Pioneers Take on Albany this Sunday
12/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 14, 2006
Sacred Heart vs. Albany Game Notes in PDF Format
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Sacred Heart Pioneers (4-4, 1-0 NEC) vs. Albany Great Danes (2-7, 0-0 America East)
Game #9 - Sunday, December 17, 2006 - 2:00 pm - Albany, N.Y. - Recreation and Convention Center (5,000)
The Storyline... After having the week off for finals, the Sacred Heart Pioneers return to the court Sunday afternoon to face the University at Albany Great Danes. The Pioneers travel to the state capitol of New York to renew a series that dates back to both school's Division II days in the New England Collegiate Conference. SHU and Albany will meet for the third time as Division I institutions and face-off for the first time since 2002. After a 1-2 three game road swing against a trio of Ivy League school's, the Pioneers have righted the ship and have rang off two-straight wins in convincing fashion at home. SHU is coming off an 85-61 win over Saint Francis (PA) in their Northeast Conference opener last weekend. The Great Danes have lost three-straight and are coming off a 75-46 loss at Wisconsin a week ago.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 7-4. The Pioneers are 1-1 against the Great Danes since joining Division I in 1999-00. The two teams faced off for the first-time in Division I during the 2001-02 season in Albany with the Great Danes posting a 55-52 win. The Pioneers responded the following season at home, winning 69-63 in the last meeting between the two schools. The first meeting took place during the 1995-96 season when both were members of the NECC in Division II. The Pioneers took both regular season meetings that year and met a third time in the NECC playoffs. The Great Danes exacted their revenge, ending Sacred Heart's season and championship dreams with a 74-67 upset. SHU and Albany split their two meetings in 1996-97 and 1998-99 while the Pioneers won both games during the 1997-98 season.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) enters his 17th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 260-196 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 134-77 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, (260) and winning percentage (.570). He also earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a then school record 21 wins in 2003-04. Trina Patterson (Virginia `87) is in her fifth season at the helm of the University at Albany women's basketball program. Patterson has a 45-76 (.372) record in her five years as the head coach of the Great Danes and a 146-223 career record in her 14 years as a head coach.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart senior Amanda Pape scored a career-high 32 points as the Pioneers opened the Northeast Conference schedule with an 85-61 win over visiting Saint Francis (PA) Saturday afternoon at home. The Pioneers never trailed in Saturday's win and opened a double digit lead midway through the first half. Leading by seven, 23-16, with 10:47 on the clock, SHU used a 10-2 run to take a 15-point lead with eight minutes to go. Pape finished with 20 points in the first half, hitting 10-of-10 at the line as the Pioneers led 46-33 at the break. The Red Flash never threatened in the second half when a quick 9-0 run pushed the SHU lead over 20 where the Pioneers kept it the rest of the way. Pape finished the game hitting 14-of-15 at the line, a career high and nine-of-14 from the field. She was all over the court defensively as well coming up with eight steals in 34 minutes of action. As a team, SHU forced 31 Red Flash turnovers which they turned into 27 points. Sacred Heart also used their inside game, outscoring Saint Francis, 40-18 in the paint. Senior Kerri Burke played 17 minutes in her return to action and scored a season high 12 points with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Sophomore center Kaitlin Sowinski finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and tied her career high with five blocks.
Pioneers vs. America East... The Pioneers are 4-5 against the America East Conference since joining Division I in 1999-00. SHU 1-0 against Binghamton after a win earlier this season and 1-1 against both Albany and New Hampshire. SHU is 1-2 against Hartford and 0-1 against the University of Vermont. The Pioneers have faced Albany, Binghamton, Hartford and Stony Brook in their Division II days. The Pioneers were 6-2 against UMBC when the Terriers where a member of the Northeast Conference.
Scouting the Great Danes... The Albany Great Danes are 2-7 on the year and have lost three-straight after a 75-46 loss at Wisconsin on Sunday. Albany senior guard Amanda Ward leads the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game and also has 14 assists and 17 steals on the year. Freshman guard Britney Ward is a shade under double digits at 9.3 points per game. As a team, the Great Danes are averaging 52.9 points per game and shooting 36.1% on the year. Albany was picked to finish ninth in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting with Albany... Sacred Heart placed four players in double figures as the Pioneers posted a 69-63 win over the University at Albany on December 1, 2002. Ashley Durmer led all Pioneer scorers with 15 points on four-of-seven shooting and three-of-six from behind the three-point arc. Brooke Rutnik saw just five minutes of action in the first half because of foul trouble, but came back strong in the final half to pace the Pioneers. Rutnik scored all 12 of her points in the second half, six-of-10 from the field, while grabbing six boards, handing out two assists and making two steals. Senior Brooke Kelly finished with 12 points and five rebounds on the afternoon. The Pioneers held just a 32-30 halftime advantage, shooting 42.6% in the first half but committed 14 turnovers. Sacred Heart got 21 points off the bench, led by Nicolle Rubino. Rubino hit for 11 points on the afternoon, knocking down five-of-six from the free throw line, in 28 minutes of action. Great Dane center Danielle Hutcheson led all scorers on the day with 20 points and eight rebounds. Forward Maree Jones finished with seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Jess McGinlay and Kathryn Hemlock finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively, as Albany falls to 1-2 on the season.
Streaks, Trends, Milestones, Notes... The Pioneers face Albany on Sunday in the third meeting this season with a team from the America East Conference. SHU traveled to Binghamton and got a 57-53 win in the second game of the season. The Pioneers will play host to Stony Brook on December 28th at 2 pm.
Sacred Heart scored a season-high 85 points and also shot a season-best 81.6% from the free throw line. The Pioneers hit 31-of-38, both season-high numbers as well.
The Pioneers led from wire to wire in Saturday's win over Saint Francis, the first time they have won a game this season never trailing.
SHU had 23 steals in the win. Their previous high this season was 13 at Columbia.
Senior Amanda Pape set a new career-high with 32 points, eclipsing her own Division I record for points in a game. She had 30 against Mount St. Mary's last season on February 13th. Pape was near perfect at the free throw line, hitting 14-of-15 at the charity strip, career-high's for free throws and free throw attempts. The senior guard, fresh off a nine steal effort against Providence last week, came up with eight on Saturday to lead the team.
Sophomore Kaitlin Sowinski had her sixth-straight game in double figures with 13 points on five-of-nine shooting. Sowinski tied her career-high with five blocks in the win. The last time she had five blocks was against Fairleigh Dickinson on February 20, 2006.
Senior Kerri Burke returned to the court after missing the last three games with an injury. Burke had a triumphant return, playing 17 minutes, scoring a season-high 12 points, hitting a pair of threes, grabbing four rebounds, passing out three assists and making two steals
SHU in the NCAA Rankings... Sophomore Kaitlin Sowinski is currently sixth in the nation in field goal percentage at 64.6% (42-65). She is also 24th in blocks per game (2.4 bkpg). Senior Amanda Pape is currently tied for 3rd in the nation in steals per game (4.1 spg). Pape's nine steals against Providence is tied for the fourth highest total in a game this season.
