Women’s Basketball Starts 33rd Season at Emerson Tip-Off Tournament

BOSTON – Openings its 33rd season of play, Suffolk women's basketball makes the short trip across Boston Common to tip off its campaign at the Emerson College Women's Tip-Off Tournament Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 14-15. The Rams will face the University of Maine Farmington Saturday at 3 p.m., before facing either Emerson or Framingham State Sunday. 

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A YEAR AGO
Suffolk returns eight letterwinners and three starters from a squad that finished 13-14 and made its eighth-straight GNAC tournament appearance a year ago thanks to a 8-3 conference ledger. Senior Alessandra Quadri, junior Kelsey Schiebel and sophomore Alexandra Nagri highlight the returning players. The trio combined to score 24.3 points per game, including 10.2 from Quadri and grab 10.4 rebounds. Quadri also led the three-pack on the board, pulling down 6.5 caroms per game in 2014-15.

NEW FACES IN NEW PLACES
Heading into the season, Suffolk will have five new faces wearing blue-and-gold as a quintet of freshmen have been added to the roster; Aspen Andrew, Megan Conner, Samantha Day, Marissa Gudauskas and Jennifer Steele.

OPENING ACT
Suffolk is 16-16 all-time in season openers and 12-9 under head coach Ed Leyden. The Rams have won the first game of the season for four straight campaigns, including a 96-49 triumph versus Yeshiva in 2014-15.

The Rams will open action at a neutral site for the 15th time in program history as Suffolk owns a 7-7 record on day one on a neutral court.

NEW YEAR, NEW RULES
The 2015-16 college women's basketball season will have a new look this year as the NCAA Women's Basketball Rules Oversight Panel approved new rules to help enhance the flow of the game.

• Teams will now play four 10-minute quarters rather than the 20-minute halves.
• Teams will reach the bonus and shoot two free throws on the fifth team foul in each quarter.
• Each team has one less timeout in the new format, starting the game with three 30-second and one full timeout, respectively.

'BOUT THE BEAVERS

• University of Maine Farmington, 11-15 a season ago, advanced to the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Quarterfinals and fell at Colby-Sawyer, 62-58.
• The Beavers will look to be led by senior Meghan Smith, a NAC second-team all-conference selection from last season, who posted 9.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last year.
• Kelly Pomerleau, a 2014-15 Maine Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-Rookie Team member, also returns after averaging 7.1 points, 2.0 assists and 2.6 rebounds per contest as a freshman.
• Head coach Jamie Beaudoin begins his 16th season at the helm of the Beavers' program.

THE SERIES
Suffolk and UMaine Farmington met twice in the 90s with the Beavers owning both victories in the all-time series.

Third meeting all-time Saturday … Suffolk trails, 0-2 … Last meeting 1998-99.

LOWDOWN ON THE LIONS

• Finishing last season with a 12-14 record, Emerson advanced to the NEWMAC Tournament and fell at Wheaton, 78-64, in the quarterfinals.
• Sophomore Eastin Ashby returns after averaging 8.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a freshman.
• Janissa Delzo will also be back in uniform for the Lions after posting 6.7 points per game a season ago.
• The most successful coach in Lions' women's basketball history, Bill Gould enters his ninth season in 2015-16.

THE SERIES
Suffolk opened the series with Emerson on a 16-0 run, but has traded wins recently to move the all-time series with the Lions to 18-5. Emerson won the last meeting in 2012-13 in a 65-64 battle.  

RUN DOWN ON THE FRAMINGHAM RAMS

• Framingham, who was chosen as the MASCAC favorite, returns two starters from last season's 16-9 squad, including All-MASCAC second-team selection Sarah Palace, who average 11.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game.
• Walter Paschal was named head coach of the Rams in 2013, after spending 14 seasons at Framingham's MASCAC rival Fitchburg State.

THE SERIES
Suffolk and Framingham have met 26 times since 1983 with the FSU holding a 14-12 slim edge in the all-time series.

JUST KEEP WINNING
Suffolk won six of its final eight games to end last season. During that during the Rams put together four-straight wins, which marked the longest for the Rams since taking six in a row in 2012-13. Suffolk's longest win streak prior to that was a 12-game run in 2000-01.

PACING THE SIDELINES
Ed Leyden enters his 22nd season as the Rams' head coach. During his tenure, he has coached nine of the 13 members of Suffolk's 1,000 point club and led the Rams to seven ECAC appearances. In 22 total seasons as a collegiate head coach Ledyen has amassed 340 career victories including a 329-229 (.590) overall record at Suffolk.

GEOGRAPHY 101
The 14 players comprising the Rams' 2015-16 roster hail from six different states – Connecticut (1), Maine (1), Massachusetts (9), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (1) and Texas (1).

HARDWOOD CLASSICS
During the off-season, Suffolk Athletics began construction on a brand new gymnasium floor look inside Regan Gymnasium thanks to the generosity of two Suffolk Athletics Hall of Famers Michael S. Smith and Larry E. Smith. Officially completed in August, Suffolk women's basketball will have its first crack on the new hardwood Saturday, Nov. 21 versus Colby Sawyer at 1 p.m.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Following the tournament, Suffolk remains on the road Thursday night as the Rams have a date at Regis at 7 p.m.