Pioneers Travel to Iona - Game Notes
12/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2005
Complete Sacred Heart at Iona Game Notes in PDF Format
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The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers continue their four-game road swing that closes out the 2005 calender year Saturday night, traveling to Iona College for a 7:30 pm start. SHU is currently on a four-game winning streak and have matched the best start in program history at 5-1 heading into the match-up with the Gaels. The Pioneers will be looking to keep the good times rolling and also repay Iona for the 64-54 loss the Gales posted at the William H. Pitt Center last season. SHU comes off a 37-point blow out over defending Northeast Conference champion St. Francis-PA a week ago.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU '89) enters his 16th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 235-188 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have an 108-69 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, (235) and winning percentage (.555). 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. Anthony Bozzella (Seton Hall `88) is in his fourth season at the helm of the Iona women's basketball program. He has a 16-72 (.182) record in his four years as the Gaels coach and a 170-205 (.453) mark in his 14 years as a head coach.
Series... The Gaels hold a 5-1 edge over the Pioneers in the all-time series between the two schools. The two teams met for the first time on the Division I level last season with Iona handing Sacred Heart a 65-54 win in Fairfield. The first meeting took place during the 1977-78 season with the Pioneers earning their only victory in the series, 76-64, in their 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.
Pioneers vs. the MAAC... The Pioneers are 6-16 all-time versus teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Last season marked the first time in Sacred Heart's Division I history that the Pioneers faced a team from the league. SHU earned a split last season in their two games against the MAAC, winning 71-57 over Rider in the first ever meeting between the two schools and falling to Iona, 65-54. SHU has faced Fairfield University more than any other team from the MAAC, posting a 4-7 record against the Stags. Iona holds a 5-1 mark over Sacred Heart. St. Peter's College is the only other team the Pioneers have faced from the league with the Peacocks 4-0 all-time against SHU.
Last Meeting with Iona... Sacred Heart lost their third-straight game early on last season, falling to Iona, 64-54, in the William H. Pitt Center. The Pioneers shot just 30.2% (19-63) overall and 15.8% (3-19) from three to lose two-straight games at home for the first time since the 1998-99 season. Iona dominated inside all night, outscoring the Pioneers 36-18 in the paint led by center Regan Pettijohn who recorded a double double. Pettijohn scored 16 points on seven-of-11 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds which helped give the Gaels a lopsided advantage on the boards. Iona finished with 47 caroms to SHU's 33. Iona turned their work on the glass into 17 second chance points in the win. Amanda Pape and Nicolle Rubino led the Pioneers with 16 point apiece, but both struggled mightily, shooting a combined 11-for-38.
Scouting the Gaels... The Iona College women's basketball team enter Saturday's game with a 2-4 record, losing four-straight including their last two in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. The Gaels fell in overtime, 68-65, at Marist last time out. Iona is led by a trio of scorers averaging double digits through six games this year. Junior Martina Weber leads all players averaging 14.5 points on the year. Weber is also pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore Tiara Headen is scoring 10.5 points while leading the team in rebounding at 7.5 boards per game. Junior Toni Horvath is right at 10.0 points per game while shooting 50.0% (22-44) from the field and a remarkable 70.0% (14-20) from three. The Gaels returned four starters from last year's 6-22 club and were picked to finish 9th in MAAC Preseason Poll.
Last time out... The Pioneers shot 51.6% from the field and hit nine-of-15 from three point range to come away with an 89-52 win at St. Francis (PA) last Saturday afternoon. SHU picked-up their fourth-straight victory by snapping a five-game losing skid against the four-time defending conference champs. The Pioneers trailed in the early going but grabbed a 12-11 lead at the 13 minute mark and never looked back. SHU outscored the Red Flash 31-15 the rest of the half, shooting 51.5% while hitting six-of-seven from three. SHU's offense, which has struggled heading into the game, continued to pour it on in the second half, with junior Amanda Pape and senior Nicolle Rubino leading the charge. Pape finished with a game-high 18 points on seven-of-18 with five rebounds, five assists and five steals. Rubino tallied 15 in the win hitting six-of-nine with three assists and three steals. Freshman Liz Gruber came off the bench for 13 points, hitting five-of-five and three-of-three from downtown. The Pioneers passed out 25 assists in the win, having their best shooting day of the season. As well as the offense play, the defense was even better. The Red Flash were held to just 30.6% shooting while turning over the ball 19 times. The Pioneers 37 point win marked their second largest NEC win all-time.
Fast Start... Out of the gates in 2005-06, the Pioneers are 5-1 in the early going, matching their best-ever start to a season. Sacred Heart was 5-1 during the record setting 21-8 season in 2003-04 and the 16-13 1992-93 season. No Pioneer team has ever started 6-1. 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.
Streaks and Trends... The Pioneers ran their winning streak to four-straight with a pair of NEC wins last week. SHU also extended another streak and broke another with the wins. Their 69-51 win over St. Francis (NY) is the 11th straight over the Terriers. SHU has never lost to SFNY since joining the conference. On the other side of the coin, Sacred Heart snapped a five-game losing streak to St. Francis (PA) with an 89-52 win. The win also marked their first win in DeGol Arena since the 2000-01 season. Tonight, the Pioneers will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak to Iona, dating back to the 1978-79 season. A win gives the Pioneers five-straight. Their longest winning streak all-time is 10-straight, during the 2003-04 season.
D-Fence...D-Fence...D-Fence... The Pioneer's 5-1 start can be credited much in part to their league leading defense. SHU's patented full-court pressure has led to 11.0 steals per game and opposing team's averaging 19.5 turnovers. Sacred Heart has done well to protect the ball themselves, posting the best turnover margin in the league at +4.33. The Pioneers are holding teams to just 34.7% shooting from the field, 24.6% from three-point range and just 57.2 points per game, all tops in the league thus far.
Big Wins... The Pioneers have yet to play a game decided by less then 10 points this season. In fact, their five wins have been by an average of 24.2 points per game with the Pioneers coming off their biggest win of the year, 89-52, at St. Francis-PA. The 37 point win was the second-largest since joining Division I in 1999-00.
SHU's 1,000-Point Club... On Thursday, December 1st, senior Nicolle Rubino became just the 10th player in Sacred Heart history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career. Rubino entered the Yale game needing just four point to break the mark and wasted little time in doing just that, scoring twice on the Pioneers first three possessions. She currently ranks 9th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,040 points. Quickly rocketing up the list is junior Amanda Pape, who should also eclipse the mark later this season. Pape has 979 points, moving her in front of Brooke Rutnik (941) and into 11th place on the all-time list. The last Pioneer to break the 1,000-point barrier prior to Rubino was Brooke Kelly (`03) during the 2002-03 season. Kelly finished her career with 1,349 points, third all-time.
Offensive Explosion... SHU entered last Saturday's game with St. Francis-PA struggling at the offensive end, shooting just 38.0% (112-295) from the field and a paltry 20.8% (15-72) from three. The Pioneer offense kicked it into high gear against the Red Flash, scoring 89 points, their highest total in two years, while shooting 50% for the first time this season (51.6%) and hitting nine-of-15 from behind the arc (60.0%) marking the first game this year SHU has shot better then 30.0% from behind the arc. The Pioneers now lead the NEC in scoring offense (71.8 ppg), FG% (40.4%), assists (15.50), turnover ratio (+4.33) and assist/turnover ratio (1.02).
Pape Leading the NEC... Junior guard Amanda Pape has kicked her game up a notch this season and is among the NEC leaders in several offensive categories. Pape leads the league in scoring at 18.2 points per game and has improved her shooting, hitting 48.6% (36-74) from the field, second in the league. The 5-9 guard continues to be a force on the glass, pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game with 19 offensive boards. Pape's defensive intensity is the key to SHU's press with 16 steals and she has improved her passing with 16 assists as well. After a season-high 26 points against St. Francis-NY and 18 with five steals and five assists, Pape was named the Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week award.
Rubino...Lone Senior ... Senior Nicolle Rubino is off to a fast start to her final season in the Red & White. The senior co-captain has been on fire since scoring her 1,000th point against Yale. Rubino finished with 14 points, a season-high six steals, five rebounds and three assists against St. Francis (NY) and came back with 15 points, three steals and three assists against St. Francis (PA) on Saturday. For the year, Rubino is shooting nearly fifty percent, hitting a team-best 49.2% from the floor. She is second on the club with 12.7 points.
Gruber a Spark off the Bench... Freshman Liz Gruber has shown head coach Ed Swanson she can generate some instant offense off the bench thus far this season. Gruber is coming off a perfect shooting game last time out, hitting five-of-five from the field, three-of-three from behind the arc for a season-high 13 points in just 11 minutes of action. On the year, she averaging 5.8 points while shooting 50.0% (11-22), 57.1% (4-7) from three and 90.0% (9-10) from the line.
