VOLUME 20 #1

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DEPARTMENTS

Women's basketball team in huddle
Photo by Mark Campbell

Teams celebrate a stellar hoops season; women win CAA

SPORTS |February marked an outstanding end to a record-setting season for both women's and men's basketball, with UD the only NCAA Division I school where both teams went undefeated for the month. On March 11, the No. 7-ranked women's team captured its first-ever conference title, defeating Drexel 59-43.

The Blue Hen women, whose national ranking had climbed steadily throughout the season, completed an undefeated Colonial Athletic Association season with a 79-53 defeat of William & Mary. The best regular season in the program's history—including the most wins (27), the best start (10-0) and best CAA record (18-0)—secured Delaware the top seed in the CAA Tournament.

The UD men went 17-12 during the regular season, their most wins since the 2000-01 season, and finished in fifth place in the league standings with a 12-6 conference mark, their highest CAA win total since joining the league. They earned the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament.

The women's team (27-1) set the school record for wins in a season and tied the school mark with 17 consecutive victories, also set in the 2000-01 and 2004-05 seasons. In the final game of the season, four Blue Hens reached double figures on the day, including junior All-American Elena Delle Donne who again led Delaware en route to her 13th double-double of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds, in addition to breaking her own school mark for most points in a season.

Danielle Parker and Lauren Carra each added 14 points for the Blue Hens, while Akeema Richards contributed 11. Senior Jocelyn Bailey, who pulled down six boards on the day to go with two points, also broke a school record for games played as she made her 123rd career appearance on Feb. 29.

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Delle Donne, who accumulated 791 points in the regular season, surpassed her own record of 774 points set during her freshman year campaign. The 6-5 forward now holds three of the top four single-season points totals in her three-year career as a Blue Hen and leads the nation in scoring with 28.3 points per game.

In February, she was selected as the Academic All-American of the Year for NCAA Division I women's basketball. An early childhood education major, Delle Donne also was named to the Capital One Academic All-American first team.

Shortly before the end of the season, women's basketball head coach Tina Martin earned her 300th career win as the Blue Hens cruised past Georgia State on Feb. 12. Delaware's 94 points (to Georgia State's 56) were the most ever under Martin. The win gave Martin, in her 16th season leading the Blue Hens, a 300-176 career record and her 145th Colonial Athletic Association victory, ranking second in the all-time conference record book and first among active CAA coaches.

She is the winningest basketball coach in UD history, men or women.

"We've got great team chemistry, and we're a team through and through," Martin says. "It's been a lot of work by a lot of people. A team is not just one person, and a program is not just one coach."

For more about the basketball season
and postseason, and for news about all Blue Hen varsity sports, visit www.bluehens.com.

 

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