FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Thursday, December 11, 2003)

HANNAH STUBBS LEADS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TO BEST START IN HISTORY
(Team Stands 8-0 for the First Time - Stubbs Leading Team in Points and Rebounds)

        After defeating the Coast Guard Academy, 55-26, Wednesday, Dec. 10 to close out the first semester's action, the Wesleyan University women's basketball team improved its 2003-04 record to 8-0.  It is the first time in the 32-year history of the sport at the college that the squad opened the year with eight straight victories. Last year, the team went 7-0 before falling to Springfield, 52-44, for its first loss.  Then the team rattled off eight wins in a row before losing to Bowdoin.  The squad finished the record-breaking 2002-03 season with a final record of 21-4.

        With 11 letterwinners and three starters back from the 2002-03 squad, hopes were high for another outstanding campaign. Thus far, the team has lived up to its potential.  The Cardinals avenged last year's loss to Springfield with a 46-38 triumph and also avenged the final loss of the 2002-03 season, that in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tournament semi-finals to Bates.  Wesleyan knocked off Bates this past Sunday (Dec. 7), 52-51, in the championship game of the Cole Farms Classic at St. Joseph's College of Standish, Me.

        In that game, Hannah Stubbs, a sophomore forward from Arlington, Va., scored a game-high 20 points while shooting 10-for-15 from the field, and hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.  Combined with her 17-point, six-rebound effort in a first-round victory over host St. Joseph's, Stubbs earned tournament MVP honors.  She also was named NESCAC co-player of the week.   Earlier in the season, Stubbs earned all-tournament recognition when Wesleyan won the Midway Classic at the U. of Chicago, defeating Rhodes (Tenn.) and host Chicago.

        A year ago, Stubbs assumed a starting spot at forward and was third on the team in scoring with 9.6 PPG, and second in rebounding with 6.5 RPG.  Her field-goal percentage of 61.7 paced the team and was tops in the NESCAC as well.  It would have ranked eighth nationally in Division III but she fell short of the minimum number of field goals made per game (she made 92 field goals but needed to make 125 to qualify).

        Thus far in 2003-04, Stubbs is averaging 12.1 PPG and 9.1 RPG, both of which rank first on the team.  As of the latest NESCAC rankings (12/8), Stubbs was 11th in scoring (12.1) and sixth in rebounding (8.7).  Her 50.8 field-goal percentage ranks eighth.  Her 6-for-7 shooting against Coast Guard upped her percentage to 53.8. As a team, Wesleyan is outscoring opponents by an average of 18 points a game, and holding opponents to just 39 points and 28.3 percent shooting.  In the most recent d3hoops.com national poll (12/9), Wesleyan ranks 23rd among NCAA Division III colleges.

        Stubbs is the daughter of Joseph and Linda Stubbs of 1622 North Jackson Street in Arlington and is a 2002 graduate of Yorktown High School.  There she was a four-time basketball letterwinner, a team MVP and a first-team all-district and all-region choice.  She also was a field hockey standout, receiving first-team all-district and all-region honors, and lettered in lacrosse as well.

        At Wesleyan, Stubbs has directed all her athletic attention to basketball.