Women's Basketball Faces Familiar Foe Saturday
12/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes
ORONO, Maine - The Maine women's basketball team (1-5) continues their six-game road trip against a familiar foe Saturday. The Black Bears travel to Worcester, Mass. to face Holy Cross (3-4) at 1 p.m.
UMaine has squared off with the Crusaders in each of the last five seasons and will do so for the 13th time Saturday. Holy Cross holds a 9-3 record in the previous 12 meetings with the Black Bears' last win coming in 2006. Four of the last five games have been decided by 10 points or less. Last season's contest was no exception, with Holy Cross winning 61-59 in the opening round of the Dead River Company Classic.
Maine is coming off a 126-63 loss to Kansas on Wednesday. UMaine shot over 50% in the second half and finished the game with a 41% mark from the field. The Black Bears were led by a career-high 27 points from Tanna Ross (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy). Ross, who averaged 11 points a game against BCS foes, exploded for a career-high seven threes and had another erased on an off-the-ball offensive foul. The previous season high for the Maine native was five points in the season opener against Harvard on November 13th. Ross also scored career-point number 500 on her first basket of the game.
Maine also got a career-high eight assists from Katelyn Vanderhoff (Lititz, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and eight points, six rebounds and five assists from Ashleigh Roberts (Wilmington, Del./Concord). America East Third Team Selection, Samantha Wheeler (Derry, N.H./Timberlane Regional), missed just the third game of her career and snapped a 62-game games-played streak and a 34-game starts streak.
Freshman forward, Ali Nalivaika (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian) hails from Worcester and will have the opportunity to play in front of her family and friends.
The Crusaders were picked to finish fifth in the Patriot League in the annual preseason coaches' poll. They are led by Second Team All-Patriot League selection, Whitney Fremeau's 11.7 points a game. Amy Lepley, a Patriot League All-Rookie Team member, leads Holy Cross in both rebounds and assists while scoring 10 points a game.
The Crusaders are coming off a 68-65 overtime loss to Central Connecticut State. Three players scored in double figures for Holy Cross but they were held to 30.6% shooting from the floor. Alex Smith led the team with 15 points, and all came from behind the arc. Christine Ganser scored 10 points off the bench and went seven of 10 from the free throw line. The Black Bears also faced the Blue Devils this season and fell 62-57 back on November 23rd.
For fans who cannot make it to the game, Don Shields will provide radio play-by-play on the Black Bear Sports Network starting at 12:30 p.m. The game can be heard on WAEI-FM 97.1 and GoBlackBears.com, while live stats will be available on GoHolyCross.com(.)
