No. 20/21 CUA welcomes Merchant Marine Academy to town on Saturday

WASHINGTON - Unbeaten at 11-0, No. 20/21 CUA welcomes league foe Merchant Marine Academy to the DuFour Center on Saturday as the Cardinals begin the majority of their Landmark schedule.  CUA has gone 5-0 since classes ended last month, including a pair of wins in Puerto Rico and two more wins at its own holiday tournament last week.

The Cardinals have received strong play from Jill Woerner, Kelli Josephsen and Josephine Migash during this recent stretch, with Josephsen and Migash receiving All-Tournament honors last week.

Merchant Marine Academy enters this weekend’s contest with a mark of 1-2 within the Landmark, which includes a win over Goucher on December 1.  Tamara Kaileh is the Mariners’ leading scorer, averaging 12.3 points per game.  The Cardinals have won four straight in the series, with USMMA’s last win coming on February 13, 2010 in New York.

CUA moved into the D3Hoops.com poll on Wednesday, debuting at No. 20.  The Cardinals are now nationally ranked in two polls, checking in at No. 21 in the USA Today Top-25 poll.  CUA is one of only seven Division III schools in the country with both its women's and men's teams nationally ranked.  The CUA men are currently 11-1 with a national ranking of No. 9.

Junior Emily Grabiak plays a vital role for CUA, averaging 7.5 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.  The New Jersey native dished out a career-high 10 assists to go along with 11 points in a win over Washington College, and then totaled 8 points and a career-best 13 boards vs. William Paterson.

CUA boasts one of the top defenses in the Landmark Conference, ranking first in scoring defense (51.6 ppg), field goal percentage defense (30%), and 3-point field goal percentage defense (23%).  The Cardinals have held 10 teams below 60 points this season, and five below 50 points.

With 1,262 career points, senior Jill Woerner is closing in on the top-five in school history.  A native of Providence, Woerner is currently 43 points behind the fifth all-time leading scorer, Brianna Peterson, who scored 1,305 points from 2007-10.

USMMA got the season off to a strong start with three straight wins.  The Mariners then dropped four of their next five before bouncing back with wins in their last two games.  USMMA enters Saturday with a 1-2 record within the Landmark Conference, with losses to Moravian and Scranton, and a win over Goucher.  Tamara Kalleh (12.3) and Roshenda Josephs (9.8) are the team’s top two leading scorers, while Rebecca Resor’s 9.1 rebounds per game lead the way.

For more information on this weekend’s matchup, check out the CUA game notes.

Saturday’s game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. from inside the DuFour Center.  All of the action will be shown live on cuacardinals.com.