March 2, 2009

Center Valley, Pa.--Strong finishes were the central theme on the final week of Patriot League play. Lehigh closed the regular season with its 14th straight home win and American emerged from a five-team pack to finish second in the regular season standings. There were plenty of strong individual finishes, as well. On the final week of her senior season, Bucknell's Lauren Schober was named Patriot League Baden Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Lehigh freshman Emily Gratch, who was averaging 3.0 points per game prior to last week's action, was named Patriot League Baden Rookie of the Week after averaging 13.5 points in two contests.

Patriot League Women's Basketball Release 3.2.09

Baden Player of the Week (Feb. 23-Mar. 1)

Lauren Schober, Bucknell Sr., G/F, Chicago, Ill. Schober was named Patriot League Baden Player of the Week for the first time in her career after logging 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game while averaging 38 minutes in two contests last week. She helped the Bison go 1-1 on the road and clinch the No. 3 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. Against Lehigh on Wednesday, Schober made seven field goals while scoring 18 points. She also notched six rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block. She added 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in the Bison's 56-50 win over Army on Saturday. Her two blocks tied a career high. She made four three-pointers against the Black Knights, also tying a career high. Schober now ranks 15th in scoring at Bucknell.

Baden Rookie of the Week (Feb. 23-Mar. 1)

Emily Gratch, Lehigh Fr., F, Holicong, Pa. Gratch, who was averaging 3.0 points and 2.1 rebounds per game prior to Wednesday, averaged 13.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in two contests last week. She helped Lehigh snag a pair of victories and clinch the top seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. Gratch made 7-of-10 shots from the field and all six of her free throw attempts while scoring a career-high 20 points in the Mountain Hawks' regular season finale against Holy Cross. She scored eight points during Lehigh's 14-0 second-half run, helping the Mountain Hawks pull away. She also added six rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals in 22 minutes on Saturday. In Lehigh's Wednesday win against Bucknell, Gratch scored seven points and pulled down six boards. For the week, Gratch made 60 percent of her field goals and 90 percent of her free throws. It is the first time that Gratch has been named Patriot League Baden Rookie of the Week.

Honorable Mention Performances Last Week

Nicole Ryan, American Jr., G, Safety Harbor, Fla. Ryan averaged 18 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, helping American clinch the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. Ryan made 50 percent of her field goals, inlcuding 9-of-16 from behind the three-point line. She scored 21 points against Navy, before adding 16 in a win against Lafayette.

Erin Anthony, Army So., F, Allentown, Pa. Anthony scored 20-points in the Black Knights' win against Lafayette, marking the fourth time in five outings that Anthony had scored at least 20 points. She hit 10-of-11 free throws against the Leopards. For the week, Anthony averaged 15 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists in two games.

Briana McFadden, Holy Cross Jr., G, Wheaton, Md. McFadden made all nine of her free throw attempts and 11-of-20 shots from the field in two games last week. She connected on 4-of-9 three-pointers while averaging 17.5 points, 3.5 rebounds. 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals. Against Colgate on Wednesday, McFadden recorded 19 points and six rebounds.

LaKeisha Wright, Lafayette So., G, Upper Marlboro, Md. Wright was the only Lafayette player to score in double-figures in both of Lafayette's games last week. She averaged 13 points and four rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the floor. She shot 5-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to finish with 15 points against Army on Wednesday.

Alex Ross, Lehigh Jr., G, Columbia, Tenn. Ross helped the Mountain Hawks clinch the top seed in the Patriot League Tournament by averaging 15.5 points in a pair of Lehigh wins. Of her 12 field goals last week, seven were from beyond the three-point line. She now holds the program record for three-pointers in a season with 80. She also averaged 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists per game.

Angela Myers, Navy So., G, San Antonio, Texas At just 5'5", Myers notched her fifth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the Mids' 59-56 win against American on Wednesday. Myers also dished out three assists against the Eagles. She added eight points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists in Navy's Saturday triumph over Colgate.

Patriot League Notebook

Regular Season Comes To A Close Lehigh closed the regular season in the same fashion that it had finished its previous 13 home contests--with a win. The Mountain Hawks used a 14-0 second-half run to seize control of its game against Holy Cross. Lehigh recorded a 71-60 win over the Crusaders to finish the regular season 14-0 at home. It was just the second time in the history of the program and the first time since the 1985-86 season that the Mountain Hawks finished the regular season undefeated at home. Though five teams entered Saturday's competition with a chance to finish tied for second place, American emerged from the pack with a 75-54 win over Lafayette. The Eagles finished a game ahead of Bucknell, Holy Cross, Army and Navy. American entered the day with a one-game lead over Bucknell and Navy, while Holy Cross and Army both fell on Saturday. Army was topped by Bucknell, while Navy defeated Colgate to move into a four-way tie for third place.

Patriot League Tournament On Deck Starting Saturday, top-seeded Lehigh will host the first two rounds of the Patriot League Tournament. The Mountain Hawks will battle eighth-seeded Colgate, a team Lehigh beat twice in the regular season. The winner of the Lehigh/Colgate match-up will meet either No. 4 Holy Cross or No. 5 Army. The Crusaders and Black Knights split their regular season series. Second-seeded American will open the tournament against No. 7 Lafayette. The Eagles won both regular meetings between the schools this season. The winner of the American/Lafayette pairing will square off against the winner between No. 3 Bucknell and No. 6 Navy. The Bison and Mids finished with the same regular season record, but Bucknell knocked off Navy in both of the schools' regular season meetings.

Prowling the Patriot League Holy Cross head coach Bill Gibbons has more Patriot League victories than any other coach in the history of the League. Gibbons is the only coach in the League who has been with his team since the inception of the League. With the Crusaders' win against Colgate on Wednesday, he is also the first coach in League history to win 200 Patriot League games. In his 24th season at Holy Cross, Gibbons is 200-52 in Patriot League contests. The three coaches with the most Patriot League victories are among the League's active coaches. Lehigh's Sue Troyan has 102 Patriot League wins, while Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka has 98 career Patriot League triumphs.

Small Players, Big Numbers Patriot League players have produced 45 double-doubles this season, including 12 by players under 6'. Navy guard Angela Myers is the shortest player in the Patriot League to notch a double-double this season. At just 5'5", Myers has produced five double-doubles, the third-highest total by a Patriot League player this season. She is the shortest player in the nation to record multiple double-doubles this season.

McGuire Continues Climbing Army senior Alex McGuire has scored 1,444 career points, the most of any active Patriot League player. With 12 points against Bucknell on Saturday, she moved within one point of tying Colgate's Malissa Burke (2000-04) for 18th place and three points behind Bucknell's Lori Houck (1996-00) for 17th place. She is 22 points behind Lehigh's Jessica DePalo (2001-05) for 16th place and 26 points back of Navy's Becky Dowling (1994-98) for 15th place. McGuire currently ranks third on Army's career scoring list.

Homecourt Security Road teams have won 26 of the 56 Patriot League contests this season. The exeption to the rule has been Lehigh, which is the only team that did not lose a Patriot League home game. In fact, the Mountain Hawks have yet to lose a home game all season. Lehigh has won a League-high 14 home games this season.

Streak Snappers Six teams began Saturday with streaks at least three games in length. Three of those teams' streaks came to a close. American snapped its three-game skid with a win over Lafayette. Army and Holy Cross had three-game winning streaks halted. Meanwhile, Lehigh extended its winning streak to six games, while Lafayette and Colgate saw their losing streaks extend to 10 and five games, respectively.

Patriot League Women's Basketball Day In a joint proclamation, Bethlehem mayor John Callahan and Easton mayor Sal Panto declared Saturday, March 7, the first day of the 2009 Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament, to be Patriot League Women's Basketball Day. The proclamation was made last Wednesday at Hotel Bethlehem as part of a press conference announcing a partnership between Lehigh, the tournament's host institution, and St. Luke's Hospital & Health Center and the Bethlehem Area School District.

Top Ten Tandem Two active Patriot League players are listed in the top 10 on the League's all-time statistical charts. Navy sophomore center Cassie Consedine is eighth in career blocks in the Patriot League. She has 123 career blocks, 13 behind Lehigh's Jessica DePalo (2001-05). She is two away from establishing a new school record. Holy Cross junior Bethany O'Dell ranks fourth in the Patriot League annals in career three-point field goals with 215. She is five behind Colgate's Allison's Lipinski (2001-05) for third place.

Season Series--Sweeps Week or Splitsville? Of the Patriot League's 28 season series, 19 have concluded in sweeps while the other nine have been split decisions. All eight of last week's Patriot League games wrapped up season sweeps.

Now That's Progress Of the eight Patriot League teams, five have matched or surpassed their win totals from last season. With 15 wins, Navy has already tallied eight more wins than last season. Only five 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 eight League victories, five more than a year ago. Colgate has picked up five wins, four more than last season. Lehigh has also eclipsed its win total from a year ago, improving from 18 wins to 23 victories. With 19 wins, American has one more win that it had all of last season. Army and Bucknell have each matched their win totals from last season.

Lifting The League The Patriot League received a significant RPI boost in non-League play. The League is currently ranked 18th 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 61-57 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 61 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.

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 basketball games.

Team Notebooks

American American snapped a three-game losing streak with a convincing 75-54 win over Lafayette on Saturday in Washington. Eleven different American players scored, including three in double-figures. The Eagles' bench scored 26 points, helping American score its most points since a Jan. 4 win against Columbia. The Eagles shot 46 percent for the game, including a 52 percent effort in the second half. The Eagles trailed for a total of 22 seconds and built leads as large as 27 points en route to the victory. Nicole Ryan scored 16 points and hauled in six rebounds to lead American. Liz Leer added 14 points and four rebounds, while Michelle Kirk churned out 11 points and eight rebounds. American has finished in the top half of the Patriot League regular season standings in each of the past three seasons. The Eagles and Leopards will meet again on Mar. 7 in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. American will be the No. 2 seed while Lafayette will be seeded seventh.

Army The Black Knights' three-game winning streak came to a close on Saturday as result of Army's 56-50 loss to Bucknell. The Black Knights have now lost to the Bison five straight times. Army built an early 17-14 lead, but a 10-0 run by Bucknell gave the Bison a lead that they would not relinquish. After being honored on Senior Day prior to the game, Army's Alex McGuire finished with a team-best 12 points. Sophomores Erin Anthony and Nalini Hawkins chipped in 10 points apiece, while Courtney Wright finished with 10 boards for the Black Knights. Despite the Black Knights' first loss on Senior Day in three years, Army's senior class will finish with the most Division I victories (80) in program history. Army finished the regular season in fifth place in the Patriot League standings, marking the first time since 2004 that the Black Knights have not closed the season among the top half of the League. The fifth-seeded Black Knights will face fourth-seeded Holy Cross in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday.

Bucknell The Bison closed the regular season with a 56-50 victory against Army in West Point. The Bison have now beaten the Black Knights five consecutive times. A jumper by senior Amana Brown with 7:16 left in the first half capped a 10-0 Bucknell run to give the Bison a 24-17 lead. Bucknell never trailed again. Brown led all scorers with 19 points, while classmate Lauren Schober added 16. Sophomore Cosima Higham fell one point and one rebound shy of her sixth career double-double, tallying nine points and nine rebounds. Brown, who leads the Patriot League in assists and ranks second in scoring, has contributed to a higher percentage of her team's offense than any other player in the League. With its win on Saturday, Bucknell secured the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Bison will play sixth-seeded Navy on Mar. 7. The Bison defeated the Mids twice in the regular season.

Colgate Playing her final home game, Colgate senior Gretchen Polinski scored seven points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds in the Raiders 65-35 loss to Navy. Colgate was held to 26-percent shooting (13-of-51), while Navy connected on 52 percent (29-of-56) of its shots. Sophomore guards Tayler Wejnert and Sami Kozlowski led Colgate with nine points each. Polinski is Colgate's lone senior. Of the Raiders' top five scorers, three are sophomores and two are freshmen. Eighth-seeded Colgate will open the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday against top-seeded Lehigh. Colgate's last Patriot League Tournament win was in 2007, when the eighth-seeded Raiders upset top-seeded Bucknell.

Holy Cross After playing to a 34-34 halftime tie, the Crusaders were out-scored by a 37-26 margin in the second half of a 71-60 loss to Lehigh in Bethlehem on Saturday. The teams exchanged the lead eight times and played to seven ties, but a 14-0 second-half run by Lehigh sealed the Crusaders' fate. Lehigh forced the Crusaders into 21 turnovers, which led directly to 23 points for the Mountain Hawks. Four players scored in double-figures for the Crusaders, led by Briana McFadden. The reigning Patriot League Player of the Year scored 16 points and dished out three assists. She has led Holy Cross in scoring in 16 of the Crusaders' 29 games this season. She also leads Holy Cross with 2.4 assists per game and ranks second on the squad with 4.6 rebounds per game. The Crusaders have finished in the top half of the Patriot League standings every year since the League began competition in the 1990-91 season, but Holy Cross' fourth-place finish is its worst since 2004. The fourth-seeded Crusaders will battle fifth-seeded Army on Saturday in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.

Lafayette The Leopards' losing streak was extended to 10 games with Lafayett'es 75-54 loss to American on Saturday in Washington. Lafayette's bench was out-scored by American's reserves, 26-15. Lafayette shot 59 percent from the field in the second half, but the Leopards could not match American, which shot 46 percent for the game and 52 percent in the second half. Lafayette was paced by Emily Garner's 12 points and seven rebounds. Lafayette sophomore LaKeisha Wright added 11 points and four boards. Wright leads Lafayette in scoring this season with 11.1 points per outing. The Leopards will meet the Eagles once again on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Lafayette will be the No. 7 team, while American will be seeded second. Lafayette will be chasing its first Patriot League Tournament victory since 2000.

Lehigh Defense sparked a second half surge for Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks claimed a 71-60 win over Holy Cross in Bethlehem on Saturday. The teams played to a 34-34 halftime tie in a game that featured seven ties and eight lead-changes, but Lehigh out-scored the Crusaders by a 37-26 margin in the second frame to secure the victory. Lehigh trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, but an 18-3 second-half run gave the Mountain Hawks a 67-54 advantage, their largest lead of the game. Lehigh forced the Crusaders into 21 turnovers, which led directly to 23 points for the Mountain Hawks. Lehigh freshman Emily Gratch, who entered the game averaging 3.2 points per game, scored a career-high 20 points to lead all scorers. Junior Alex Ross added 18 points for the Mountain Hawks, including a game-high four three-pointers. Lehigh closed the regular season with a 14-0 home record, marking the first time that the program has finished the regular season undefeated at home since the 1985-86 season. Top-seeded Lehigh will play eighth-seeded Colgate in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday.

Navy Eleven different players scored for Navy in the Mids' 65-35 triumph over Colgate in Hamilton. Playing the final regular season game of their careers, seniors Kalen Kropa and Emily Cordle scored 11 points apiece to pace Navy. Kropa, a guard, also pulled down a team-high six rebounds to help the Mids out-rebound the Raiders by a 33-26 margin. Navy connected on 52 percent (29-of-56) of its shots, while limiting Colgate to 26 percent (13-of-51) from the field. Sophomore point guard Angela Myers, who dished out five assists in two games last week, became the first player in Navy history to post 100-assist seasons as both a freshman and sophomore. Her 104 assists this season ranks fourth in school history among sophomores. Despite its victory, Navy will be the No. 6 seed for the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Mids will battle third-seeded Bucknell in the first round of the tournament. Eighth-seeded Colgate will meet top-seeded Lehigh.