WEEKLY HONORS:

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Aleah Nelson, Towson

Junior | Guard | Baltimore, Md. / McDonogh

Nelson led Towson to a 3-0 start to the season, averaging 23.7 points, 8.0 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game in wins over Frostburg State, Florida and Wofford. Nelson scored a career-high 39 points, adding eight assists, eight rebounds and two steals as Towson down Florida 87-70 to earn its first Power Five victory since 2009-10. Her 39 points broke a 30-year-old facility record at NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum. Additionally, Nelson contributed 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in the season opener against Frostburg State and chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists against Wofford. Through three games, Nelson leads the CAA in scoring and assists while ranking sixth in rebounding.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Grace Abercrombie, Charleston

Freshman | Wing | Jacksonville, Texas / Jacksonville HS

Abercrombie helped Charleston start the year 2-0, averaging 11.5 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. The freshman wing poured in a team-best 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range in Charleston’s home-opening victory over Pfeiffer. She added seven rebounds and two steals in the effort. In her collegiate debut, Abercrombie contributed five points with two rebounds as Charleston defeated Wofford.

CONFERENCE NOTES:

DEFEND HOME COURT: CAA teams proved hard to beat on their home court during the opening week of the season, posting a 7-3 record at home. All three defeats came to Division I opponents, one of which was a team ranked in the top five nationally, and two came to defending conference champions in their respective leagues.   

LOCKDOWN DEFENSE: Defense has been at a premium for CAA squads to begin the year as five teams are holding opponents to under 60.0 points per game. Charleston is allowing a league-low 50.0 ppg, holding opponents to 26.5% shooting. William & Mary ranks second, allowing 52.0 ppg on 37.3% shooting, and Drexel is third, giving up 53.5 ppg on 38.8% shooting. Northeastern is fourth in scoring defense (54.0 ppg), while Towson ranks fifth (59.0 ppg), but the Tigers maintain the second-best field goal percentage defense (32.8%) in the league.

JMU & TOWSON PICK UP POWER FIVE VICTORIES: James Madison and Towson picked up wins over Power Five opponents in the first week of the season as JMU defeated Virginia 84-69, and Towson downed Florida 87-70. It is the second straight season that JMU has defeated the Cavilers and the fourth win in the previous five meetings against Virginia. For Towson, it was the Tigers' first Power Five victory since the 2009-10 season. It was the first-ever meeting between Towson and the Gators, and it marks the Tigers' first win over an SEC team in program history. 

THE FIRST OF MANY: Northeastern head coach Bridgette Mitchell picked up her first career win in the Huskies season opener against Holy Cross. Mitchell is in her first season as head coach of Northeastern, returning to the CAA, where she was an assistant at JMU from 2016-19. Mitchell, most recently, spent the previous two seasons as an assistant at Pittsburgh before becoming the seventh head coach in Northeastern program history. 

TEAM NOTES:

Charleston

• After winning its season opener against Wofford 80-48, Charleston set a program record, scoring 113 points to defeat Pfeiffer in its home opener.  
• Jenna Annecchiarico averaged 20.0 points, 6.0 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 steals per game in the Cougars 2-0 week. In Her Charleston debut, she scored 27 points and added six rebounds, six steals and five assists.
• In her second collegiate game, Grace Abercrombie led all scorers with 18 points and shot 4-7 from deep. She also grabbed seven rebounds in the effort. 
• Tyler Collins contributed 20 points and five rebounds in the season opener, followed by eight points and eight assists against Pfeiffer.
• Arynn Eady recorded her first double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 boards against Pfeiffer. 
• Latrice Perkins added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in the opening game of the season. She only saw limited action last season due to injury.  
• Through two games, Charleston leads the CAA in scoring offense (96.5) and scoring defense (50.0).

Delaware

• Delaware was victorious in its season opener, defeating Chestnut Hill College 87-48 but stumbled in its second contest, falling to Princeton 76-56.
• Jasmine Dickey paced Delaware averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds through two games. She recorded a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener.  
• Tyi Skinner reached double figures in both games this season. She scored 18 points with a career-high seven assists and six rebounds in game one, followed by 14 points in game two. 
• Ty Battle recorded her first double-double this season, leading Delaware with 15 points and 10 rebounds against Princeton.  
• Tara Cousins made her collegiate debut against Chestnut Hill College and contributed 15 points with four rebounds. 
• The Blue Hens picked up where they left off on the boards as Delaware leads the CAA in rebounding margin (+13.50) to begin the 2021-22 season.

Drexel

• After a 52-50 setback in its season opener to Marist, Drexel bounced back with a 63-55 victory over Philly rival Saint Joseph's. 
• Tessa Brugler posted a double-double in her Drexel debut (12p, 14r) and led the Dragons with 19 points against Saint Joseph's. 
• Hannah Nihill recorded at least 10 points and five assists in both games this season. She led Drexel with 14 points and added six assists, four rebounds and three steals against Marist while contributing 10 points and five assists versus Saint Joseph's.  
• Keishana Washington added 12 points and four steals in the victory, in addition to her 11 points on Tuesday.  
• Mariah Leonard reached double figures against Saint Joseph's, scoring 14 points with seven rebounds. 
• Drexel's defense has been stout to begin the year. The Dragons defense is holding opponents to under 40% shooting from the field and under 30% from three-point range while allowing 53.5 points per game.

Elon

• Elon defeated defending Big South Champion, High Point, 68-66 to open the season. 
• Brie Perpignan stuffed the stat sheet, contributing a game-high 23 points, seven rebounds and a team-high six assists. 
• Evonna McGill contributed 15 points and seven rebounds. McGill scored the final four points of the contest, with Elon trailing 66-64 with two minutes remaining.  
• Ariana Nance scored in double figures, adding 12 points in addition to four rebounds and two steals.  
• Maya Johnson led Elon in blocks with three, matching her career-high.
• The game featured 11 ties and seven lead changes. 
• The Phoenix held the advantage on the boards, outrebounding High Point 40-29.

Hofstra

• Hofstra dropped a 70-41 decision to UAlbany in its first game of the season. 
• JaKayla Brown led Hofstra with 13 points and added a team-high four assists.  
• Jalen Hines contributed 10 points and led Hofstra with four rebounds. Additionally, she added two steals, one block and one assist. 
• Sorelle Ineza scored four points in her first game since 2019-20 after missing all last season due to injury.   
• The Pride scored 18 points on 9-17 (52.9%) shooting in the first quarter but were outscored 50-23 over the final three quarters. 
• Hofstra went 0-11 from three-point range, while the Great Danes connected on eight of their 22 attempts from distance. The Pride was outrebounded 45-21 in the contest. 
• The Pride recorded 12 steals in the season opener, ranking third in steals per game throughout the conference.

James Madison

• James Madison started the year 1-1, defeating Virginia 84-69 before an 81-45 setback to #5/4 Maryland. 
• Kiki Jefferson led JMU, averaging 23.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. She tied a career-high with 31 points and added 11 rebounds for her eighth career double-double against Virginia. Jefferson also tied a career-best with three blocks in the victory.
• Jefferson ranks second in the CAA in scoring through two games. 
• Jamia Hazell was the Dukes' second-leading scorer, contributing 12.0 points per game. She tallied 17 points against Virginia. 
• Claire Neff scored in double figures, dropping 14 points and adding seven rebounds in the Dukes' victory. 
• Annalicia Goodman led JMU with seven rebounds and added six points against Maryland. 
• The Dukes scored 24 points off turnovers off 18 Caviler turnovers in game one but allowed 25 points off 22 turnovers to Maryland in game two. 

 UNCW

• UNCW defeated Mount Olive 74-65 in its season opener before falling to Duke 87-45 in its first road contest.  
• Transfer Sierra DeCosta led UNCW, scoring 16 points in back-to-back games. She added four rebounds and three assists against Mount Olive. 
• Carrie Gross was UNCW's second-leading scorer, averaging 11.0 points per game. She scored 13 points off the bench against Mount Olive, followed by nine points versus Dukes.  
• Micah Hoggatt, who had not played in a regular-season game since 2018-19 due to injury, scored a career-high 13 points and added a personal-best eight rebounds in the season opener.   
• UNCW ranks third in the CAA in free throw percentage, making good on 32 of its 39 trips (82.1%) to the charity stripe. 
• The Seahawks held a 43-28 rebounding advantage against Mount Olive but were outrebounded 56-26 to the Blue Devils.

Northeastern

• Bridgette Mitchell collected her first career win as Northeastern defeated Holy Cross 71-45 in its season opener.  
• The Huskies suffered a tough 63-60 overtime defeat in their second matchup against Yale. 
• Donna Ntambue led all scorers with a career-high 19 points in her Northeastern debut against Holy Cross. 
• Claudia Soriano had an impressive start to her collegiate career averaging 9.0 points, 5.0 assists and 4.0 steals per game last week. 
• Kendall Currence led Northeastern with 15 points against Yale and grabbed a team-high six rebounds. 
• Freshman Gemima Motema had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals in the Huskies' setback. 
• The Northeastern defense has recorded 32 steals (16.0 spg) to lead the CAA and forced its opponents into 54 turnovers through the first two games this season. 

 Towson

• Towson started the year 3-0 defeating Frostburg State, Florida and Wofford. 
• The Tigers victory over Florida marks the program's first victory over a Power Five opponent since 2009-10 and the first in Coach Diane Richardson's career. 
• Aleah Nelson averaged 23.7 points, 8.0 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game, stuffing the stat sheet early this year. Nelson scored a career-high 39 points in Towson's victory over Florida with eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals. 
• Anissa Rivera recorded double-doubles in the first two games of the season. She had 21 points with 14 rebounds against Frostburg State and 11 points with 13 rebounds verse Florida. 
• After a double-double (17p 10r) in the season opener, Allie Kubek led Towson with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting against Wofford.  
• Tarriyonna Gary set career-highs in points (16), field goals (6) and made three-pointers (4) in the win over Florida.  
• Towson leads the CAA in rebounding (51.0) and ranks second in scoring offense (88.0).

William & Mary

• William & Mary played its first game since January 24, 2021, facing Coppin State in its season opener. 
• After dropping its season opener to Coppin State 73-56, William & Mary defeated Randolph College 83-31 to earn its first victory this season. 
• Bre Bellamy led all William & Mary scorers averaging 13.0 points per game. Bellamy scored a team-high 11 points in the defeated and led the Tribe with 15 points in its victory.
• Riley Casey stepped on the court for the first time in two years as the graduate transfer from Columbia contributed 10.5 points per game. 
• In her first collegiate action, Dani McTeer averaged 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. 
• Sydney Wagner added 6.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game throughout the week. 
• After only six assists in game one, the Tribe assisted on 25 of 32 field goals in game two. William & Mary ranks second in the CAA in assists per game (15.5) thus far.