Live Stats

Utica, NY (11-28-11) – The Utica College women's basketball team returns to action Monday, following an eight-day break, for the first of four contests over the next eight days ... The Pioneers hit the road for three-straight, non-conference games beginning Monday night at Oneonta State.

Game-Time:  UC travels to Oneonta, NY Monday to face Oneonta State for a 6 p.m. tip-off at Dewar Arena in the Alumni Field House … On Tuesday, the team travels to Aurora, NY for a 7 p.m. scheduled tip-off against Wells College.

Scouting Report: Oneonta State is winless over its first three games, losing 60-58 to Western Connecticut and 59-58 to Lewis & Clark in the first two games ... The Red Dragons followed those two losses with a 72-57 defeat at the hands of Salisbury University … Wells College is currently 1-2 as it opened up its season with a 67-51 victory over Hilbert before dropping back-to-back games by 27 and 26 points, against Oswego State and D'Youville, respectively.

UC vs. the Opponents:  Since the 2003-2004 season, Oneonta State has had UC's number with a heads-up record of 7-1 … Utica's lone victory came on the road, 58-56, back on Dec. 12, 2009 … UC's has dropped the last three contests by an average margin of 5.6 points … The Pioneers will square off against the Wells Express Tuesday evening for the first time in program-history.

McGee Leads the Way:  Senior point guard Katie McGee (Philadelphia, PA/Nazareth) has opened up her final campaign on a tear as she ranks among the league leaders in all categories … McGee leads the Empire 8 Conference in assists (6.7 Avg/G), defensive rebounds (6.3 Avg/G) and minutes played (40 Avg/G) …   She is also second in 3-point percentage (.545 %) and fourth in scoring (16.0 Avg/G) and steals (3.0 Avg/G).

Pioneers in the Paint: Junior Meghan Fiore (Epping, NH/Epping) returned to the line-up with back-to-back, 20 point performances after sitting out the season-opener with an injury … Fiore was a force for the Pioneers in the paint last season … Accompanying Fiore is freshman stand-out Samantha Stayer (Allegany, NY/Allegany-Limestone) who is averaging 11.3 points, 4.7 boards and 26 minutes of action in her inaugural campaign with UC.

League Play:  The competitive Empire 8 Conference presently ranks Ithaca first (4-0), Alfred second (4-1) and Utica third (2-1) as the teams have not yet started league play … Hartwick (2-2), Nazareth (2-2) and St. John Fisher (2-2) share fourth place while Stevens (2-3) holds seventh and Elmira falling in eighth (0-4) … E8 play opens up Saturday Jan. 6, 2012 as all eight teams square off for back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 7, 2012 … UC will host Nazareth on Saturday and St. John Fisher on Sunday.

Back to the Hardwood:  Following these two games, the Pioneers return to action Saturday as they head across town to challenge local foe Hamilton College for an afternoon tip-off set for 2 p.m. ...  The Continentals currently maintain a 1-2 ledger as they defeated Hilbert College and lost to Alfred University and Skidmore College.