Freshman Ashley Caiafa came off the bench to score eight points in her last outing, a 67-42 win over Merrimack last Wednesday.

The three game stretch the No. 12 Skyhawks are about to embark on will go along way in solidifying its position as one of the nation's best teams. With a road game at No. 15  Franklin Pierce sandwiched around Merkert Gymnasium appearances by American International and Southern Connecticut, two team that have appeared in the last two national championship games, Stonehill will face some of the best players the Northeast-10 has to offer.

In Wednesday's matchup with American International, Alexis Castro, a first-team Northeast-10 All-Conference honoree a season ago, enters the game as the Northeast-10's third leading scorer at 18.1 points per game and is coming off of a 21-point, 11-rebound, six-assist effort in a loss to Southern Connecticut. Castro, who has already won two NE-10 player of the week awards this season, set a school-record with 38 points in early December. 

Stacy Boisvert is the lone other Yellow Jacket to average double figures, netting 11.9 points a game. Reserve guard Jen Moussette is the team's top threat from behind the arc, having connected on 25 of her 57 attempts (.439).

The Yellow Jackets rank second behind Stonehill in points allowed (54) per game and a lot of that has to do with the shot blocking ability of Jen Nnanna, who is turning away almost four shots a game.

Stonehill, meanwhile, is riding a four game winning streak during which they have allowed an average of 46.2 points per game, and outscored their opponents by 18 points every time out.

Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) leads the charge for the Skyhawks, posting 15.9 points and 8.6 rebounds a game. She is the only Stonehill player to reach double figures in all 15 contests and has four double-doubles. Simonds sits right behind Nnanna in blocks, sending away 2.3 a game and has 34 for the season thus far.

In a matchup of undefeated teams during the 2005-06 season, Simonds had nine points, nine rebounds and six blocks as the Skyhawks handed the Yellow Jackets a 59-54 defeat. 

Megan Methven (Corning, N.Y.) and Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) join Simonds in double-digits for the Skyhawks, scoring 11.7 and 10.5 respectively. Methven is shooting 39 percent from three-point range while Tighe is fifth in the Northeast-10 in rebounding at 7.9.

In its last outing, Stonehill got excellent production from freshmen Kristen McWhirter (Melvin Village, N.H.) and Ashley Caiafa (Massapequa, N.Y.). The duo combined for 15 points and six rebounds while shooting 6-for-8 and 3-for-3 from behind the arc.