Jan. 30, 2009

Patriot League Women's Basketball Weekend Preview 1.30.09

Patriot League Notebook

In Review Wednesday night was not a good night for home teams, as all four visiting teams picked up victories. Lehigh sits alone atop the Patriot League standings after Wednesday's Patriot League games. Coupled with American's home loss to Navy, the Mountain Hawks' victory over Bucknell vaulted Lehigh to the top of the Patriot League. Lehigh has now won three straight games. Navy won its fourth straight contest while ending American's four-game winning streak. The Mids and Eagles are now in a tie for second place with Holy Cross. The Crusaders defeated Colgate to snap a two-game skid. Also winning on Wednesday was Army, which defeated Lafayette in Easton, giving the Black Knights 17 straight wins in the series.

On Deck All eight teams will have next Wednesday off in League play, but a full slate of games is scheduled for Saturday. First place will be on the line when Lehigh travels to Holy Cross. Lehigh currently holds a one-game lead over American, Navy and Holy Cross. American will hit the road to take on Lafayette, while Navy will host Colgate. Also on Saturday, Bucknell will host Army.

Road Teams Run Roughshod All four road teams claimed victories in Wednesday's Patriot League games. It was the first time this season that all four home teams failed to win. Three Patriot teams have at least as many road wins as home wins.

Climbing the Coaching Mountain Several Patriot League coaches have been chasing significant milestones this season. Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka recorded her 250th career victory on Saturday at Colgate. Fedorjaka is 250-193 since beginning her career at Connecticut College in 1993. She is 183-155 since taking the reins at Bucknell in 1997. First-year Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper is just four wins from collecting her 250th career win. She has guided Navy to an 11-10 record in her first season in Annapolis, a year after the Mids finished 7-23. Prior to her move to Navy, Pemper was 235-48 in 10 seasons at Bowdoin. Sue Troyan is three wins from recording her 200th career victory. She is 197-197 in her 14th year of coaching, all of them with Lehigh. Lafayette head coach Tammy Smith needs just one win to reach the 50-win mark at Lafayette. She has 162 career wins, with 49 coming at Lafayette. Earlier this season, Army head coach Dave Magarity reached the same mark that Smith is currently chasing. Magarity won his 50th game with the Black Knights on Jan. 4 against Brown. Prior to assuming his responsibilities at Army, Magarity won 313 games while coaching men's basketball.

Record Watch `09 Three current players are chasing all-time Patriot League marks. Army senior Alex McGuire has scored 1,320 career points, the most of any active Patriot League player.With 21 points at Lafayette, she tied Norinne Powers of Holy Cross (1990-93) for 29th place. She is now 10 points behind Fordham's Denise Hammersley (1991-95) for 28th place, 19 behind Lehigh's Danielle Baldwin (1996-00) for 27th place and 22 points back of Lehigh's Sara Ellis (2003-07) for 26th place. Navy sophomore center Cassie Consedine is eighth in career blocks. She has 117 career blocks, 19 behind Lehigh's Jessica DePalo (2001-05). Holy Cross junior Bethany O'Dell ranks seventh in three-point field goals with 194, one behind Bucknell's Molly Creamer (1999-2003). She is eight behind Army's Jen Hansen (2003-07) for fifth place.

Now That's Progress Of the eight Patriot League teams, two have already secured more victories than they claimed all of last season. With 11 wins, Navy has already tallied two more wins than last season. Only six teams in the nation have had a larger increase in victories than Navy this season. The Mids have also surpassed their Patriot League win total from last season with four League victories. Colgate has picked up four wins, three more than the Raiders claimed last season. Lehigh is two wins from matching its win total from last season, while American needs four more victories to do so.

Lifting The League The Patriot League received a significant RPI boost in non-League play. The League is currently ranked 21st among NCAA Division I conferences, thanks in large part to Patriot League teams finishing with a winning record against opposing conferences for just the second time in League history. Patriot League teams closed the non-League portion of their schedules with a 60-57 mark, the best regular season non-League mark in Patriot League history. The 2008-09 non-League mark tops the League's 1997-98 showing, in which Patriot League squads finished 50-49 in regular season non-League games. The 60 non-League regular season wins also established a new high, breaking the old mark of 52 regular season non-League victories set in 2006-07.

Growing Our Community The Patriot League launched its "Growing Our Community" women's basketball campaign in 2009 as a result of being one of the few selected conferences in the nation to receive grant funding from the NCAA. The grant is designed to support the growth of women's basketball in the Patriot League community. The goal is to increase the home attendance for the entire 2009 Patriot League women's basketball campaign through a variety of promotions and engaging local organizations to attend and learn more about the Patriot league women's basketball programs, as well as expose individuals to the academic institutions. The target audiences for the program include youth organizations, senior groups, community and civic organizations and students and alumni of each of the eight Patriot League institutions. For more details on the promotions at each game during the 2009 Patriot League campaign, visit www.patriotleague.com/wbbcommunity/.

Patriot League Tournament Tickets Now Available Tickets are now available for the Patriot League women's basketball tournament. All eight Patriot League teams will compete in quarterfinal action at Stabler Arena on the campus of Lehigh University starting March 7. The semifinals will be held Mar. 8 at Stabler Arena. The two remaining teams will compete for the title at the site of the highest remaining seed. Quarterfinal and semifinal tickets are $12 per day for adults and $6 per day for children and seniors. Two-day passes are $20 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. Group tickets are available through the Lehigh ticket office. Fans can purchase tickets for the first two rounds online by visiting the Lehigh athletics web page.

Patriot League All-Access Package Returns for 2008-09 Almost every regular-season and Patriot League Tournament game will be shown on high-speed broadband through the Patriot League All-Access package. The cutting-edge technology takes viewers up close with multi-camera coverage. The monthly fee allows a subscriber to watch any Patriot League basketball games that are part of the package. The action tips off on Jan. 10 with the Patriot League season in full swing. Visit www.patriotleague.com or the school websites of Patriot League institutions for more information. PatriotLeague.com has launched an enhanced and upgraded All-Access Multimedia Player in partnership with CBS College Sports. This marks the third season for Patriot League All-Access, which includes more than 100 men and women's basketball games and a variety of Patriot League Championship events. The new All-Access is powered by Microsoft's Silverlight technology, providing increased web browser compatibility and a redesigned user-friendly, state-of-the-art interface. The enhanced All-Access gives fans the highest-quality streaming experience and the most online video coverage of the Patriot League. The new multimedia player also offers an improved search engine, which allows users to quickly locate videos they are interested in. Fans can search by sport, type of video and date to easily navigate to the newest content.

Patriot League Games

Armerican (14-7, 4-2) at Lafayette (8-13, 2-4), Saturday, 1 p.m.

Kirby Sports Center, Easton, Pa.

Series: American, 17-3 Streak: American, Three Wins Last Meeting: American, 60-67, OT (3.1.08)

American Despite a combined 45 points and 17 rebounds by Michelle Kirk and Liz Leer, American had its winning streak snapped by Navy on Wednesday. The 68-61 defeat was just the second home loss of the season for the Eagles. It also marked the first time American had lost at home against Navy since Jan. 12, 2005. Kirk registered her second double-double of the season with 27 points on 12-of-22 shooting and 11 rebounds. Leer added 18 points and six rebounds. Kirk and Leer were the only Eagles in double-figures against the Mids. American recorded 12 steals in the game, the second-highest total by any team in a Patriot League game this season.

Lafayette The Leopards were handed their second straight defeat in the form of a 56-46 loss to Army on Wednesday. Due in large part to its defense limiting Army to a 26 percent (7-of-27) first-half shooting mark, Lafayette led the majority of the first frame. Army went on to out-score the Leopards by a 39-25 margin in the second half, including a 41 percent (12-of-29) shooting effort, to key the Black Knights in a win. Jessica Spicer's 13 points led Lafayette, while Emily Garner and Cristin Zavocki came up with 10 points apiece. Wednesday's setback was Lafayette's 17th straight loss to the Black Knights, but it was the closest game in the series since an overtime defeat on Feb. 13, 2005. LaKeisha Wright, who was held to five points in the loss, is the only Leopard averaging double-figures in Patriot League play.

Lehigh (16-5, 5-1) at Holy Cross (9-12, 4-2), Saturday, 1 p.m.

Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.

Series: Holy Cross, 37-6 Streak: Holy Cross, Three Wins Last Meeting: Holy Cross, 46-44 (3.1.08)

Lehigh The Mountain Hawks won their third straight game to re-claim sole possession of first place in the Patriot League. Lehigh outscored Bucknell by a 25-3 margin over the final eight minutes of the first half to seize a 41-19 halftime lead and claim a 66-53 road win over the Bison in Lewisburg. Senior Tricia Smith led Lehigh with a season-high 17 points, one short of a career high. She also knocked down a career-high three three-pointers. Sophomore Erica Prosser and junior Alex Ross added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Prosser and Ross average a combined 27.1 points per game, making them the highest scoring duo in the Patriot League.

Holy Cross Briana McFadden scored 18 points, while Whitney Fremeau and Jessica Merrihue each added 12 to lead Holy Cross to a 72-52 road win against Colgate in Hamilton. The Crusaders held Colgate to just 21.9 percent (7-32) shooting in the second half, while Holy Cross was 13-21 (61.9 percent) from the field in the half. The Crusaders finished the game shooting 55.6 percent while holding the Raiders to 29.3 percent overall. The win snapped a two-game skid by the Crusaders. McFadden, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, averages a League-best 15.3 points per game.

Army (12-8, 3-3) at Bucknell (10-9, 2-4), Saturday, 7 p.m.

Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.

Series: Bucknell, 25-16 Streak: Bucknell, Three Wins Last Meeting: Bucknell, 50-47, OT (3.8.08)

Army Army beat Lafayette for the 17th straight time, 56-46. The Black Knights have now won six of their last seven road games. Senior Alex McGuire recorded a game-high 21 points, giving her 1,320 for her career. She is now tied for 29th on the all-time charts in the Patriot League. Led by Erin Anthony's 15 boards, the Black Knights out-rebounded Lafayette, 48-28. Army's 48 rebounds are the most by any team in a Patriot League contest this season. Anthony now has the top two rebounding efforts in Patriot League play. She also pulled down 16 rebounds in the Black Knights' win over Colgate. Army has out-rebounded its foes by a League-leading 5.1 rebounds per game. The Black Knights also lead the League in scoring defense, limiting its opponents to 52.9 points per game.

Bucknell The last time Bucknell met Army was in the Patriot League quarterfinals. The Bison defeated the Black Knights in overtime for the first of three consecutive wins on the road to the Patriot League championship. Bucknell is coming off a 66-53 home loss to Lehigh. After Bucknell tied the game at 16-16, the Bison were outscored by a 25-3 margin in the final eight minutes of the first half, putting them in a 22-point hole at the break. Bucknell was not able to pull any closer than 13 points the rest of the way. Senior Lauren Schober finished one rebound shy of her first double-double of the season, closing with 12 points and nine rebounds. She now has 999 career points. Bucknell is the only team with four players averaging double-figures in Patriot League play. Amanda Brown leads the way with 15.2 points per outing, which ranks her second in the League. She also dishes out a League-leading 5.1 assists per contest.

Colgate (4-17, 0-6) at Navy (11-10, 4-2)

Alumni Hall, Annapolis, Md.

Series: Navy, 22-15 Streak: Navy, Three Wins Last Meeting: Navy, 56-45 (3.108)

Colgate The Raiders suffered their seventh straight loss in the form of a 72-52 defeat at the hands of Holy Cross. Colgate was held to just 21.9 percent (7-32) shooting in the second half. Sophomores Tayler Wejnert and Sami Kozlowski led the Raiders in scoring. Wejnert paced Colgate with 15 points, five assists and nine rebounds followed by Kozlowski who added 14 points, two assists and three steals. Colgate will be seeking its first win against the Mids since Jan. 27, 2007. Of the Raiders' three consecutive losses to Navy, two have been by two points, including last season's 56-54 defeat in Hamilton.

Navy The Mids claimed a 69-61 win over American in Washington to move into a thee-way tie for second place in the Patriot League standings. Navy, which won just three Patriot League games last season, won its fourth straight Patriot League contest while snapping American's four-game winning streak. Sophomore center Cassie Consedine notched her League-leading eighth double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Four Mids reached double-figures, led by Whitney Davidson's 16 points. Navy captured the win despite committing 25 turnovers, the second-most by any team in a Patriot League game this season.