MANCHESTER, N.H. – For the fifth consecutive season, the Saint Anselm College women's basketball has qualified for the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs and will host the University of New Haven this Sunday, Mar. 1 at 2 p.m. in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.

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Saint Anselm (19-6, 15-4 NE10) posted a second place finish in the Northeast Division, pushing Bentley to third place with a 68-61 victory in the regular-season finale played on Tuesday. New Haven (18-8, 12-7 NE10), the third seed in the Southwest Division, fell to No. 10-ranked Adelphi on Saturday.

The Hawks are making their 30th appearance in NE10 postseason play, the fourth-most by any league school since the dawn of the conference in 1981. Saint Anselm hosts its first playoff game since the 2015-16, coincidentally against the very same opponent, New Haven – the Chargers downed the Hawks, 71-52, in the Quarterfinals on Feb. 28, 2016.

New Haven comes to the Hilltop with one of the finest scoring defenses in NCAA Division II, conceding just 53.6 points per game on average. Falling to Saint Anselm earlier this season in West Haven by just two points, the Chargers enter play on Sunday with wins in six of their last eight contests.

TICKET INFORMATION: Adults will be charged $10 with children and senior citizen tickets gaining entry for $5. Students with a valid ID from an NE10 program will be admitted for $2. Saint Anselm students will be admitted free of charge with the presentation of a valid College ID.

LAST TIME OUT: Entering the contest tied for second in the Northeast Division with Bentley this past Tuesday, Saint Anselm toppled the Falcons by a 68-61 margin to conclude the regular season of play.

The Hawks finished the regular season with a 15-4 record against league opponents. The squad posted its most victories against conference opponents since earning 15 such wins during the 1994-95 campaign.

Senior Shannon Ryan (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) finished the game with 29 points and 18 rebounds, recording her nation-leading 61st career double-double. Junior Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) posted 20 points with three assists with classmate Grace Guachione (Pittsfield, Mass.) logging 13 points, five rebounds and four assists.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

• The top rebounding team in the Northeast-10 for the second consecutive season, the Hawks enter the 2019-20 postseason as the reigning NCAA Division II East Region Champions after toppling three-consecutive higher-seeded teams in last year's regionals.
• In the most recent NCAA Division II East Region rankings, the Hawks check in as the fifth-ranked team in the region, trailing only Adelphi, Stonehill, USciences and Bentley – the recent rankings preceded the Saint Anselm win over Bentley in the regular-season finale. Against in-region foes this year, the Hawks have logged a convincing 18-4 overall record.
• The Hawks lead the conference in several rebounding categories, including rebounds per game (44.24), rebound margin (9.8), and defensive rebounds per game (30.5). The team averages 74.5 points per game, the second-best mark in the league, while shooting 43.9% from the floor to rank second in the NE10.
• The Hawks ranked as high as fourth in all of NCAA Division II in December, according to the D2SIDA National Media Poll. At the same time, Saint Anselm ranked sixth in the country, according to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association rankings.
• Saint Anselm has earned three U.S. Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week awards this season as Ryan picked up two of those three accolades. Steinman was recognized on the week ending Dec. 22.
• The Hawks have earned 10 weekly awards from the NE10. Ryan has secured five NE10 Player of the Week awards in 2019-20 with Steinman picking up those honors twice. Freshman Macy Spinks (Luton, England) has drawn Rookie of the Week accolades on three occasions.
• The Hawks are averaging 74.5 points per game through 25 games, the fifth-most in a single season in team history. Saint Anselm has not posted north of 70 points per game in a season since the 1994-95 campaign (76.9).
• At the free throw line, Saint Anselm has buried 76.6% of its shots, the highest mark in team history. The Hawks are shooting 43.9% from the floor to date, the sixth-best figure in team annals.
• Ryan, who recently became the program's all-time leading scorer, has averaged 22.8 points and 14.8 rebounds per game across 25 contests as a senior. She leads all of NCAA Division II in double-doubles (23), defensive rebounds per game (10.8) and field goals made (243), ranking third in rebounds (370) and rebounds per game (14.8).
• Across just 90 games between Boston College and Saint Anselm, Ryan broke the all-time career scoring record, doing so against Saint Michael's while finishing the day with 1,668 points. She eclipsed the previous team record of 1,652 points in 105 games set by Rachel Jackson '85 from 1981-85. Ryan currently boasts 1,697 points..
• As a senior, Ryan has scored 571 points in just 25 games only one season removed from a 592-point, 32-game season as a junior. The single-season record of 618 points, set by Kristen Skoglund '96, was achieved in 27 games in 1995-96. Skoglund's single-season mark of 22.9 points per contest stands as the team record to this day.
• Ryan needs only 16 rebounds to set the single-season program record – she posted an all-time mark of 370 rebounds last season, breaking the previous record of 344 caroms by Andrea Sunday '95 in 1994-95. She has posted 1,072 career rebounds, ranking second all-time behind Jackson and her four-season total of 1,185.
• Among active NCAA Division II student-athletes, Ryan ranks first in career rebounding average (12.0) and double-doubles (61). Her 1,076 career rebounds is second among active student-athletes and her 18.9 career points per game is the sixth-best figure in the country. She is one of only 12 active student-athletes with 1,500 career points and at least 800 career rebounds.
• Steinman, the league's leader in free throws made (129) and free throws attempted (160), is averaging 19.8 points per game to rank second in the league. Her eight rebounds per game is also the seventh-best figure as her all-around strong season has also produced the league's fifth-best free throw percentage (80.6).
• Her 129 free throws is the third-most in a single season by a Hawks student-athlete. Skoglund set the program's all-time, single-season record with 148 in 1995-96.
• Steinman is 24th among NCAA Division II student-athletes with 19.8 points per game and her 83.9% free throw percentage ranks her third all-time in Saint Anselm history. Her 13.3 career points per game is the team's eighth-best figure since the squad's inception in the mid-1970's.
• Guachione is averaging 1.92 steals per game, leading Saint Anselm while ranking fifth in the NE10. She is also dishing out 3.4 helpers per tilt, ranking in the top-10 in the league in assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31). She is averaging a career-high 9.2 points per game, having started all 25 games to date.
• Spinks ranks eighth in the NE10 with a 1.45 assist-to-turnover ratio and her 80 assists on the year is good for 15th in the league. She is averaging 6.4 points per game in 25 contests played as a freshman, pouring home 25 three-point baskets and making all but one of her 12 free throws to date.
• Senior Sara Messler (Durham, N.H.) is pulling down exactly six rebounds per game as a senior, a career-high figure, and her 49 assists is a personal best mark in a single season. She has scoring just shy of eight points per game in her fourth and final season on the Hilltop.
• Junior Jenoyce Laniyan (Bedford, N.H.) has made a career-high 25 appearances for Saint Anselm, coming off the bench and shooting north of 42% from the field.

SCOUTING NEW HAVEN

• New Haven, who opened the season with a 10-1 overall record, leads all NE10 programs in scoring defense (53.6) and field goal percentage defense (33.4%) while ranking second in steals (247) and steals per contest (9.5). The squad has also forced an average of 18 turnovers per contest and trails only Saint Anselm in rebound margin (7.5) among league opponents.
• Micah Wormack leads New Haven with 13.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per tilt. She has also thrown up 39 blocks, leading the team in that statistic, while shooting nearly 50% from the floor (48.2%, 135-for-280). Wormack became the 20th student-athlete in New Haven history to reach 1,000 points, accomplishing the feat on Feb. 19 at Southern Connecticut State.
• Aurora Deshaies leads the NE10 in field goal percentage (56.6%), making 125-of-221 attempts. Deshaies and Wormack are the only student-athletes on the roster with over 10 points per game as the freshman is averaging 11.4 points per tilt.
• Camryn DeBose, the team leader with 48 steals, is just 0.3 points per game away from reaching a double-digit average. Brie Pergola, the leader in assists with 94 for New Haven, is cashing in 9.5 points per game across 26 games and has posted five assists in a game on nine prior occasions.
• Luzdali Ocasio posted a career-high seven steals against Saint Anselm earlier in the season.

NE10 POSTSEASON ALL-TIME

• Saint Anselm won its first and only NE10 tournament title in 1990-91, defeating nationally-ranked Bentley by an 81-76 margin. The Hawks have finished as the tournament's runner-up on five occasions, most recently in 1998-99.
• New Haven has qualified for NE10 postseason play for the seventh time since joining the league in 2008-09. The Chargers have not made it past the semifinals round of play in team history, but have done damage in the NCAA Division II postseason, winning an East Region title in 2015.
• The Hawks are 27-29 in the NE10 postseason with their furthest recent trip in the tournament coming last season with a semifinals loss to Bentley. Against New Haven in the NE10 postseason, Saint Anselm is 0-1 with the most recent loss coming in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in 2016 in the NE10 Quarterfinals.

HEAD COACHES

• Saint Anselm head coach Corey Boilard has registered a 58-28 (.674) record since joining the Hawks prior to the 2017-18 season. After a 17-win campaign in his first season, the Hawks went on to post a 22-10 record last year, winning the program's first-ever East Region Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.
• Boilard owns an 142-81 (.637) overall record between his time with the Hawks and NCAA Division III Johnson & Wales (R.I.). With the Wildcats, Boilard's teams went 62-22 (.738) overall in his last three seasons, making two NCAA Tournament appearances overall.
• Debbie Buff is in her second season as Head Coach of the Chargers. She guided New Haven to an 18-12 overall record last season, earning a spot in the NE10 Semifinals. She is in her 17th season as a collegiate head coach, having previously piloted programs at RIT, Endicott and Wheeling Jesuit – she has posted an overall record of 247-220 (.529).
• As an assistant coach for Saint Rose in the early 2000's, Buff and the Golden Knights claimed the 2000 NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Championship and finishing with a 34-1 overall record.

ALL-TIME vs. NEW HAVEN

• Saint Anselm owns a 14-12 edge in the all-time series that dates back to Dec. 1, 1988, a 71-67 loss to the Chargers. The Hawks have laid claim to just three wins in the last 11 meetings against New Haven, but won the earlier fixture against the Chargers this season, 58-50.
• In that eight-point win in West Haven, Ryan scored 25 points with 13 rebounds, drawing eight fouls in the process. Steinman poured home 13 points with six rebounds and five assists and Guachione logged 11 points.
• With Saint Anselm by a 49-48 margin with under a minute to go, Messler saved her first points of the game for a crucial moment. From long range, a Messler triple with 33 seconds to go in regulation time created a 52-48 bulge. Following a technical foul called on New Haven seconds later, Steinman hit on four consecutive free throws to extend the lead and secure a win.