UMBC Women’s Basketball Fights Back for Win

By Curtis Schickner, UMBC '12

The UMBC women’s basketball team (3-5) hosted Bucknell University (2-5) Saturday afternoon for their first home game in two weeks. The Retrievers and Bison entered the half tied at 32 a side. Erin Brown led the Retrievers in the first half with 11 points. The Bison dominated the first 10 minutes of the second half. UMBC fell behind by eleven halfway through the second half then started to mount a come back. With two minutes remaining the Retrievers cut the lead to two. A three-point play by Tope Obajolu cut the lead down to one with a minute remaining. An offensive foul put the Retrievers back to the line where Michelle Kurowski nailed two free throws to take the lead for the first time in the second half, 58-57. A missed Bucknell lay-up and foul put Meghan Colabella on the line for two free throws. The Bison turned over their second consecutive possession and fouled to put the Retrievers back on the line. Kurowski nailed both free throws again to put the Retrievers up by five. Another Bucknell missed lay-up sealed the victory for the Retrievers who went on to win 63-57.

The Retrievers spawned their 11-point comeback off a 16-point second half by Michelle Kurowski. Kurowski led the Retrievers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. The Retrievers return to action on Tuesday when they host cross-town rival Towson University.

Strong start to 2010-11 season is a pleasant surprise for Vermont

After fully recuperating from the Tip-Off Take-Off, AExtra is back on the road to see some America East basketball this weekend. Just minutes after arriving in Burlington, Vt., AExtra made its way over to the UVM campus to check out the end of the men's basketball practice. Following the practice, AExtra was able to catch up with UVM head coach Mike Lonergan to get his thoughts on the 5-1 start his team has had this season.

Hitting the Links: 12/3/2010

As head into the weekend and look back at the week in review, America East programs have had a strong presence in the news.

If you look a little closer at some of the headlines, it seems that the University at Albany has been popping up on the media radar all week in a variety of sports.

To start the week, it was the success of the Great Dane men's and women's basketball team that garnered the ink. The men won two straight games in the Legends Classic Detroit Subregional last weekend with sophomore guard Logan Aronhalt leading the way. The women started 5-0, their best start in Division I history. Now, despite dropping a game this week, Albany's first year women's coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson is being profiled for her coaching methods, which include some words of inspiration from poet Maya Angelou.

Another Albany coach profiled in an article is track & field and cross country coach Roberto Vives. Vives, who has coached the Great Danes for 25 years, was interviewed and featured in Latino New York Magazine. Topics he touches on in the article include his childhood, his role models, qualifying for the Olympics, his time at Albany and much more.

Additionally, the school's athletics website, UAlbanySports.com, released today that men's lacrosse player Brian Caulfield was named an honorable mention All-American by Inside Lacrosse.

Caulfield was not the only America East laxer on the list. A total of six players from three teams made the Inside Lacrosse All-America teams. Stony Brook led the way with four players, including Kevin Crowley and Adam Rand, who made the first team. The Seawolves are also represented by Tom Compitello and Jordan McBride. Hartford face-off man Tim Fallon earned second-team honors.

Also earning some positive press over the past couple of days are the basketball teams that have brought home wins. The Binghamton women took down Army, earning a story in the Press & Sun Bulletin, while the Hartford men's win over Brown ran in the Hartford Courant and the Vermont men's rout of Dartmouth showed up in the Burlington Free Press. Also, Boston U. senior center Kerry Cashman was featured this morning in a Portsmouth Herald article profiling her leadership role for the Terriers this season.

Well that will do it for this week in the Links. Keep an eye on America East this weekend as the league takes on a full slate on the hardwood.

Hawks Find Second Win in Dominating Form Over Brown

WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—The Hartford Hawks found their second win of the season in dominating fashion, leading the Bears of Brown University for the entire game in a 58-46 win for the hosts.
Anthony Minor lead all Hawks with a career-high 15 points and a career- and game-high 9 rebounds, four of them offensive, on his way to the best performance of his four years at Hartford. He added four blocks and two ferocious dunks that brought the crowd at Reich Family Pavilion into a frenzy.
Hartford (2-5) lead their opponents in rebounds, assists and steals, while committing fewer turnovers for the first time this season on the way to the win that made them 2-1 at home.

Bearcat Women End Two-Game Skid

The Binghamton University women's basketball team got back in the win column last night as it returned to its home court for the first time in over two weeks. The Bearcats (3-3) edged Army (2-5) 63-61 in front of 1,206 fans at the Events Center. Binghamton enjoyed being back on its home court after losing a pair of games at the Northern Arizona tournament over Thanksgiving break.

All five Binghamton starters made key contributions in the victory. Four of the five had a double-digit scoring performance. Junior guard Andrea Holmes led the way, scoring a team-high 18 points. Freshman guard Jasbriell Swain finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds, six steals and three assists. It's the third double-double Swain has recorded this season. Swain and Holmes have both reached double-digits in points in all six of Binghamton's games this season.

UVM rolls past Dartmouth

Joey Accaoui scored a career-high 21 points and Evan Fjeld added 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists as the Catamounts defeated Dartmouth 80-53 on Wednesday night. The win — the fourth straight for Vermont — brings their record to 5-1 on the season, as they prepare for another home game against Yale on Saturday.

Freshman Brian Voelkel recorded a career high in rebounds, 13, and is averaging 9.7 per contest — best in the America East. Brendan Bald and Garret Kissel added nine and seven points respectively.

New Hampshire Develops Defensive Mentality

Over the past three years, the New Hampshire Wildcats have developed the reputation of a team that has an explosive backcourt and relies on the three-point shot. While this may have been the perception from outside the program, head coach Bill Herrion and his staff have been working hard to develop a true inside/outside focus for this team.

The need for a reliable interior option grew even more imperative following the injury to senior guard Alvin Abreu. Not only did Abreu give the Wildcats an elite scoring option on the perimeter, averaging a team-high 14.4 points last season, but his quickness and ability to slash to the rim made the game much easier for the big guys on the team.

While there is no way to sugar coat the loss of Abreu, Herrion is optimistic that this team will remain competitive due to the effort it puts in on the defensive end.

“I think that one of the positive things we have built at this program since we have been here is how hard our kids play and how they compete,” said the sixth-year head coach. “I think we have finally instilled that into our kids. We spend a lot of time on it and we are very committed to defense here at UNH. When you have a situation like we have with Alvin, which you can’t prepare for, I hope the thing we can hang our hat on as a team is our defense. I think on a positive side, when someone gets hurt like Alvin did, it just means it is an opportunity for somebody else.”

Binghamton Drops Fifth Straight with Loss to Canisius

The Binghamton University men’s basketball team returned home last night to host Canisius College after losing a pair of games on the road at Army and Drexel. Head coach Mark Macon tinkered with the starting lineup after a 40-point loss to Drexel on Sunday. The move did not pay dividends, as Binghamton (1-5) fell to Canisius (3-2) 55-45, extending its losing streak to five games.

Both teams struggled in establishing a rhythm early on. Binghamton senior forward Greer Wright scored the team’s first five points. Wright was held scoreless in the Bearcats’ last game. Binghamton held a 10-8 lead roughly halfway through the first half. The Golden Griffins then took control of the game, scoring 12 straight points to give themselves a 20-10 lead. Canisius ended the first half on a 20-2 run, and it led 28-12 at halftime. 

Hitting the Links: Movember to Remember

When Vermont senior Evan Fjeld took the court against Siena on November (or is it Movember) 13 for the Catamounts' season opener, he did so with new responsibilities and a drastically new look.

As the only returning starter on a team that won the America East tournament last season, Fjeld went from important role player a year ago to center of attention this season. So far, he has lived up to the expectations, leading America East in scoring with 21.6 ppg and adding 5.6 boards per contest. While his game has been impressive, it is his epic mustache that has been grabbing the headlines.

Fjeld unveiled the 'stache as part of Movember, a month-long effort to raise money for prostate-cancer research. According to Fjeld's Movember page, he and his mustache raised $915 for the cause. It also raised the awareness of the cause.

With the combination of Evan's strong play, manly look and worthy cause, the senior from Durham, N.C. has garnered publicity from a number of media members. Locally, Fjeld's facial feature earned an article in the Burlington Free Press. On a larger scale, Yahoo.com's "The Dagger" blog picked up on the story, as did ESPN. In fact, ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan gave the mustache its appropriate props, writing "Evan Fjeld's got swag, kids. We are not worthy."

Here at AExtra, we may not be worthy. We may not have what it takes to sport the 'stache. We did, however, break the story. "Don't Bash the 'Stache!," we said. And so did Evan.



Now, as November, pardon me, Movember, comes to an end, we must ask, how long will Fjeld's look last? Here at the Links and AExtra, the sincere hope is that the mustache lives on. We ask you, Evan, Don't Trash the 'Stache!

Without Abreu, UNH moves in new direction on offense

In the wake of Alvin Abreu's season-ending injury, the UNH men's basketball team has had to find ways to win without its most prolific scorer.

A team that had struggled to score even with Abreu in the lineup, the Wildcats have been working on establishing a new identity without their senior shooting guard, from a team that relies on the three-point shot to one that works from the inside out.

Vermont Makes Appearance in Mid-Major Top 25

The early season success of the Vermont Catamounts has started to earn the team some national recognition. After a 4-1 start to the season, with the lone loss coming against Connecticut, the Catamounts have debuted in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. Vermont is ranked No. 21 in the latest polls after receiving 145 votes. Hopefully this is just a sign of things to come, as there are a handful of other teams in the conference that look like they are capable of making an appearance in the rankings. AExtra would like to congratulate the Catamounts on this achievement and the great success they have had so far this season.

Dynamic Backcourt Proves Key for Albany

If you speak with any of the men’s basketball coaches in the America East Conference, they will universally emphasize that the goal of the non-conference schedule is to have their team prepared for the grind of America East play.  At the University at Albany, head coach Will Brown and his staff have put together a particularly daunting non-conference slate, which has already included Cornell and Georgia Tech, and still features trips to Siena and Xavier.

While a 1-5 start to the season was not what anyone in the program expected, the fact that sophomore guard Mike Black missed four of the games had a lot to do with the struggles. With Black’s return to the lineup at the recently completed Legends Classic Subregional, the Great Danes won two of their three games, with the only loss coming in double-overtime against Detroit. According to Brown, the return of the sophomore guard to the rotation means everything to the team.

“It’s imperative for us to have him [Black] on the floor,” Brown emphasized. “He is the best point guard in the America East. He is the engine for us and the guy that really gets us going. We had him for the first 10 minutes against Cornell and we were up 10 points. So, we hadn’t really played a game with Mike until this weekend and he was still probably only at 75 percent. Just having him on the floor makes us a whole different team because now we can score consistently from all three perimeter positions.”

Hitting the Links: 11/29/2010

As we work our way back into the work week and shake off the leftover lethargy from Thanksgiving, why not jump right into the goings on of the America East over the past week? Sounds like a post-Thanksgiving plan.

Speaking of the holiday just past, one tradition for some is participation in a Turkey Trot. Last Monday, a group of America East student-athletes participated in a high-stakes Turkey Trot of sorts, also known as the NCAA Cross Country National Championship Meet. One team and two individuals represented America East at the meet, and performed admirably to boot. The Stony Brook women's team, which won the America East Championship, finished seventh as a team at the national meet. The Seawolves were paced by seniors, and twin sisters, Lucy and Holly Van Dalen. The pair crossed the finish line one tenth of a second apart to earn sixth and seventh place, respectively. Those finishes earned the sisters All-America nods.

UMBC Women's Basketball routs Brown on final day of Iona Thanksgiving Classic

Here are highlights from the UMBC women's basketball team's decisive 75-55 victory over Brown, Sunday afternoon at the Hynes Athletic Center on the second day of the Iona Thanksgiving Classic. Junior guard Michelle Kurowski reached the 20-point plateau for the second straight game with a season-best 25 points

Impressive Saturday for America East

With six men's and six women's teams in action yesterday, many America East fans were probably curious to see how many of these teams stacked up against some very good competition. While the six women's games didn't turn out how many fans might have liked, it was still impressive to see Albany continue its historic start to the 2010-11 season. With its 62-43 victory over Wagner, the Great Danes are off the best start in school history and continue to impress on the defensive end of the court. AExtra had a chance to see this team in person for the season-opener, and the defensive intensity and variety of defensive looks immediately jumped out. It's clear this team is responding to Coach Abrahamson-Henderson and it should be a fun group to follow over the course of the season.