Women's Basketball 2/25/2015 9:40:00 AM

River Hawks Travel To Vermont For America East Finale

The River Hawks beat the Catamounts 72-63 on January 25th

LAST TIME OUT: Freshman Kayla Gibbs netted a season-high and was one of three to score 16 points as the River Hawks locked up New Hampshire late for a 70-65 victory at the Tsongas Center. Shannon Samuels and Lindsey Doucette added 16 apiece while Doucette added nine rebounds and set career-highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (9). Led by five points from Gibbs, the River Hawks came out strong scoring the games first seven points before the Wildcats clawed their way back to draw even at seven. A 20-6 run by UML late in the first half was capped off by a three-pointer from Melissa Frase and helped the squad build their largest lead of the game at 17. The Wildcats knotted the game at 55 with less than seven minutes when the River Hawks locked in defensively and countered with eight unanswered points. The team wouldn't look back, forcing UNH into three turnovers during the run and didn't let the score get closer than five points.

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS: The Catamounts enter the game Thursday on a two-game losing streak after dropping a 71-64 contest to UMBC and being edged by AE leader Maine, 57-54, eight days ago. UVM is led offensively by Sydney Smith (12.9 ppg) and Niki Taylor (9.8 ppg). The team leads the league in rebounding with 41.8 per game thanks to the services of Taylor who is second in the conference, averaging 8.6 a contest and is third among active AE players with six double-doubles this year. Vermont is also second in blocks as a team, averaging 3.3 a night with Taylor and Emilie Cloutier each sending back 0.6 shots per game.

ALL-TIME SERIES: UMass Lowell leads 2-1 in the series against Vermont which commenced last season, with the teams splitting the meetings as each won on their home floor. The River Hawks continued that trend as they picked up a 72-63 victory at the Tsongas Center behind Shannon Samuels' game-high 25 points and Jasmine McRoy's 10-point, 10-rebound double-double; her second of the year. Lindsey Doucette broke double-figures in points with 12 and added eight rebounds.

EARLY SUCCESS: The River Hawks 70-65 triumph over New Hampshire on Saturday was the teams 12th win of the season, moving rookie head coach Jenerrie Harris into a first-place tie for most wins by a head coach in their first season. Harris passed Carol Mastacouris (10) for sole possession of second when the River Hawks beat Hartford on the road, 65-62, on Feb. 14th.

GIBBS SHINES: Freshman Kayla Gibbs scored 12 first half points on her way to a season-high 16 in the River Hawks win over UNH. She went 6-of-9 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds while making all four of her free throws. Gibbs earned her first career start three games ago in Hartford and has been in the starting five ever since. The forward has averaged 9.7 points and 5.0 rebounds on 60 percent (12-20) from the field and 83.3 percent from the line (5-6).

SAMUELS REWRITING THE BOOKS: In two seasons Shannon Samuels has quickly worked her way into the programs history books in several categories. After setting the tenth highest single-season output last year with 440 points, Samuels enters Thursday's game with 371 and could move ahead of Sheila Knowers (400 pts, '96-'97) for the 12th highest performance if she holds to her average of 14.3 ppg over the final two games.

Samuels has also made 226 free throws which places her eighth all-time and just nine makes behind Bianca Simmons ('09-'03) for seventh. Everybody else in the group played four seasons in Lowell, with Rosalyn Worsley ('87-'91) holding the record with 380. Finally, if the season ended today her 76.9 FT percentange would be third best.

MCROY NEARS HISTORY FROM DEEP: Jasmine McRoy has made 79 career three-pointers over her two season and can pass Laurie Mann ('93-'95) for 10th on the career list if she connects on three more. Itxaso Mallaviabarrena ('99-'03) is ninth on the list with 89.

WINDING DOWN: The River Hawks will play their conference finale tonight as they wrap up their second season in the America East. The team will honor guards Shannon Samuels and Jasmine McRoy on senior night on March 3rd against NJIT at the Costello Athletic Center.

RIVER HAWKS STEALING THE SHOW: The River Hawks had a season-high 13 steals against the Seawolves last Wednesday and have picked up 12 or more steals in three straight games. The team has had a dozen thefts in four games this season and holds a 3-2 record when having 12 or more. Shannon Samuels leads the team over the last three games with 9 and is trailed by Jasmine McRoy (8), Lindsey Doucette (7) and Jontay Walton (6).

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Despite the Wildcats holding a slight advantage in field goals made (26-23) and field goal percentage (46.4-46.0), the River Hawks came out on top on Saturday as they took care of business from the charity stripe going 20-of-24, opposed to UNH's 8-of-12. UMass Lowell has won two of the 14 games when their opponents shot better than them.

DOUBLING UP: With 12 wins the River Hawks have more than doubled their win total of five from last season, their first of a four-year transition into the Division I ranks. The team finished the 2013-14 campaign seventh in the America East with a conference mark of 4-12 and an overall record of 5-23.

RIVER HAWKS FLYING HIGH IN AE: The River Hawks are among the leaders in the America East Conference in several categories. The team leads the AE in three-point field goal percentage (32.8%). The team is also second in the conference in scoring offense (63.6) free throw percentage (71.3%) and three-point field goals made (6.8) per game.