2021 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Program

PLAYER TO WATCH Canisius senior guard Anndea Zeigler is the lone four- year senior on this year’s Canisius women’s basketball roster. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., she signed her National Letter of Intent to join the Golden Griffins prior to the start of the 2017–18 campaign. Zeigler, who started the 2020–21 campaign as an All-Big 4 Women’s Basketball Second Team selection, has played in more than 65 games in her career on Main Street. She scored a career-high 16 points in a triple-overtime loss at St. Bonaventure her sophomore season, and she also grabbed a career-best seven rebounds in that game. She ended the 2020–21 campaign tied for third on the teamwith her 8.2 points per game scoring average and her eight total steals led all Canisius players for the year. NOTABLE ALUMNI Former Canisius guard Kei (McFadden) Clarek was a four-year letterwinner for the Golden Griffins from 1999–03, and she’s still involved in women’s basketball, now at the WNBA level. Clarke is Chief Executive Officer of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, where she leads and manages all business aspects of the Liberty organization, including strategic planning, revenue, P&L and operations. Additionally, Clarke works closely with stakeholders on key elements of team business, including growing the fan base, maximizing sales and fan engagement, and improving business performance. As CEO, Clarke oversees all business-related operations for the Liberty, including the management of the team’s partnership deal with its official regional TV partner, YES Network. In 2019, Clarke led negotiations to ink a first-of-a-kind deal with YES, as there had never been a WNBA game on the network prior to the 2019 season. Clarke is entering her 11 th season with the Liberty, previously serving as the Liberty’s Manager of Marketing for four seasons, prior to her promotion to Director in 2015, and Vice President for Team Business Development in 2017. In her marketing roles, she collaborated with Marketing Partnerships, Ticket Sales, Event Presentation, and Community Relations to deliver first class experiences for Liberty fans each summer.

WOMEN’S ROSTER No. Name Cl.

Pos.

Ht.

Hometown

0 1 2 5

Shaunae Brown Dominique Doss Shayla Sweeney

So. So.

G 5-5 Toronto, Ontario G 5-8 Reisterstown, MD

Jr.

G 5-11 Pennsauken, NJ

Ella Vaatanen

Sr. Sr. So.

F

6-1 Tuusula, Finland

11 13 14 21 22 23 24

Anndea Zeigler

G 5-8 Buffalo, NY

Amaya Santiago

G 5-9 Elmwood Park, NJ G 5-5 Franklinville, NY

Dani Haskell

Fr.

Kayla Jackson

Jr.

F F

5-10 Rochester, NY

Tiffany McGhie Erika Joseph Gia Esposito

So.

6-0 Brooklyn, NY

Jr.

G 5-8 Toronto, Ontario G 5-7 Staten Island, NY

So.

Head Coach: Scott Hemer (St. Bonaventure, ’95) – 3 rd Season Assistant Coaches: Jazz Weaver (UNC Greensboro, ’12) – 3 rd Season, Amber Moore (Illinois,’14) – 1 st Season Academics & Operations Coach: Ben Lober (Michigan State, ’20) – 1 st Season Athletic Trainer: Erin Thornton (Canisius,’05) – 11 th Season Student Manager: Ashmee Fernandez

HEAD COACH SCOTT HEMER Scott Hemer was officially named the head coach of the Canisius women’s basketball program on April 23, 2018. The 2020–21 season will mark his third year leading the Golden Griffins. In two seasons at the helm of the Blue and Gold, Hemer has mentored three All-MAAC selections and seven MAAC All-Academic honorees. In his first year on Main Street, Hemer led the Griffs to a 9-9 record in MAAC play, resulting in the No. 5 seed at the MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship, the team’s highest postseason seeding and best conference winning percentage in a decade. Hemer picked up his first career Division I victory in Albany, N.Y. when the Griffs defeated Albany 48-42 on Nov. 28, 2018, while his first league win came at home against Manhattan on Feb. 3, 2019, by the final score of 47-44. Prior to arriving on Main Street, Hemer spent 11 seasons as head coach of the Geneseo women’s basketball program. In his 11-year tenure with the SUNYAC program, he was named Coach of the Year five times and the 2016 Pat Summit Trophy winner as the United States Marine Corps/WBCA NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year.

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