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Women's Hoop Report 59

March Madness Part Three - WNIT Style

By Winners OnlyPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Maddy, Erica, CeCe, Shakira & Andrea

Along with the return of the NCAA Tournament the Women's National Invitational Tournament is also happening this year. We take a look at a few games and players that we are excited to see get an opportunity to continue their season.

Samford's Cournoyer looks to knock off Ole Miss' Austin

Above: Andrea Cournoyer

The Samford women's basketball squad enters the WNIT at 14-9. Its first round opponent is Ole Miss, which comes in at 11-11. The Bulldogs are led by Andrea Cournoyer who paces Samford with an average of 18 points per game. The 5-4 junior made be small in stature but her scoring game can be gigantic when she gets on a roll. She scored 31 points in her team's conference tournament in a loss to East Tennessee State. She scored a season best 34 points in a win over Furman in late January.

Above: Natalie Armstrong (45)

Cournoyer can also be nasty on the defensive side. She snatched seven steals during the previous mentioned win over Furman. Cournoyer averages three steals per game. Center Natalie Armstrong is a 6-2 senior who leads the team with an average of 2.1 blocks per game. She is also averaging 13.1 points per game.

Above: Shakira Austin

Ole Miss kicked off the season with a 6-0 start but a six-game mid-season slide has made the Rebels a .500 squad. Six-foot-five junior forward Shakira Austin will be the largest obstacle for Samford. She leads the team with averages of 17.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks. She scored a season best 29 points with another season high of 13 rebounds in an upset win over Arkansas, during the SEC Tournament.

Below: Snudda Collins

Her freshman teammate Snudda Collins will be a dangerous threat from three. She made 42.5 percent of her threes during the season, while averaging 7.2 points. Mimi Reid is a 5-8 senior point guard with an average of 4.4 assists per game. She had six games with seven assists or more including a 10 assist performance against LSU in January.

The two teams will face each other on March 19, in the Memphis Region.

Maddy Siegrist ready to continue her strong season in WNIT

Villanova (15-6) and UMass (14-7) will play on March 19, in the Charlotte Region. Led by Winners Only All-National Second Team selection Maddy Siegrist, Villanova hopes to find its stride in the WNIT as it did in the beginning of the season. The Wildcats started the season at 7-0 before finishing this year winning eight of their last 14 games.

Below: Maddy Siegrist

Siegrist is an elite ball player, with averages of 23.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. She shot 48 percent from the field this season as well. The 6-1 sophomore forward scored at least 30 points five times this season. Her top performance was a 34-point, 19-rebound game in a win over Creighton in December.

Below: Brianna Herlihy

Six-foot-one guard/forward Sarah Mortensen leads the team with a shooting percentage of .494, while averaging 11.2 points per game. She also averages six boards per game. Forward Brianna Herlihy averages 14.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. She registered four double-doubles this season.

Below: Sam Breen

UMass is led by the very productive Sam Breen. The 6-1 senior forward leads the team with career best averages of 17.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. She put up 15 double-doubles this season.

CeCe Hooks and the Bobcats take on struggling Clemson

Winners Only All-National Second Team Selection senior CeCe Hooks guides the 14-8 Ohio Bobcats against Clemson (11-13) in the first round of the WNIT, March 19.

Above: CeCe Hooks

Hooks is a high octane scorer with an average of 26.3 points per game. She led Ohio in scoring as well as rebounds (6.3), assists (4.1), steals (3.7) and field goal percentage (48.6). Erica Johnson provides support for Hooks by putting up a very strong 18.9 points per game. The 5-11 senior guard had seven games with at lease 21 points scored. She wracked up a season high 31 points against Liberty back in November.

Above: Erica Johnson

Clemson limped into a losing record this season dropping seven of its last eight games. The always tough senior guard Delicia Washington leads the way for the Tigers with 15.6 and six rebounds per contest.

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