MAAC Women's Basketball 2018-19 Season Preview
EDISON, NJ – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Women’s Basketball season begins Tuesday, November 6 with a six-game slate.
Defending MAAC Champion, Quinnipiac University received eight votes in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.
Opening Night Schedule
Manhattan College vs. LIU Brooklyn | 6 p.m. | Riverdale, NY
Monmouth University vs. Bucknell | 6 p.m. | West Long Branch, NJ
Rider University vs. Princeton | 7 p.m. | Lawrenceville, NJ
Niagara University vs. St. Bonaventure| 7 p.m. | Niagara University, NY
Saint Peter’s University vs. NJIT | 7 p.m. | Jersey City, NJ
Iona College at Hofstra | 7 p.m. | Hempstead, NY
The weekend of November 9-11, the rest of the league opens play. Friday, November 9, Canisius College will host Miami (Ohio) at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
Also, on Friday, Fairfield University travels to Richmond at 2 p.m., and Quinnipiac plays at Drexel at 7 p.m. On Saturday November 10, Siena College will tip-off its season versus Penn at 2 p.m. in Loudonville, NY. Marist College’s first game of the season will be at Navy on Sunday, November 11 at 2 p.m.
Preseason Notes
• Quinnipiac made an impressive run to the NCAA Second Round last season as a No. 9 seed.
• In the first round, Quinnipiac defeated the No. 8 University of Miami Hurricanes before falling to No. 1 UConn.
• The Red Foxes were awarded a postseason berth to the WNIT but fell in Queens, NY to St. John’s University, 68-47.
• Rider’s Stella Johnson is the MAAC’s returning leading scorer at 16.4 points per game.
• Marist landed four on the All-MAAC Teams, Quinnipiac three, Rider and Siena with two and Canisius, Fairfield and Manhattan with one selection each.
• Saint Peter’s and Canisius both bring in new coaches this season.
• Scott Hemer takes over for the Golden Griffins
• Marc Mitchell at the helm for the Peacocks.
• Quinnipiac finished as the MAAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll favorite with 10-of-11 votes.
• Aryn McClure was voted as the Preseason Player of the Year for second-straight season.
| Preseason Coaches' Poll |
| 1. |
Quinnipiac (10) |
120 |
| 2. |
Marist (1) |
111 |
| 3. |
Siena |
96 |
| 4. |
Rider |
85 |
| 5. |
Fairfield |
75 |
| 6. |
Manhattan |
68 |
| 7. |
Monmouth |
53 |
| 8. |
Canisius |
41 |
| 9. |
Niagara |
34 |
| 10. |
Iona |
31 |
| 11. |
Saint Peter’s |
12 |
| Preseason All-MAAC First Team |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Alana Gilmer |
Guard |
Marist |
| Rebekah Hand* |
Guard |
Marist |
| Jen Fay* |
Forward |
Quinnipiac |
| Aryn McClure* |
Guard/Forward |
Quinnipiac |
| Stella Johnson |
Forward |
Rider |
| Preseason Player of the Year |
| Name |
Position |
Institution |
| Aryn McClure |
Guard/Forward |
Quinnipiac |
* denotes unanimous selection
Non-Conference Games to Watch for
Monmouth at Virginia Tech | Friday, November 16 | 7 p.m. | Blacksburg, VA
Texas vs. Quinnipiac | Friday, November 23 | 5 p.m. | Estero, FL. | Gulf Coast Showcase
Iona at Kansas | Sunday, November 25 | 2 p.m. | Lawrence, KS
Marist at Duke | Sunday, December 2 | 2 p.m. | Durham, NC
Georgetown at Rider | Friday, December 21 | 7 p.m. | Lawrenceville, NJ
UCF at Quinnipiac | Sunday, December 30 | 2 p.m. | Hamden, CT
League Play
League-play begins Thursday, January 3, 2019 with an ESPN3-broadcasted 11 a.m. tip-off of Manhattan at Canisius. Marist will travel to Niagara, and Fairfield to Quinnipiac for 7 p.m. tips. Iona will host Monmouth Friday, January 4 on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. and Siena will open MAAC-play at Saint Peter’s.
Saturday, January 5 will feature Marist at Canisius at 2 p.m. on ESPN3. Rider plays its first league game Sunday, January 6 on ESPN3 against Fairfield at 2 p.m. Quinnipiac will travel to Marist for a repeat of the 2018 MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship Game. The game will be on ESPNU at 12 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, NY.
MAAC Championship
The
2019 MAAC Basketball Championships returns to the Times Union Center in Albany, NY for the fifth year in a row and continues to be the host site for the Championships in 2019. The 2019 Men’s and Women’s Championships marks the 20
th time that Albany has hosted the event, more than any other location.
This year’s Women’s Basketball Championship game takes place on Monday, March 11 at 2:30 p.m. and airs live on an ESPN network to be determined with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
For all information on the 2019 MAAC Basketball Championships, visit
maacsports.com/basketball. Be sure to follow the conversation on all social media platforms by using #MAACHoops.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 38
th year of competition during the 2018-19 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.