Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinal · #7 American (13-16, 8-10 PL) at #2 Boston U. (17-12, 12-6 PL)
Monday, March 9 · 6 p.m. · Boston, Mass. (Case Gym)
All-Time Record: American leads, 14-5
WASHINGTON - The seventh-seeded American University women's basketball team (13-16, 8-10 PL) will look to remain perfect in March on Monday as the Eagles take on two-seed Boston University (17-12, 12-6 PL) in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal at 6 p.m. in Case Gym.
ALL-PATRIOT LEAGUE
- Three Eagles were selected to All-Patriot League by the conference's head coaches on Friday - sophomore Jade Edwards (2nd Team), senior Kaitlyn Marenyi (3rd Team), and junior Indeya Sanders (All-Defensive Team).
- Boston University led with four selections, followed by AU, Bucknell, and Colgate with three each.
- This is the seventh time in program history that the Eagles have put three players on the All-League teams, and the third consecutive season.
#AUWBB vs. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
- American is 23-16 in the Patriot League Tournament since joining the league in the 2001-02 season.
- The Eagles have only had to play in the First Round once - during the 2015-16 season where they outpaced No. 10 Boston University, 61-53, before falling to No. 2 Bucknell, 75-65, in the quarterfinal.
THE STARTING FIVE
- The Eagles faced Navy in back-to-back games last week, completing the sweep in the regular-season finale on Wednesday, 57-42, then toppling the Mids again, 63-53, in the Patriot League First Round. In both games, sophomore Emily Fisher stepped up to join senior Kaitlyn Marenyi as AU's 1-2 scoring punch.
- Fisher had her highest offensive output since November during Saturday's First Rouund win, scoring 18 points to lead the Eagles. Marenyi highlighted what is most likely her final game in Bender Arena with her first career double-double, scoring 14 points and adding 10 boards.
- After playing only 26 minutes and scoring only seven points against Navy on Wednesday, Edwards was back in double-figures on Saturday with 14 points and nine rebounds. She also added the last-second block that led to Marenyi's 10th rebound.
- The pairing of Marenyi and Edwards sits as one of the strongest 1-2 scoring punches in the Patriot League. Edwards is fourth in the overall rankings (14.5 ppg) and sixth in the PL slate (13.4 ppg) while Marenyi ranks seventh overall (13.3 ppg) and fourth against PL teams (14.0 ppg).
- Saturday's win was the first time since February 8 (vs. Army, 67-62) that the Eagles have bumped up above 60 points. In the Megan Gebbia era, AU is 101-33 when scoring over 60 points, including an impressive 50-8 record since the 2017-18 season.
LAST TIME OUT
- For the third consecutive game, sophomore Emily Fisher injected some vital energy and tempo for the Eagles and walked away with one of the highest offensive outputs in her career with 18 points.
- In what is most likely her final game in Bender Arena, senior Kaitlyn Marenyi earned her first career double-double, leading the team on the boards with 10 rebounds alongside her 14 points.
- Sophomore Jade Edwards also walked away with 14 points and just missed a double-double of her own with nine rebounds.
- The Eagles struggled offensively in the first quarter, with only Edwards delivering a field goal with a made three in the third minute. The Mids, on the other hand went 6-for-15 from the floor behind a perfect 4-for-4 from Taylor to take a 13-7 lead at the first break.
- Fisher lit the spark for AU right away in the second quarter, drawing the foul on a made layup in the first 15 seconds to convert the three-point play and cut Navy's lead down to four. Over the next two minutes, AU continued to track down the Midshipmen and finally tied the game at 15-15 after another Fisher layup, forcing Navy to call a timeout. The two teams went back-and-forth over the next two minutes, with Navy briefly rebuilding a four-point lead before the Eagles closed with a 7-0 run, including five from Marenyi, to take a 32-25 lead heading into the locker room.
- AU lost a little bit of its traction in the third quarter, as Navy retook a two-point lead at 39-37 with 3:26 left in the stanza. The Eagles were quick to fight back, though, as a Marenyi triple sent AU on a 7-0 to retake a five-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes.
- Opening baskets from Brown and Sanders gave AU one of its largest leads of the game at 48-39 before Navy broke back within one at 48-47 and 50-49. It was all AU in the final three minutes as the Eagles capitalized on the absence of Taylor, who fouled out with 2:19 remaining, to hit an 11-4 run to close the game.
#AUWBB vs. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE
- American holds a 249-130 overall record (.657) against Patriot League teams, and is 200-99 (.669) since joining the league in 2001-02.
- The Eagles have been one of the powerhouses in the Patriot League over the last two seasons, accumulating a record of 43-14 during the regular season.
- Before this year, only Bucknell (3) and Navy have beat out American during the regular season since 2016-17.
- Holy Cross is the only team in the conference that holds an advantage over AU with a series record of 24-19.
- Navy, Holy Cross, and Bucknell are the only three teams that own winning records on their respective home courts, while AU holds a home win record against all nine PL foes.
KEYS TO VICTORY
|
WINS |
LOSSES |
| Edwards |
14.8 |
14.3 |
| Marenyi |
14.2 |
12.6 |
| Sanders |
8.4 |
5.6 |
- The Eagles average a +2.1 turnover margin in victories vs. -1.1 in losses.
- American is also 8-2 in games where the team leads at halftime with only Towson and Colgate (1/25) pulling off the second half comeback after trailing by four and one at the half, respectively.
- The Eagles are 3-14 in games where they shot worse than their opponent, and 2-9 in games where their opponent shot +35.0 percent from three.
- Towson is also the only team to come out on top despite shooting worse than AU (.407 vs. .375).
- Lehigh, Boston U., and Navy are the only three teams to fall to American despite holding a higher FG%.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
- The Terriers enter the postseason with four All-Patriot League selections, including the Rookie of the Year, Maggie Pina. Katie Nelson (Second Team), Maren Durant (All-Defensive, All-Rookie), and Sydney Johnson (All-Rookie) joined her on the league's postseason awards list.
- The Eagles spoiled the Terriers' late 7-0 run with the 55-54 win in Bender Arena on Feb. 22. BU was back in the win column against Lehigh, 48-47, before dropping its sixth PL game of the season to Bucknell, 55-53. Boston closed the regular season with a 62-56 win over Army.
- Three Terriers closed in double-figures against the Black Knights - Maggie Pina (19), Katie Nelson (16), and Sydney Johnson (12) - while Riley Childs came away with 14 boards.
- Nelson leads the team's overall scoring efforts, averaging 12.5 ppg, followed by Pina with 11.6 ppg.
- Childs ranks first with 7.6 rpg followed by Durant (5.8 rpg).
- Pina leads the league with 2.8 three's per game during the PL slate. Nelson has averaged a league-high 39.7 minutes per game while Durant is second in the conference-only rankings with 2.0 blocks per game.
NEXT UP...
The winner of Monday's game will face the winner of No. 6 Lehigh and No. 3 Colgate in the semifinal round on Thursday, March 12.
For the latest on American University Women's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_WBasketball) and Instagram (@auwbasketball).
