Eighth-year head coach Mary Ellen Burt and her Dutchwomen will reap the rewards of winning Union's first-ever Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association women's basketball championship as they host the conference's four-team postseason tournament Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The winner of the event will receive the UCAA's automatic berth in the NCAA event.
Union will play No. 4 William Smith (8-6 // 13-11) Friday at 8 p.m. with No. 2 St. Lawrence (11-3 // 20-5) meeting No. 3 Rensselaer (11-3 // 19-5) at 6:00. The championship will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. There is no admission charge.
“The only advantage we have as the home team is that our players will be able to sleep in their own beds and that our fans will not have to travel,” said Burt, whose Dutchwomen posted a 13-1 conference record and an overall standard of 21-3. “As for an advantage on the court, there really isn't one. All of these teams are capable of winning the tournament,” she continued. “St. Lawrence comes into the weekend as the two-year defending champions and they have won three of the four titles. Rensselaer won the 2001 crown by beating St. Lawrence, and William Smith was in the tournament championship game in 2000 and again in 2002.”
Union, which finished second in both the 2002-03 regular-season (at 11-3) and in the tournament (losing to the Saints, 87-68), joins St. Lawrence as the only two teams to have played in all five conference tournaments. The Dutchwomen, who finished with an overall record of 22-5 last year, have their first back-to-back 20-win seasons in the 29-year history of the program. This also marked the program's fifth consecutive .500 or better season, another first.
“This has truly been a team effort, especially the last two years,” said Burt. “Not a single player has put individual goals in front of what has been best for the team. By doing that we have accomplished a number of our preseason goals and have put ourselves into a position to accomplish the rest (of those goals).”
“Team” has been the optimum word for the Dutchwomen this year as 10 of the 14 players are averaging double digit court time. Sophomore guard Erika Eisenhut leads the squad with here 24.7 minutes played average.
The Dutchwomen lead in six of the UCAA's 19 conference team statistics including: scoring defense (47.6), three-point field goal percentage (.353), rebounding defense (32.8), steals (12.86), turnover margin (4.79) and three-point field goals made (4.64). Individually, senior point guard Taryn Scinto leads the conference with her free throw percentage of .886 (31 of 35) and is second to teammate Melissa Marra in three-point field goal percentage at .442 (15 of 34). Marra goes into the weekend with a percentage of .524 (11 of 21). Eisenhut tops the circuit with her 55 steals, an average of 3.93.
Union swept William Smith, 67-62, and 64-33 in Memorial Fieldhouse.
Junior forward Katlyn Cunningham leads the team in scoring and rebounding with averages of 10.0 and 4.6, respectively. Eisenhut, a two-time UCAA “Guard of the Week” selection this season and last year's conference “Rookie of the Year”, is second with her 9.9 scoring average and leads the team, by a wide margin, with 73 steals. Marra, a junior guard who was also named the UCAA “Rookie of the Year”, comes into the weekend with an 8.3 scoring average to go along with her team-high 68 assists. Junior forward Emily Scott is second in rebounding with her 4.5 average and tied for fourth (with junior guard Kate DeSorrento) with her 6.0 scoring average. Scott has a team-high 74 defensive rebounds while DeSorrento's nine blocked shots leads the squad.
Scinto, who was named the UCAA's “Guard of the Week” for her outstanding performances against Vassar and Rensselaer last weekend, is the Dutchwomen's all-time leader in both assists and steals. Besides being one of the team's top defensive players and ball handlers, Scinto is averaging 5.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.5 steals. Her 24 three-point field goals are second to Eisenhut's 37, but her three-point percentage of 45.3 is by far the best on the team. Scinto is also the Dutchwomen's leading free throw shooter (80.4%) with her 24 charity shots second only to Eisenhut's 37.
Sophomore guard Nicole Cerniglia, who has started 10 games this year, averages 5.3 points and 4.3 rebounds and is also a three-point threat with her average of 32.8% (19 of 58). Forwards, sophomore Courtney Shepard and freshman Krystal Hammond, are both averaging three rebounds and 5.7 points a game. The pair have also combined for 22 steals and 24 assists. Senior Kelly Baker is second on the team with her seven blocked shots and contributes an average of three points and three rebounds a game and has 17 assists and 21 steals while averaging 16 minutes of playing time.
Junior guard Eileen Lowry continues in her roll as a solid defensive performer off the bench while freshman guards Sarah Krammerman and Kara Tehan have appeared in 17 and 13 games, respectively. Freshman forward Tara Pezze, who has been slowed by illness and injury throughout the season, has shown her ability to be a defensive force and factor under the baskets.
“We are going into the tournament looking to successfully do all the things, especially the little things, that have gotten us to this point in the season,” said Burt. “Jamie (assistant coach Jamie Seward) has, as he has done all season and throughout his career here, spent a lot of time with the players going over tapes. All of us are looking forward to this weekend.”
Rensselaer, which split its two games with St. Lawrence, winning 60-41 in Troy and losing 62-40 in Canton, features the conference's leading scorer in Kaitlyn Saunders, who averages 15.9 points. As a team, the Red Hawks finished first in the conference in scoring offense (66.4-St. Lawrence was second at 66.2), free throw percentage (.708) and three-point defense (.250). The Saints and the Hawks finished one-three in rebounding margin at plus-6.5 and plus 5.2, respectively.
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