Pioneers Play Host to Yale - Game Notes
11/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2005
Complete Sacred Heart vs. Yale Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers welcome Yale University to the William H. Pitt Center for their 2005-06 home opener Thursday evening. The Pioneers are coming off their second win over a Big East school this season with an 84-57 win over Syracuse on Sunday afternoon. Junior Amanda Pape led the way with her first double double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow junior Kerri Burke got her offensive game untracked with a 16 point night on seven-of-13 shooting. Yale comes in searching for their first win of 2005-06 after an 0-4 start. The Pioneers have owned the yearly series of late, posting six straight wins.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU '89) enters his 16th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 231-188 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have an 105-69 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, (231) and winning percentage (.551). He also earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a school record 21 wins in 2003-04. Chris Gobrecht (USC `77) is in her first season at the helm of the Yale women's basketball program. She has a 425-311 (.577) career record in her 25 year Division I coaching career. A two-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Gobrecht has had stints at Cal State Fullerton, Washington, where she became the winningest coach in program history, Florida State and at her alma mater, Southern California. Her Washington teams won or shared the Pac-10 title three times and reached the NCAA Tournament nine times in 11 seasons. Her squads reached the NCAA "Sweet 16" three times and the "Elite Eight" once.
Series... Sacred Heart holds a 7-3 advantage in the all-time series between the two schools. The Pioneers have won the last six meetings dating back to the 1999-00 season, SHU's first in Division I. The Pioneers kept the streak alive last season, posting a 66-53 win over the Bulldogs at home in early December. Tonight's game marks the seventh-straight year the two Connecticut schools will meet. The two teams met for the first time during the 1976-77 season with the Bulldogs posting an 85-40 win in the Small College Tournament. The Elis also posted wins in the series during the 1977-78 and the 1979-80 seasons.
Pioneers vs. the Ivy League... Sacred Heart is 14-11 all-time versus teams from the Ivy League. Tonight's game is the first of two the Pioneers play against Ivy competition this season. SHU has faced Yale the most of any team from the league, holding a 7-3 record in the series. The Pioneers are 2-0 against Princeton and 3-2 against Brown. Columbia is 3-2 versus Sacred Heart while both Cornell and Dartmouth have posted wins in their lone meetings with Sacred Heart. Harvard holds a 2-0 advantage against the Pioneers.
Last Meeting with Yale... The Sacred Heart women's basketball team opened the 2004-05 season beating Yale University 66-53 in New Haven. The Bulldogs were able to build an early 13-5 lead just over five minutes into play despite sloppy play by both teams. The Pioneers finally got their offense kicked started and rattled off a 17-0 run capped by an Amanda Pape jumper with 9:17 on the clock to go up 22-13, a lead they would never relinquish. SHU used a strong first half to build a 32-16 lead at the half. The Pioneers kept the offense pressure on in the second half, building their lead to 29 points with just over eight minutes gone. The Bulldogs turned the ball over a total of 33 times in the game which turned into 35 SHU points. The Pioneers also outscored Yale 26-14 in the paint. Nicolle Rubino added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block to go with her 18 points.
Scouting the Bulldogs... The Yale Bulldogs are off to a slow start in 2005, losing their first four. The Elis are coming off losses to St. Louis and New Orleans at the Billiken Classic during the Thanksgiving break. Yale has been led by Kaitlyn Lillemore averaging 13.5 points in the early going. Kaitlin Emmerling is also averaging double digits with 11.0 points per contest. Emmerling has shot well from long range, hitting nine-of-15 from behind the arc. Sara McCollum is the squad's leading rebounder pulling down 7.3 caroms a game. The Bulldogs returned eight letterwinners from last year's 6-21 squad. Yale was picked to finished 6th in the 2005-06 Preseason Poll in the eight team Ivy League.
Last time out... Junior Amanda Pape scored a season-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Sacred Heart women's basketball team to an 84-57 win at Syracuse University Sunday afternoon. The Pioneers are now 2-0 against the Big East Conference this season. SHU opened the game sluggish offensively; missing their first six shots as Syracuse built an early 11-6 lead five minutes in. The Pioneers chipped away and began to find their offensive legs. At 22-22 with 6:51 to play, junior point guard Kerri Burke buried a three and ignited a 16-3 Pioneer jaunt that closed the half and gave Sacred Heart a lead they would never relinquish. The Pioneer offensive stayed hot throughout the second half, outscoring the Orange 46-32 to close the game. Pape scored 14 of her game-high 20 in the half and had three three-point plays. SU's Vaida Sipaviciute single handedly tried to pull the Orange back in it, scoring the first six points of the half and finishing with 20 of her own. The closest Syracuse would get in the second half was 15 points, 56-41 with 13:15 to play but a 15-4 SHU run over the next seven minutes safely put the game away for the Pioneers.
Ready...Set...Go!... SHU has enjoyed strong starts to their seasons the past three years, jumping out at 4-1 last year, 5-1 in 2003-04 and 4-1 in 2002-03.
Home Opener... The Pioneers will host instate rival Yale University this evening to open the home portion of the 2005-06 schedule. SHU is 5-1 in home openers since joining Division I and 7-1 since the William H. Pitt Center was opened in 1997.
Perfect Against the Big East... SHU has gone against the likes of the Big East Conference twice this season and have walked away with wins on both occasions. The Pioneers opened the season with a 65-49 win over Providence and are coming off an 84-57 win over Syracuse last time out. Not only is SHU 2-0 against the Big East, but both wins came on the road.
Road Warriors... The Pioneers opened the season with three-straight games on the road and will play seven of their first nine games away from home. The Pioneers two home games of 2005 will be on Dec. 1st against Yale followed by St. Francis-NY paying a visit on the 7th. From there, it's back on the road again to close out the 2005 calender year with stops at St. Francis-PA, Iona, Ohio State and Rider. The new year will be welcomed by four-straight in the friendly confines of the Pitt Center.
Inching toward 1,000... Senior Nicolle Rubino is just four points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau for her career, a mark that only nine other Pioneers in school history have reached. Rubino currently ranks 10th on the school's all-time scoring list with 996 points, ahead of Brooke Rutnik (`03) with 941. Quickly rocketing up the list is junior Amanda Pape, who should also eclipse the mark later this season. Pape has 918 points, placing her 12th on the all-time list. The last Pioneer to break the 1,000-point barrier was Brooke Kelly (`03) during the 2002-03 season. Kelly finished her career with 1,349 points, third all-time.
Offensive Bounce Back... In their first two games, SHU struggled offensively combining for 2-of-28 from behind the three-point arc (.071) and just 32.7% (33-101) shooting from the field. But Sunday's win at Syracuse saw the Pioneer offense kick it up a notch. The Pioneers scored 84 points and shot 41.7% from the field and hit eight treys. They also limited their turnovers to just nine on the afternoon while using there 52-39 rebound edge to their advantage. SHU got 20 second chance points and was able to effectively run their fast break, outscoring the Orange in transition, 18-5.
Burke Bounces Back... Junior point guard Kerri Burke struggled the first two games this season, shooting just 1-of-17 from the field (.059) and 0-11 (.000) from behind the arc. The junior co-captain stayed patient with her game and her confidence paid off against the Syracuse Orange with a season-best 16 points. Burke hit seven-of-13 on the day including a pair of three-point makes to go with her five assists and three boards in 31 minutes of action.
I'll Have a Double Double!... Junior Amanda Pape recorded the first Pioneer double double of the season Sunday afternoon, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Pape now has 10 double double games in her career. Fellow junior Jasmine Walker owns six double dips and senior Nicolle Rubino has two to her credit in her career.
Rush Back in the Mix... Junior Mary Rush has made a successful return to the hardwood after missing all of 2004-05 with foot injuries. Rush is back and in the starting lineup for the first time in her career, averaging 17.5 minutes and 4.0 points in the first two games. She is coming off her first double digit game in nearly two years, scoring a season-high 13 points on eight-of-eight shooting at the line on Sunday. Her career-high is 15 points against Lafayette her freshman year.
Same Old Pape... It may be a new calendar year, but SHU junior Amanda Pape has picked up right where she left off as a sophomore. The junior guard is right on her season averages from last season that earned her a spot on the All-NEC team. Pape is averaging 16.0 points and 8.3 rebounds in the first three games with five steals and a team-best 25 trips to the free throw line.
Pioneers Cleaning the Glass... Sacred Heart grabbed 52 rebounds against Syracuse, marking just the second time in the last three years they have eclipsed the 50 rebound mark. Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker each pulled down 11 in the win. SHU is leading the lead in defensive rebounds per game at 31.67.
