ualbany wbb Senior Night Game 29 / Conference Game 15 Feb 18 (Sat) 7:00 PM Troy, NY McDonough Sports Complex HVCC

[cwdickens]

Let us send off the fine group of Senior and Graduate Student - Athletes with lots of support in an important AE Conference game!!!

 

Feb 18 (Sat) 7:00 PM

AE

vs 

Maine

Senior Night/Autism Acceptance

Troy, N.Y. McDonough Sports Complex - HVCC

• ESPN3
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• Live Stats
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• Tickets
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• History

Edited February 16, 2023 by cwdickens

[UAalum72]

Absolute must-win for us to get the top seed. Even with a win, we'd need to beat NJIT 

plus

a) someone (NJIT, Bing or Bryant) to beat Vermont, giving us sole ownership of first place;

or

b) Bing or New Hampshire to beat Maine, pushing UMBC into third place and Maine to fourth - we have the tiebreaker if UMBC is third, but UVM has it if Maine is third. If UMBC and Maine tie for third place, I don't know what the next tiebreaker is.

If any other upsets occur, never mind.

[cwdickens]

UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 

Seniors to be highlighted

Danes to celebrate half the roster before a key contest against Maine

 

By Abigail Rubel

Jonathan Cohen / Binghamton Athletics

Helene Haegerstrand scored 16 points in UAlbany's victory over Binghamton last Saturday night.

Jim Franco / Times Union

Graduate guard Ellen Hahne will play her final regular-season home game on Saturday against Maine.

TROY — The University at Albany women’s basketball team didn’t have a Senior Night last season.

The Great Danes (18-10, 12-2 America East) are making up for it this season, honoring half the team before Saturday night’s 7 p.m. tipoff against Maine (13-12, 9-4).

Fifth-years Ellen Hahne and Lucia Decortes; seniors Grace Heeps, Helene Haegerstrand, Fatima Lee and Taniya Hanner; and redshirt junior Morgan Haney will all be recognized.

Heeps, Haegerstrand, Lee, Hanner and Haney could all decide to return for another year. Haney has two years of eligibility left, but the group, who all started in 2019, wanted to celebrate together regardless of their choices in the offseason.

“It’s just fun that we (have) so many seniors on our team and we’re doing it together,” Haegerstrand said.

“I hope they all come back. I offered it to everybody,” UAlbany coach Colleen Mullen said. “But it’s about what’s best for them professionally, personally and athletically.”

The group is the first graduating class Mullen recruited herself after coming to UAlbany in 2018.

“When I recruited each one of these players, we weren’t a winning program and I think that speaks volumes to their character and their commitment to rebuild this program into a championship-caliber program,” she said. “It’s certainly all them, the way that they’ve created the culture of unselfishness and teamwork, and they’re just winners through and through.”

Haegerstrand’s family flew in from Sweden for the game. Though Haegerstrand knew her parents were coming, her sister’s presence was a surprise — something that’s normally difficult to pull off.

“It was actually quite easy this time. She’s hard to trick,” Caroline Haegerstrand, Helene Haegerstrand’s sister, said. “She wants to know what’s going on.”

“That’s why it’s fun to surprise her,” father Anders Haegerstrand added.

Hahne’s family will also be at the game.

“It feels very special,” she said. “Just a special moment, I think, to end my college career like this.”

Hahne transferred to UAlbany from Wake Forest in 2020.

“I just wanted to try something different and have a good last couple of years. I definitely did not think I was going to want to take a fifth year from COVID. So everything just reached beyond my expectations and I’ve just had such a good time here,” she said.

But the emotions of the game are secondary to the goal of beating Maine and getting one step closer to the No. 1 seed in the America East.

“It’s definitely exciting, but it’s also another game, and it’s exciting to play Maine,” Haegerstrand said.

UAlbany’s only win over Maine under Mullen was in last season’s title game. The Black Bears won by one point earlier this season, dealing the Great Danes their first loss in conference play. UAlbany battled back from an 18-point deficit in the first quarter but was unable to corral an offensive rebound in the final seconds and couldn’t get off a final shot.

“We’re not happy about how we played that game. We know we’re so much better than that. And I think that was a game that kind of, we had to change our minds about things. We had to just restart a little bit, and I think we’ve done that,” Hahne said.

The Great Danes are coming off a 74-67 win at UMBC on Wednesday night. Haegerstrand scored 25 points with five assists, and junior guard Kayla Cooper added 17 points and 11 rebounds. UAlbany was without guards Haney and Lilly Phillips.

Despite giving up 32 points in the fourth quarter and giving UMBC 22 free-throw opportunities, “all in all I just felt like it was one of our best games of the year. We shared the ball, we moved to the ball, we handled their runs, we answered their runs,” Mullen said.

Haney is back from her illness, and Phillips (lower leg injury) could play Saturday.

UAlbany will have to find a way to stop Maine sophomore forward Adrianna Smith, who leads the America East with 17.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, while also defending the perimeter. Maine shoots 3-pointers at a 33.5 percent clip, second-best in the conference.

“I just don’t think that they have an answer for us inside, so we have to figure out a way to have a nice balanced attack, but get some good paint touches and then control the boards,” Mullen said.

UAlbany vs. Maine

■› When: 7 p.m. Saturday

■› Where: McDonough Sports Complex, Hudson Valley Community College, Troy

■› Stream: ESPN3 ▶› Abigail.Rubel@- timesunion.com A @abigail_rubel

[UAalum72]

No upsets in today’s other AE games

[tnehurley]

UA 53-Maine 50. We beat Maine and we beat 3 clueless referees. Awful calls and awful non-calls. Down47-42, the ladies finish on an 11-3 run with some really tough defense. Cooper another DD with 19 and 11. Haegerstrand 17. A very thrilling game! A week off, then @ NJIT. And Wed. night we root for a slumping Binghamton team to beat Vermont.

[alum73]

I think the worst noncall of the game was the travel on the inbound pass.

That should have turned the ball back to us in the offensive zone.

[cwdickens]

If UAlbany and Vermont end conference play at 14-2, I believe UAlbany holds the tiebreaker.  While the UAlbany MBB is King of the bottom of the AE MBB standings, there is a dog fight for the bottom of the AE WBB standings.

2022-23 Women's Basketball Standings

SCHOOL	CONF	CPCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	STREAK
UAlbany	13-2	.867	19-10	.655	W4
Vermont	12-2	.857	20-6	.769	W12
UMBC	10-5	.667	13-13	.500	W1
Maine	9-5	.643	13-13	.500	L1
NJIT	8-6	.571	13-13	.500	L1
Binghamton	6-8	.429	13-14	.481	L3
Bryant	2-12	.143	8-19	.296	W1
New Hampshire	2-12	.143	7-19	.269	L4
UMass Lowell	2-12	.143	3-21	.125	W1

[UAalum72]

If UMBC and Maine are tied for third (1-1 against each other) it may come down to NET ranking where UVM is much higher than us

Our best shot is still for Bing to win either at UVM or at Maine. UNH at Maine or Bryant vs UVM are not very likely. NET ranking UVM 144, Albany 189

Edited February 19, 2023 by UAalum72

[tnehurley]

2 hours ago, alum73 said:

I think the worst noncall of the game was the travel on the inbound pass.

That should have turned the ball back to us in the offensive zone.

That’s the call that Coach Mullen was so angry about. Have seen her angry before but never like that. Had to be restrained by her staff. The worst of the refereeing was them allowing Maine players to huddle up with their coach at their bench when they had no timeouts left, and no one had fouled out. Ellen Hahne standing at the FT line, being iced by all this, wondering what the hell was going on—-along with Coach Mullen and many fans. I went home and watched much of the game again on ESPN 3. Rich Becker and partner were amazed and critical of these refs for allowing this to happen. Have to believe that if this happened in a tourney game or a title game, Maine’s coach would have been T’d up, as she should have been last night. And if not, UA could have played the game under protest. Hope to not see these clowns again this year. 

[alum73]

The Maine players can stand where they want. The refs should have given the ball to Hahne. 

[cwdickens]

3 hours ago, UAalum72 said:

If UMBC and Maine are tied for third (1-1 against each other) it may come down to NET ranking where UVM is much higher than us

Our best shot is still for Bing to win either at UVM or at Maine. UNH at Maine or Bryant vs UVM are not very likely. NET ranking UVM 144, Albany 189

Sadly, the AE website does not outline tiebreakers, which I thought was head-on-head games, then who outscored who.  Perhaps, Vermont will lose one of the remaining two games and UAlbany beats NJIT, then no need for tiebreakers.

[UAalum72]

On the AE board is posted the 2020-21 rules, assuming this year is similar except for its adjustments for COVID.

https://ngscsports.com/2021/02/19/america-east-basketball-tiebreakers-for-the-2020-21-season/

[bob87]

1 hour ago, cwdickens said:

Sadly, the AE website does not outline tiebreakers, which I thought was head-on-head games, then who outscored who.  Perhaps, Vermont will lose one of the remaining two games and UAlbany beats NJIT, then no need for tiebreakers.

Tie breakers are included in the conference release for yesterday games. 

1st head to head 

2nd record vs teams in descending order in the standings

3rd road conference record

4th net ranking 

[cwdickens]

UALBANY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

 

Emotions run high as title hopes kept alive

Saturday’s comeback win is first over Maine in five years

 

By Abigail Rubel

HAEGERSTRAND

TROY — Emotions were at a season high for the University at Albany women’s basketball team Saturday night at Hudson Valley Community College.

At stake: the first regular-season or home win over Maine since 2018. Revenge for a one-point defeat a few weeks earlier in Orono, UAlbany’s first conference loss of the season. Keeping pace with Vermont to stay atop the America East. Winning on Senior Night.

Down five points with just over four minutes to play, UAlbany took a timeout.

“We were telling each other, we know what we’re doing it for,” senior forward Helene Haegerstrand said. “There was no other option than taking that game back.”

Haegerstrand hit a big 3-pointer to get UAlbany within one, and junior guard Kayla Cooper got the lead back with a 5-0 run of her own, helping UAlbany to a 53-50 win.

“We definitely wanted to play for our seniors. They’ve done so much for us and we wanted to leave it all on the court for them,” Cooper said. She led UAlbany (19-10, 13-2 America East) with 19 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

“They certainly play for something bigger than themselves, and it’s really wonderful to see,” coach Colleen Mullen said. “To be able have that ‘I won on Senior Night feeling’ is really great.”

Haegerstrand, who had 17 points, four rebounds and three assists, was one of seven seniors honored before tipoff.

“I was expecting more tears from myself, but I’m happy we played Maine, because it made it very game-focused, and just to have (her family) here for a game like this is just a huge bonus,” she said.

UAlbany did just enough to slow down sophomore forward Adrianna Smith, who led the Black Bears with 22 points, 10 of which came in the third quarter.

Smith, the America East’s leading scorer, picked up two fouls in the first quarter and played just under nine minutes in the first half as UAlbany built a six-point lead at halftime.

“We just weren’t able to capitalize when she was out to push the lead a little bit more,” Mullen said.

Back in to start the second half, Smith gave Maine a 32-31 lead just over four minutes in and sparked a 6-0 run to make it a two-point lead at the end of the frame.

“We knew she was going to get the ball. We knew they want her to finish, so for us to keep her out of the paint was just the main goal,” Haegerstrand said.

Though Smith played all but four minutes in the second half, despite picking up her fourth foul in the final frame, her foul trouble came into play as UAlbany rallied: Going up against Cooper, she was reluctant to foul, allowing the junior to take her time for a layup to take the lead at 49-48.

“She has created a skill set for herself where when her two feet are inside the charge arc and she’s on the block, she’s practically unstoppable,” Mullen said. “Our game plan was just to try to make every catch difficult, push her off the lane, push her out of the short corner, and try to make her take her shots outside that charge arc. What got really complicated was they started beating us on back screens and cuts because we were so sucked up on her trying to limit her touches.”

Maine sophomore guard Paula Gallego, the beneficiary of much of UAlbany’s focus on Smith, finished with 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting.

The Great Danes need to win their final game at NJIT to clinch a share of the regular-season title. If Vermont also wins out, UAlbany needs UMBC to finish higher than Maine in the standings to win the tie for the one seed. If Maine finishes in third, Vermont would be No. 1. If Maine and UMBC also tie for third, the tiebreaker would go to winning percentage in conference road games, which Vermont would likely win — the Catamounts have just one road loss so far. UAlbany has two.

[bob87]

Good to see tie breakers mentioned in the article as well. 

I expect to be at all the women's tournament games regardless of where they are played and certainly hoping for 3. 

I have long since made other plans for the day of men's quarterfinals. I have 2 other games and a concert to go to that day