Roman and Merrimack host Niagara
Niagara Purple Eagles (1-27, 1-18 MAAC) at Merrimack Warriors (17-11, 14-5 MAAC)
North Andover, Massachusetts; Saturday, 12 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Merrimack takes on Niagara after Madison Roman scored 25 points in Merrimack’s 71-55 victory over the Canisius Golden Griffins.
The Warriors have gone 10-3 in home games. Merrimack ranks third in the MAAC with 14.5 assists per game led by Paloma Garcia averaging 3.6.
The Purple Eagles are 1-18 in MAAC play. Niagara has a 0-25 record in games decided by 10 points or more.
Merrimack is shooting 40.9% from the field this season, 6.0 percentage points lower than the 46.9% Niagara allows to opponents. Niagara’s 32.8% shooting percentage from the field this season is 5.9 percentage points lower than Merrimack has given up to its opponents (38.7%).
The Warriors and Purple Eagles square off Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Garcia is averaging nine points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.7 steals for the Warriors. Roman is averaging 16.8 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 55.2% over the past 10 games.
Talia Dial is scoring 11.9 points per game and averaging 2.0 rebounds for the Purple Eagles. Chasity Wilson is averaging 9.9 points and 2.5 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Warriors: 8-2, averaging 71.9 points, 32.7 rebounds, 17.1 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 43.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.1 points per game.
Purple Eagles: 1-9, averaging 53.2 points, 27.0 rebounds, 10.3 assists, 9.8 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 34.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.