Dec. 19, 2008

Center Valley, Pa.--The competitive schedule has been light for Patriot League teams lately, but the action will pick up considerably this weekend with nine games on the slate. Despite expected snowstorms across the region, most of the weekend schedule has remained in tact. Bucknell's Friday night game against Wofford, the first-ever meeting between the two programs, has been moved from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Patriot League Women's Basketball Release 12.19.08

Patriot League Notebook

In Review Though the weekend schedule will be packed this weekend, it was another light mid-week schedule for Patriot League teams this week, with just two games on the slate. Lehigh improved its League-best record to 7-3 with a road triumph over NJIT in Newark, N.J., while Lafayette was tripped up by LaSalle in Philadelphia.

On Deck Much of the weekend schedule remains unscathed, despite expected snow storms throughout the region. Bucknell's Friday home game against Wofford is the lone change, thus far. The Bison and Terriers will meet at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. Also on Friday, American will host Princeton, Navy will travel to Rider and Lafayette will battle No. 13 Rutgers in Pisccataway, N.J. On Saturday, a pair of Patriot League teams will be at home. Army will host Presbyterian, while Lehigh will welcome Binghamton. Three Patrot League squads will be in action on Sunday: Lafayette will host Rice, American will take on in-city rival Georgetown and Bucknell will head south to battle James Madison.

Hoops For Hope The Lafayette women's basketball team will present the money raised from its September shoot-a-thon, Hoops for Hope, in a pregame ceremony prior to the start of the team's Sunday game against Rice. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will both receive checks of nearly $2,000. Tip-off for the game is at 1 p.m. The Leopards hosted the Sept. 28 shoot-a-thon in honor of two of the team's off-court heroes--Kasey Keenan and Lauren Loose, daughter of Lafayette football defensive coordinator John Loose. Kasey's charity, Kasey's Krusaders, will donate its check for $1,802.50 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, while Lauren's charity, Lauren's First and Goal, will donate an equal amount to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.

Home Is Where The Heart Is Four of the top five teams in the Patriot League have controlled their home floors this season. Lehigh, American, Army and Lafayette own a combined 14-1 record at home. Three Patriot League teams have yet to lose on their home floors this season. American and Lafayette are each 4-0 at home, while Lehigh is 3-0 at Stabler Arena. Lafayette is the only one of those three teams that has not won on the road. The Leopards are 0-6 away from the Kirby Sports Center. Bucknell is on the other end of the spectrum. The Bison started out the season by winning three straight games, all of them on the road. Bucknell is one of two Patriot League teams looking for its first home win. The Bison are 0-2 Sojka Pavilion. Holy Cross is 0-4 at the Hart Center.

Battle of the Leagues Schools in the Patriot League and the Ivy League are widely regarded among the top academic institutions in the country. In addition to sharing academic goals, the two leagues have also shared a basketball court 10 times this season. Patriot League schools have battled the Ivy League more than any other conference this season. In the ten meetings this season, each league has won five games. The competition will continue this weekend with a Friday meeting between American and Princeton in Washington, D.C.

Team Notebooks

American The Eagles were idle during the week, but will return to action with a pair of weekend contests. American will host Princeton on Friday, before welcoming in-city rival Georgetown to Bender Arena on Sunday. American is the only Patrot League team with three players averaging at least 10 points per game. Michelle Kirk leads the team with 12.8 points per game. Nicole Ryan follows with 12.4 points per contest, while Liz Leer contributes 10.9 points per outing. Leer leads the League with in field goal percentage, shooting at a 61.3 percent clip.

Army After dropping a 59-38 contest to Rutgers in the Maggie Dixon Classic, Army spent the week taking final exams as the U.S. Military Academy observes TEE Week. Army leads the Patriot League in scoring defense, limiting its foes to 58.5 points per game. The Black Knights will look to add to its 3-1 home record and bump its overall mark past .500 when it resumes its schedule with a home outing against Presbyterian on Saturday.

Bucknell Bucknell has not competed since a Dec. 9 loss to Penn State. The Bison will resume action on Friday against Wofford at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg. Lauren Schober will play in her 100th career game when the Bison meet the Terriers. She has started 82 of her 99 games to date. Entering weekend play, the Bison lead the League in rebounds and blocked shots. Bucknell also paces the League in field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense.

Colgate The Raiders will again have the weekend off. Colgate last played on Dec. 7 against Penn. Colgate will not compete again until a Dec. 28 match-up with Bryant. The next home action for Colgate will be the Raiders' Patriot League opener on Jan. 10 against Army. Sami Kozlowski leads the Raiders with 10.6 points per game, while Georgia Gier paces the Colgate rebounding effort with 8.3 rebounds per game. Gier's rebounding average leads the Patriot League.

Holy Cross The Crusaders' will see their first action since Dec. 9 when they take to the floor on Monday against Northeastern. Junior guard Briana McFadden, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, leads the League in scoring with 15.8 points per game. Her classmate, Bethany O'Dell, who has not played since the early minutes of the Crusaders' loss to top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 3, also averages double-digits with 11.4 points per contest.

Lafayette The Leopards dropped a 61-57 decision at LaSalle on Tuesday, dropping Lafayete to 0-5 in non-home games. The Leopards are 4-0 at home this season. Senior guard Cristin Zavocki leads the Leopards with 10.9 points per game this season. She is one of three Leopards in the top 15 of the Patriot League in field goal percentage. The Leopards will return to action on Sunday when they host Rice at the Kirby Sports Center.

Lehigh The Mountain Hawksown the Patriot League's top record with American entering the weekend after securing a 65-54 road win over NJIT on Thursday. Lehigh claims two of the top four scorers in the League. Erica Prosser and Alex Ross rank third and fourth, respectively, in scoring among Patriot League players. Prosser averages 14.0 points per contest, while Ross contributes 12.9 points per outing. Lehigh will host Binghamton on Saturday.

Navy The Mids The Mids will resume their competitive schedule with a Friday road game at Rider. Navy has dropped three straight games after falling at 7-1 Towson pm December 9. Sophomore center Cassie Consedine has scored in double-figures in seven of Navy's 11 games this seasons. She leads the Patriot League with three double-doubles. Consedine is also just one block shy of 100 for her career. As a team, Navy has attemped and made the most free throws of any team in the Patriot League, making 149 of 210.