The Utica College women's basketball team returns home Thursday to take on Empire 8 rival Nazareth College. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Last Time Out: The Pioneers went 0-2 in their two-game conference road trip last week… Utica fell to Ithaca College 70-56 on Thursday and 77-37 to Stevens on Saturday… The Ducks outscored Utica 34-12 in the second half… Stevens also recorded 36 points off of turnovers… Despite the two losses, Utica junior
Ashley Mayo (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) recorded her ninth straight double-digit scoring effort after netting a team-high 17 points against Ithaca and 18 points against Stevens.
Leading the Way:
Ashley Mayo (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet) leads the team and ranks sixth in the Empire 8 in scoring with 14.2 points per game… Mayo even has the conference's fifth best field goal percentage of .383.
Babb Stealing the Show: Junior
Ashelyne Babb (Lynn, MA/Winthrop) leads the E8 with 3.2 steals per game, and she is second in assists per game (4.1)… She has also averaged 12.7 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds per game this season… Thanks to Babb, the Pioneers are now ranked third in the Empire 8 in steals per game (10).
Helping Out: Sophomore
Rachel Hunter (West Islip, NY/West Islip) is averaging a career-high 8.5 points per game… Junior
Alaina Tripp (Clyde, NY/Clyde-Savannah) has averaged 6.0 points and she ranks second on the squad with 5.2 rebounds per game… Freshman
Nicolette Conkin (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) is second on the team with 14 three-pointers on the year.
Scouting Nazareth College: The Golden Flyers are 8-10 overall and 4-5 in the Empire 8 Conference… Nazareth is coming off of an impressive 74-39 home victory over the Alfred Saxons on Saturday… Senior Sam Sorge led the Golden Flyers with 20 points while freshman Rachel Benedict recorded a career-high 15 rebounds… This season, Sorge has averaged a team and Empire 8 Conference high 20.2 points per game… She also leads the E8 with 50 three-pointers… Benedict, on the other hand, leads the team in rebounds (Avg./G: 9.2).
Against the Golden Flyers: The Pioneers beat the Golden Flyers 62-56 on the road on Jan. 12 thanks to the help of
Ashley Mayo (Nanuet, NY/Nanuet), who scored a team-high 17 points, and
Alaina Tripp (Clyde, NY/Clyde-Savannah), who scored 13 points in the win… The Pioneers' last home victory against Nazareth College came on Jan. 17, 2015 when they won 64-40.
Looking Ahead: A four-game conference road trip is ahead of the Pioneers once they complete their game against Nazareth, starting with a match up at St. John Fisher College on Saturday… Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.
