Salem State Trio Leading the Way for the Vikings

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications 

On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, Salem State women's basketball players, senior captain  Liz Zaiter (Peabody, Mass.), freshman Ernidia Goncalves (Evertt, Mass.) and sophomore Abuk Teng (Manchester N.H) earned All-MASCAC honors after helping Salem State to an 11-15 record and 6-6 fourth place conference finish, their best showing since the 2012 season.

The trio helped re-energize the women's basketball program and now the team has a solid foundation in place to put Salem State on even higher ground next season.

Zaiter, who currently is majoring in Criminal Justice was named first team all-conference for the second time after averaging 15.8 points per game, while shooting 44.2 percent from the field with a healthy 8.6 rebounds per game average. This season, she recorded a career milestone after surpassing 1,000 career points in a 74-62 win against the MCLA Trailblazers back on January 18.

"I was very excited on getting 1st team recognition," said Zaiter. " I earned 1st team last year so it was very important for me to get it again this year, especially since I'm a senior and don't know what next year holds. I know my stats were in the top-5 in almost every category, including, points, blocks and field goals, but after finding out I tore my ACL, I saw my name slowly going down the list. I was very upset when I thought I would not receive the award. However, the MASCAC realized how big of a threat I was and based on the whole season, I was able to make back-to-back all-conference first teams."

Zaiter found out the news while she was in therapy from a tag in an Instagram post. "I found out the news while I was getting treatment, and I saw that they posted the men's results on the Salem State page. So for about an hour I kept checking the page to see if they posted the women's."

"Salem State women's basketball head coach, Ashley White then reached out, congratulating me on the achievement. Coach White is always on top of things like that, so we were actually talking about it and I was very anxious to see the results. Once they came out, she told me that I worked hard and deserved it."

The biggest moment that resonates with Zaiter is when she achieved 1,000 career points. "My 1,000 points game definitely will be the moment that lives on with me in my heart forever. I had one of my best games that night and just the energy from my team, coaches, and fans was amazing. I tore my ACL about two games after that it, therefore it meant even more to do it then," she said.

During that game to accomplish the milestone, Zaiter played 32 minutes and knocked down 33 points, going 15-24 (62.5%) from the field and was 3-4 (75.0%) from the three point line enroute to 74-62 win over MCLA.

Newcomer Goncalves made quite a splash in her inaugural season. Winning the MASCAC  Rookie of the Year award. Goncalves played in 24 games for the Vikings this season, scoring 12.4 points per game and averaging  8.7 rebounds per game.

Goncalves was named rookie of the week on four different occasions, including both player and rookie of the week back on December 12.

"I was very excited and relieved when I found out I got named MASCAC Rookie of the Year," added Goncalves. "It really proved to me that I put in a lot of work this season and I hope to continue doing that over the next few years," she said.

"All my family members were congratulating me and telling me how proud they were, and some of them mentioned that they had seen it coming."

When the news broke that she won Rookie of the Year she was in class and didn't realize until 15 minutes later, when class was over. "I was actually in class when the news broke, so I didn't see it until after it happened, so when I got back to my phone I saw so many notifications going off and I was just in shock, the first person to let me know was my captain Liz (Zaiter) and later a couple of my teammates," she said.

"Coach White called me after winning the award, she told me that she was very proud of me and to keep putting in the work," she said. "I just thanked my teammates, coaches, family, and all the people the supported me and believed in me, I definitely couldn't have done this without them."

"One of the games that I think enjoyed the most this season was probably the game against Endicott." We had a huge crowd, I had family that drove an hour to come see me play and we were going head to head with Endicott almost the whole game. There were three seconds left and they were up by one and the ball was inbounded to me. I drove to the basket made the shot and got the foul which helped us secure a huge win,"

During that game, which the Vikings won 66 -62, Goncalves played all 40 minutes, scoring 11 points.

Teng earn second team all-conference during her second season. She played in 26 games, scoring 12.7 points per game, with, 6.7 rebounds per game and 1.7 assists per game. She helped solidify the backcourt this season for the Vikings, and is now a key piece going forward for Salem State, which hopes to take the next step forward in bringing a championship back to Twohig Gymnasium.