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Tournament Time
The Niagara Purple Eagles and the Fairfield Stags will play in the 2015 MAAC Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday at 9:30 p.m. at the Times Union Center.

Niagara (14-16; 10-11 MAAC) swept the season series against Fairfield (14-15; 13-7 MAAC). Freshman forward Kaylee Stroemple, who hit 7-of-8 from the field, and was one rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds helped NU to a 66-64 victory on Jan. 4 at Alumni Hall. Meghan McGuinness, Victoria Rampado and Taylor McKay all had 14 points in the winning effort.

The second meeting of the season, on Feb. 7 at the Gallagher Center, Rampado not only finished with a team-high 18 points, but added six rebounds and three assists.  McGuinness scored 17 points while McKay also chipped in with 12 points and three assists on the afternoon.

Niagara dropped both games last season to the Stags. However, the thrilling 66-64 win over Fairfield earlier this year was the first time the Purple Eagles have beaten the Stags in Alumni Hall since 1999.

The Purple Eagles are coming off a 57-51 win over the Manhattan Jaspers in the MAAC Championship First Round. Niagara made the MAAC Tournament Semifinals in back-to-back seasons (2011-12, 2012-13), a program first, but this was the second time in three years that they played in the first round. Niagara and Fairfield will be meeting for the fifth time in the MAAC Tournament and the first time since 2003.

The winner moves on to meet either the No. 2 seed Marist or No. 10 seed Saint Peter's in the semifinals on Sunday which will be broadcast live on ESPN3 at 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 Friday'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
Fairfield Stags (14-15, 13-7 MAAC)

• The Stags are led by Joe Frager who is in his 8th year as head coach at Fairfield.
• Sophomore forward Casey Smith is Fairfield's top scorer, averaging 12.2 points, and pulls down 4.7 rebounds per game.
• Junior guard Kristin Schatzlein also averages double-figures for the Stags. Schatzlein scores 11.8 points per contest and averages 3.8 rebounds per game.
• Freshman forward Samantha Cooper leads the team with 6.7 rebounds per game while also contributing 7.6 points per outing.

 
Against the Stags (Fairfield leads 35-19)
Last Meeting - February 7, 2015
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Niagara featured three players in double-digits and a plus-16 rebounding margin, as the Purple Eagles were able to sweep the season series against the Fairfield Stags with a 66-56 win on Saturday.
 
Tipoff Tidbits

• Niagara's offense is led by sophomore forward Victoria Rampado (12.9 ppg) and senior guard Meghan McGuinness (12.4 ppg).
• McGuinness has scored at least 10 points in 23 of the last 28 games while Rampado also averages a team-high 6.2 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 415-357 in its 21 conference games.
• NU has a 12-4 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 Friday Would...

• Advance Niagara to the MAAC Semifinals against either No. 2 seed Marist or No. 10 seed Saint Peter's on Sunday, March 8 at 1:30 p.m.
• Give NU a perfect 3-0 against Fairfield this season.

 
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. Fairfield

• This will be the fifth time the Purple Eagles and Stags have faced off against each other in the MAAC Tournament.
• Both teams have defeated the other twice in the postseason. Most recently, Niagara defeated Fairfield 76-65 in 2003.

 
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 59 points away from 700 with 641 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 five 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).