UAlbany women’s basketball team healthy in time for America East play

“We’ve been waiting for this point all season,” said redshirt freshman guard Morgan Haney, who missed the first 11 games with a knee injury. “Even as we’re warming up and watching the lineups, it’s just exciting to know that we’re going to practice where everyone is contributing and we’re starting to come together.”

The Great Danes began the season without four of last season’s top five scorers: Haney, Helene Haegerstrand, Kayla Cooper and Lucia Decortes. And just as those four returned, fifth-year guard Ellen Hahne contracted COVID-19 and missed the final three nonconference games. Hahne was cleared to return just before Christmas and used the time off to get back in shape, coach Colleen Mullen said.

Now that everyone is available, the challenge for the Great Danes is to rebuild the cohesion that helped them win a championship last season.

“Now that we, for the first time, have our entire team back, we have to rebuild our chemistry. And we talked a lot about how it’s not just going to happen to us because it happened to us last year,” Mullen said. “We have to work every day and focus on the process and focus on building that chemistry on the court because we certainly have it off the court.”

This year’s team has faced more adversity than last season, from playing home games at Hudson Valley Community College, to traveling in nine of their 14 non-league games, to all the injuries.

“It kind of humbles us and we still have that kind of underdog mentality and I think that’s huge. It really helps us compete even more,” Haney said.

While the Great Danes have used six different starting lineups, the Catamounts have played the same five players in all 12 of their games. Senior guard Emma Utterback leads Vermont with 14.9 points per game, followed by sophomore guard Catherine Gilwee at 13.0 and junior forward Anna Olson at 12.3. Olson also averages 6.5 rebounds per game.

“We’ve got to have a balanced attack and we’ve got to shut down those big three, but it always comes down to who has the ball more, and we’ve got to really focus on taking care of the ball and getting those second-chance opportunities . Mullen said.

The Great Danes are averaging 16.5 turnovers and 32.2 rebounds per game compared to 14.5 turnovers and 36 rebounds for the Catamounts.

Last season, UAlbany split with Vermont in the regular season, but came away with a 67-54 victory in the conference tournament semifinals.

“We ended their season last year, so they’re definitely hungry, but we’re hungrier. We want to see them too. They are a fun team to play against. We both play fast. It’s going to be a good game,” said Haegerstrand, who is averaging 13.8 points per game. She earned America East Player of the Week honors after scoring 19 points against Syracuse as the Great Danes played the Orange close for three quarters.

Hahne remains the leading scorer averaging 14.9 points per game, and Cooper is pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game since returning.

The Great Danes are eager, Mullen said, to begin the process of winning another America East title.

“Going into last season, I don’t think we really knew what we were capable of playing in the conference. And I think this year, we know what we’re capable of doing. It’s just a matter of executing and doing the things we need to do to be successful,” Haney said.

Eastern America

UAlbany vs. Vermont

Thursday, December 29, 2022

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The main page: Hudson Valley Community College, Troy

Series history: 24-9

Last meeting: UAlbany defeated Vermont 67-54 on March 8, 2022, to advance to the America East championship game.

Registrations: UAlbany 6-8; Vermont 8-4

Last time out: UAlbany led Syracuse at halftime before the Orange rallied in the second half to pull out the win.

Transmission: ESPN+