Pioneers Open NEC Play Against St. Francis-NY - Game Notes
12/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2005
Complete Sacred Heart vs. St. Francis-NY Game Notes in PDF Format
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The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers open the 2005-06 Northeast Conference schedule Wednesday evening hosting the Terriers of St. Francis (NY). Tonight's game closes a two-game homestand and sends the Pioneers back on the road for the rest of December starting on Saturday with another NEC match-up, at four-time defending champ St. Francis (PA).
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU '89) enters his 16th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 232-188 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have an 106-69 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, (232) and winning percentage (.552). 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. Brenda Milano (Wagner `95) is in her third season at the helm of the St. Francis (NY) women's basketball program. She has a 18-42 (.300) career record in her three years as the Terriers head coach and overall. Shortly after arriving at St. Francis, she led the 2002-2003 Terriers to their best finish since 1998-99, with a 7-11 Northeast Conference record and 8-19 record overall. By the conclusion of the 2004-2005 season, the record had improved to 7-11 in the NEC and 10-19 overall, numbers that led to the team's first appearance in the NEC playoffs since 1999.
Series... The Pioneers lead the all-time series, 11-8, dating back to the 1974-75 season, Sacred Heart's first year of competition. The Pioneers ran their streak to 10-straight in the series after winning both meetings last season, 53-45 in Fairfield and 68-55 in Brooklyn, N.Y. SHU set a new school record during the 2003-04 season when they posted an 82-69 win at home that was their 10th-straight victory, establishing a new record for consecutive wins. Sacred Heart took the first ever meeting, 62-50, to record the program's first-ever win. St. Francis won the next eight-straight games before the two team's would meet again as members of the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have never lost to St. Francis (NY) as a member of the league.
SHU in the NEC... Sacred Heart became a member of the Northeast Conference during the 1999-00 season and since that time has posted an 107-68 overall and 74-33 conference record. SHU is coming off their second-straight 14-4 season in conference play where they matched their best-ever finish of 2003-04. SHU was the second seed in the NEC Tournament for the second consecutive season and have reached the post season tournament in each of their six seasons in the league, never finishing lower than third in the final league standings.
Last Meeting with St. Francis-NY... The Pioneers fought through a rough offensive night to battle their way to a 53-45 win over St. Francis (NY) on Valentine's Day last season. Despite a rash of turnovers and some poor shooting, the Pioneers built a 22-20 lead at the break. The second half opened with the Terriers quickly tying the game as Kim Bennett buried a lay-up and drew a foul. Bennett missed at the line in her chance to give SFNY the lead but Linda Warrington buried a three from the wing just over a minute later for a 25-22 advantage. The Terriers were able to hold their lead at three through the 10-minute mark but SHU's Amanda Pape buried a three from the corner with the shot clock winding down to knot the game at 33-33 with 9:15 on the clock. Kerri Burke followed with a lay-up on their next possession and the Pioneer rally was underway. A 13-4 run fueled by a pair of Burke fast break lay-ups gave SHU its largest lead at 50-40. The Pioneers settled in from there, never letting St. Francis closer than nine in the closing minutes to hold on for their 14th win on the year. Pape finished with 14 points and nine rebounds on the night while Burke tallied 13 with four steals and three assists. SFNY got 12 points from Hill.
Scouting the Terriers... The St. Francis (NY) Terriers come into tonight's game in search of their first win of 2005-06 after an 0-5 start to the season. Despite their winless record, the Terriers have been right in it their last three times out, falling by six at Columbia (61-55), four at home to Navy (52-48) and five at Lafayette (56-51). Sophomore Tiffany Hill, an All-NEC Rookie Team pick as a freshman, leads the team through five games this season. Hill is averaging 15.2 points per game in the early going, ranking her among league leaders. Sophomore center Katja Bavendam is averaging 11.4 points in the paint. The NEC's tallest player at 6-7, Bavendam has 11 blocks on the season and is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game. The Terriers finished 10-18 last season and were the 8th seed in the NEC Tournament. SFNY was picked to finish 8th in the 2005-06 NEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last time out... Senior Nicolle Rubino became the 10th member of Sacred Heart Women's Basketball 1,000-Point Club as the Pioneers posted a 74-51 win over visiting Yale University in their 2005-06 home opener last Thursday night. Rubino entered tonight's game needing just four points to break the 1,000 point plateau and wasted little time in accomplishing the feat, scoring twice on the Pioneers first three possessions. Yale stayed in it during the early going, but the Pioneers ran out to a 45-27 lead at the break thanks to their full court pressure. Pape keyed the SHU defense in the half with five steals while the team forced the Bulldogs into 14 turnovers which they turned into 21 points. The second half saw the Pioneers lead balloon to 23 points just three minutes in as junior Amanda Pape converted a lay-up and four free throws on her way to a game-high 17 points. Rubino finished her night shooting six-of-eight from the floor for 15 points with five assists and two steals in 23 minutes. The Pioneers bench saw plenty of action with every player logging double digit minutes.
Ready...Set...Go!... Out of the gates in 2005-06, the Pioneers are 3-1 in the early going heading into a pair of NEC games this week. 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... Sacred Heart is coming of a 74-51 win over Yale last time out, the seventh-straight win over the Bulldogs in the last seven years. This week's games feature some streaks of the their own. The Pioneers own a 10-game winning streak over St. Francis (NY) and haven't lost to the Terriers since joining the NEC. Saturday's game against St. Francis (PA) features a Pioneer losing streak. SHU has lost five straight to the Red Flash and has won just once in Loretto since joining the conference.
D-Fence...D-Fence...D-Fence... The Pioneer's 3-1 start can be credited much in part to their patented full-court pressure and some solid all-around defensive play. SHU is holding teams to just 36.4% shooting and 60.0 points per game, both tops in the league thus far. Their full court pressure has forced teams into an average of 18.5 turnovers per game.
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.
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 10th on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,011 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 935 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.
SHU Struggling from Three... The Pioneers have yet to shoot over 35.0% from behind the three-point arc in any game this year. SHU is last in the league in three-point percentage at 21.3% (13-61).
Deep Bench... SHU used every available player on their bench for the third time this season against Yale. Every player saw double digit minutes while sophomore Mikara Cimmino led all players in shot attempts with 10 coming off the bench.
