Around The USCAA - 02/1/16
Around the USCAA is a weekly article that highlights current happenings, key matchups, and relevant news stories from across the association. If you have a relevant news piece that you would like considered for inclusion please send it to info@theuscaa.com.
Darby Toth reaches 1,000th point for the University of Maine Augusta
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine - Senior women's basketball player Darby Toth scored the 1,000th point of her career on Sunday afternoon as the University of Maine at Augusta women's basketball team cruised to a 73-31 victory over the University of Maine at Presque Isle in non-conference action. Toth is the sixth women's basketball player in team history to reach that milestone. Junior Jamie Plummer was the most recent player to score 1,000 points, hitting the mark last season.
Toth (North Port, Fla.) came in to the game needing only two points to reach the milestone, which she scored on an ultimate three-point play, driving the lane for the lay-up with 3:19 remaining in the first quarter. Toth followed up the bucket by making good on the free throw in the three-point play.
The senior point guard, who is averaging just under 12 points a game on the season, finished the game with eight points and a pair of assists. UMA received a balanced attack on Sunday, with all seven players scoring and three players hitting double-digits. Plummer (Richmond, Maine) scored 19 points while Caitlin LaFountain (Topsham, Maine), and Morgan Card (Ellsworth, Maine) each turned in double-double performances. LaFountain scored 18 points and and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds while Card scored 10 points with 11 rebounds. Freshman Lindsay Clark (Cornish, N.H.) came off the bench to score eight points and netted five rebounds.
The moment was all the more special for Toth, who was able to score the momentous point at UMPI, where she spent her first three years of collegiate ball before transferring to UMA this year. Toth's mother was on hand as well, making the trip from the family home in North Port, Fla.
The Moose are currently ranked fourth in the country in USCAA DII with a record of 15-6 and a perfect 8-0 mark in the Yankee Small College Conference. The women's team returns to action Wednesday night when the team travels to Southern Maine Community College in YSCC play.
Tech Athletics Hosts Special Olympics High School Basketball
CHICAGO, Ill. – Last Wednesday and Thursday, the Illinois Institute of Technology Athletic Department and its Student-Athlete Advisory Committee played host to Special Olympics Chicago High School Basketball. The two-day event held in the Keating Sports Center featured approximately 375 athletes on both days.
The event was one of around 40 tournaments SOILL holds each year, allowing an opportunity for over 6,000 athletes a chance to compete. Last week’s tournament event in the Keating Sports Center served as a qualifier for the state tournament held in March at Illinois State University.
“Hosting the tournament with Special Olympics is important to us,” said Athletic Director Joe Hakes. “Serving these young men and women who put so much passion into their games is a joy to watch. We look forward to a continuing and enhanced relationship with Special Olympics through our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.”
Over 30 Scarlet Hawk student-athletes volunteered for the event through Illinois Tech’s SAAC. As the event concluded, it was clear the participants themselves were not the only ones who enjoyed the event.
"Seeing the faces of the athletes light up as they competed on the court was as rewarding as it one would imagine,” said SAAC member and women’s lacrosse student-athlete Cassandra Reineke. “In knowing the feeling of competing on the court or field as a student-athlete, it is even more rewarding to be able to help create that feeling in others!"
“We are extremely grateful to Illinois Tech Athletics for its continued support of Special Olympics in Chicago,” said Dani Chitwood, Manager of Program Operations for Special Olympics Illinois Area 3. “We truly hope that our relationship continues over the years.”
Courtesy of the University of Maine at Augusta and Illinois Institute of Technology Athletic Websites*
Key Weekly Matchups
Men’s Division I Basketball
2-01-16 – Oakwood University at Concordia College Alabama at 8:00 P.M.
2-06-16 – The Apprentice School at Virginia State at 4:00 P.M.
Men’s Division II Basketball
2-02-16 – University of Maine-Machias at University of Maine Presque Isle at 7:30 P.M.
2-03-16 – Southern Maine CC at NHTI at 8:00 P.M.
Women’s Division I Basketball
2-07-16 – University of Maine Fort Kent at NHTI at 12:00 P.M.
2-08-16 – Silver Lake College at Fox Valley Technical College at 5:30 P.M.
Women’s Division II Basketball
2-03-16 –Penn State Beaver at Penn State Hazleton at 6:00 P.M.
2-06-16 – University of Maine Augusta at College of St. Joseph’s – Vermont at 6:00 P.M.