No. 8 MOUNT ST. MARY'S (11-18) vs. No. 9 CANISIUS (9-20)
Tuesday, March 7
th | 10:30 a.m.
Atlantic City, N.J. | Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall
GAME NOTES |
WATCH |
LIVE STATS
EMMITSBURG, Md. (March 5, 2023) – The 2023 Hercules Tires Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Women's Basketball Championships kicks off Tuesday with its newest member, Mount St. Mary's, opening the tournament with their second bout against Canisius in the space of a week.
MOUNT UPDATE
Mount St. Mary's fell to Niagara 61-52 to close out the regular season with a 7-13 mark in MAAC play. They met their 2022-23 projections based on the preseason poll, ending with the No. 8 seed. In relation to program history, this is the eighth time the Mount has finished eighth as a Division I team, and the first since 2016.
Graduate student
Michaela Harrison finished the scheduled part of the campaign at 11.8 points per game and stands fourth on the all-time scoring list. Junior
Jessica Tomasetti had a slightly higher average in the points column for MAAC games, at 10.9 to Harrison's 10.2.
Natalie Villaflor is at 10.3 points a contest, and has the most double-digit scoring games at 20.
Isabella Hunt led in rebounding (7.1), assists (3.1) and steals (1.9), while
Jo Raflo led in blocks with 31. Raflo returned to the lineup after sustaining an injury which kept her sidelined for a week and a half.
Aryna Taylor made her way into the starting five of late, bumping her season average in points to 8.2 and now leads team qualifiers in efficiency at 41.7 percent.
Freshman
Carissa Dunham,
McKenzie Matheny and
Jaedyn Jamison have also seen increased playing time of late. Dunham averages 2.5 points this season, Matheny connects of 43 percent of shots and Jamison provides support on the defensive with 16 rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
This is the first time since 2008 that the Mount is playing in a neutral site conference tournament. That year, the Northeast Conference hosted all its tournament games at LIU Brooklyn. In an interesting coincidence, the Mount played current MAAC member Quinnipiac during the tournament.
CHECKING IN ON THE GRIFFS
Canisius wrapped up the regular season with a 76-58 loss to Siena. Despite the defeat, the Golden Griffins improved their win total by 50 percent from last season, and moved up from 11
th to ninth in the tournament field. Positioning has not mattered much to the Griffs anyhow, as they upset Monmouth in the 6-11 matchup during the 2022 championship.
Coached by Sahar Nusseibeh, Canisius boasts a youthful roster with 11 players either freshmen or sophomores. The young talent is bolstered by leading scorer Dani Haskell and graduate student Vannessa Garrelts, who leads in assists and steals along with 9.7 points per game. Freshman Sisi Eleko and sophomore Cheyenne Stubbs headline the younger group of players.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Mount leads the all-time series 5-2, including a season sweep with wins on January 14
th and March 2
nd. The victory in Buffalo was their first at the Koessler Center.
LOOKING AHEAD
The advancing team from Tuesday's game faces No. 1 seed Iona Wednesday (Mar. 8) at 1 p.m. during the quarterfinals.
