CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY REPORT - DEC. 19
**Full report in PDF Format with team notes located at the bottom of this article**
CAA 4-1-1:
• CAA squads are currently 57-36 in
non-conference play. The league opened
conference play on Dec. 4 and Delaware, George Mason, Hofstra, Towson, Drexel
and VCU started CAA action 1-0.
• The CAA has the third best non-conference
strength of schedule heading into the holiday break.
• Delaware is ranked No. 1 in the latest RPI
report compiled by Collegiate Basketball News, through games of Dec. 18. The
CAA is ranked seventh among the conferences with seven teams in the Top 93 and
four in the Top 21.
• NCAA Division I Women's Basketball National
Stat Rankings through games of Dec. 11 had a number of CAA highlights. The CAA
boasts the top scorer in the nation in UD's Elena Delle Donne (29.3 ppg), along
with sixth-ranked VCU's Courtney Hurt (23.3 ppg) and ninth-ranked Mason's
Taleia Moton (22.0 ppg). Full listing on page 11 of this report.
• Delaware moved up to #19 in the AP Top 25 (Dec.
19) as they held onto their 8-0 record, just one of nine teams undeafeted in
the nation. The ESPN/USA Today and Mid-Major Polls are released on
Tuesdays.
• Delaware was selected as the preseason CAA
favorite to win the 2011-12 title. VCU followed along with James Madison and
Hofstra.
• Virginia 529 Women's Basketball Championship
will return to The Show Place Arena in 2012 in Upper Marlboro, Md.
PLAYERS OF THE
WEEK:
Courtney Hurt • VCU
Conyers, Ga./Salem,
Sr., Forward
Hurt received CAA
Player of the Week accolades after leading the Rams to a home victory against
Coppin State. The senior forward
registered her fifth straight double-double with 30 points and 16 rebounds.
Hurt went 13-of-22 (.591) from the floor to go along with 3-for-3 perfect
shooting from the line. The Conyers,
Ga., native added a team-high five steals to go along with two assists and two
blocks.
Tia Lewis • Old
Dominion
Conyers, Ga./Salem,
Sr., Forward
Lewis earned CAA
Player of the Week honors with a strong performance in Old Dominion's second
straight home victory over North Carolina A&T. The senior forward notched
her fourth double-double of the year with 24 points and 13 boards. Lewis' 24 points was her fifth 20+ point
performance of the season and tallied her point on 8-of-11 (.727) shooting from
the floor to go along with an 8-of-12 (.667) performance from the line. Lewis
finished the week with two assists, two blocks and two steals.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK:
Christina Carter •
VCU
Thomasville,
N.C./Thomasville, Fr., Guard
Carter
earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors after helping the Rams to a home victory
over Coppin State. The freshman guard contributed 10 points and matched her
career-best six assists in the win. She finished with registering a pair of
steals and one rebound for VCU.
CAA AT NO. 7 IN RPI RANKING - SEVEN CAA SQUADS IN TOP
100, INCLUDING DELAWARE AT NO. 1 (Through Games of Dec. 18): The CAA is ranked seventh among the
nation's 32 Division I conferences in women's basketball according to the RPI
report compiled by Collegiate Basketball News. Delaware is ranked at No. 1 in
the team RPI ranking, as the first of seven CAA teams in the Top 93. Towson
(16), James Madison (20) and Hofstra (21) are the only other CAA schools that
are listed in the Top 50. Drexel (71), UNCW (89) and William & Mary (93)
round out the CAA teams in the Top 100.
CAA IN THE TOP 25: The Delaware Blue Hens moved up to #19 in the Dec. 19
AP poll after their perfect start to the season and are currently ranked at #23
in the Dec. 13 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Blue Hens were awarded the #19
spot with 259 votes and #23 with 115 nods. For the third time in her tenure as
head coach, Tina Martin's squad is receiving notice in the Associated Press Top
25 poll. Delaware received notice in the AP Top 25 polls during the 2006-07 and
2009-10 campaigns. It's Delaware's first appearance in the ESPN/USA Today
Coaches Poll ever in school history.
THREE CAA WBB TEAMS
RANKED IN COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR POLL (DEC. 13):
Delaware jumped to second & received three first place votes in the
CollegeInsider.com Dec. 13 edition of the mid-major poll, while James Madison
followed at ninth and Hofstra at #17. Towson also received a vote in the weekly
poll for the first time this season. Atop the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top
25 is Green Bay, which received 27 first-place votes. The women's Mid-Major Top
25 is comprised of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic
Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Great West, Horizon, Independents,
Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast,
Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West
Coast Conferences. The Mid-Major Top 25 will be released every Tuesday
throughout the season.
STELLAR OUTINGS & STRONG STATS (Week Ending Dec.
18): VCU's Courtney
Hurt led the league in scoring (30.0 ppg) and rebounding (16.0 rpg), while
Drexel's Kamile Nacickaite put in 25 poings in her single outing. Old Dominion's Tia Lewis (24 ppgs and
W&M's Janine Aldridge (21 ppg) contributed 20+ points on the week as well
in their respective single outings. Hofstra's Shante Evans followed Hurt in
rebounding with 15 against Saint Peter's and Lewis added 13 boards against
North Carolina A&T. Joinging the top
three rebounders with double-digit boards was VCU's Andrea Barbour (11),
Towson's Nyree Williams (10) and JMU's Nikki Newman (10). Hofstra's Candice
Bellocchio dished out a league-best nine assists this week in her one outing,
while JMU's Kirby Burkholder added seven.
THREE CAA PLAYERS NAMED TO NAISMITH WATCH LIST: The CAA is well represented on the
2011-12 Naismith Women's Basketball Player of the Year early-season watch list
with Delaware's Elena Delle Donne, Hofstra's Shante Evans and VCU's Courtney
Hurt making the line-up. In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of
Selectors will compile a mid-season team of the top 30 players in the nation.
Then in March, the Naismith Trophy voting academy will vote to narrow the list
to the four finalists.
UPSET CITY-NEWARK, DEL.: Delaware women's basketball squad
pulled off the biggest upset in school history on Nov. 17 as the Blue Hens
brought down No. 11/12 ranked Penn State with an 80-71 victory. Backed by
another brilliant performance from All-American Elena Delle Donne (40pts/12
rbs), the Blue Hens made history by defeating their highest ranked opponent in
school history. Delaware had knocked off a Top 25 team just two other times in
school history in 28 previous tries, including an 86-70 win over No. 20
Kentucky during the 2006-07 season and a 77-67 victory over then No. 22 James
Madison at the BCC on Feb. 22, 2007.
SETTING RECORDS: In the upset of #11/12 Penn State, Delaware's Elena
Delle Donne scored 25 of her game-high 40 points in the second half as Delaware
recovered from an eight-point deficit midway through the second half with a big
final flurry. Her 40 points set a Bob Carpenter Center record and was the third
highest total in school history, trailing only her school-record 54-point
performance at James Madison on Feb. 18, 2010 and her 41-point explosion
against Yale on Nov. 20, 2010. Her 40 point performance ties the CAA all-time
10th best single game mark. Joining Delle Donne on the CAA all-time list, was
VCU's Courtney Hurt as she poured in a school-record 40 points against UMKC.
EXTRA HONORS: CollegeSportsMadness.com has named Hofstra's Shante Evans a
Madness High-Major Conference Player of the Week representing the CAA. She
received this honor after leading the Pride to a victory over Saint Peter's
College on Sunday afternoon. The junior forward poured in a double-double with
17 points and 15 rebounds in the outing.
TV EXPOSURE: The CAA is scheduled to see a record-best of at least 40 regular
season games on television this season, plus three televised games during the
CAA championship. All 12 teams will make at least one television appearance
during the 2011-12 season. The CAA women's basketball television package has
aired over 20 games for the last four seasons. The CAA also enjoyed a record
amount of exposure through new media efforts.
2012 VIRGINIA 529 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: The 2012 Virginia 529 CAA Women's
Basketball Championship will return to The Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro,
Md., for the second straight season. The 2011 outing was the first time that
The Show Place Arena had served as host of the CAA women's championship. The
Show Place was the first neutral site since 1998 for the CAA women's
championship and the teams played in front of 7,727 fans during the four-day
event.
CAA PRESEASON TEAM PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH: Delaware, which returns five starters
from last year's 20-14 team, is picked to win the 2012 CAA Women's Basketball
title according to a vote of the league's head coaches. The results of the poll
were announced during Tuesday's CAA Basketball Media Day at Champps-Pentagon
Row in Arlington, Va. The Blue Hens were followed in the voting by VCU, James
Madison and Hofstra. Drexel and Old Dominion tied for fifth, followed by UNCW,
George Mason, William & Mary, Georgia State, Towson and Northeastern.
CAA PRESEASON INDIVIDUAL HONORS: Delaware's Elena Delle Donne was
chosen as the CAA Preseason Player of the Year. She is joined on the preseason
All-CAA first team by Hofstra's Shante Evans, VCU's Courtney Hurt and Andrea
Barbour and Drexel's Kamile Nacickaite. Voted to the preseason All-CAA second
team were UNCW's Alisha Andrews, Georgia State's Chan Harris, JMU's Hislop, Old
Dominion's Tia Lewis and William & Mary's Taysha Pye.
HUNGRY FOR MORE: Nine of the 15 players who received all-conference honors in
2010-11 return this season. Back from the All-CAA first team are Delaware's
Elena Delle Donne, Hofstra's Shante Evans and VCU's Courtney Hurt, who all
earned All-America accolades. All but one of the All-CAA third team will
return. The CAA teams also return 70% of their starters from a year ago.
RETURNING THREE ALL-AMERICA HONOREES IN 2011-12: The CAA welcomes back three
Associated Press All-America honorees in Delaware's Elena Delle Donne,
Hofstra's Shante Evans and VCU's Courtney Hurt. The trio joined former JMU
all-star Dawn Evans in receiving Honorable Mention accolades in 2011.
OLD DOMINION WELCOMES KAREN BAREFOOT AS HEAD COACH: Former Lady Monarch assistant coach
Karen Barefoot, who last season led Elon to its first ever Division I
postseason appearance, was named Old Dominion's new head women's basketball
coach on June 8, 2011. Barefoot became just the sixth head coach in Lady
Monarch basketball history and first new hire since 1987. Barefoot, the
school's first Native American head coaching hire, takes over a program that
has reached postseason play in 19 of its last 20 years and has won 929 games,
the third most all-time in women's basketball history. Barefoot, who hails from
Newport News, Va., has a career head coaching record of 209-144, resulting in
11 winning seasons. Aside from Elon, Barefoot has also held the head coaching
position at Division II Lenoir Rhyne College and at the Apprentice School.
REPRESENTING THE USA IN WOMEN'S HOOPS: CAA women's basketball standouts
Elena Delle Donne of Delaware and Shante Evans of Hofstra were invited to
participate in a pair of USA Basketball events. Delle Donne was selected for
the 2011 USA World University Games Team and led her team to a gold medal in
China in August 2011. VCU's Courtney Hurt also received an invite to the team
trials with Delle Donne. The Delaware stand-out and All-American led the USA
team averaging 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds for the Red, White and Blue during
six games. Evans was selected as a member of the USA Basketball Women's Pan
American Games Team. She averaged 6.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game during
her four outings with the Pan American Games Team which went 2-2.
SIX TEAMS DANCE IN POSTSEASON PLAY IN 2011: For the sixth consecutive season, at
least three CAA teams advanced to the postseason and for the 11th consecutive
season the CAA had a representative in the WNIT, as the CAA was just one of
three conferences to see five teams in the WNIT. CAA champion James Madison was
selected as the 11th-seed in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, while
Delaware, Drexel, UNCW, Old Dominion, and VCU were invited to the Women's
National Invitation Tournament. The Southeastern and Atlantic 10 also saw five
conference teams advance to the postseason WNIT event in 2011.