SHU Hosts Stony Brook in Holiday Matinee Thursday Afternoon
12/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2006
Sacred Heart vs. Stony Brook Game Notes in PDF Format
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Sacred Heart Pioneers (5-5, 1-0 NEC) vs. Stony Brook Seawolves (4-6, 0-0 America East)
Game #11 - Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 2:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)
The Storyline... Sacred Heart returns to action Thursday afternoon hosting Stony Brook University in a 2:00 pm matinee. The Pioneers are coming off a 68-50 win at Saint Peter's last time out and have won three of their last four games including their last two at home in the William H. Pitt Center. The Seawolves are wrapping up a three-game series against the three Connecticut schools in the Northeast Conference, looking to complete the clean sweep. SBU posted a 74-55 win at Central Connecticut and is coming off an 87-79 win at home over Quinnipiac last time out, snapping the Bobcat's seven-game winning streak. The Pioneers wrap-up the non-conference home schedule on Thursday and take on #5 ranked UConn on Sunday afternoon before returning to NEC play full time next week.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 7-3. Thursday's meeting marks the first between the two team on the Division I level and the first since the 1998-99 season. The Pioneers and Seawolves met for the first time on December 15, 1990, a Stony Brook 83-69 win at home. SHU then rattled off four-straight in the series. The Pioneers are 2-0 against Stony Brook in the confines of the William H. Pitt Center, winning at home in 1997-98 and 1998-99.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) enters his 17th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 261-197 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 135-78 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, (261) and winning percentage (.569). 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. Marua McHugh (Old Dominion `75) is in her third season at the helm of the Stony Brook University women's basketball program. McHugh has a 32-36 (.471) record in her three years as the head coach of the Seawolves and a 258-190 (.576) mark in her 16 years as a head coach.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart got 25 points and a career-high 15 rebounds from senior Amanda Pape and outscored the Saint Peter's Peahens 17-5 over the final 5:35 to come away with a 68-50 win. The Pioneers used a 9-0 run, fueled by six-straight points from Pape, with under five minutes to play to run away in what was a tight six-point game to that point. After a slow start, the Pioneers used a 10-0 run to grab a six-point lead five minutes into the game. The Peahens answered and built a seven point lead, 23-16, by using a 12-4 run over the next four minutes. SHU scrapped together a 10-3 run that sent both teams into the half at 26-26. Leading by six, 51-44, the Pioneers began their run on a three from Lisa Moray as the Peahens went without a bucket until the 2:28 mark, when by then, they trailed by 15 with the game out of reach. In addition to Pape's 25, senior Jasmine Walker finished with 10 points and just missed her second double double with nine rebounds.
Pioneers vs. America East... The Pioneers are 4-6 against the America East Conference since joining Division I in 1999-00. SHU is 1-0 against Binghamton after a win earlier this season but fell to 1-2 against Albany after losing on Dec. 17th. SHU is 1-2 against Hartford, 1-1 against New Hampshire 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 Retrievers where a member of the Northeast Conference.
Scouting the Seawolves... The Stony Brook Seawolves are 4-6 on the year and are coming off back-to-back wins over NEC schools. The Seawolves have taken on the other two Connecticut schools in the league, traveling to Central Connecticut and getting at 74-55 win and hosting Quinnipiac last Saturday earning an 87-79 victory. The senior duo of Jessica Smith and Mykeema Ford combine to average 32.2 points per game this season, nearly half of the team's 68.2 per game average. Smith is scoring a team-best 16.3 points per game while shooting 54.1% from the field. Ford averages 15.9 points and is passing out 4.9 assists per game. Smith and Ford are currently the top-two scoring tandem in America East.
Last Meeting with Stony Brook... Stony Brook got 20 points from Cortney Ray before fouling out as the Seawolves posted a 59-56 win at the SB Sports Complex. Ray shot seven-of-nine from the field and six-of-nine from the line while also pulling down seven rebounds in the win. The Pioneers got 19 points from Leslie Newhard who finished eight-of-11 from the field. Dawn Werner has seven points but came up with six steals. SHU shot just 38.8% (19-49) while SBU shot 50.0% (20-40) while overcoming 29 turnovers.
Streaks, Trends, Milestones, Notes... Senior Amanda Pape had her third game over 20 points this season, scoring 25 in the Saint Peter's win. She added a career-high 15 rebounds to complete the double double, her second this year and the 19th of her career. Pape continues to play major minutes, logging 39 in last Wednesday's win, right on her season average.
Pape added four more steals to her NEC leading (40) and is just five away from 300 for her career.
In her last four games, Pape is averaging 24.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.0 steals per game. She has shot 83.3% (25-30) at the line in those contests.
Pape will play in her 100th career game Thursday afternoon. She has started 98 of her 99 career games, including 70-straight.
For the first time this season SHU did not go to the free throw line in the first half of a game at SPC. The Pioneers made up for it in the second half, hitting 18-of-20, a season-best 90.0%.
The Pioneers tied their season-high with 43 rebounds at SPC. It is the third time this season SHU outrebounded an opponent going 2-1 in those games.
SHU forced 22 turnovers last Wednesday night, the sixth-straight game the have forced their opponent into 20 or more miscues.
Senior Jasmine Walker pulled down her 700th career rebound in the win at Saint Peter's. Walker had nine boards in the win, giving her 701 for her career, currently fifth on the all-time list.
Sophomore center Kaitlin Sowinski was held to a season-low two points on one-of-eight shooting against Saint Peter's. Her two-point performance snapped a seven-game scoring streak in double figures.
Senior Mary Rush will be out of the lineup through the rest of the month, targeting conference play for her return from a foot injury. Freshman Kathleen McGillicuddy could also be back when the full NEC slate starts. She has missed the first eight games after knee surgery. Sophomore Rachel Hudec has not played this season due to personal reasons.
SHU in the NCAA Rankings... Sophomore Kaitlin Sowinski is currently 12th in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.6% (46-82). She is also 32nd in blocks per game (2.2 bkpg). Senior Amanda Pape is currently tied for 5th in the nation in steals per game (4.0 spg). Pape's nine steals against Providence is tied for the fourth highest total in a game this season.
Home Sweet Home... The Pioneers won their 100th game in the William H. Pitt Center earlier this season with a 76-69 victory over Providence. SHU is 101-20 (.835) in the Pitt Center since it's opening in 1997. SHU has had two perfect season's at home, in 2005-06 (15-0) and 2003-04 (14-0). SHU is 48-7 at home in NEC games and has hosted six NEC Tournament games in the Pitt Center with a 4-2 mark.
