America East Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Semi-Finals

By Ann K. Miller: SPM CT Writer
Posted Saturday, March 15, 2008

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - (GAME ONE) - The University of Hartford Hawks hosted the University at Albany Great Danes in the America East Conference’s semi-final tournament game at Hartford’s Chase Arena.

The Hawks are the odds-on favorite to win the tournament, having won the championship three of the last four years. The Great Danes came into tonight’s game as the fourth seed in the tournament, their highest seeding since joining the conference.

The Great Danes had already lost two regular-season games to Hartford this year and hoped that the old "It's hard to beat a team three times in one season" adage would apply for an upset tonight.

It was not to be. Though Albany hung tough on an aggressive defense that included full-court presses several times in the game, Hartford emerged victorious 60-40.

Hartford’s focus this game was on defense and rebounding. They were successful in forcing several shot clock violations and their double-teaming defense also held Albany’s leading scorer, forward Kristin Higy, to just one point for the entire game.

The Hawks outrebounded the Danes, 43-31, including 15 offensive rebounds, which helped Hartford to pick up 15 second-chance points.

Hawks head coach Jen Rizzotti felt that her team did a great job on their areas of focus. “All weekend long we’ve talked about defense and rebounding, and certainly with our outside shots not going in as easily as they did yesterday, I thought that the way that we dominated the glass and held them to nine offensive rebounds, we defended, got a lot of steals [six] and of course took care of the ball in the second half were the huge keys to the game,” she said.

The Great Danes did hang in there with the Hawks for a good part of the game. They led by five points midway through the first period, but Hartford passed them and went into the locker room at the half up 30-24.

Midway through the second half, the Hawks' lead was down to nine points. With a three-point play by sophomore forward Erica Beverly kicking them off, Hartford went on an eleven-point run which gave them the 20-point lead they would maintain to the end of the game.

Danielle Hood, Hartford’s outstanding senior forward led all scorers with 18 points. She also had nine rebounds and admitted that she was “...competing with her teammates to see who could have the most rebounds.”

Beverly chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds for Hartford. Junior point guard Lisa Etienne led all players with nine assists for the Hawks.

For the Great Danes, senior guard Gia Sanders led her team with 13 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Janea Aiken was close behind Sanders with 12 points.

Next up the Hawks play Boston University in the tournament Final scheduled for 5pm on Sunday.

Hartford will have played in the championship game for the fourth straight year.

GAME TWO: Boston University 76 University of Vermont 74

In a closely contested match with eight ties and eight lead changes, the Vermont Catamounts and Boston University Terriers needed two overtimes to finish the game.

The score was close throughout most of the game, with Boston having the largest lead of 10 points at the 7:44 mark in the first half.

Vermont had the opportunity to win this game at the end of regulation, with four seconds on the clock and the score tied at 56, sophomore guard Courtnay Pilypaitis dribbled down the court and put up a 38 footer with 1.6 seconds still on the clock. The shot didn’t fall and the game went into overtime.

In the first overtime, it was more of the same see-saw action that had been present in regulation.

With a large contingent of fans cheering them on, Vermont built up a three point-lead, only to see BU come back to tie the score—at 64. Boston’s junior guard Amarac Umez-Eronini had a clear shot at the hoop from about three feet away with two seconds on the clock and missed the shot. The first overtime period ended with the score still tied at 64.

The second overtime was completely controlled by Boston University. The Terriers took the lead for good at the 4:41 mark on a jumper by senior guard Cheri Raffo.

With the score staying very close in the period, it was anyone’s game to win or lose. In the end Vermont had two turnovers in the period to Boston’s one and that was about the only difference in the teams.

This game was marred by 48 foul calls and it seemed at one point that neither team could go down the floor into their opponent’s territory without a foul being called. Boston University was more effective at the free throw line, making 22-of-33, or 66.7 percent. Vermont, on the other hand, shot only 16-for-28, or 57.1 percent.

Raffo led all scorers with 22 points. Junior guard Amy Rosenkrantz led Vermont with 21.

Junior forward Kelli Poles of the Catamounts led all players with 14 rebounds. Pilypaitis had 10 rebounds.

Jessyka Burks-Wiley, BU’s junior forward, led all players with four steals. She was also 4-for-4 from the free throw line and all of those free throws were at a critical point in the game, when her team was coming back to tie at the end of regulation.

Boston University will face the University of Hartford In the tourney’s championship game Sunday at 5 pm. The last time Hartford and Boston played, Hartford took the win at home, 61-54.