guard Kai Moon (5-foot-6) is averaging 12.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and one assist per game.
- She leads the team in free throw percentage shooting 83.9 percent from the line and has attempted 62 free throws on the season.
- Moon is second on the team in three-point percentage shooting 41.3 percent on 63 attempts.
- Junior Guard Carly Boland (6-foot-1) is averaging 10.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
- Boland is second the team in field goal percentage shooting 43 percent from the field, and she is third on the team in three-point percentage at 38.9 percent on the season.
- Sophomore Forward Olivia Ramil (6-foot-2) is averaging 8.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
- Ramil is third on the team in field goal percentage with 41.9 percent.
- Carmody had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, all in the second half to lead the Bearcats to a 71-62 win over UNH in Durham on Jan. 5.

HOME COOKING

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

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

UNH plays Vermont in Lundholm on Wednesday, Feb. 13 in its Spread Respect game and plays Albany at home on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at noon.

UNH closes 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 Jan. 28.

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

Brekke scored a career-high 20 points at UMBC, following up a 12-point night against Hartford. She made six of her 13 three-pointers combined in the games.

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.

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

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 135-130 overall record and grabbed sole possession of the No. 3 spot in all-time wins at UNH with the team's first victory against UMass Lowell. She is one win 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.

THOSE DOUBLE-DOUBLES

Alli Gribbin's double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) against UMBC on Jan. 26 was the second straight for a Wildcat and sixth for the season by a fifth different player.

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.

Junior guard Caroline Soucy had the other with 18 points and 10 rebounds against Holy Cross.

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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