Thanksgiving Tournament on the Horizon for Women's Basketball - University at Albany Great Danes (2024)

ALBANY, N.Y. - The University at Albany women's basketball team is headed to Las Vegas to compete in UNLV's Thanksgiving Tournament.

GAME INFORMATION

UAlbany at UNLV
DATE: Friday, November 25
TIME: 2:00 PM ET
SITE: Thomas & Mack Center - Las Vegas, Nev.
RECORDS: UAlbany 3-1, 0-0 America East | UNLV 4-0, 0-0 Mountain West
SERIES RECORD: 0-0, first meeting
STATS: UNLVRebels.com
TICKETS: UNLVRebels.com
STREAM: Mountain West Network
AUDIO: UNLVRebels.com
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: UNLVRebels.com

Continue reading for the full tournament schedule.

HEAD COACH COLLEEN MULLEN
"Our program is excited to spend Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas this year. Participating in a tournament-style MTE creates a different level of excitement for players that you can't typically replicate until March. The tournament will be very competitive as the field is made up of multiple championship-level teams from various conferences. We are excited to begin the tournament with the host, UNLV. They are a veteran team who won their league championship and went to the NCAA Tournament last season. This will be a great test for our team and will better prepare us for success in America East play."

GREAT DANE REWIND

• Seeing their first weekend of competition since the NCAA Tournament in 2022, the Great Danes opened the season 2-0.
• Hosting Merrimack on Friday, November 11, UAlbany defeated the Warriors, 67-53.
• In the annual Albany Cup, the Great Danes won for the second-straight year with a 64-57 final score over Siena on November 13.
• Last week, UAlbany traveled to Navy for a 64-50 victory on November 16 before falling to Colgate in their first loss of the season.
• Sophom*ore Freja Werth leads the team with a .427 field goal percentage and 7.0 rebounds per game.
• Graduate student Ellen Hahne leads the team with 18.5 points per game.
• Senior Grace Heeps owns three team-highs with 11 assists, four steals, and two blocks.
• Hahne is tied with Heeps in assists and sophom*ore Lilly Phillips is tied with Heeps in steals.

ABOUT UNLV

• The Rebels have an undefeated 4-0 record to start the season.
• In four home games, UNLV has found a victory over Pepperdine (11/7), Oral Roberts (11/11), Utah Valley (11/16), and CSU Bakersfield (11/20).
• Desi-Rae Young leads the team with 17.3 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per game. She also owns a team-high 18 assists and eight steals.
• Alyssa Brown is the most consistent shooter with a .625 field goal percentage, including a .500 three-point percentage. She leads the team with four blocks.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (all times in PT)

• Friday, November 25 (all games in Thomas & Mack Center)
  • G1: UAlbany at UNLV, 11 am
  • G2: East Tennessee State vs George Washington, 1:30 pm
  • G3: Louisiana Tech vs Stetson, 4 pm
  • G4: UC San Diego vs Illinois State, 6:30 pm
• Saturday, November 26
  • G5: G1 loser vs G2 loser, 11 am (Cox Pavilion)
  • G6: G1 winner vs G2 winner, 12 pm (Thomas & Mack Center)
  • G7: G3 loser vs G4 loser, 1:30 pm (Cox Pavilion)
  • G8: G3 winner vs G4 winner, 2:30 pm (Thomas & Mack Center)
• Sunday, November 27 (all games in Cox Pavilion)
  • G9: G5 loser vs G7 loser, 9 am
  • G10: G5 winner vs G7 winner, 11:15 am
  • G11: G6 loser vs G8 loser, 1:30 pm
  • G12: G6 winner vs G8 winner, 4 pm

ABOUT THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS

• East Tennessee State
  • The Bucs are 4-1 on the season with wins over St. Bonaventure (11/11), Lafayette (11/13), Jacksonville State (11/17), and Morehead State (11/20) after a season-opening loss to South Carolina (11/7).
  • Two players hold a team-high .500 field goal percentage - Jakhyia Dale and Jayla Ruffus-Miller.
  • Jiselle Thomas leads the team with 18.0 points per game while Ruffus-Miller leads with 7.6 rebounds per game.
• George Washington
  • The Buff and Blue are 3-2 on the season with wins over UMES (11/10), Howard (11/14), and American (11/17) and losses to Virginia (11/7) and Cal State Fullerton (11/20).
  • Faith Blethen leads the team with a .667 field goal percentage while Mia Lakstigala owns a team-high 14.6 points per game and Mayowa Taiwo owns 9.8 rebounds per game.
• Louisiana Tech
  • The Red Wolves are 3-1 on the season with wins over Central Baptist (11/7), Arkansas State (11/10), and ULM (11/13) and a loss to SMU (11/22).
  • Keiunna Walker leads with 15.0 points per game while Anna Larr Roberson owns a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game.
• Stetson
  • The Hatters own a 3-1 record with wins over Flagler (11/7), Johnson (FL) (11/15), and Furman (11/19) with a loss to Miami (11/10).
  • Jaelyn Talley leads the team with a .522 field goal percentage and 14.5 points per game while Skylar Treadwell leads with 6.5 rebounds per game.
• UC San Diego
  • The Tritons opened the season with two losses to California Baptist (11/7) and Northern Arizona (11/13) before defeating Portland (11/20).
  • Emily Cangelosi leads with a .556 field goal percentage and three-point percentage.
  • Sydney Brown (17.3) and Denali Pinto (17.0) lead in points per game while Brown adds a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game.
• Illinois State
  • The Redbirds opened the season with an overtime victory over Dayton (11/10) before defeating St. Thomas (11/15) and Wisconsin (11/20).
  • Paige Robinson leads with a .535 field goal percentage, including a 52.9% accuracy from the three-point line, and 23.0 points per game.
  • DeAnna Wilson owns a team-high 8.7 rebounds per game and eight steals.

AROUND THE AMERICA EAST

• Binghamton leads the team with four wins while UAlbany follows with three. Both teams have tallied one loss.
• NJIT rounds out the top three with a 4-2 record.
• Maine sits even with a 2-2 record.
• Bryant, UMBC, and Vermont have two wins in five games.
• New Hampshire has played six games with two wins and UMass Lowell rounds out the America East looking for its first win.

AMERICA EAST CONTESTS THIS WEEK

• Friday
  • UAlbany at UNLV, 2 pm
  • Bryant at Weber State, 3 pm
  • Maine vs. Kansas, 3 pm
  • Binghamton at Florida Atlantic, 4 pm
• Saturday
  • UAlbany vs TBD, TBD
  • Stonehill at Vermont, 12 pm
  • Bryant at Hartford, 1 pm
  • Binghamton vs Butler, 1 pm
  • Maine at Niagara, 3 pm
• Sunday
  • Siena/Oakland at Vermont, TBA
  • UAlbany vs TBD, TBD
  • Boston University at New Hampshire, 1 pm
  • Bryant at Providence, 2 pm
  • NJIT at Monmouth, 3 pm
• Monday
  • Maine at Gonzaga, 9 pm

WHAT'S UP, PRESEASON

• With seven first-place votes and 59 total points, the Great Dane women's basketball team was picked to finish first in the conference in the preseason coaches' poll. Maine was just behind them with 54 points while Vermont came in third with 46 points and one first-place vote.
• Last season's offensive and defensive leaders, respectively, Helene Haegerstrand and Kayla Cooper were named to the America East Preseason All-Conference Team.
• UAlbany added three new players to the roster for the 2022-23 season - Taylor Moffat, Karyn Sanford, and Marie Sepp.

DRIVE THE LANE WITH UALBANY HOOPS

• UAlbany has expanded its partnership with ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team and City Line Bar & Grill.
• Coaches Colleen Mullen and Dwayne Killings, along with select student-athletes, will join ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team's Charlie Voelker and Dan Bahl every Monday from 6-7 pm live from City Line Bar & Grill for a weekly segment entitled 'Drive the Lane with UAlbany Hoops'.
• Fans are invited to come out to City Line Bar & Grill to join Coach Mullen, Coach Kills, the student-athletes, and the ESPN Radio 104.5 The Team crew.
• Food and drink specials will be available on a weekly basis as the teams embark on their new seasons and talk hoops every Monday.

UP NEXT

• The Great Danes will continue on the road with a game at Canisius (11/30) before hosting Cornell on December 3.

For more information on the University at Albany women's basketball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanywbb
Instagram - @ualbanywbb
Facebook – facebook.com/UAlbanyWBB