SHU Women's Hoops at Columbia - Game Notes
12/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2004
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GAME 5 Sacred Heart University (3-1, 1-0 NEC) vs. Columbia University (4-3, 0-0 Ivy League)Wednesday, December 8, 2004 7:00 pm EST Levien Gymnasium (2,700) New York, NY
The Storyline... The Pioneers will travel to Columbia University Wednesday night with a chance to start the season 4-1 for the third-straight year with a win. The two teams have alternated wins over the past three-seasons with SHU holding a 2-1 edge. Both teams are coming off wins in their last outings as the Pioneers got their first Northeast Conference win, 84-66, at Mount St. Mary's. Sophomore Kerri Burke is enjoying a tremendous start to her season coming off a 23-point effort last time out. Burke, who is averaging 32.8 minutes at the point, tied her previous career-high mark of 15 points in the first half against the Mount, and then hit six-of-eight from the free throw line in the second en route to establish a new personal best mark. Fellow sophomore and Preseason All-NEC pick Amanda Pape is coming off back to back 18 point games last week. The Lions are coming in fresh off winning the Southern Miss Lady Eagle Classic Tournament. Columbia beat the host Eagles in the opener and topped Austin Peay in the championship game for the title.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series two games to one. The two teams have alternated wins since the series began during the 2001-01 meeting, each winning on their home courts. The Pioneers posted a 95-75 win in the Pitt Center back on December 5, 2001. The Lions answered the following season with a 73-69 win in Levien Gymnasium. Columbia took their first lead of the game with just 49 seconds to play with Sue Altman scoring 12 of her career-high 28 points over the final 3:34 to guide the Lions to the win. The Pioneers once again posted a lopsided win on their home court last season, winning 76-57. This is the fourth-straight season the Pioneers and Lions will face-off.
Last Meeting with Columbia... The Pioneers notched their 10th win of 2003-04 with a 76-57 win over the visiting Lions in the final non-conference affair for both teams. SHU used a big first half, shooting 56.3% (18-32) to storm out to a 45-33 lead at the break. Amanda Pape scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the first half of play, shooting six-of-eight from the floor. Also in double figures for SHU were Nicolle Rubino who finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Colleen White who had 12 points. For Columbia, Sue Altman tallied a team-high 12 points. Carolyn Schook finished with eight boards. The Lions shot just 34.7% (17-49) from the field and 20.0% (3-15) from behind the arc in the loss.
Scouting the Lions... The Columbia University women's basketball team are out to a 4-3 start to their season with wins over Army and fellow NEC memeber St. Francis (NY) as well as Southern Miss and Austin Peay at the Lady Hawk Classic Tournament. Senior Susan Kern has paced the Lion offense early on, leading the team at 11.4 points per game. Fellow senior Adia Revell is the team's top rebounder pulling down 8.4 boards per game. The Lions were picked to finish sixth in the Preseason Ivy League Media Poll.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU '89) enters his 15th season as head coach at his alma matar. Swanson posts a 215-177 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 88-58 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 (.548). 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. Traci Waites (Cal State Long Beach `92) is in her first season at the helm of the Columbia women's basketball program. Waites, the only women's basketball player to compete in the Final Four for two different Division I institutions (Georgia & CSLB), was head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1998-2003. She has compiled a 57-88 record in her six years as a head coach.
No Place Like the Pitt... The Pioneers will look to continue their winning ways in the friendly confines of the Pitt Center this season. How friendly you ask? The Pioneers finished a perfect 14-0 at home last year and are currently riding a 19-game regular season winning streak at home that dates back to 2002-03. 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 54-12 at home since joining the NEC and 74-14 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.
On the Road Again... SHU plays four of their first five games on the road this season. After taking on the Lions tonight, the Pioneers return home for games with Hofstra and Iona this Saturday and Monday. For the fourth time in SHU's six years in Division I the Pioneers started a season on the road when the traveled to Yale on Nov. 19th. The Pioneers posted a 66-53 win and in the process snapped an 0-5 skid in their last five road games that started a season. The Pioneers last got a win on the road to start a season in 1996-97 when they beat Quinnipiac 62-60 on November 16th. SHU is 8-9 all-time in season openers away from home.
Nothing beats a fast start... Sacred Heart has enjoyed strong starts to their seasons the past two years, jumping out at 5-1 last year and 4-1 in 2002-03. With a win tonight, they will be 4-1 for the third-straight season. In their six years at the Division I level, the Pioneers have a 3-3 record in season opening games. SHU is 16-15 all-time in season openers.
BIG Wins... Just three games into this season and the Pioneers look to be continuing their trend of winning games by a double digit margin. 18 of SHU's 21 wins came by 10 or more points last season and the Pioneers three wins this season have been by 13 (Yale), 14 (Rider) and 18 (Mt. St. Mary's). In fact, SHU's margin of victory over the past two plus seasons have been so great that the Pioneers have won just 10 games by less than 10 points since the start of 2002-03.
Pioneers Logging Major Minutes... Three Pioneers have started this season averaging over 30 minutes per contest. Sophomore Amanda Pape leads the team logging 36.2 minutes per game. She is followed by junior Nicolle Rubino at 34.0 minutes and sophomore Kerri Burke at 32.8 minutes. Senior Colleen White isn't far behind at 28.0 minutes per game this year.
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 last Tuesday night against Rider and then matched that number in the first half alone against Mount St. Mary's Saturday afternoon. Burke finished the game with 23 to lead SHU to a 84-66 win over the Mount while playing a career-high 39 minutes.
Rubino...Quick out of the Gates... Junior Nicolle Rubino has been the Pioneers main offensive weapon in the first four games this season. Rubino is averaging 14.8 points early on and has been a steady force behind the arc hitting six-of- 15 and at at the free throw line hitting 11-of-13.
Amanda Pape...Racking up the Points... Sophomore Amanda Pape put up back to back 18 point performances in two Sacred Heart wins. She 14 of 33 shots over the two games while also collecting eight steals and 14 rebounds. She currently leads the team in rebounding at 7.0 rpg and is third on the team in scoring at 14.0 ppg.
