WBB: GNAC Women's Hoops

[raining3s]

WNEC and Norwich want to get out ...because athletically...the other conferences have more variety in sports.  It makes sense in that aspect.  Not all of the schools in GNAC have the money to support that many sports.  You can't blame Emmanuel because the other schools do not do a good job recruiting.  I think Emmanuel is going to get stronger.  Ever since they went co-ed, each sport is has made great strides.  Every team has there up and down times....so enjoy yours while you can ... 

[Biggirlzdontcry]

I think this conference is getting a bad wrap, no they are not the NESCAC, but they are not the weakest or worst conference in the area either. In fact a few teams in this conference play and beat teams from stronger conferences. There just seems to be a huge disparity in resources and academic requirements that separate the schools, and I don't think it's a matter of schools not recruiting just as hard as Emmanuel, but Emmanuel has a history of success and that's attractive to many of the kids today, very few talented kids want to attend schools that are rebuilding. There are some good coaches,teams and players within this conference who go unnoticed, because it's been a 1 team race every year, but give them their due credit .

[Poppadoc]

Well put Biggirlz........

Also, Boston CBBFAN, apparently the Ames girl doesnt want to play ball this year. I believe she left the team on her own.

Evita is coming around folks............... look out!!!! 

[carolina]

I agree BIGGiRL...It's not that the other schools are not trying to recruit. Some of them are not getting the support financially or otherwise from the administration. Think about this..why would someone really want to go to Southern Vermont. There is nothing to do in Bennington. Most of the athletes that go there couldn't get in anywhere else. Small schools are always rebuilding. SVC was lucky when they had Ryan Marks on the Men's side but other than that they will never have championship caliber teams. I do not see Rivier or DW having them either. Most coaches at the smalls school, especially SVC use it as a stepping stone and are never there more than 2 to 3 years. Hardly enough time to build a decent program and recruit to a place where noone has a clue about athletics. It's not the coaches fault when there isn't any financial support to bring in better athletes. I think Andy from Emmanuel has done a tremendous job in getting great female athletes but he also has the support from the school.

[deiscanton]

I went to the Emmanuel v. JWU women's game last night.

This game piqued my interest once I read Mark Simon's Jan. 20 "Around the Nation" column about JWU center, #25 Samantha Cowens, the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Dave "Big Red" Cowens.

Emmanuel defeated JWU last night at the Jean Yawkey Center on the Emmanuel campus in Boston by a final score of 65 to 40.

Here is Cowens's stat line against Emmanuel from last night, in case you are interested--

In 26 min. of action, Samantha Cowens was held to 0-2 shooting from the field.  Cowens had 8 rebounds, blocked 2 shots,  had 2 steals, and turned the ball over only once.  Nobody else on JWU blocked any shots, while Emmanuel as a team blocked 8 shots.

Emmanuel led at the half, 40-13, and played their bench for most of the second half.  The Saints outrebounded the Wildcats, 49 to 39, and held JWU to 6 of 23 shooting (26.1%) in the first half, 0 of 7 from 3 pt. land, and 1-4 from the FT line in the first half.  JWU hit 9 of 30 (30%) from the field in the second half, 5 of 13 from 3 pt. land (38.5%), and 4 of 10 from the charity stripe.

In the first half, Emmanuel made 16 of 39 shots from the field, 3 of 7 from 3 pt. land, and 5 of 6 from the FT line.  For the game, Emmanuel shot 25 of 68 from the field (36.8%), 6 of 15 from 3 pt. land, and 9 of 13 from the FT line.

All in all, an interesting Wednesday night game to add a little spark to this league.  JWU coach Bethany Ellis has experienced some success in the GNAC this year, but Emmanuel made sure last night that her successes won't be as monumental as that of Emory coach Christy Thomaskutty any time soon....

[Biggirlzdontcry]

I finally made it to GNAC game last night, Simmons @ Suffolk and after minutes of circling around locating a parking space in downtown Boston, I made it inside. Overall it was a close, low scoing affair for the most part, until Suffolk capitalized on Simmons inability to score and take care of the ball as well as make key free throws down the stretch. While I don't think either of these teams will be serious challenges, it was a good contest. Both teams struggled to score, as there were long scoring droughts, and it's easy to see why they have been inconsistent,  especially Simmons where the coach looks very frustrated as he tried different combinations to no avail, there guard play leaves a lot to be desired, bad decisions, pounding the ball, questionable shot selections. If this is what they practice  the coaching staff needs to re-evaluate. Overall  They are not very talented beyond # 50 (Lucek), who got into early foul trouble, she is the best player on the team ,and she is the only person who rebounds after that they have no legit low post presence, despite having 2 kids over 6'3. Neither Simmons or suffolk are very athletic, so they must play at a pace that maximizes their strengths, Suffolk did that last night, and walked away with the win. Simmons may make the playoffs but look for an early exit, they struggle to score easy baskets, plenty of blown lay-ups and they don't have anything worthwhile coming off the bench, Suffolk is not  a deep team either, but will be a tough out if they can hit the outside shot.

[carolina]

Well, well well someone finally knocked off Emmanuel. Way to go WNEC!!!!! Conference Championship should be interesting. Andy must have been going crazy on the sideline. Does anyone know how many conference wins Emmanuel had in a row??

[deiscanton]

Today's WNEC victory over Emmanuel snapped a 72 game consecutive GNAC regular season game win streak for Emmanuel. (excluding GNAC tournament games.)  This streak started in the 1999-2000 season when Emmanuel won its last 5 GNAC regular season games, but lost in the GNAC conference tournament.  Norwich won the tournament that year-- the last time a GNAC team other than Emmanuel was league champion.

In the 2000-2001 season, Emmanuel went on its first perfect year in the GNAC (12-0 regular season, 3-0 in the GNAC tournament.)  Emmanuel defeated Norwich in the GNAC final at JWU in Providence, RI to become league champion.  Emmanuel went on to the Final Four in Danbury, CT that year.  The regular season streak now stood at 17.

Emmanuel went perfect in GNAC for the next four seasons after that, so Emmanuel started the 2005-2006 season with a 65 game regular season GNAC winning streak, and a 75 game overall GNAC winning streak if you include conference tournament victories in the streak.  The regular season streak excludes GNAC tournament wins.

Emmanuel won its first 7 GNAC games this season before the loss today.

Although Norwich has a 1/2 game lead in the GNAC right now, if both Norwich and Emmanuel win out the rest of the GNAC games, Emmanuel still gets the #1 seed in the GNAC tournament due to Emmanuel's head to head victory over Norwich.

[carolina]

DEISCANTON

Thanks for all the info, appreciate it!!!!!Do you know anything about J&W? They were horrible last year (Think they even lost to SVC) Now they are scoring like 70 points a game. Whats up with that?

[deiscanton]

Johnson & Wales revamped their entire coaching staff.  The coaching staff is much younger this year.  Bethany Ellis coaches Johnson & Wales in a very similar manner to Case Western Reserve's Jacki Windon.  (It is also no coincidence that Coach Ellis and Coach Windon look to be about the same age.)

The new assistant coach for JWU is Kristen Quinn.  She is about the same age as the new head coach, Bethany Ellis.  They are also around the same age as WNEC's new head coach, Nicole Chaszar.

JWU also practically rebuilt the entire team from scratch.  Most of the roster are either freshmen or sophomores, I believe.  Samantha Cowens just transferred into JWU this season for her senior year, and there are only maybe 2 or 3 players from last year's squad who are on this year's team.

Essentially, this is a new Wildcats team.

[Biggirlzdontcry]

well it's gut check time for the teams of the GNAC and is there a hotter team than WNEC, they have won all 10 of their games at home this season after taking care of Simmons last night, (no surprise) the score was a little to close for comfort for the bears, but they'll take the victory. The playoff positioning is looking very interesting, there will be some interesting scores over the next week or two and the first round matchups will be good ones, unlike years gone by, when you could assume the top teams would breeze through the first rounds. The Saints are no longer invincible and Norwich is still in  prime position should the Saints fall. Any predictions on playoffs seedings??

[deiscanton]

Courtesy of St. Joseph, CT via the Free Teamline Service:

Halftime at O' Connell Center-- West Hartford, CT

Emmanuel 34, St. Joseph (CT) 19

This is Senior Day not only for the St. Joseph women's basketball team, but also for all of the St. Joseph student athletes-- so an overflow crowd has gathered at the O' Connell Center.

As for the game, this is for the #1 seed in the GNAC tournament.  If Emmanuel wins, the Saints get home court advantage throughout the tournament due to the head to head victory over Norwich.  If the Blue Jays come back from behind in the second half, the Norwich Cadets will get home court advantage with the semis and championship game going to Vermont.

[deiscanton]

It looks like the final score will probably be up this morning, but with Emmanuel leading St. Joseph (CT) by 19 with 6 minutes to go in regulation, I felt safe to say that Emmanuel has now finished its GNAC conference regular season with an 11-1 GNAC mark and will be the #1 seed in the GNAC tournament.  Should Emmanuel win in their quarterfinal match next week, both semifinals and the championship game will be played at the Yawkey Center in Boston.

Thanks to Teamline and St. Joseph College for audio webcasting the game from W. Hartford, CT.

[deiscanton]

Courtesy of the Boston Globe--

Emmanuel 65, St. Joseph (CT) 39

[Biggirlzdontcry]

Let the Games Begin, my prediction all 4 top seeds will advance, Jwu will extract a little payback to St. Joes, this time at home. The other games should go according to plan, hopefully the scores will be posted immediately