UAlbany Basketball Teams Advance to America East Conference Championship Games

Women will host Hartford at SEFCU Arena on Saturday, March 16 at 7 p.m.;
Men travel March 16 to Vermont for 11:30 a.m. matchup

Senior guard Lindsey Lowrie scored 18 points to lead the Great Danes into the America East Conference championship game for the second straight season.

Lindsey Lowrie scored a game-high 18 points, while Julie Forster recorded her 30th career double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds, leading top-seeded UAlbany to a 71-57 win over New Hampshire in the second America East Conference Women’s Basketball Semifinal on Sunday afternoon at SEFCU Arena. The Great Danes, who improve to 26-3 on the season, advance to their second straight league championship game, and will face second-seeded Hartford on Saturday, March 16, at 7 p.m. at SEFCU Arena. The women's game will be televised on ESPN3 and Fox College Sports.

The men's basketball team edged top-seeded Stony Brook 61-59 at SEFCU on Sunday evening, earning a trip to Vermont for the America East championship game on Saturday, March 16 at 11:30 a.m. The men's game will be televised on ESPN2.

"We held in the first half, and we stayed focused," said UAlbany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who has now guided the Great Danes to their second straight America East Championship appearance. "We just wanted to stick together. It's about sticking together, and that's what we did today."

UAlbany junior forward John Puk finishes off a dunk against Stony Brook. (Photo Paul Buckowski, Times Union photo used by permission)

UAlbany also got double-figure scoring totals from Henry with 13, and Richards with 11. New Hampshire outshot the Great Danes, connecting on 44.0 percent (22-50) of their shots. However, UAlbany scored 20 points off turnovers, as the Wildcats gave up the ball 20 times.

"I just wanted to win, really bad," said Lowrie, who earned her first all-conference recognition this season as a third team selection. "I didn't want this to be my last game. And that's what went through my head the entire game."

In the men's game, UAlbany senior guard Mike Black did what he does best, hitting a last-second shot to push the Great Danes past Stony Brook, 61-59, in the America East Semifinals at SEFCU Arena. The 23 wins this season ties a Division I program record for most wins in a season.

This is the first time in four years that UAlbany was able to defeat Stony Brook in the conference tournament, as the Seawolves bounced the Great Danes in the previous three meetings, including last season's last-second tip-in.

The tandem of Mike Black (16 points) and Jacob Iati (14 points) paced their squad, scoring a combined 30 of the team's 61 points. Before fouling out, sophomore forward Sam Rowley recorded five points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks on the night.

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