It’s February 26, 2020. Here’s what’s been going on lately in Southern New Hampshire University sports.
Women’s Basketball
In the first part of Tuesday’s doubleheader, the Penmen earned a home game in the first round of the Northeast-10 Tournament, defeating Saint Michael’s, 79-65.
Junior Gyanna Russell (East Hampton, Conn.) and senior Victoria Dean (Plymouth, Mass.) has 19 and 17 points respectively, while sophomore Jenna Roche (Braintree, Mass.) contributed 13 points.
The Penmen captured the glass (43-42) and the paint (44-30), and collected more points off turnovers (18-15) and on the fast break (16-2), in addition to turning in a more imprresive assist-to-turnover ratio (10/12-9/13). The Purple Knights gathered more second chance points (12-11) and received more scoring from their bench (25-13).
Southern New Hampshire halts a two-game skid, while Saint Michael’s ends its season having lost 11-in-a-row.
SNHU (15-12, 8-11 Northeast-10), by virtue of its win and an Assumption College loss, earns the No. 4 seed in the NE10 Northeast Division and will host American International College, the Southwest’s No. 5 seed, in an NE10 Championship first round tilt Friday, Feb. 28 (7 p.m.) at the Stan Spirou Field House. It marks the second straight season the Penmen and Yellow Jackets will meet in the NE10 first round, as the two teams played last season in Springfield, Mass.
Men’s Basketball
In the second half of the doubleheader, the Penmen defeated Saint Michael’s College again, 70-54.
Junior Michael Almonacy (Brentwood, N.Y.) scored 18 points off the bench while senior Eamonn Joyce (Medford, Mass.) followed with 13 points.
Southern New Hampshire trailed, 10-7, 5:45 into the contest when an 18-2 barrage – led by eight points from Almonacy – opened up a 25-12 lead for the Penmen. SNHU drained five 3-pointers during the stretch.
Southern New Hampshire has won seven of its last 10, while Saint Michael’s ends its season with a five-game losing skid.
The Penmen (16-11, 9-10 Northeast-10) earn the No. 5 seed in the NE10 Northeast Division and will head to the Southwest’s No. 4 seed, Pace University, for a Northeast-10 Championship first round contest Friday, Feb. 28 (7:30 p.m.). SNHU tied for fourth with Bentley University, but the Falcons earned the tiebreaker by virtue of their 1-1 record against the division’s No. 1 seed, Saint Anselm College, which finished 2-0 against Southern New Hampshire. Looking ahead, the Penmen could have a chance to exact some revenge on the crosstown-rival Hawks, as a win over Pace would send them to Sunday’s (4 p.m.) quarterfinal with a matchup at Saint Anselm.
Baseball
Senior Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) was named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Hitter of the Week on Tuesday.
Blandini went 13-for-21 at the plate with four extra-base hits, two home runs, eight RBI and seven runs scored. He recorded multiple hits in all five SNHU contests and had a trio of three-hit performances.
Blandini and the Penmen kick off a four-game set at the New York Institute of Technology on Saturday, Feb. 29 with a doubleheader that begins at noon.
