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The Game
Stonehill opens a six game stretch in which it will play five on the road as the Skyhawks open a three-game road trip with a pair of Northeast Conference games this weekend. Stonehill visits former Northeast-10 Conference rival Merrimack College for an NEC clash in North Andover on Saturday afternoon, before traveling to New Jersey to face Fairleigh Dickinson University for an Martin Luther King, Jr., Day NEC matchup on Monday at 2 p.m. The Skyhawks are looking to bounce back from a pair of NEC setbacks at home last weekend against Saint Francis (56-52) and Sacred Heart (70-56). Merrimack enters the second full weekend of NEC games having lost its last eight, including three-straight NEC setbacks, after a 62-52 decision at FDU on Sunday, while the Knights have won three-straight, including their first two NEC games heading into Saturday's Conference matchup with Central Connecticut State in Hackensack.

Media Information
Both games this weekend will be broadcast live via NEC Front Row. Tom Zinzarella (play-by-play) and Robin Muller (analyst) will have the call of Saturday's game at Merrimack College, while  Dan Long (play-by-play) and Rich Terpak (analyst) will call the action at FDU on Monday. The broadcasts can be accessed via stonehillskyhawks.com through its NEC Front Row portal (necfrontrow.com/schools/SC) or through Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku via the NEC On the Run App.

Against the Warriors
Saturday marks the 85th meeting all-time between Stonehill and Merrimack, but the first since a 75-66 Warriors victory at Hammel Court on February 20, 2019. Stonehill owns a 69-15 advantage in the all-time series which dates back to at least the 1981-82 season. Stonehill won the first 28 meetings between the two, including the first 12 here at the Volpe Complex, before the Warriors posted their first series win in 1996. The Skyhawks are 27-9 all-time here in North Andover, while head coach Trisha Brown has notched a 24-14 record over her career against Merrimack.  

Last Time They Met
Merrimack outscored Stonehill 27-10 in the third quarter on its way to a 75-66 triumph in an NE10 matchup here on Bert Hammel Court on February 20, 2019. Lindsay Werner led three Merrimack players in double-figures with 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting and three steals. Denia Davis-Stewart added a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 9-of-15 from the floor, and adding two blocked shots and five steals. Kayla Raymond was the lone Stonehill player in double-figures, notching the first 30-point game of her collegiate career as she scored 24 of her season-high 32 points in the second half, finishing 14-of-24 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-9 from three-point distance, while adding four rebounds, an assist and steal.

Playing the Warriors
Stonehill fifth-years Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Sophie Glidden (Scarborough, Maine) were freshmen the last time Stonehill played Merrimack during the 2018-19 season. Bramanti played 18 minutes off the Skyhawks bench the last time they met and chipped in two rebounds and two assists, totaling three points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal in 19 minutes off the bench during Stonehill's 62-57 win at Merkert Gym in November. Glidden did not appear in either game and no current members of Merrimack were on the Warriors roster in 2018-19.

Prime Performer
Fifth-year Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) earned Northeast Conference Prime Performer status for the sixth-straight week on Monday. She averaged 18.5 points on 40-percent shooting (12-for-30), converting 10-of-11 (90.9%) free-throws, while adding 3.0 rebounds and an assist per game over Stonehill's two NEC games last week. Bramanti was the lone double-figure scorer for the Skyhawks against Saint Francis (Pa.) on Friday with a game-high 17 points, including 11 in the second half, to go with four rebounds, an assist and blocked shot. She eached the 20-point mark for the third time this season in Sunday's matchup with Sacred Heart, scoring 12 of her 20 in the second half, adding two rebounds, an assist and a steal. Bramanti's six Prime Performer selections leads Stonehill, having also been named the NEC Player of the Week twice, while fellow fifth-year Sophie Glidden (Scarborough, Maine) and senior Mia Kelly (South Hadley, Mass.) have earned the recognition twice, while postgrad Maddie Loder (Independence, Minn.) earned the recognition once to this point.
NEC Prime Performers:
Nov. 14: Maddie Loder
Nov. 28: Sophie Glidden
Dec. 5: Emily Bramanti & Mia Kelly
Dec. 12: Emily Bramanti
Dec. 19: Emily Bramanti
Dec. 26: Emily Bramanti & Mia Kelly
Jan. 3: Emily Bramanti & Sophie Glidden
Jan. 9: Emily Bramanti

Century Mark
Stonehill postgrad Maddie Loder (Independence, Minn.) played the 100th game of her collegiate career against Sacred Heart on Sunday. She has started all 16 games for the Skyhawks this season after transferring from George Washington, where she played 84 games (starting 42) between 2018 and 2022. Loder has totaled 479 points, 195 rebounds, ,152 assists and 53 steals over her collegiate career.

NEC Score
Stonehill fifth-year guard Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) ranks third among NEC scoring leaders in Conference play, averaging 18.7 points through the Skyhawks three NEC contests heading into the weekend.

Globe Mass Top 10
Stonehill fifth-year guard Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) was recognized by the Boston Globe on January 3 as one of the top ten players among the nine NCAA Division I women's basketball programs in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Bramanti was ranked No. 6 by Globe columnist Ethan Fuller. Sam Breen of UMass leads the list that also includes Harvard's Harmoni Tuner (No. 2), Sydney Taylor of UMass (No. 3), Dontavia Waggoner of Boston College (No. 4), Boston University's Caitlin Weimar (No. 5), Taina Mair of BC (No. 7), Northeastern's Derin Erdogan (No. 8), Bronagh Power-Cassidy of Holy Cross (No. 9) and Marissa Hamilton from Merrimack (No. 10).

Sunshine Daydream
Stonehill has posted a 4-3 record in its seven afternoon tip-offs this season after last Sunday's matchup with Sacred Heart, compared to a 1-8 mark in its games starting at 6 p.m., or later. Saturday will mark the Skyhawks first 3:00 tipoff, while they dropped their lone 2:00 start, the scheduled time for Monday at FDU.

Guard on the Glass
Senior Mia Kelly (South Hadley, Mass.) has recorded the first two double-figure rebounding games of her career over Stonehill's last four games, including a career-high 12 boards against Saint Francis on January 6. She has moved into tenth among NEC rebounding leaders with 5.3 rebounds per game - including a team-high 8.0 per game in NEC play, to rank fourth in the Conference. Her 4.2 defensive rebounds per game are good for seventh in the NEC. Kelly is averaging 6.5 boards per game in Stonehill's last ten games.

They are Free. Throws.
Stonehill is one of three teams in the Northeast Conference shooting over 70-percent from the free-throw line this season, ranking third in the league at 71.2-percent. Fifth-year Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) ranks ninth among NEC free-throw leaders at 69.5-percent (41-for-59) - fifth among NEC players with 40-plus made free-throws this season. She is also shooting an NEC-best 92.9% (13-14) from the line in NEC play so far.

Stepping Up
Freshman Melissa Whitmore (Hanover, N.H.) saw action for the first time since November 27 (vs. Oakland) in Stonehill's NEC matchup with Saint Francis last week. She played 22 minutes off the Stonehill bench and posted season-highs with eight points, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Whitmore matched those scoring and rebounding numbers in a season-high 23 minutes against Sacred Heart on Sunday.   

It Makes 'cents
Stonehill has won all five of its games this season in which it has shot a higher field goal percentage than it's opponents, compared to an 0-11 record when it does not.

Streaking
Stonehill fifth-year Emily Bramanti (Chelmsford, Mass.) has scored in double-figures in ten straight games after posting her third 20-point game of the season with her team-high 20 against Sacred Heart last Sunday. She is averaging 19.4 points on 48.1-percent shooting during that span, including 50% (29-58) from three-point distance. She is also contributing 3.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game during this stretch.

In Transition
Stonehill announced it had accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference and commence a four-year transition to full NCAA Division I membership on April 5. The Skyhawks started their four-year transition on July 1 and will earn full NCAA Division I membership in 2026-27. At the June NEC meetings, the Conference presidents announced a shift in the waiting period for automatic qualifier sports from competing for NEC postseason championships from four to two years, making Stonehill eligible to compete in the NEC postseason starting in 2024-25.

Getting Social
Fans and media members of Stonehill athletics have multiple social media outlets to get updates on all 21 varsity programs. The department's Facebook page is www.facebook.com/stonehillskyhawks, and you can also follow @GoStonehill on Twitter and @stonehillskyhawks via Instagram!  Stonehill women's basketball is also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StonehillCollegeWomensBasketball, Twitter and Instagram by following @stonehillwbb. You can even follow head coach Trisha Brown on Twitter via @CoachTB_SC.

Up Next
Stonehill is in the midst of a stretch of five of six games on the road starting with this weekend's games at Merrimack and FDU on Monday (2 PM). The Skyhawks will remain on the road on Thursday, January 19, when it visits Wagner College for an NEC matchup at 7 p.m., before returning to Easton for their lone home game in that stretch next Saturday when it hosts LIU at 2 p.m.