As the final weekend of the regular-season basketball schedule approaches, the key words for both the men and women's teams are: “just win”.
The Dutchmen are among six teams battling for the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association's four-team postseason tournament, which will be held next Friday and Saturday at the site of the regular-season champion. The winner of that event earns the UCAA's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
The formula is very simple for the Dutchwomen. A Garnet road sweep over Vassar (Friday at 6 p.m.) and Rensselaer (Saturday at 2 p.m.) gives Union its first UCAA regular-season title and the opportunity to host next weekend's tournament. A weekend sweep by Rensselaer, which plays 3-9 Skidmore on Friday night, gives the Red Hawks the crown.
(click here for the Dutchwomen's weekend outlook)
The only thing for sure going into the weekend is that Hamilton (8-4) owns the first tie-breaker over the Dutchmen (head-to-head) with its season sweep while Union owns the first-tie breaker over Skidmore (6-6). The Garnet (7-5) split with Clarkson (8-4) and St. Lawrence (7-5) and won the first meeting with Rensselaer (7-5).
Because all the contenders are pretty much playing each other this weekend, nothing past the first tie-breaker is known for any of the teams. The conference's second tie-breaker, record against conference opponents in descending order, won't be finalized until after all of Saturday's 4 p.m. games are decided.
While Saturday's game in Troy sets up a HUGE contest against two of the Capital District's biggest rivals, the Dutchmen CAN NOT afford to look past Vassar. The Brewers (1-11 in the UCAA and 5-18 overall) handed the Red Hawks a potential crippling 50-46 loss in Poughkeepsie Tuesday night. It is certain that eighth-year head coach Bob Montana will keep that score fresh in his Dutchmen's minds, especially since Union won this year's first game against the Brewers, 78-48.
Sophomore guard John Cagianello (17.9), classmate forward Brian Scordato (13.0) and junior forward Devon Bruce (10.6) lead the Dutchmen in scoring while Bruce's 7.3 rebounding average tops the squad and is followed by Scordato's 6.5 average. Sophomore point guard Chris Murphy is averaging 4.3 assists, which is second among UCAA players in the overall statistics. He is also second in the conference with his 2.20 assist-to-turnover ratio. Senior forwards Ryan Freundlich and Imbrie Packard are both averaging six points and four rebounds.
Men's Standings (as of 2/18)
| UCAA Only | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | L | Win % | GP | PF | PA | W | L | Win % | GP | PF | PA | ||
| 1 | Clarkson | 8 | 4 | .667 | 12 | 822 | 778 | 14 | 9 | .609 | 23 | 1549 | 1499 |
| Hamilton | 8 | 4 | .667 | 12 | 940 | 855 | 16 | 6 | .727 | 22 | 1729 | 1528 | |
| 3 | Rensselaer | 7 | 5 | .583 | 12 | 775 | 721 | 13 | 9 | .591 | 22 | 1505 | 1424 |
| Union | 7 | 5 | .583 | 12 | 818 | 793 | 17 | 6 | .739 | 23 | 1627 | 1479 | |
| St. Lawrence | 7 | 5 | .583 | 12 | 845 | 801 | 15 | 7 | .682 | 22 | 1593 | 1456 | |
| 6 | Skidmore | 6 | 6 | .500 | 12 | 842 | 861 | 14 | 8 | .636 | 22 | 1566 | 1534 |
| 7 | Hobart | 4 | 8 | .333 | 12 | 841 | 882 | 9 | 14 | .391 | 23 | 1675 | 1759 |
| 8 | Vassar | 1 | 11 | .083 | 12 | 662 | 854 | 5 | 18 | .217 | 23 | 1346 | 1570 |
This Weekend's Games:
- Friday, February 20–Union at Vassar; Skidmore at Rensselaer; Hamilton at St. Lawrence, Hobart at Clarkson (all games start at 8:00)
- Saturday, February 21–Union at Rensselaer; Skidmore at Vassar; Hobart at St. Lawrence, Hamilton at Clarkson (all games start at 4:00)
If the Dutchwomen lose either of their final two games and Rensselaer wins both, the Red Hawks would win the title and host the tournament by virtue of the conference's third tie-breaker…record versus non-conference opponent over .500 within the region. Union lost at Williams, 65-59, in the season's second game while Rensselaer defeated Williams, 72-57, in Troy in the third game of the year. If Rensselaer and Union finish with 12-2 conference records, they would have split their two-game season series, and each team would have split with No. 3 St. Lawrence (while sweeping the rest of the conference opponents), thus setting up the third tie-breaker.
But like the men, the Dutchwomen cannot afford to look past 1-11 Vassar, ESPECIALLY after what happened last weekend in the North Country. On Friday, St. Lawrence snapped the Dutchwomen's 13-game win streak, 56-45, while handing the Garnet its first UCAA loss. On Saturday, the Dutchwomen barely escaped the upset bid of Clarkson (2-10) as three Golden Knight layup attempts failed to fall in the final five seconds leaving Union with a 46-45 victory.
The Dutchwomen's first meeting against the Brewers resulted in a 59-33 triumph. Freshman forward Krystal Hammond earned “Rookie of the Week” honors with her 20-point, nine-rebound performance that helped Union to a 32-18 halftime advantage.
Against Rensselaer, Union shot an incredible 58.3% from the field in the first half (14 of 24) to race to a 32-19 halftime advantage. The Dutchwomen finished the game shooting 54% (27 of 50) to capture a 63-53 victory. The Red Hawks (18-4 overall) have won six-straight since, including a 60-41 victory over St. Lawrence at Robison Gym.
Junior forward Katyln Cunningham and sophomore guard Eika Eisenhut lead Union's offense with scoring averages of 10.5 and 10.1, respectively. Junior forward Emily Scott leads the team's rebounding with her 4.6 average and is closely followed by Cunningham and sophomore Nicole Cerneglia, both of whom are averaging 4.5. Junior guard Melissa Marra is averaging 3.35 assists to go along with her 8.6 scoring average while Eisenhut's 3.05 steal average tops the Dutchwomen and is third in the conference. Marra's 1.22 assist-to-turnover ratio is second in the UCAA.
While the Dutchwomen appear to have a deeper bench than the Red Hawks, based on the fact that 11 of Union's players are averaging double-digit minutes of court time, Union will have to come up with a way to stop Rensselaer on the backboards. The Cherry and White's starting trio of senior Jackie Ferrari (6'0″), senior Catlyn Vestal (6'0″) and junior Kaitlyn Saunders (5'9″) are among the UCAA's rebounding leaders. Ferrari's 6.9 average places her eighth, Vestal is 10th at 6.6, and Saunders 14th with her average of 5.6. Rensselaer is second to St. Lawrence with its conference rebounding margin of plus-6.7 while Union is third at plus-5.8. The Red Hawks top the circuit with their overall rebounding average of 45.1 while the Dutchwomen are fifth at 39.5.
The Dutchwomen go into the weekend leading eight of 19 UCAA team categories including: scoring defense (49.2), steals (12.82), turnover margin (5.05), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.87).
Women's Standings (as of 2/18)
| UCAA Only | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | L | Win % | GP | PF | PA | W | L | Win % | GP | PF | PA | ||
| 1 | Union | 11 | 1 | .917 | 12 | 739 | 566 | 19 | 3 | .864 | 22 | 1452 | 1083 |
| 2 | Rensselaer | 10 | 2 | .833 | 12 | 782 | 644 | 18 | 4 | .818 | 22 | 1499 | 1232 |
| 3 | St. Lawrence | 9 | 3 | .750 | 12 | 775 | 569 | 18 | 5 | .783 | 23 | 1563 | 1212 |
| 4 | William Smith | 7 | 5 | .583 | 12 | 710 | 618 | 12 | 10 | .545 | 22 | 1280 | 1200 |
| 5 | Hamilton | 5 | 7 | .417 | 12 | 788 | 793 | 12 | 10 | .545 | 22 | 1507 | 1441 |
| 6 | Skidmore | 3 | 9 | .250 | 12 | 608 | 790 | 8 | 15 | .348 | 23 | 1319 | 1553 |
| 7 | Clarkson | 2 | 10 | .167 | 12 | 539 | 716 | 7 | 16 | .304 | 23 | 1140 | 1341 |
| 8 | Vassar | 1 | 11 | .083 | 12 | 552 | 797 | 4 | 18 | .182 | 22 | 1037 | 1365 |
This Weekend's Games:
- Friday, February 20–Union at Vassar; Skidmore at Rensselaer; Hamilton at St. Lawrence, William Smith at Clarkson (all games start at 6:00)
- Saturday, February 21-Union at Rensselaer; Skidmore at Vassar; William Smith at St. Lawrence, Hamilton at Clarkson (all games start at 2:00)
Please click below for the UCAA web site: