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Tournament Time
The Niagara Purple Eagles and the Manhattan Jaspers will play in the 2015 MAAC Tournament First Round on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Times Union Center.

Niagara (13-16; 9-11 MAAC) swept the season series against Manhattan (3-26; 2-18 MAAC). Meghan McGuinness totaled a team-high 13 points while also adding seven rebounds to help NU to its second largest victory this season with a 64-36 victory on Dec. 7 at the Gallagher Center. Victoria Rampado narrowly missed a double-double as her final stat-line featured 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The second meeting of the season, on Jan. 31 at Draddy Gymnasium, McGuinness not only finished with a team-high 17 points, but added six rebounds and four assists. The guard also shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Rampado went 3-for-4 from the field, shot a flawless 4-for-4 from the foul line and was another rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.

The Purple Eagles split last season's series against the Jaspers with both teams winning on the road. NU took a 71-67 overtime victory on Jan. 23, 2014, while Manhattan came away with a 64-56 win at the Gallagher Center on Feb. 15, 2014. Niagara has won six of the last eight meetings between the two teams.

The Purple Eagles and Jaspers will meet for the first time in the MAAC Tournament since Niagara bounced Manhattan in the quarterfinals in 2010. The Purple Eagles made the MAAC Tournament Semifinals in back-to-back seasons (2011-12, 2012-13), a program first, but this will be the second time in three years that they will play in the first round.

The winner moves on to meet No. 3 seed Fairfield in the quarterfinals on Friday at 9:30 p.m. The quarterfinal winners will then have Saturday off before Sunday's semifinals, which will be broadcast live on ESPN3 at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The MAAC Championship is scheduled for Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
 
How To Tune In

• Purple Eagle fans will be able to follow all of Thursday's action on PurpleEagles.com. There will be a live audio broadcast with announcers Todd Callen and Derick Thornton. Fans will also be able to follow along with live stats.

 
On The Court:
Manhattan Jaspers (3-26, 2-18 MAAC)

• The Jaspers are led by John Olenowski who is in his 6th year as head coach at Manhattan.
• Junior forward Shayna Ericksen is the Jaspers' top scorer as she averages 9.5 points per game while also contributing 6.0 rebounds per contest.
• Freshman center Kayla Grimme also brings down 6.0 boards per outings while adding 7.7 points per game.

 
Against the Jaspers (Niagara leads 27-26)
Last Meeting - January 31, 2015
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – On Saturday afternoon at Draddy Gymnasium, the Niagara women's basketball team posted a 53-46 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers and snapped its three-game losing streak.
 
Tipoff Tidbits

• Niagara's offense is led by sophomore forward Victoria Rampado (12.9 ppg) and senior guard Meghan McGuinness (12.6 ppg).
• McGuinness has scored at least 10 points in 23 of the last 27 games while Rampado also averages a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game.
• NU had a season-high +24 rebound margin versus Canisius on Feb. 24.
• Niagara's bench has outscored its opponents bench by a combined 398-350 in its 20 conference games.
• NU has an 11-4 record this season when leading at halftime.
• Victoria Rampado is averaging 14.0 ppg in conference match ups while Meghan McGuinness averages 12.8 ppg in MAAC contests.

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A Win On Thursday Would...

• Advance Niagara to the MAAC Quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Fairfield on Friday, March 6 at 9:30 p.m.
• Give NU a perfect 3-0 against Manhattan this season.
• Boost the Purple Eagles to a 28-26 record in the all-time series against the Jaspers.

 
All-MAAC

• Senior guard Meghan McGuinness and sophomore forward Victoria Rampado were both named to the All-MAAC Second Team.
• McGuinness finished the regular season with 12.6 ppg and presently ranks 14th in the nation and third overall in the MAAC with a 43.1 3-point field goal percentage.
• Rampado closed out the regular season finishing with a team-high 12.9 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game. The Niagara Falls, Ont. native eclipsed the 20-point mark a team-high five times this season and marked three double-doubles on the year.

 
Advancing In The Tournament

• The Purple Eagles have played in 25 MAAC Tournaments heading into this year's event and have advanced at least one round a total of nine times.  Seven of those times have come in the last 12 seasons, making it the most successful stretch at the MAAC Tournament.

 
Let's Take A Quick Look At Last Year

• Last season the Purple Eagles swept the Monmouth Hawks only to meet them in the first game of the MAAC Tournament. Eighth-seeded Niagara dropped the postseason matchup 66-62 against ninth-seeded Monmouth that year.

 
MAAC Tournament History Vs. Manhattan

• This will be the third time the Purple Eagles and Jaspers have faced off against each other in the MAAC Tournament.
• Both teams have defeated the other once in the postseason. Most recently, Niagara defeated Manhattan 66-54 in the 2010 quarterfinals, which was also the most recent time the event was held in Albany.
• The Jaspers registered a 57-53 victory in the 2007 first round.

 
Breaking The 600-Point Barrier

• Victoria Rampado scored her 600th career point against Canisius on Feb. 24. She entered the game with 597 points and turned in a 20-point effort to finish the evening with 617 career points.
• The sophomore now stands 74 points away from 700 with 626 career points.

 
National Leaders (as of Mar. 4)

• The Purple Eagles rank 84th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (.94), led by senior point guard Kelly Van Leeuwen (3.69 assist-to-turnover) who ranks 2nd among all players in the country.
• Niagara also ranks in the top-50 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (30th), rebound margin (31st), three-point field goal percentage (37th) and assists per game (41st).
• Meghan McGuinness ranks 14th in the NCAA with a 43.1 three-point field goal percentage.

 
Breaking Records

• On Feb. 24 against Canisius, McGuinness hit two 3-pointers marking her 262rd career 3-pointer which broke the all-time record. Kim Kuhn, who played for Niagara from 1989-93, previously held the record with 261 career three pointers.
• Also on Dec. 30, Kelly Van Leeuwen had six assists for NU which marked her 283rd career assist and broke her into the top-10 for the all-time assist record at Niagara.
• Van Leeuwen then surpassed Kelly Chase, Joanne Lesnau, Kim Kuhn and Stacie Kane. On Feb. 28 against Iona, the senior guard had two assists which placed her sixth in the all-time career assists record with a total of 368 assists. The senior guard now sits eight assists away from the fifth all-time career assists spot.

 
Top Of The MAAC (as of Mar. 4)

• The Purple Eagles have two players in the top-10 in the MAAC in points per game.
• Victoria Rampado is ranked 8th with 14.0 ppg while Meghan McGuinness sits in the 9th spot with 12.8 ppg.
• Kelly Van Leeuwen ranks fifth in the conference with 4.7 assists per game.
• McGuinness is fifth in the MAAC with a 43.4 three-point field goal percentage.
• The Purple Eagles are second in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 36.5 percent from the field.
• As a team, Niagara has the sixth best scoring margin within the conference (0.2) and the best rebounding margin (7.8). The Purple Eagles rank fourth in 3-point FG percentage (35.7 percent/ 104-for-291) and sixth in field goal percentage (40.6 percent/ 464-for-1,143).
• NU additionally ranks third in offensive rebounds (14.0 per game) and second in defensive rebounds (27.9 per game).