SHU Pioneers Head to Stony Brook Wednesday Night
11/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 13, 2007
Sacred Heart vs. Stony Brook Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (0-1, 0-0 NEC) vs. Stony Brook Seawolves (1-1, 0-0 America East)
Game #2 - Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 7:00 pm - Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook University Arena (4,103)
The Storyline... The Pioneers are looking to shake off a 62-43 loss at Rhode Island in the season opener when they travel to Stony Brook University Wednesday night. Sacred Heart was led by the duo of junior center Kaitlin Sowinski and junior guard Khalia Cain who each scored in double figures in the loss. Sowinski posted her third career double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Cain scored 12 points with four boards and a pair of assists. The Seawolves are 1-1 in the early going, winning their opener 66-57 against Iona but falling last time out, 98-35 at #2 ranked UConn.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 8-3. Last season's meeting marked the first between the two teams on the Division I level and the first since the 1998-99 season as the Pioneers came away with a 77-65 win over the Seawolves at home in the William H. Pitt Center. 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 3-0 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 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 278-203 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 152-84 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, (278) and winning percentage (.578). 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. Michele Cherry (Arizona State `92) is in her first season at the helm of the Stony Brook women's basketball program. Cherry takes over the program from her mentor Maura McHugh in her first collegiate head coaching job. She spent the last three seasons as the top-assistant on McHugh's staff at Stony Brook. Prior to that she joined McHugh on her staff for the Sacramento Monarchs of the WNBA.
Last Time Out... Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds but the Pioneers were plagued by 23 turnovers as they fell 62-43 at the University of Rhode Island in the season opener last Friday. The Pioneers shot just 29.8% (17-57) in the game and made just one-of-18 from behind the three-point arc. SHU got a three from freshman Alisa Apo on their first possession but it would be their last three-point make of the night, finishing 0-17 the rest of the way. The Rams took a seven-point lead at the half and sprinted out of the locker room to quickly made it a double digit lead on a jumper by Safi Mojidi and a lay-in by Crystal Bellinger to go up 32-22. Their lead spiked to 17, 43-26, with just under 14 to go when SHU started to put together a run. The Pioneers used a 9-2 run to get the lead down to 10 with 8:16 to go but a swooping lay-up by Bellinger at the shot clock buzzer swung the momentum on the Ram's next possession. From there, Rhode Island outscored the Pioneers 17-8 the rest of the way to the win. Mojidi led the Rams with 11 points while center Tanja Licina scored nine points with seven rebounds. Rhode Island bench outscored the SHU bench, 27-6. Junior point guard Khalia Cain finished in double digits with 12 points to go with four boards, two assists and a steal for SHU.
Pioneers vs. America East... The Pioneers are 5-6 against the America East Conference since joining Division I in 1999-00. SHU is 1-0 against Binghamton and Stony Brook after wins last season. SHU is 1-2 against Albany and 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 off to a 1-1 start to their season after a win over Iona in the season opener, 66-57, and a loss at #2 UConn, 98-35, last time out. Aly Young led the Seawolves against the Gaels with 13 points while Jodie Pikus came off the bench to score 11 and Dana Ferraro pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds. Ferraro followed up that performance with 15 points and nine rebounds against the second ranked Huskies on Sunday. Stony Brook returned eight players from last season's team that finished 18-11 and 14-2 in the America East Conference, good for second place. The Seawolves were picked to finish 5th in this year's Preseason Poll with Ferraro earning a spot on the Preseason All-America East First Team.
Last Meeting with Stony Brook... Pioneer senior Amanda Pape led four players in double figures, scoring 26 points as Sacred Heart came away with a 77-65 win over visiting Stony Brook University on December 28th last season. The Pioneers shot 55.2% in the second half and used a 20-5 run to pull away for good midway through the half en route to the win. Pape's 26 came on 10-of-18 shooting including five-of-five at the line. She added eight rebounds, four assists and two steals to her line but also turned it over seven times. Also in double figures was Kaitlin Sowinski who poured in 19, hitting eight-of-11 and blocking a pair of shots in the win. Lisa Moray finished with 12 on four-of-seven from three-point range while senior Kerri Burke finished with 10 points and passed out seven assists. Stony Brook got 19 points from Jessica Smith and 16 from Mykeema Ford. The Seawolves shot just 27.7% (26-69) but outrebounded SHU 40-34 on the day.
