NEC Player of the Week: Denia Davis-Stewart, MER

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NEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
DENIA DAVIS-STEWART, MERRIMACK
Sr., F, 6-1, Dorchester, MA/New Mission
Week 10 Stats: 3 starts, 3 double-doubles, 18.3 ppg, 14.3 rpg, 5.3 bpg, .404 FG pct., .813 FT pct.
Davis-Stewart recorded double-doubles in all three of the Warriors’ wins last week. The senior forward contributed 18.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per victory, pacing the circuit in all three categories. She victimized Bryant to the tune of 20 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 78-66 triumph. The 6-foot-1 Warrior scored 21 points and pulled down a game-high 16 caroms during Saturday’s nine-point road win over Central Connecticut. Davis-Stewart’s streak of seven consecutive 20-point performances came to an end against Mount St. Mary’s, but her 14 points were greater than any Mountaineer’s individual scoring total during the 76-55 victory. Davis-Stewart, who ranks second overall amongst Division I leaders in blocks per game (5.00), has blocked at least four shots in all five NEC contests thus far this month. Her 13 double-doubles are second most in DI. 
 
 
NEC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
NEVENA DIMITRIJEVIC, ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN
Fr., G, 5-3, Kragujevac, Serbia
Week 10 Stats: 3 starts, 15.0 ppg, 9.3 apg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 spg, .462 3FG pct., .900 FT pct.
Dimitrijevic made for a productive week that was highlighted by an historic performance during the annual Battle of Brooklyn. She averaged 15.0 points, 9.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds per outing over the course of a three-game span. Finishing one rebound shy of a triple-double, the first-year Terrier tallied 14 points and 15 assists during an 88-63 triumph over neighborhood rival LIU, earning the BOB MVP Award as a result. Dimitrijevic’s 15 assists, which stand as the fourth-highest total in the single-game history of NEC play, were the most recorded by a NEC athlete since Saint Francis U’s Alexa Hayward dished out 15 against Buffalo on November 18, 2014. The freshman floor general proceeded to pour in a season-high 24 points in an 82-72 setback at Saint Francis U. Dimitrijevic capped the week by tallying seven points, five assists, five rebounds and five steals at defending NEC champion Robert Morris. Her 6.6 assists per game average ranks fourth on the NCAA Division I leader board.
 
 
PRIME PERFORMERS (WEEK 10)
The following players earned “NEC Prime Performer status” after accounting for some fine statistical lines...

DENIA DAVIS-STEWART (MERRIMACK)
3 starts (vs. BRY; at CCSU; vs. MSM), 3 double-doubles, 18.3 ppg, 14.3 rpg, 5.3 rpg, .404 FG pct. .813 FT pct.

JADE JOHNSON (ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN)
3 starts (vs. LIU; at SFU; at RMU), 18.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, .444 3FG pct., .947 FT pct.; 25 points [game high] in Battle of Brooklyn win vs. LIU

ADRIANNE HAGOOD (SACRED HEART)
2 starts (vs. CCSU; at FDU), 16.0 ppg, 1.5 spg, .462 FG pct.; 18 points [game high] in win over CCSU

ASHLEY BERUBE (CENTRAL CONNECTICUT)
3 starts (at SHU; vs. MER; at LIU), 17.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 3.3 bpg, .490 FG pct.; double-double at SHU

HALEY THOMAS (SAINT FRANCIS U)
3 starts (at FDU; vs. SFBK; vs. WAG), 13.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, .483 FG pct.; double-double in win over Wagner

NEVENA DIMITRIJEVIC (ST. FRANCIS BKLYN)
3 starts  (vs. LIU; at SFU; at RMU), 15.0 ppg, 9.3 apg, 5.7 rpg, 2.0 spg, .462 3FG pct., .900 FT pct.; 15 assists [NEC single-game season high] in win over LIU

COURTNEY CLASEN (MERRIMACK)
3 starts  (vs. BRY; at CCSU; vs. MSM), 11.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.7 spg, .560 FG pct., 1.7:1 A:TO ratio

IREKPITAN OZZY-MOMODU (ROBERT MORRIS)
2 appearances (vs. WAG; vs. SFBK), 10.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg, .571 FG pct. r



TWEET SHEET
@Coach AngSzumilo
(Jan 14) Huge S/O to Notre Dame Academy CYO program for their support at yesterday’s game :)  #KnightInTheRothman

@TalkBasket
(Jan 12) Alyssa Ewing James becomes college coach like her famous uncle #AlyssaEwingJames #PatrickEwing #St.FrancisCollege

@CoachMarchesano
(Jan 11) Great Saturday ??@Mount_WBB?? ??@MountHoops?? !! #MountUp

@pamroecker
(Jan 8) Kicking off 18th season of NEC WBB tonight! LIU Sharks @ St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers 7pm on Sportsnet New York.  SNY is in NY, NJ, CT and parts of PA.  Nationally  DirectTV and others. Also tune in on Front Row. It’s the “Battle of Brooklyn!” with @CraigCD13  #NECWBB

@pamroecker
(Jan 8) NEC Women’s Hoops in Brooklyn!!!Catching up with Coach Cim and Terriers analyst Phyllis Mangina pregame!  Battle of Brooklyn to follow 7pm. ?@coachcim ? #NECWBB

@coachcim
(Jan 8) Great team effort!

@CraigCD13
(Jan 8) Great way to tip my 10th season with @pamroecker on #NECWBB. Fun broadcast for the 27th annual #BattleofBrooklyn on SNY! We’ll see you Monday night in Hackensack for SHU & FDU!

@TheMackReports
(Jan 8) Merrimack earns its first NEC win while Denia Davis-Stewart scores her 1,000th career point!

@jmnetter33
(Jan 8) #proudcoach @SacredHeartWBB

@JennaLiljeberg
(Jan 9) A quick look inside some in season training with @SacredHeartWBB:
?? clean complex
?? clean
?? depth drops (paired with squat)
?? single leg accessory work





AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
Three 3-0 teams entered, but only one escaped unblemished.

Defending NEC champion Robert Morris used suffocating defense to move past St. Francis Brooklyn on Monday night, notching its fourth conference victory in four tries.

The RMU Colonials, who have won 36 of their last 40 regular season league games, looks to keep its unblemished NEC record intact when Merrimack and Sacred Heart visit Moon Township this upcoming weekend.

Both of Robert Morris’ next two opponents sport winning conference records.

Merrimack has won three in a row following an 0-2 NEC start.

Meanwhile, Sacred Heart suffered its first league loss at Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday.

Like SHU, Mount St. Mary’s owned a 3-0 conference record heading into Game 4. Two days after a 76-70 win at Bryant, the Mount ran into a red-hot Merrimack team and incurred a defeat.

On its way to the 2018-19 regular season crown, Robert Morris won its first 11 league contests before the Mount dropped a road block on the path to perfection. Sacred Heart jumped out to a 6-0 start to the 2018-19 NEC schedule en-route to a 14-4 mark.

 
MERRIMACK’S DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE HITS MILESTONE
Senior forward Denia Davis-Stewart (Dorchester, MA) has excelled during her first season of Division I competition.

Her 13 double-doubles are the second most by a DI player thus far this season and her 80 blocks currently top the NCAA DI charts.

While recording her first of three double-doubles last week, Davis-Stewart surpassed a career milestone in a win over Bryant. The veteran Warrior reached the 1,000-point plateau on a third-quarter three-pointer that bumped Merrimack’s lead to 27 points at the time.

Davis-Stewart has scored 297 points through 16 games this season. She paces the NEC in scoring (18.6 ppg), rebounding (13.8 rpg) and blocked shots (5.0 bpg).

The 6-foot-1 forward has reached the 20-point mark in nine different games, including a season-high 31 points in a win over A-10 member Massachusetts. She has blocked at least one shot during every appearance this season.

 
THREE FIRST-YEAR COACHES PRESIDE OVER TWO-WIN WEEK
Each of the three Northeast Conference teams led by first-year head coaches picked up multiple victories last week.

Following a setback at Fairleigh Dickinson, Saint Francis U posted back-to-back NEC wins. With its 4-1 record, Keila Whittington’s team is one-half game behind first-place Robert Morris.

Fairleigh Dickinson, which is 3-2 in NEC games under the direction of former LIU point guard Angelika Stec Szumilo, coupled its win over SFU with a victory over Sacred Heart during Monday’s featured telecast on SNY.

The FDU Knights’ lone defeat last week came at the hand of Long Island U on Saturday, January 11.

With former Duke assistant coach Rene Haynes at the helm, LIU rebounded from its Battle of Brooklyn loss by winning two in a row. After scoring a 68-63 win over FDU, the Sharks pulled out a 63-61 triumph over Central Connecticut to even their NEC record at 2-2.



QUOTABLE
CHARLIE BUSCAGLIA (Robert Morris), Head Coach
“St. Francis Brooklyn came out and played really hard. [Terriers head coach Linda Cimino] does a good job at getting them to play hard, and they have some nice young players on their team. Our effort was better today than [this past Saturday] against Wagner, and I thought we did a good job at tightening some screws and changing some things after halftime. We opened up the floor and our post players did a good job at finishing around the basket.”
- after RMU posted a 69-44 victory over St. Francis Brooklyn, taking control by out-scoring the Terriers by a 21-1 margin in the third quarter.

“These (long) breaks have been a struggle for us. We have to figure it out and challenge ourselves in practice. We weren’t in sync again and were off with our timing. The next time we have a break, we have to do a better job at being able to attack the defense and grind a little better.”
- playing their first game in seven days, the Colonials out-lasted Wagner at home to keep its unbeaten NEC record intact


ANGELIKA SZUMILO (Fairleigh Dickinson), Head Coach
“We talked about in order to beat this team, we had to get it done on the defensive end, and we told them our goal was to hold them to 60 or less and we’ll win the game. I’m extremely proud of them. Five games in 11 days is a lot of minutes in a condensed period of time. We’re 3-2 and it’s exciting. There are things we still need to get better at, and we will, but now we need to get proper rest before our next challenge against Central Connecticut. ... I think we’re just a very unselfish team, and I don’t think there’s one person that really cares if they score a lot. They’re always trying to make the right pass and that’s hard to guard.”
- after a balanced effort carried FDU to a 65-60 victory over Sacred Heart in Hackensack, the Knights’ second straight NEC home win