Danes open with a rout
Decisive second quarter fuels Ualbany victory in season debut; Hahne scores 17 points
The University at Albany women’s basketball team used a 19-4 second quarter run to pull away from Hofstra and put up a 70-41 victory to open the season.
The win was the first against the Pride in seven meetings, and the Danes’ most lopsided against a Division I opponent in head coach Colleen Mullen’s tenure.
Senior guard Ellen Hahne led the way for the Danes with 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting. She was 2-for-3 in 3-pointers.
“We made good shots, we stayed poised, we executed and obviously it’s easier to stay together when it’s going your way,” Hahne said.
After building a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter, the Danes pulled ahead in the second to lead 39-22 at halftime.
Hahne started the quarter with a 3pointer, and freshman forward Koi Sims contributed six points on 3-for-4 shooting. Fellow freshman Freja Werth chipped in with five points, including another 3-pointer, junior guard Fatima Lee added a jump shot, and redshirt sophomore guard Morgan Haney added three free throws at the end of the quarter to cap a 10-0 run.
“I think that’s a big thing for us this year. We have a very broad group, a lot of people who can score, a lot of people who can defend, rebound. It just makes it so much more fun when we’re doing it all together,” Hahne said.
Ualbany had 31 bench points, and Mullen credited the win partly to her players’ willingness to do whatever was asked of them.
“A huge piece to how we executed today had to do with what our scout team did in practice for three days because their pressure was way stronger than the pressure we actually faced today,” she said. “It’s not always easy to be on the scout team, it’s not always easy to be the person that comes off the bench . ... They were celebrating each other.”
All 13 players saw minutes, and 11 of them scored. Sophomore guard Kayla Cooper, Sims and freshman guard Lilly Phillips all had seven points, and Haney and junior guard Grace Heeps had six each.
Phillips made the start at point guard, which Mullen said was well-earned. Haney, the other potential starter, was still struggling with her injury at the beginning of the season, and in the process of trying people out for the role, Phillips impressed.
“Lilly became the point guard by committee,” Mullen said. “Lilly was doing a solid job and so we kind of just kept with that. ... I was really proud of her.”
Despite the start, Haney and Phillips played roughly equal minutes.
Phillips was slow to warm up and didn’t score in the first half, but had a 3-pointer and a layup just after halftime to give the Great Danes a 20-point lead.
“I think at the beginning there was definitely some nerves,” Phillips said. “But I knew that just because things aren’t going my way just at the beginning, I couldn’t just give up. I still needed to play defense and get stops and I think going into halftime I refocused.”
She was joined at the game by the Cambridge brigade. Outfitted in matching orange shirts, they stood out in the crowd of 1,097.
“I was really surprised. I mean, I knew Cambridge could travel, but it was just really exciting for me and I was just so happy that they were there,” Phillips said.
The Danes extended their lead in the third quarter with 14 points, again holding the Pride to single digits.
“Just fighting on defense really. Winning 50-50 plays, just playing with our heart, playing hard,” Hahne said. “We got to work hard on defense, and our offense will come.”
The Great Danes held the Pride to 19-for-53 shooting and didn’t allow a single 3-pointer.
“Our defense I was just so impressed with holding a very talented athletic team in Hofstra to 41 points,” Mullen said. “Today we really focused on our halfcourt defense, we focused on keeping them in front of us, we focused on digging in and getting stops.”
Senior guard Jakayla Brown led the Pride with 13 points and redshirt senior forward Jaylen Hines had 10, the only two to score more than four. Hofstra had 21 rebounds, six offensive, to Ualbany’s 45 and 16, respectively.
Still, Mullen saw room for improvement, particularly when it came to turnovers. The Great Danes had eight in the first half and 10 in the second.
“You can’t accept in a win what you wouldn’t accept in a loss, and there’s plenty of growth from this game to learn from. Certainly, the way that we got kind of cute and turned the ball over in the second half,” Mullen said.