UAlbany wins despite poor start
The Great Danes shot 13 percent from the field to start the matchup, beat Maine 66-50
ALBANY, N.Y. >> Many of the scoreboards inside SEFCU Arena weren’t working in the first quarter. Not the one hanging from the ceiling. The shot clocks from each basket were on and off. The one scoreboard that did work, on the sidelines, showed a number that Albany would rather have not seen.
Thirteen percent. The 2-of16 start from the field for the Great Danes. The number that most greatly put their hopes of a sixth-straight America East championship in doubt. The shots were quick and panicked, and Maine seemed poised to capitalize.
That was the first quarter. From there on out, that shooting percentage continued to increase. And when the 12-point deficit turned to a lead, that started to increase too. And Albany, amid a season full of doubt, still managed to do what it’s always done. Win. 66-50 over the Black Bears.
“They really came out of the gate playing hard and with nothing to lose,” UAlbany head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee said. “And we came out of the gate playing tight with everything to lose. That’s what you saw until our nerves calmed down.”
Bernabei-McNamee is in her first season. They’re playing with a roster that isn’t as stacked as previous seasons. They lost games they weren’t supposed to lose. They weren’t the consensus team to beat all season. Yet, when it counted, no one could beat Albany. And because of that, their stranglehold on America East titles and NCAA Tournament appearances remain as strong as ever.
Imani Tate led the charge in the comeback and in the game’s inevitable separation. She scored 21 points to lead all scorers. The senior has been a part of four champion-
ship teams, but this is the first where it was really her team.
Mackenzie Trpcic was the newcomer. The freshman poured in 15 points on four 3-pointers. Her biggest shot might have come in the second quarter, when her first longrange attempt swished in to give the Great Danes their first lead.
“We wanted this and we went out and got it,” Tate said. “... I said, ‘It’s my time.’ And once I started up, everybody was going to follow.”
Maine associate head coach Amy Vachon was in tears after the press conference. She’s been at the helm for two months as the head coach has been on a medical leave.
She acknowledged the team’s 19 turnovers were too many. Vachon even acknowledged that Albany recognized their gameplan to “not guard” Khepera Stokes. Their response was to play Trpcic, who played the game of her career.
“It’s been a season where anyone can step it up at anytime,” Trpcic said. “And today, it was me. Today it was Imani. It was a bunch of us. It feels great.”
It was a season for Albany where this result was never promised. New Hampshire was always at the top of the conference standings. The Great Danes, if at all possible, were the underdogs and the unknowns. But they won 12-of-13 down the stretch of the season. But that was only after they lost 3-of-4 in the conference season.
“It was different, because I was the leader,” Tate said. “I had to step up. I did have a great group behind me that was helping me the whole way through.”
In the early part of the game, Tate said she had no idea how badly Albany was losing because the scoreboard wasn’t working. Bernabei-McNamee said she was relieved to win.
They’d played Maine before on Maine’s home court. That dropped the team to 9-10. The season was in doubt then. But it isn’t anymore. In some ways, this season was just a continuation of the success before it. In someways, it’s completely separate from it all.
“I couldn’t be more excited and happy about this team and the program,” a near voiceless BernabeiMcNamee said. “There’s a definite sense of relief with the win, but also there’s a pride.”