University at Albany will attempt a major upset when the seventh-seeded Great Danes take on defending champion and second seed Vermont in the quarterfinals of the America East Conference women’s basketball championship today at noon at Hartford’s Chase Arena.
Vermont (23-6), which has been ranked as high as 24th by The Associated Press, won both games against the Great Danes this season, but Albany had a much stronger performance in the second meeting, which ended in a nine-point setback last month at SEFCU Arena.
Vermont, which starts four seniors, is led by senior guards Courtney Pilypaitis and May Kotsopoulos, a pair of first-team all-conference players. Pilypaitis has been the league’s player of the year, rookie of the year and conference tournament MVP during her career. She leads the Catamounts in scoring (14.8 ppg), rebounding (7.5 pg), assists (4.9 pg) and steals (2.8 pg).
Kotsopoulos averages 17.9 ppg.
Albany (11-18 overall, 4-12 America East Conference) won four of its last seven conference games.
Senior Charity Iromuanya averages a team-high 11.4 points per game, and is third in the league with 2.4 steals per contest.
Other key players for Albany are sophomore point guard Felicia Johnson (9.4 ppg, 3.6 assists), 5-10 Ebone Henry (11.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and post player Julie Forster (8.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg).
Iromuanya was named to the conference’s all-defensive team, as well as its third-team all-conference squad. Both Henry and Forster made the all-rookie squad.
Henry broke the school’s all-time freshman scoring record with 320 points, and she also set the school’s Division I single-game scoring mark for a freshman with 26 points.
Forster, a walk-on, set the school’s single-season rebounding record by a freshman (251) and paces the conference in rebounds per game (8.7).
Categories: College Sports
