Conference Predictions: The GNAC
Welcome to another edition of The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops. I’ll be taking a quick look at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) this evening, but first, some D3 news…
In an unfortunate announcement this morning, Dave McHugh of Hoopsville reported that Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), who made a big splash by hiring former Albany men’s basketball head coach Will Brown on Sept. 30, has canceled its upcoming season.
A lack of players was cited by McHugh as the reason for the cancellation of the season, similar to what we saw at Carleton and Cabrini last year. MCLA had just 10 players on its 2023-24 roster, and its unclear how many were set to return, or what the incoming recruiting class looked like. David Bostick, who head coached the program for the last three years, left MCLA in early August for the head coaching position at Skidmore.
While it isn’t uncommon to see one or two programs cancel their seasons before things tip off due to low roster numbers, it doesn’t make situations like this any easier, especially for players who were set to return. We haven’t gotten any sort of official announcement from MCLA, but we saw Carleton make the tough decision to cancel its season last year, and now that program appears to be ready for a full schedule in 2024-25, with 13 on the roster. MCLA could easily take the same approach, allow Brown to recruit throughout this entire winter and spring, and be ready to go for 2025-26. For more details, check out Howard Herman’s story for the Berkshire Eagle, posted just a few hours ago.
Pick to Win: Albertus Magnus
The GNAC could be one of the more underrated leagues to watch this season in terms of competitive title races. St. Joseph’s (ME), Albertus Magnus, and St. Joseph (CT) all have the potential to be Top 100 teams this season. In fact, this pick feels like a complete toss-up between St. Joseph’s and Albertus, because of how thin the margin between the two appears to be. After all, last season’s matchup between those two ended with a 68-65 win for St. Joseph’s. Albertus has a higher percentage of returners (88.7%) to St. Joseph’s (79.4%), though I think St. Joseph’s has more quality depth than Albertus. Both teams return at least 3 players who started every game for them last season, and while Albertus was the GNAC’s No. 1 offense in PPG (76.7), St. Joseph’s was the top defense (57.0 PPG). So that’s the difficulty of this.
Ultimately, I’m giving Albertus Magnus the edge here. Four of the Falcons’ five starters are back, including guard Caitlyn Scott, who averaged 20.8 PPG last season. Scott was one of the most impressive players in the GNAC from an offensive standpoint, and fits well into Albertus’ up-tempo style of play. Diamond White is also back after averaging 15.1 PPG in addition to her 3.1 assists/game, only second on the team next to Scott, who averaged 3.9/game. Jakara Murray-Leach also returns as a senior, and she often plays on the wing, able to score from the outside or in the paint. Murray-Leach was the third Albertus Magnus player that averaged double figures in scoring last season, at 16.6 PPG. The return of Amanda Zdru helps a lot, as the 5th-year senior gives the Falcons that extra bit of backcourt depth that I believe could contribute significantly to a conference title for this program. Zdru started all 27 games in 2023-24, averaged over 7 PPG and posted a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, which was tied for the best mark in the entire league. The performance of that quartet—Scott, White, Murray-Leach, and Zdru—will be crucial to how the season goes for this team. Those four each logged above 30 min/game last season, but beyond that group, nobody else on the 2024-25 roster had more than 14.2. I give Saint Joseph’s (ME) the edge when it comes to depth, but I think the talent of those four for the Falcons is enough to overcome the challenges of a smaller rotation. But that will be something to watch with Albertus this season. They figured it out last year and went 11-3 in GNAC play. It’s not like they lost a ton of big contributors; in fact, they really only lost one in starting forward Natasha Rivera. But they’ll have to take a small step forward to stay on pace with Saint Joseph’s. Getting better defensively would help as well.
As for Saint Joseph’s (ME), a quick look at the Monks, who went 14-0 against league competition last season. Again, I think it’s going to be a very narrow battle between these two programs. Saint Joseph’s brings back a key fifth-year senior in Angelica Hurley, who started all 29 games, averaged 29.9 min/game, 14.9 PPG, and 7.5 RPG. Hurley helped make Saint Joseph’s one of the GNAC’s most efficient offensive teams, while making their mark as a hard-nosed defensive squad. Grace Ramsdell is another big piece of the Monks’ returning core, as the 5-11 forward enters her junior year after putting up 14.3 PPG and 8.1 RPG. Elisabeth Stapelfield, another junior, should contribute well on both ends of the floor and played 25.1 min/game as a 29-game starter last winter. Saint Joseph’s biggest loss was Nina Howe, who graduated, as Howe led the team in assists with 111, tallied 43 steals, and played 28.9 min/game. It isn’t easy to replace a player of that caliber.
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Caitlyn Scott, Albertus Magnus: Just to add to what I already wrote on Scott, she comes off a year in which she was a GNAC Athlete of the Year finalist. 12 games saw her score 20+ points, and three times she put up over 30. Scott’s scoring value to the league’s No. 1 offense, combined with her assist totals, make her one of the most valuable players in the GNAC on that end of the floor.
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Jakara Murray-Leach, Albertus Magnus: It’s hard to find many players who average above 2.0 steals/game AND 1.0 block/game, but Murray-Leach did just that last season, one of only two players in the GNAC to do so. She tallied 2.0 steals/game along with 1.7 blocks/game, ranking second in the league in blocks/game. Her defensive presence will no doubt be important for the Falcons in 2024-25.
Picks so far → AMCC: PSU Behrend, A-R-C: Wartburg, ASC: ETBU, AEC: Marymount, Centennial: Johns Hopkins, CUNYAC: Baruch, C2C: Christopher Newport, CCIW: Illinois Wesleyan, CCS: LaGrange, CNE: Western New England, MACC: Messiah, E8: Nazareth, MACF: Stevens, GNAC: Albertus Magnus
Up Next: HCAC