Women's Basketball at Mount St. Mary's
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team will play at Mount St. Mary's on Saturday.
The Central Connecticut women's basketball team will visit Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils (11-1, 5-6 NEC) and Mountaineers (10-13, 6-6 NEC) will tip-off at 2 p.m. and the game can be seen on live on ESPN3.com and Cox (CT). The game will also be broadcast via delay on Fox College Sports. Paul Dottino and Phyllis Mangina will have the call with John Schmeelk reporting from the sideline.
Here are some notes on the Blue Devils heading into Saturday:
Today • The Blue Devils (11-11, 5-6 NEC) visit Mount St. Mary's (10-13, 6-6 NEC) in a Northeast Conference basketball game that will have a major impact on the NEC playoff picture. A CCSU victory would push the Blue Devils ahead of the Mountaineers in the NEC standings, based on winning percentage. Also, a victory would give the Blue Devils a sweep of the season series and the advantage in a potential head-to-head tiebreaker with the Mountaineers come tournament time. Today's game is also the Blue Devils only appearance in the NEC's basketball television package this season. The game can be seen live on ESPN3.com and Cox (CT) and the game will be broadcast on delay on Fox College Sports.
Series History • The Mount holds a 18-9 advantage in the all-time Division I series between these schools, but under head coach Beryl Piper the Blue Devils are 6-2 against the Mount. CCSU enters today with a four-game winning streak against the Mountaineers. Last season, CCSU swept the Mount, winning 72-68 at Detrick Gym and 73-63 in Emmitsburg.
1,000 • On Wednesday night senior Jaclyn Babe notched the 1,000th point of her career. The Duquesne transfer has 820 points over two seasons with CCSU. She scored 191 points over two seasons with the Dukes.
Wild Weather • Last weeks winter weather has caused massive changes to CCSU's women's basketball schedule. The Blue Devils were forced to postpone both games last week, Quinnipiac (2/9) and LIU Brooklyn (2/11), because of the weather. The Quinnipiac game was rescheduled and played on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The LIU game has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20. The rescheduled games create a wild schedule in which the Blue Devils went eight days between games and now must play four times in a eight day stretch.
Last Time Out • The Blue Devils and Bobcats played a physical game on Wednesday night that featured 47 total fouls. CCSU was led by junior Jessica Babe's second double-double of the season, 11 points, 10 rebounds, but Babe also struggled at times and turned the ball over seven times. As a team CCSU had 26 turnovers compared to 11 for the Bobcats, which played a major role in the game's outcome. However the Blue Devils' 46 rebounds were a positive sign for the team.
Rebounding • The Blue Devils outrebounded Quinnipiac 46-22 on Wednesday night. It was CCSU's first game with a positive rebound margin since the Blue Devils' victory over St. Francis (BK) on Jan. 26. It was also CCSU's second best rebounding margin of the season, (+38, vs. Wagner 1/19).
Streaks • The Blue Devils season has been defined by streaks, both winning and losing. This year CCSU has had a five game winning streak and a pair of two game winning streaks. CCSU also has had losing streaks of four, three and two games this season.
Margins • Over the first 12 games of the season CCSU's games were decided by an average of 15.8 points. Over the last 10, the Blue Devils have been in many tight contests and the average margin has dropped to 10.5. If you exclude the Blue Devils' big victories over Wagner and St. Francis (BK) the margin drops even more to 6.25 per game.
NEC Wins • Over the last 10 seasons every team that has won at least eight Northeast Conference games has qualified for the NEC Tournament. In three of those seasons (2009-10 , 2007-08, 2005-06) six-win teams have made the tournament, including the 2005-06 season when a pair of six win squads made the playoffs. In the 13 seasons that the NEC has featured an 18 game conference regular season only one eight win team has failed to make the playoffs, the 2000-01 Saint Francis (PA) squad that went 8-10.
#3 Scorer • Senior Jaclyn Babe enters today's game as the third highest scorer in the Northeast Conference at 17.0 points/game. Artemis Spanou of Robert Morris leads the NEC at 18.9 pts/g and Alli Williams of Saint Francis U is second at 18.7 points/game.
Doing Everything • Junior Jessica Babe is the only player in the NEC that appears on the conference's top-10 list in rebounds, assists and steals. Babe is averaging 7.0 rebounds, 3.91 assists and 2.41 steals per game. She ranks sixth in rebounds, seventh in assists and sixth in steals. Babe's 8.9 points per game tie for 30th in the NEC.
Double-Doubles • With a 11 points and 10 rebounds on Wednesday junior Jessica Babe joined senior Kirsten Daamen as the only Blue Devils with a pair of double-doubles this season. Senior Jaclyn Babe and junior Lauren Arbogast also have a double-double this season.
Daamen's Records • Senior Kirsten Daamen became the Blue Devils' career leader in blocks as a junior, but on Saturday (2/2) she had the most impressive shot blocking day of her career. Daamen swatted away nine FDU shots. The performance sets a new CCSU single-game record for blocks. Daamen had shared the record of seven in a game with Justina Udenze. Udenze also held the career block record when Daamen broke that mark. She now has 182 career blocks.
Team Blocks • In addition to senior Kirsten Daamen setting the program's individual single-game block record, the Blue Devils also broke the team record for blocks in a game with 13 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Senior Jaclyn Babe, junior Lauren Arbogast, freshman Kayla Miller and sophomore Kaley Watras all contributed a block in the game. The previous record for team blocks in a game was 11 against Wagner on Feb. 20, 2010.
Overtime Games • The Blue Devils played their fifth overtime game of the season on Saturday at FDU. It was CCSU's first overtime loss of the season and the Blue Devils are now 4-1 in OT games. Head coach Beryl Piper's career record in OT games falls to 10-3 with the loss.
Halftime Leads • Prior to Saturday's (2/2) loss to FDU the Blue Devils had been 9-0 when leading at the half. CCSU was leading FDU 24-23 at the half, but the Knight's came back to win in overtime.
High Scoring • Senior Jaclyn Babe has scored in all 50 games, in which she has appeared for the Blue Devils. In that time she has 44 double-digit scoring games, 13 games of 20+ points and two games of 30 or more points. This season Babe has 18 double-digit scoring games and six games of 20+ points, including a 34-point game against UMass and a 30-point night against Quinnipiac.
Road Blues • The Blue Devils have lost eight straight NEC road games dating back to last season and CCSU plays four of their next five games on the road. The Blue Devils have lost all five NEC road games this season.
At Home in the NEC • The Blue Devils are 5-1 at home vs. NEC opponents this season.