SHU Hosts Iona Gaels - Game Notes
12/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 13, 2004
Complete Sacred Heart vs. Iona Game Notes in PDF Format
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GAME 7 Iona College (1-6, 1-1 MAAC) vs. Sacred Heart University (3-3, 1-0 NEC)Monday, December 13, 2004 7:00 pm EST William H. Pitt Center (2,100) Fairfield, CT Officials: Joanne Aldrich, Richard Fillippetti, Jon Levinson
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart women's basketball team hosts the Iona College Gaels tonight as the Pioneers are looking to get back on the winning track after back to back losses to Columbia and Hofstra last week. SHU is looking to rebound from Saturday's tough loss to the Pride after they battled all the way back from a 10-point second half deficit to hold a one point lead with 18 seconds to play. It wasn't in the cards for the Pioneers as Hofstra's third attempt at a final shot fell true with just two ticks left giving the Pride the 67-66 victory. Tonight marks the first meeting between Iona and Sacred Heart since the Pioneers made the jump to Division I in 1999-00. The two teams previously met five times during SHU's early years as a basketball program.
TV/Radio/Internet: Tonight's game will be broadcast live on WHRT 91.5 FM. Jeff Holtz, the voice of Pioneer athletics, and Gene Gumbs, SHU Assistant Athletic Director for Communication, will call the action. The game can also be heard on the Internet through the Sacred Heart University website, SacredHeartPioneers.com, and clicking on the audio link on the schedule at the bottom of the front page.
Series... The Gaels hold a 4-1 edge over the Pioneers in the all-time series between the two schools. The first meeting took place during the 1977-78 season with the Pioneers earning their only victory in the series, 76-64, in the season opener. Iona took both meeting during the 1978-79 season, including a 71-70 double overtime thriller in the semifinals of the EAIAW Northeast District Championship at Northeastern University. The Gaels posted a 43-point win, 92-49, at Sacred Heart the following season and a 80-48 win at home in their last meeting during 1980-81.
Scouting the Gaels.... The Iona College women's basketball team comes into tonight's game at 1-6 off a 58-51 loss to Seton Hall in their last outing. The Gaels lone win this year came against MAAC opponent Siena, 79-65. Iona used some strong shooting against the Saints, burying 13 of 22 from downtown en route to the win. On the season, the Gaels are led by sophomore guard Meg Abele who averages 15.6 points per game. Abele is shooting 41.0% (32-78) from the field and a team-best 86.5% (32-37) from the charity stripe. Junior guard Melissa Yeagley is averaging just under 10 points a game at 9.7 ppg while leading the team with 20 steals. The Gaels top rebounder is sophomore Regan Pettijohn who pulls down 5.7 rebounds per contest. Heading into this season, Iona returned three starters from last season's 7-21 club including Co-Rookie of the Year and 2004-05 Preseason All-MAAC third team pick, Toni Horvath . The Gaels were picked to finish ninth in the Preseason MAAC Coaches Poll The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU '89) enters his 15th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 215-179 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have an 88-60 record since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-00. Swanson is the program's longest tenured coach and is the all-time leader in coaching wins, (215) and winning percentage (.546). He also earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a school record 21 wins last season. Anthony Bozzella (Seton Hall `88) is in his third season at the helm of the Iona women's basketball program. He has compiled a 9-54 record in his three years as the Gaels head coach and a 164-185 mark in his 13 years as a head coach.
Pioneers vs. the MAAC... The Pioneers are 6-15 all-time versus teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference but this is the first season in their six-year Division I history that Sacred Heart will face-off with a team from the league. SHU earned a 71-57 win over Rider in the first ever meeting between the two schools back on November 30th of this season. SHU has faced Fairfield University more than any other team from the MAAC, posting a 4-7 record against the Stags. Iona holds a 4-1 mark over Sacred Heart. St. Peter's College is the only other team the Pioneers have faced from the league with the Peacocks are 4-0 all-time against SHU.
Streak at the Pitt Halted... The Pioneers carried the 7th longest home winning streak in the nation into Saturday's game with Hofstra at 19-straight. The Pride halted any SHU hopes of 20 in a row with a bucket with just two seconds remaining to steal a 67-66 win and end a streak that dated back to the 2002-03 season. Their last regular season loss was to St. Francis (PA) in February of 2003 (66-63 OT). SHU dropped an NEC Tournament game to Long Island at the Pitt Center as the tournament's host during that year. The Pioneers are 54-13 at home since joining the NEC and 74-15 since the building opened in 1997. The Pitt Center currently ranks 11th in the nation as the toughest arena for opponents to earn a win.
Tough Losses... Not only did the loss to Hofstra end SHU's home winning streak, it also marked the first time SHU lost a game in nearly two years when holding a lead with less than a minute to go. The last time was also the last game they loss during the regular season at home. SHU held a 59-57 lead over St. Francis (PA) with 36 seconds to play on Feb. 1, 2003 before a Tonjee Ward jumper tied the game and sent it to overtime where the Red Flash earned the win. In fact, it happened twice that season. On January 11th, a pair of Ashlee Kelly free throws with 13 seconds left sent SHU home with a 66-65 loss after leading by one with 43 seconds to play.
Pioneers Logging Major Minutes... Three Pioneers have started this season averaging over 30 minutes per contest. Sophomore Amanda Pape leads the team logging 37.0 minutes per game. She is followed by sophomore Kerri Burke at 34.8 minutes and junior Nicolle Rubino at 33.8 minutes. Senior Colleen White isn't far behind at 28.5 minutes per game this year. Both Pape and Burke each played all 40 minutes of Saturday's loss to Hofstra.
SHU's Offensive Triple Threat... The Pioneers are currently on top of the NEC in scoring offense at 65.7 points per game thanks to the tremendous scoring output of junior Nicolle Rubino and sophomores Amanda Pape and Kerri Burke. The trio have combined to average a collective 41.5 points this season or roughly 63.2% of SHU's offensive production. Pape leads the team and is fifth in the NEC at 14.8 points per game. She is followed by Burke at 13.7 and Rubino at 13.0 points per contest.
Kerri Burke on top of her game... Sophomore point guard Kerri Burke is piling up some big numbers early on this season. The sophomore point guard scored a career-best 15 against Rider and then matched that number in the first half alone against Mount St. Mary's. Burke finished the Mount game with 23 to lead SHU to an 84-66 win. She is second on the team in scoring at 13.7 points per game while shooting 44.4% (12-27) from three with a team-best 29 assists.
Burke...In a Sharing Mood... Kerri Burke is currently leading the Northeast Conference in assists at 4.83 assists per game. She has handed out 29 helpers on the year against just 23 turnovers, good for third in the league in assist/turnover ratio. Burke passed out a career-best 11 assists in last Wednesday's loss at Columbia becoming just the second Pioneer in the last 18 years to record double digit assists in a game. (Kate Maher -10 asst vs. Robert Morris). Julie Hogan recorded 14 against Bridgeport on February 24, 1986.
No Sophomore Slump for Pape... Sophomore Amanda Pape tallied a season-high 22 points against Hofstra and also picked up her first double double of the season by also grabbing 10 rebounds. She also put up back to back 18 point performances in Sacred Heart wins over Rider and Mount St. Mary's. Pape now has double digits in five of SHU's six games this year.
A Master Theif... Amanda Pape is leading the conference in steals at 3.17 per game (19) as the Pioneers main piece of their full court pressure defense. She led the Pioneers last season in takeaways with 75 that put her second overall in the NEC. She made a season-high six steals in the win over Rider earlier in the year and came up with five in Saturday's loss to Hofstra.
