Pioneers Ready for USCAA Championships
Posted: Feb 27, 2017

Pioneers Ready for USCAA Championships

The Alfred State women's basketball team did not have much time to celebrate their ACAA Championship on Sunday as they had to shift their focus to this week's USCAA Championships. The team heads to Penn State Fayette (Uniontown, PA) this evening and begins play on Wednesday.

The Pioneers will make their second trip to the USCAA Nationals in the past three years. The team will enter the tournament as the #6 seed and will battle the #3 seed Rochester (MI) College on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m.

Scouting Alfred State:

  • The Pioneers enter the tournament with a 15-9 overall record (7-4 at home, 8-4 on the road and 0-1 on a neutral court). 
  • The team is averaging 63.8 points and 48.8 rebounds per game (+5.1 per game). 
  • The blue & gold was 4-4 during the 2016 portion of their season and is 11-5 during 2017. The team has was 5-2 during the month of February.
  • In USCAA competition, Alfred State is 10-3.
  • Steffanie Preston (Groton), Joselyn Johnson (Geneva), and Allison Danielak (Brockport) were on the team in 2015 when they Pioneers advanced to the USCAA semifinals.
  • Danielak and Michayla Salatel (Geneseo) have USCAA Championship experience as members of the women's soccer team.

Players to Watch:

  • 2016 USCAA All-American Catherine Bialecki (Alfred Almond) has been a double-double machine this season. She has recorded 14 double-doubles on the season. She is averaging 20.3 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. She has also blocked 92 shots.
  • Kimberly Levee (Dansville) is the team's 2nd leading scorer (8.6 points per game) and has played very well as of late. Levee netted 22 points in the ACAA Championship victory over Pine Manor. Levee leads the team with 44 made three-pointers.
  • Kelly Kane (Wellsville) is averaging 5.2 ppg and 4.3 rpg.
  • Minnie Robinson (Washington DC) has passed out 104 assists per game is averaging 3.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Scouting Rochester:

  • The Warriors enter the tournament with a 16-16 record. They are making their fourth trip to the USCAA Championships in the past five years.  
  • They are a dual member of the USCAA and the NAIA.
  • Rochester is averaging 71 points per game while the give up 68.2 points per game.
  • The Warriors have won 9 of their last 11 games.
  • Similar to Alfred State, Rochester holds an advantage on the glass compared to their opponents.

Players to Watch:

  • Maddy Valko lead the team with 13.3 points per game. She has connected on 64 three-pointers on the season.
  • Allyssa Copley is averaging 10.4 points and 7.2 rebounds
  • Bethany McCord is also in double figures averaging 10 points and 6 rbounds. 
  • Casey Bowdell leads the team with 80 assists.

What's Next:

The winner of the contest moves on to the semifinals to play the winner of the #7 Dean/#2 Berea contest on Thursday at 1 p.m. The Loser of the contest will take on the loser of the Dean/Berea contest at 8 a.m. on Thursday.

Tuesday Activities:

The USCAA Basketball Championships kicks off on Tuesday with team practices, a 3-point shooting contest, and a dunk contest during the day. The championship banquet that includes the announcement of the All-American and All-Academic Teams will be held tomorrow evening.

Follow the action of the USCAA Basketball Tournament by visiting: basketball.theuscaa.com