Women's Basketball to Open Gator Holiday Classic vs. Duquesne
12/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game Notes -- Live Stats -- Audio
ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine women's basketball team (3-7) takes to the road once again to participate in the Gator Holiday Classic hosted by the University of Florida. Maine will battle Duquesne (9-1) in game one of the tournament on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 4:30 p.m.
The Black Bears, currently in the midst of a four game winless slide, will be looking for their first ever win over Duquesne as this will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Maine will be looking for its first win in the month of December in the matchup against Duquesne as it has currently dropped its last four contests. The Black Bears are led by sophomore guard Ashleigh Roberts who recently tallied her 26th game of scoring in double-figures as she scored 10 second half points at UMass. Roberts enters the tournament averaging 8.8 points per game to go along with 4.2 rebounds. Senior tri-captain Brittany Williams has been Maine's on-court leader for much of the season as she has logged a team high 28.5 minutes through the Black Bears' first 10 games. Williams is turning in 7.7 points per game and has also notched 1.9 assists per game. Fellow senior Samantha Wheeler has returned to the Black Bears' rotation after missing 27 games due to post-concussion symptoms. Wheeler has made a quick impact to the roster as she has worked her way back into the starting lineup while averaging 7.3 points per game to go along with a team-high 5.0 rebounds. Wheeler has posted double-figures in two of her last three games including an 18 point effort on Dec. 8 vs James Madison, one shy of her career-high. All together, the Black Bears continue to crash the boards with force as they have only been outrebounded once this season and that was in a 62-58 win over Rhode Island. Maine is averaging 40.9 rebounds per game, a +3.2 margin over its opponents. The Black Bears average 56.4 points per game and have been a second half team for much of the season as they are outscoring the opposition 323-302 in the second half.
Duquesne, fresh off making it to the third round of last season's WNIT, return four of its top five scorers and were selected to finish third in the 14-team Atlantic 10 conference. The Dukes are led by pre-season all-conference third team selection Alex Gensler who is averaging 16.4 points per game with 3.2 assists and 14 steals. Gensler is the top scorer in the A-10 conference. Last season's A-10 Rookie of the Year, Wumi Agunbiade, is chipping in 15.9 points per game, third in the conference, to go along with a team-leading 6.5 rebounds. Pre-season second team all-conference pick Vanessa Abel is tallying 9.4 points per game and really gets the offense going with a team-high 4.7 assists per game, yet another individual category the Dukes lead in. Orsi Szecsi was recently named A-10 player of the week after averaging 21.0 points and 6.0 rebounds last week in win over Akron and West Virginia. The Duquesne offense is clicking on all cylinders as they enter the tournament leading its conference in scoring at 77.3 points per game and have had some big victories as its margin of victory is +15.1. The Dukes are shooting 44.0% from the field, also tops in the A-10, while their 18.4 assists and 13.1 steals per game lead the conference. The Dukes are currently on a seven game winning streak dating back to Nov. 22.
This will be the first ever meeting between Maine and Duquesne in the Black Bears' 48 years of competitive basketball. The Black Bears enter the contest 1-2 this season against the Atlantic-10 conference as they won at Rhode Island 62-58 on Nov. 13 before dropping contests against George Washington (54-46) and at Massachusetts (63-54). Maine enter's the game 33-27 all-time against the A-10 conference as this will be its 61st game against the conference. The Black Bears are 4-6 in their last 10 against teams from the A-10. Maine last played in Gainesville, Fla. on Jan. 1, 1990 a 78-73 loss for the Black Bears against Florida.
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