Feb. 21, 2008
Patriot League Women's Basketball Release - 2.21.08 
Patriot League Notebook
Down To Three In First
Three teams still remain at the top of the Patriot League standings at 8-3. On Wednesday, American won its seventh-straight game with a 63-52 victory at Army to maintain its first-place status and push Army out of the tie for first. Lehigh earned a 51-39 win at home over Colgate and Holy Cross defended its home court with a 56-53 victory over Navy as both the Mountain Hawks and the Crusaders are tied for first with the Eagles. Bucknell took a 68-45 game from Lafayette in Easton, Pa.
Rivalries Renewed
Part two of this year's rivalry matchups will take place on Saturday with Navy at Army at 11 a.m. and Lafayette playing at Lehigh at 7 p.m.
Army won the first game of the season versus its archrival Navy, 58-49, on the road. The Black Knights have now taken a 25-24 lead in the all-time series and are 17-16 when playing the Mids in Patriot League regular-season games When playing in West Point the series is deadlocked at 11-11. Before splitting games last year, Army had won five in a row. The longest winning streak for both teams stands at nine. Army won nine straight from 1990-94, while Navy did so from 1996-99. Saturday's matchup will mark the "Star Game" between the two academies.
It is now Lafayette's turn to take the 15 mile trip over to Lehigh after defeating the Mountain Hawks, 48-45, in Easton, Pa. on Jan. 26. Lafayette is ahead, 39-30, in the all-time series, but Lehigh has fared better in Patriot League regular-season games at a 19-16 mark. The two teams have split the season series the last two years and before that Lehigh had won four straight.
March 4th Media Teleconference
The Patriot League will hold a media teleconference featuring the eight women's basketball head coaches on Tuesday, March 4 at 11 a.m. The call will allow each coach to preview the upcoming Patriot League Tournament and answer questions from the media. The 2007-08 All-Patriot League Team (Rookie, Second and First Teams) will be announced on the media call. For dial-in information contact Patriot League Associate Media Relations Director Jessica Siegel.
Mountain Hawk Defense
If the season ended today Lehigh would go down with the lowest point per game allowed in Patriot League history, currently ranked first in the Patriot League in scoring defense (52.8). The best mark in the record books was set during the 1990-91 season by Army (53.5) and the second-best mark was also by the Black Knights last year (53.9). Lehigh is seventh in the nation in scoring defense and after last night's win over Colgate have held five of its opponents to less than forty points this season.
Quotable
"This game was everything that we talked about in pre-game. American is obviously playing at a much higher level now, and I give them a tremendous amount of credit. I am really impressed with their improvement from when we played them down in Washington, D.C. in January." - Army Head Coach Dave Magarity after a loss to American on Wednesday
Thinking Pink
All eight of the Patriot League's schools will participate in the WBCA "Think Pink" initiative, which is a global, unified effort for the WBCA nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. American and Colgate will support the cause on Saturday.
NGWSD Celebration
The Patriot League will celebrate National Girl and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) during the month of February will all eight schools planning events. Colgate will hold its NGWSD event on Saturday in conjunction with its women's basketball and women's ice hockey games.
NGWSD began in 1987 and has evolved into a day to acknowledge the past and recognize current sports achievements, the positive influence of sports participation and the continuing struggle for equality and access for women in sports.
2008 Patriot League Tournament
The 2008 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament will be held Saturday-Sunday, March 8-9 and Wednesday, March 12. Army will host the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y. on March 8-9. The Patriot League Tournament Championship Game will take place at the site of the highest remaining seed on March 12. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Tickets to the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the 2008 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament can be purchased by calling the Army ticket office at 1-877-TIX-ARMY (1-877-849-2769) or by visiting Army's website at www.goArmySports.com and clicking on Tickets.
Patriot League All-Access and Highlights
Watch the majority of Patriot League Men's and Women's Basketball regular-season and tournament games on high-speed Broadband. For $7.95 a month, this cutting-edge technology takes your from your seat to the sideline with multi-camera coverage. Visit your school's website or www.PatriotLeague.com for more information.
A twice-a-week highlight package can also be found on the Patriot League website. The highlight videos are free of charge and will be available on the League's website twice a week - once towards the beginning of the week to recap weekend action and one towards the end of the week to highlight mid-week games. Footage is taken from the Patriot League's and CSTV's All-Access package.
Team Notebooks
American American shot 17-for-20 from the free throw line in the second half to seal a 63-51 Patriot League win over Army at Christl Arena. The win marks the seventh straight for the Eagles and sixth in a row on the road. The Eagles have split the regular season with the Black Knights and forced Army out of the tie for first with the win. For the game, the Eagles went 21-for-25 from the charity stripe and shot 44.2% from the floor. Junior Talicia Jackson led American with 14 points, three assists and two steals. Freshman Liz Leer came off the bench to score 12 points and added a team-high nine rebounds and a block. Senior Maggie Smith-Davidson finished with eight points and eight boards. On Saturday American will look to sweep the regular-season series from Holy Cross, which is one of two other teams in a tie for first in the League standings with the Eagles. Last time out American notched a 62-46 road victory over Holy Cross. Saturday will serve as American's WBCA "Think Pink" event.
Army Army dropped out of the four-way tie for first in the Patriot League standings with a loss to American at home on Wednesday. The closest Army would get in the second half came 3:08 into the last stanza, down by just two, 36-34. For the first time since Jan. 3 against Maryland-Eastern Shore, Army allowed an opponent to score more than 60 points Freshman Nalini Hawkins scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the second half to lead Army for the fifth time this season, while senior Cara Enright added 11. Junior Courtney Wright posted seven points and tied for a game-best nine rebounds in 26 minutes on the floor. Army closes out its three-game home stand on Saturday with its 50th meeting against service academy rival Navy. The matchup, which will serve as the annual "Star Game," is the first of a doubleheader at Christl Arena as the Army men take on the Navy men at 2 p.m. on CBS. Army holds a slight 25-24 advantage over Navy in the all-time series after earning a 58-49 win in the first half of the League season.
Bucknell Bucknell used a 40-point first half to defeat Lafayette, 68-45, on the road. Bucknell ended a two-game losing streak and won a game by more than 20 points for the fourth time this year thanks to a 47-32 rebound advantage. Four Bucknell starters netted double figures, including senior Hope Foster, who posted her 16th career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Lauren Schober led Bucknell with 15 points, while junior Amanda Brown and senior Kesha Champion each had 12. Freshman Cosima Higham grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds in just 15 minutes off the bench. Champion added six assists to go with her five rebounds and three steals. She moved into third place on Bucknell's career assist list with 338. Bucknell shot a season-high 48.3% from the field, including a 58.6% shooting effort in the first half. The Bison will wrap up their three-game road trip Saturday at Colgate. Bucknell has won five-consecutive regular-season games against the Raiders, including a 65-36 victory in the first half of the season.
Colgate Freshman Sami Kozlowski led Colgate with 10 points in a loss at first-place Lehigh on Wednesday. Senior Caitlin Gillard added nine points, four rebounds, and two assists to the mix for Colgate, while rookie Krista Moser had eight points and five boards. Sophomore Katie Garman led all players on the glass with eight rebounds. Colgate improved its shooting dramatically in the second half. The Raiders took just 14 shots, making nine of them for a 64.3 percent success rate. Colgate got to the free throw line 12 times in the second half. Overall, the Raiders shot 32.4 percent from the floor. Colgate returns home for its WBCA "Think Pink" event and NGWSD celebration on Saturday. Colgate will host Bucknell, looking to spilt the regular season with the Bison. Colgate defeated Bucknell as recently as last March when the eighth-seeded Raiders knocked off the top-seeded Bison in the quarterfinal round of last year's Patriot League Tournament.
Holy Cross Holy Cross held a 49-45 lead with just under four minutes left to play before Navy made one of two free throw attempts followed by a three-point field goal, sandwiched around a Holy Cross missed field goal attempt, to tie the game at 49-49 with 2:25 left on the clock. Junior Kathy Gruzynski then was found alone underneath the basket for a layup to give the Crusaders a two-point advantage with two minutes left to play. With 7.1 seconds left in the game, sophomore Briana McFadden made the second of two free throw attempts to give the Crusaders a 56-53 lead over Navy, which would end up being the final score. Four Crusaders reached double-digit scoring, led by freshman Elizabeth Campbell's 13 points. Campbell tied her career-high in blocks with five. Sophomore Bethany O'Dell netted 12 points, while McFadden and Gruzynski each chipped in 10. Holy Cross will travel to American on Saturday. The Crusaders own a 13-3 lead in the all-time series, but fell to the Eagles in the first half of the Patriot League season.
Lafayette Junior Cristin Zavocki led the Leopards with 13 points, including nine from three-point range, while senior Vanessa Van De Venter chipped in 11 points in a loss to Bucknell at home on Wednesday. With her three treys, Zavocki now has 55 this season and needs only seven more to tie Kara Stetler for the single-season record of 62. Van De Venter now has 1,325 career points and needs 52 more to tie Chris Sieling '94 for fifth all-time and moved into sole possession of ninth place on Lafayette's all-time rebounding list (604). Freshman LaKeisha Wright has 246 points this season and needs only 26 more to tie Van De Venter's first-year total of 272 points. Lafayette will play at archrival Lehigh on Saturday, looking to sweep the Mountain Hawks for the season after a 48-45 victory in January. Lafayette holds the advantage in the all-time series, 39-30.
Lehigh The top-ranked defense in the Patriot League held Colgate to nine points in the first half and allowed Lehigh to coast to a 51-39 victory over the Raiders. The Mountain Hawks collected 15 steals and forced 22 turnovers. Lehigh has now held five of its opponents this year to less than forty points and ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense. Sophomore Alex Ross scored a game-high 16 points, knocking down four three-pointers for the Brown and White. Freshman Courtney Dentler tied her career high with nine points and classmate Erica Prosser also chipped in with nine points, shooting four-of-eight from the field. Lehigh returns to action on Saturday for their final home game of the regular season, against rival Lafayette. The Mountain Hawks dropped their last game to the Leopards but still own an advantage, 19-16, in all-time Patriot League regular-season games.
Navy Junior Kalen Kropa's three-point attempt at the buzzer hit the rim twice before bouncing out to allow Holy Cross to escape with a 56-53 victory over the Navy on Wednesday. Freshman Angela Myers drilled a three-pointer to give the Mids a 52-51 lead with 48 seconds left. Navy tacked on its last point of the game with 8.3 seconds remaining on a K.C. Gordon free throw shot. Freshman Cassie Consedine led all players in the game with 17 points and 11 rebounds to notch her 11th double-double of the season. Junior Whitney Davidson added 10 points for Navy, Gordon scored nine points and Myers contributed three points, nine rebounds and six assists. Navy will next play Saturday at Army in the "Star Game" between the two programs. Army won the first meeting between the two teams this year but the service academies split the regular season a year ago.
