Women’s Basketball Lifts Lid on GNAC Schedule Thursday at Emmanuel

BOSTON – The Suffolk women's basketball team starts fresh once again Thursday, Dec. 1 as the Rams begin their quest for GNAC Glory as they open conference competition at Emmanuel at 7 p.m.

SOCIALIZE
Stay up-to-date with all the latest news and notes on Suffolk Athletics by connecting with the Rams on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Be sure to use the hashtag #RamNation for an insider's look at Suffolk's teams and student-athletes.

OPENING THE GNAC GATES
Suffolk will open its 22nd season of GNAC action Thursday. The Rams are 15-6 in the first conference game of the season, all under head coach Ed Leyden.

The Rams will get their conference slate underway on the road for the 11th time in program history and second straight season. For just the first time in Suffolk history, the Rams will compete against Emmanuel in game one of their league slate. It also marks the first time that the Rams get conference competition going in November, with all of their previous league openers coming in the first month of the year.

Last season Suffolk downed Simmons, 65-52.

GNAC DIVISIONAL PLAY
The 12-team GNAC women's basketball field has been split into six-team subdivisions for the 2016-17 season. Suffolk is joined in the South Division with Albertus Magnus, Emmanuel, Johnson & Wales, Mount Ida and Saint Joseph (Conn.). The North Division is comprised of Anna Maria, Lasell, Norwich, Rivier, St. Joseph's (Maine) and Simmons.

In the new adopted divisional format opponents from each division will play home-and-homes and play each team in the opposing division once for a 16-game league ledger.

Based on overall conference record, the top four seeds from each division will get a chance to vie for the GNAC Title, as the field of eight will continue in the conference championship. Quarterfinal competition will feature crossover match ups between the two divisions with each top seed hosting the opposite divisions fourth seed and the No. 2 seeds hosting the other division's No. 3 seeds. If two teams that advance to the GNAC Championship own the same seed, the winner of the regular-season head-to-head matchup will determine the championship host site. 

LAST TIME OUT 
The Suffolk women's basketball team doubled Wentworth's points to cruise past the Leopards, 92-46, in non-conference action inside Tansey Gymnasium Monday night.   

MORE READING: Women's Basketball Runs Past Wentworth, 92-46

RUNDOWN ON THE RAMS
With its biggest victory over Wheelock in the team's all-time series, which dates back 30 years, Suffolk improved to 3-2 on the season.

Suffolk is putting up 71.4 points per game paced by Georgia Bourikas's 13.4 ppg. The senior boasts a 43.1 connection rate from the field and is a stifling 58.8 percent from beyond the arc to buoy the Rams offense. Classmate Kelsey Schiebel is also putting in double digits with 10.8 ppg 

Defensively the Rams grab 44.2 rpg thanks to 7.2 rpg from both Caitlyn Caramello and Katelyn Rourke. 

SOMETHING 'BOUT THE SAINTS
Emmanuel is on a three-game skid entering GNAC action as the Saints fell to Catholic (59-58), Brandeis (52-49) and Amherst (69-40) to sit at 1-3 on the season.

The perennial GNAC powerhouse scores 51.5 ppg. Jen Chalk is the lone Saint putting in double figures in points with the senior forward average 10.0 ppg and classmate Alexis Ezell second on the squad with 8.0 ppg.

Chalk is also Emmanuel's leader on the glass grabbing 7.0 rpg with Ezell falling in second once again with 4.3 rpg. 

THE SERIES
The Sufffolk and Emmanuel series dates back to 1995 with the Saints holding a commanding lead over the Rams, 26-1. The last and only Suffolk win over Emmanuel came Feb. 9, 2008, 66-55. 

EYES ON THE GAME
  

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Alexis Hackett of the Suffolk women's basketball team picked up her first collegiate weekly honor as she grabbed GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week accolades Nov. 28.

MORE READING: Hackett Named GNAC Corvias Rookie of the Week

ROAD WARRIORS
Suffolk's entire six-game November slate will be played on the road, marking the first time since 2002-03 that the Rams played the entire first month of action as the away team. The six-contest stretch away from home to open the 2016-17 campaign marks the longest season-opening road trip since 1999-00, when the blue-and-gold played seven straight contests on the road.

SUFFOLK FREE RADIO
Suffolk Athletics has teamed up with Suffolk Free Radio to bring Ram Nation live broadcast events this year including multiple home and away women's basketball contests.

The pre-game shows are set to launch 15 minutes prior to tip-off of all contests and fans can follow along at mixlr.com/suffolkfreeradio/.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk will take the court inside Regan Gymnasium for the first time this season Saturday, Dec. 3 when the Rams entertain Framingham State at 1 p.m.