New Haven, Conn. – The Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team finished the 2015-16 season with a 14-12 overall record and earned the No. 6 seed in the Great Northeast Athletic (GNAC) Tournament thanks to a 6-5 mark in league play.
In his fourth year at the helm of the program, Head Coach JR Fredette led the Falcons to post-season play for the fourth season in a row. During the winter, AMC went 9-5 at home and scored road conference wins versus Lasell and Simmons. From January into early February, the team ran off a season-best seven-game winning streak. It was a tale of two seasons for the Falcons as they also ended the year on a five-game skid.
Following the season, sophomore forward Olivia Bolden (South Windsor, Conn.) and junior guard Liz Falcigno (Wallingford, Conn.) both earned All-GNAC honors. Bolden was named to the first team, while Falcigno landed on the third team. Senior point guard Olivia Sutherland (Wallingford, Conn.) ended her impressive collegiate career by being representing the squad on the GNAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
At the Albertus Magnus College Department of Athletics annual end of the year banquet, Falcigno was also honored as the school's Female Newcomer of the Year and senior forward Kelsey Pendagast (Shelton, Conn.) received the department's Betsy Fahy Award. With the team awards, Bolden earned MVP, sophomore guard Angelina Piccirillo (Naugatuck, Conn.) was the team's Most Improved Player and Falcigno picked up the Falcon Award.
The Falcons opened the winter with a 61-50 home victory against in-state rival Mitchell. Freshman Deja Ward (Middletown, Conn.) scored a team-high 16 points for AMC, while Sutherland and Bolden also scored in double figures. Sutherland had 13 points thanks to hitting three shots from three-point range to go along with three assists and two steals. Bolden, the reigning GNAC Rookie of the Year, netted 15 points. The Falcons jumped on the visitors during the first stanza, outscoring the guests, 17-6, and forcing eight turnovers en route to the win.
Albertus Magnus bounced back from three straight losses early in the campaign with 104-74 thumping of Bay Path at The Nest inside the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center. The 30-point win started a five-game non-conference winning streak for the Falcons. During the run, the squad scored an 87-80 double overtime triumph at SUNY Cobleskill and a 90-32 blowout victory at Medgar Evers. Versus SUNY Cobleskill, Falcigno scored a career-high 29 points and Bolden was a force in the post for Albertus Magnus, registering a double-double thanks to 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Trailing by three with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation, Bolden knotted the game at 67 with an old-fashioned three-point play. She knocked down a shot and jarred the free throw to force overtime. Looking at a late deficit once again in overtime, Falcigno drew a foul with just five second left on the clock and hit a pair of free throws to force another extra frame. In double overtime, Albertus Magnus outscored SUNY Cobleskill, 11-4, to escape with the victory. The Falcons started the deciding frame on an 8-2 run, courtesy of five points from Falcigno and three from Sutherland.
The team closed out the first semester of play with an 80-67 setback at Manhattanville. Bolden recorded her second double-double of the winter, thanks to scoring a season-high 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Pendagast and Falcigno were the other Falcons to score in double figures. Pendagast knocked down 5-of-8 shots from the field for 11 points and Falcigno poured in 14 points to go along with a game-high four steals.
After back-to-back losses to begin the 2016 calendar year, Albertus Magnus ran off a season-best seven-game winning streak. During the stretch, AMC won six games at home, five conference contests and had an average margin of victory of 21 points.
The Falcons earned their first GNAC win of the season against St. Joseph (Conn.) in early January. The Falcons shot a season-high 49 percent from the field in the 93-50 win and scored 22 or more points in three of the game's four quarters to surpass the 90-point plateau for the fourth time in the season. The hosts set the tone and pace early, knocking down 10-of-20 shots from the field and 7-of-8 free-throw attempts to hold a 28-11 edge after 10 minutes. During the first quarter, the hosts held USJ to just 26 percent shooting (5-of-19) and the Falcons swarming D forced a trio of turnovers.
Versus Mount Ida in mid-January, the Falcons erased a halftime deficit and held off a late Mustang rally to score a 67-64 victory at home. In the third quarter, Albertus Magnus shot over 56 percent from the field and forced five Mount Ida turnovers to turn a two-point deficit into a five-point advantage. After the visitors scored on their first possession of the half to bring their lead to four at 30-26, the Falcons reeled off seven straight points to take a 33-30 lead. Over the first 90 seconds of the fourth, AMC scored six in a row before a Mustang timeout to hold an 11-point edge (their largest of the contest). The visitors fought back to pull within two with under 30 seconds remaining in regulation. Down the stretch, Sutherland knocked down five free throws to help the hosts escape victorious.
In early February, the team exploded for 50 second-half points en route to a 90-64 GNAC victory against Anna Maria. The Falcon reserves played well during the fourth quarter and stretched the lead to as many as 26 late in the frame. Albertus Magnus freshman Jill Johnson (North Haven, Conn.), junior Elli Sola (New Britain, Conn.) and classmate Megan Thornton (Worcester, Mass.) combined to scored 14 of the team's 26 points over the final 10 minutes.
After a non-conference setback versus in-state foe Connecticut College, AMC earned what would prove to be its final win of the season on the road versus Lasell. Bolden scored a game-high 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting and hitting 10 from the charity stripe as well. Bolden also added 10 rebounds to record her eighth double-double of the winter. Senior forward Chelsea Sherrod (Bridgeport, Conn.) had a strong game in the post, scoring eight points and pulling down a game-best 14 rebounds.
The Falcons lost their final five games, including a road contest at Emmanuel in the GNAC Quarterfinals. Over the final month of the season, Albertus Magnus and Suffolk battled in the Bay State. The Falcons erased an 11-point deficit with 58 points in the second half to force overtime. During the extra frame, the hosts outscored AMC, 10-5.
Bolden led the Falcon attack with a game-high 32 points and 16 rebounds. She knocked down 12 shots from the charity stripe and nine from the field to go along with one assist and one steal. Bolden's double-double was her 10th of the season and second straight. Falcigno poured in 24 points for the guests, courtesy of hitting four shots from beyond the arc and all eight of her free-throw attempts. Ward had a career day for AMC, netting a career-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting for Albertus Magnus. The speedy guard also canned 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
Bolden earned end of the year league-wide recognition for the second straight season after being tabbed as the GNAC Rookie of the Year and Second Team All-GNAC last winter. She finished the year third in the league in scoring (17.5 points per game) and sixth in rebounding (9.4 boards per tilt). Bolden registered a team-high 12 double-doubles, highlighted by recording six in conference games.
In her first year on campus, Falicgno ranked fifth in the league in scoring, netting over 16 points per contest. She ended the year tied for second in the GNAC in free-throw shooting (81.6%) and sixth in three-point shooting percentage (35.8 %). This year, she scored 377 points and connected on 53 shots from beyond the arc. In conference play, she scored over 19 points per game, highlighted by a 28-point performance against Anna Maria on February 2. She knocked down four more treys in a game six times during the year.
In her final season as a Falcon, Sutherland averaged over seven points and four assists per game. On Senior Day, she netted a season-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting for Albertus Magnus. Sutherland ends her career with over 500 points, 281 rebounds and 282 assists.
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