CU Women's Basketball Preview - at William Smith/RIT (1/18-19)

Winless in three tries on the road versus Liberty League opponents, the Clarkson University Women's Basketball team looks to improve on that mark when it travels to face William Smith and RIT this weekend.

Live Stats/Live Video – at William Smith (5:00 pm Friday)
Live Stats/Live Video – at RIT (12:00 noon on Saturday, moved up from 2:00 pm)

The Series vs. William Smith: The Golden Knights trail in the all-time series against the Herons with 17 wins in 65 games. William Smith has won three of the last four, including a come-from-behind overtime win in February 2018.

The Series vs. RIT: The Knights own a 26-15 record all-time versus the Tigers, but RIT has won the past four meetings by an average of 18 points per game, which includes a win in the 2017 Liberty League Championship Game.

Key Stats for Clarkson (5-8, 2-5 Liberty League): Entering this season, junior Molly Stewart's career-high in scoring was 23 points, coming during an overtime loss to William Smith last year (2/3/2018). However, Stewart has surpassed that figure three times in the last five games thanks to a string of strong shooting performances. Stewart is shooting 40.3% (21-for-52) from beyond the arc in the streak, which even includes a 0-for-6 performance against Bard. The Knights have needed that streak as the rest of the team has struggled from deep as of late, shooting just 27.5% (22-for-80) in that five-game window. In the first eight games of the year, the team (besides Stewart) shot 32.3%, a different that accounts for nearly four points per game.

Key Stats for William Smith (8-5, 4-3 Liberty League): Senior Mia Morrison has been an outstanding player for the Herons ever since she arrived on campus, but this year she has taken yet another step. Morrison ranks second in the league in scoring (20.9 ppg) and third in rebounding (9.9 rpg), shooting 47.2% from the field. Over her last five games, all league contests, she is averaging 25.0 points and 12.6 rebounds while shooting 54.2%. William Smith ranks second only to Clarkson in 3-pointers attempted and does a good job on the boards with a plus-13 advantage. Where the Herons struggle is on ball control, as the team has committed 52 more turnovers than its opponents (233-181).

Key Stats for RIT (8-6, 3-4 Liberty League): No team in the conference is more reliant on its starting five than the Tigers. RIT gets 91.6% of its points (819 of 894) from its starters, which is particularly surprising since each averages more than 32 minutes per game. In fact, all five players rank in the top 14 in the conference in minutes per game. Sabrina Wolfe leads the team in scoring at 14.4 points per game, while Cori Okada provides contributions across the board with 13.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and a league-best 5.0 assists per contest. Tara Lynch averages 11.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and Alyssa Juergens contributes a team-best 7.7 rebounds per contest.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Molly Stewart: G; 5' 9"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#1 Molly Stewart
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

Scoreboard

Players Mentioned

#1 Molly Stewart

Players Mentioned

#1 Molly Stewart