Sights and Sounds - Albany vs. Dartmouth

Albany head coach Will Brown wanted a full 40 minutes of defense from his team on Friday against Dartmouth.

Although he didn't get that, he did get 82 points including 23 from Gerardo Suero to get past the Big Green, 82-74. Mike Black also had a big game scoring 20 points, handing out 7 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds for the 7-5 Danes.

The America East Conference had its video camera to bring you some sights and sounds from the UAlbany win.

America East Daily Word - December 23

The Maine men’s basketball team finished the last two seasons with a winning record in conference play – the first time that has happened since the turn of the 21^st century.

Now, Maine will have the man who led them to those victories at the helm for the foreseeable future.

Head Coach Ted Woodward signed a contract extension on Thursday keeping him on the sidelines in Orono through the 2015 season.

Woodward has a career record of 97-125 but is 39-30 since the start of the 2009-10 year and has his team at 5-4 this season. His Maine squads have shown they can play against top-tier competition. The Black Bears nearly knocked off Notre Dame this season after defeating Penn. State (a 2011 NCAA Tournament team) last season and Boston College the year before.

The decision to renew Woodward’s contract was an easy decision for athletic director Steve Abbott.

“First of all, Ted runs such a solid program,” Abbott said in an interview with the Bangor Daily News. “He has brought terrific young men to the campus and provided them with an outstanding experience in all aspects of college life.”

Woodward and company will have a chance to improve on their 5-4 record tonight with a game at Brown.

You can read more from the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald about Woodward and his contract extension.

More from men’s hoops now as all three games tonight feature three teams at the top of the conference standings as we wrap up the non-conference portion of the season.

A nearly full-strength Maine team is at Brown looking to build on a win against Eastern Illinois on Wednesday. The Bangor Daily News has a preview focusing on how the return of 6-foot-9 forward Mike Allison will give the Black Bears a boost.

Elsewhere, Albany heads into the holiday break with a home bout with the Big Green from Dartmouth. Andrew Santillo breaks this one down and chats with the Danes about building and maintaining leads.

Lastly, Vermont tries to make it two in a row when they take on a winless Towson team on the road. The Catamounts snapped a five-game losing streak last time out against Fairleigh Dickinson. The Burlington FreePress has more.

Check out the links below to recap last night’s action on the hardwood and make sure to head over to AmericaEast.com for all of the live coverage links for today’s games.

Times Union: Canisius women rally past UAlbany
Troy Record: Griffs defeat UAlbany
Press and Sun Bulletin: Drexel posts win over Binghamton men
Fox 40 WICZ: Bearcats fall to Drexel (Video)
Hartford Courant: Richmond downs Hartford women

America East Daily Word - December 22

The shortest day of the year is behind us, which means the days only get longer from here and lacrosse is inching just a bit closer every day.

Inside Lacrosse magazine continues to unveil content for its 2012 Face-Off Yearbook. Tuesday it was the All-Name teams. And now, the mag released its 2012 America East men’s lacrosse predictions and preseason all-conference team.

Hartford won its first conference title last year, upsetting Stony Brook in the final to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Peter Lawrence and the Hawks aren’t going to surprise many people this year as they are picked to win the league by Inside Lacrosse. Called the “clear favorites,” the Hawks will have to demonstrate they can play with a bulls-eye on their chest.

Stony Brook and Albany went 2-3 in the magazine’s poll while UMBC, Binghamton and Vermont rounded out the poll. Binghamton and Vermont are on their way out of the cellar, Inside Lacrosse says, so the race to the top is really wide open.

The Bearcats’ four selections to the preseason all-conference team speak to their potential success this season under new coach Scott Nelson. The four selections are the most for any team. Hartford and Stony Brook each placed three leaving Albany, UMBC and Vermont with lone selections to the squad.

You can check out the entire team and season outlook from Inside Lacrosse, here.

The UMBC women's basketball team boasts a very talented senior class with the likes of 1,000 point scorers Erin Brown and Michelle Kurowski. But don't forget about Tope Obajulo, the 6-foot-3 senior who holds the UMBC single-season record for blocks. The Baltimore Sun put together a nice feature on the center.

Hartford has its own go-to player in the post in Ruthanne Doherty. The junior forward is the Hawks' top scorer and rebounder and will have a homecoming of sorts tonight against Richmond in Virgnia. Doherty is from Richmond and this will be the first time she'll be back in her home town to play basketball since high school. The Hartford Courant featured Doherty's homecoming event in today's paper.

The conference posted a solid 4-3 night with the men and women each winning a pair of games.

We’ll start on the men’s side where Vermont put a convincing end to its five-game losing streak with an 18-point win at Fairleigh Dickinson. Luke Apfeld led four Cats in double figures with 14 points. The Burlington Free Press has more from this one. Meanwhile, Maine avenged tough loss earlier in the year to Eastern Illinois by defeating the Panthers in the Pit last night. The three-headed monster – Gerald McLemore, Justin Edwards and Alasdair Fraser – combined for 54 of Maine’s 64 points. Read more from the Bangor Daily News.

New Hampshire and Stony Brook notched W’s for the women last night. Denise Beliveau picked a great time for her only bucket of the night, knocking down a short jumper with 3 seconds left in overtime to give the Wildcats a 73-72 OT win over Wagner. Morgan Frame scored 35 points (one shy of the program’s single-game record) and grabbed 12 boards for UNH. Read more from Foster’s Daily Democrat. Stony Brook, meanwhile, picked up a nice home win over Morgan State behind 14 points from reigning America East Rookie of the Week Kellie Kruger.

We’ve got five more games on tap for tonight including one on ESPN3 against a nationally ranked opponent. The UMBC men take on No. 17 Indiana at Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Check out the Daily Updates for more information on the rest of tonight’s schedule and make sure you head to AmericaEast.com for all the live coverage links.

 
Press and Sun Bulletin: Bearcat men look to end nine game skid tonight
Press and Sun Bulletin: Scouting Report: Binghamton vs. Drexel
Hartford Courant: Hartford men fall in 2OT to Marist
Bangor Daily News: Charleston Southern tops UMaine women
Burlington Free Press: UVM women fight hard in loss to Marquette

America East Daily Word - December 20

Inside Lacrosse wasted little time getting out one of the most important preseason lists as part of its coverage during the fall and winter months.

The All-Name teams.

Several America East players cracked the lists because of their unique monikers. On the men’s side, the only America East representative comes to us from Burlington as Vermont’s August Remian made the third team.

America East women were a bit more prevalent in the all-name teams. Vermont’s Keagan Gallagher was the lone member of the first team while three more were named to a more unique squad.

Inside Lacrosse noticed a trend of women’s players with traditionally male names. Boston University’s Austin Noonan, Stony Brook’s Frankie Caridi and Vermont’s Jake Remien all were selected to that team by Inside Lacrosse.

You can check out the rest of the all name teams, here.

After a tough weekend for men’s hoops, the guys got back on track last night with a couple of wins.

Maine got a huge boost from Mike Allison in his first game back from injury this season. He scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and swatted six shots to lead the Black Bears over Utah Valley. A quick start and some solid guard play from Gerald McLemore and Justin Edwards also contributed to a nice 77-60 win.

Albany hadn’t lost back-to-back games this season and that trend continued last night as the Danes rebounded from Saturday’s loss to Cornell with a 76-64 win over St. Francis (N.Y.). Gerardo Suero continues to dominate for Albany dropping 25 points last night. Fox 23’s Rich Becker has some highlights from Brooklyn Heights.

The Binghamton men and women played a double header last night at the Events Center with the women hosting UMass before the men took on Morehead State in the nightcap. It didn’t prove to be a great night in Vestal with neither team able to come out on the winning end. Fox 40 has some highlights from the evening.

We’ve got three games tonight, including one on ESPN3. The New Hampshire men look to climb above .500 with a win at Providence. Elsewhere, the Maine women are at Florida for the Gator’s holiday tourney and will take on Duquesne in the first round and UMBC makes the drive to Navy for its first game in 10 days.

All the live coverage links are available at AmericaEast.com.

And with our schools going into holiday break, the Daily Word will take the break with them but make sure you stay tuned to AExtra for updates through the calender year. The Word will be back full-time on Jan. 3 of 2012.

America East Daily Word - December 19

Joe Nathan, the former Stony Brook and current Texas Rangers pitcher, made news over the weekend. And it’s not because of anything he did.

Rather, Jeff Gibbs, a right-handed flamethrower for Maine’s baseball sqaud, had his fastball compared to the Minnesota Twins’ all-time saves leader.

Gibbs’ prowess on the hill led to a nice profile piece by the Canadian Baseball Network detailing the righty’s path to pitching and his potential MLB draft stock. His coach, Steve Trimper, believes his stuff is Major League quality as he boasts a sometimes “ungodly” slider, a newly refined changeup and the ole 97 mph cheese.

“The draft is so unpredictable, but, if he stays on course, he has the potential to go in the first-to-fifth rounds,” Trimper said of Gibbs in the article. “I’ve been in Division 1 baseball coming up on my 17th year and he’s one of the best arms I’ve seen.”

The article brings us back to Gibbs as a high school centerfielder who didn’t want to pitch anymore because “[he] was getting hit quite a bit.” So his dominant performance on the mound against Florida International in the NCAA regionals last year makes total sense.

Gibbs posted an 8-5 record to go along with a 3.42 ERA as a sophomore last season but also pitched in some of the Black Bears’ biggest games.

You can read the rest of Chris Toman’s article, here.

With final exams over, or close to it, we’ve got four games on tap for this evening. But before that, let’s take a look at some of the scores from yesterday.

New Hampshire, Albany and Vermont – all women’s action – took the court yesterday and the America East came out 2-1 on the day. New Hampshire went on a serious run (32-3) after trailing by 10 early in the second half against Rhode Island. The Portsmouth Press Herald has more from the Wildcats’ 52-33 win. Albany made it three straight with a win over Sacred Heart, 64-54. Lindsey Lowrie scored a career-high 26 points. For the full recap, check out the Times Union story. Lastly, Vermont took on #25 Nebraska in Lincoln and came out on the wrong end of a 94-41 decision. The staff reports from the Burlington Free Press…

Both Binghamton teams look to get back on track tonight. The women take on UMass before the men do battle with Morehead St. in a double header at the Events Center. The Press and Sun Bulletin has all the pregame coverage.

The Pit will be rocking tonight in Orono as the Maine men return home to take on Utah Valley State. Good news for the Black Bears as a couple of sidelined big men have returned to action after early season injuries, according to the Bangor Daily News.

Albany looks to rebound after a tough OT loss to Cornell over the weekend when it travels to take on St. Francis (N.Y.).

All your live coverage links can be found at AmericaEast.com.

WICZ Fox 40: Bearcat women fall to Rider (Video)
Baltimore Sun: UMBC forces OT before falling to Rider