UTICA, NY - The Utica University women's basketball team is set to hit the road for a clash with SUNY Delhi on Wednesday, December 6 at 5 p.m. 
 
Follow Along: Delhi will provide live video here and live stats here.
 
Last Time Out: The team fell to Houghton University 61-44 last Saturday afternoon in its first conference matchup of the season. Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) once again led Utica in scoring, pouring in 20 points and increasing her double-digit scoring streak to seven to begin her Pioneer career. Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) had a fine game, dropping eight points with five rebounds, two steals, and one assist. McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) led the way defensively with five steals while also adding three rebounds, and two assists. Hope Halvarson (Cranston, RI/Cranston East) continued to produce in all facets of the game with a team-leading seven rebounds and three assists. Houghton came out firing to begin the match grabbing an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter. Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) converted a layup off a fine feed from Hope Halvarson (Cranston, RI/Cranston East) to cut into the early Highlander deficit making it 6-2. Houghton had a strong scoring run nailing a few triples, yet the Pioneers rallied as Hall poured in two more buckets as Utica trailed 18-6 after the first frame. The Highlanders canned another triple to begin the second frame yet buckets by Hall and Jordan Carmosino (Ringwood, NJ/Lakeland Regional) helped silence the noise. Houghton put together another scoring run before Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) converted two layups with a Hannah Stack (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) layup to follow. However, Houghton would have another small run late to lead 40-20 at the half. Utica enjoyed a nice start to the third quarter scoring three of the first four baskets and trimming the lead to 43-26. The Pioneers continued to work and get to the charity stripe with a Burchhardt fast break layup cutting the deficit to just 13 with 2:30 remaining in the frame. But the Highlanders closed out the quarter strong and took a 54-32 advantage into the final quarter of play. Julia Rotando (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) was Utica's spark plug in the fourth quarter scoring two buckets in the first few minutes of a defensive quarter. Hard defense led to tough shots before Hall fueled a fantastic six-point scoring run towards the end of the quarter. However, it was not enough as Houghton held on for a 61-44 Empire 8 victory. Hall turned in another fantastic week dropping a career-high 27 points, eight rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal on a great 11-16 shooting. She followed this up pouring in 20 points against Empire 8 foe Houghton University while adding four rebounds and one assist. The freshman continues to be a force on the offensive end for Utica and leads the team with an incredible 17.1 points per game in her freshman campaign.
 
Bucket Getter: Vanessa Hall (Whitesville, NY/Whitesville Central) was named Empire 8 Rookie of the Week and has been a revelation to begin her Pioneer career as she leads the Empire 8 averaging 17.1 points per game and has recorded double-digit scoring in all seven of her career games. She turned in another fantastic week dropping a career-high 27 points, eight rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal on a great 11-16 shooting against Plattsburgh State. She followed this up pouring in 20 points against Empire 8 foe Houghton University while adding four rebounds and one assist. 
 
Series Matchup: Utica has dominated the all-time series, boasting a perfect 4-0 record against Delhi including winning each match by at least 48 points. The teams last squared off on November 16, 2022 in an 89-30 Pioneer victory. Haley Burchhardt (Schenectady, NY/Schalmont) was great posting a stat line of 14 points, three rebounds, three assists, and one steal in just 20 minutes of action. Forwards Madelyn Cozzens (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) and Hannah Stack (Dolgeville, NY/Dolgeville) also enjoyed strong performances, each dropping at least seven points and five rebounds.
 
Lock Up: The duo of McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) and Hope Halvarson (Cranston, RI/Cranston East) have been tremendous on the defensive end with both ranking top-eight in the Empire 8 in steals this season. Simmons' 19 are third in the conference, and she has recorded at least one steal in five of seven games including three or more in four of her last five appearances. Halvarson's 14 rank eight in the E8 and she is in a fine stretch with at least one steal in four straight outings and has two games with four steals during the streak.
 
Dimers: Both McKenzie Simmons (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) and Halvarson have been key facilitators and play crucial roles in setting up the team's offense. Simmons' 14 assists ranks 12th in the conference with Halvarson's 12 being tied for 19th. Simmons has recorded at least two assists in six of seven matches this season with Halvarson recording two or more in her last three appearances. The duo continues to make an impact on both sides of the ball and look to keep impacting games at a high level.  
 
Scouting Delhi: The Broncos are 1-7 thus far and 0-0 in conference play with the team topping Wells College 53-29 on Monday, December 4. The duo of Jayda Allen and Myles Matthias lead the scoring attack with each averaging over 6.8 points per game and Jayda Allen being the team's top rebounder hauling in a strong 9.9 per game. Yasmeen Kablaoui and Jennifer Roche Jimenez are two more scoring threats each scoring over 5 points per game. Defensively, Jayda Allen leads the charge averaging 1.9 blocks per game with Matthias, Jayda Allen, and Kayleigh Allen each averaging over 1.3 steals per game.

Up Next: The team will travel to face SUNY Morrisville on Saturday, December 16 at noon.