Pioneers Square Off with UAlbany Great Danes Wendesday Night
11/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 27, 2007
Sacred Heart vs. Albany Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (1-3, 0-0 NEC) vs. Albany Great Danes (1-5, 0-0 America East)
Game #5 - Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 7:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)
Radio: WICC 600 am, SacredHeartPioneers.com
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers picked-up their first win of the season last time out and look to make it two-straight at home hosting the Albany Great Danes. The Pioneers avoided their first 0-4 start since the 1984-85 season and the first for head coach Ed Swanson by beating Binghamton on Sunday, 70-52. SHU snapped out of their offensive slumber, scoring a season-high 70 points while shooting 50.0% (24-48) from the field. Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski has dominated early on, averaging 18.0 points through the four games. The Great Danes have lost three-in-a-row after loses to Holy Cross, 61-54, and Youngstown State, 54-52, in the Long Island University Turkey Classic.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 7-5. The Pioneers are 1-2 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. The two teams renewed acquaintances last season with the UAlbany posting a 60-55 win at home. 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 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 279-205 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 153-86 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, (279) and winning percentage (.576). 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 sixth season at the helm of the University at Albany women's basketball program. Patterson has a 54-96 (.360) record in her six years as the head coach of the Great Danes and a 154-243 career record in her 15 years as a head coach.
Pioneers vs. America East... The Pioneers are 6-7 against the America East Conference since joining Division I in 1999-00. SHU is 1-1 against both Binghamton and Stony Brook after beating the Bearcats and falling to the Seawolves earlier this year. SHU is 1-2 against Albany and Hartford, 1-1 against New Hampshire and 0-1 against 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 Great Danes... The Albany Great Danes come into Wednesday night's match-up sporting a 1-5 mark on the year. UAlbany picked-up their lone win of the season in their only home match-up, a 61-54 win over Colgate. The Great Danes have lost three-straight falling to LaSalle (70-59) and Holy Cross (61-54) and Youngstown State (54-52) at the LIU Tournament over the weekend. Senior forward Kristin Higy is the team's leading scorer and rebounder at 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard TaNika Thrower is also averaging double figures with 10.5 points per game. The Great Danes finished last season 9-22 and 4-12 in the America East conference, good for ninth. UAlbany was picked to finish eighth in this season's Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting with UAlbany... Sacred Heart shot just 29.2% (19-65) from the field while the University at Albany got a double double from Kristin Higy, 15 points, 13 rebounds, and withstood a late SHU rally to come away with a 60-55 win last December. The Pioneers got 11 points and 11 rebounds from senior forward Jasmine Walker. The Pioneers endured a dreadful first half where they shot just five-of-29 (17.2%), a season low, and trailed 30-16 at the break. The Pioneer offense was so cold, it played a combined 17 minutes without a field goal. The Great Dane lead peaked at 19 points in the second half and never fell below 15 until the 4:20 mark. SHU turned on the defensive pressure and began to mount a late rally that cut the lead to single digits for the first time all half at the 1:10 mark. The Pioneers used a 9-0 run but could get no closer then six points as UAlbany hit a pair of free throws and made a steal in the closing seconds to seal the win. SHU turned Albany over 12 times in the second half, scoring 17 points of the Great Dane miscues but it wasn't enough. Amanda Pape led all scorers with 16 points, playing all 40 minutes. Kaitlin Sowinski also finished in double digits with 11 points while pulling down six rebounds.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart got 20 points from junior Kaitlin Sowinski and 12 points apiece from senior Lisa Moray and freshman Maggie Cosgrove as the Pioneers notched their first win of season in their home opener, 70-52 over Binghamton Sunday afternoon. The Pioneers never trailed the Bearcats while shooting a season-best 50.0% (24-48) in the win. A 32-29 SHU lead at the half turned into a an 18-point win thanks to an early 13-2 run and some solid defense. The Pioneer clamped down on the Bearcats, forcing 11 turnovers in the second half and holding them to 33.3% (8-24) shooting. Sowinski hit the 20-point mark for the second-straight game making seven-of-nine from the field and six-of-nine at the line while collection four rebounds, four assists, three blocks and one steal in 29 minutes of action. Cosgrove turned in her first double-digit performance of her young career, hitting four-of-five from behind the three-point arc on the way to her 12 point day. She added a team-high seven rebounds, two assists and a steal to her totals. Moray's four three's went with four assists, four boards and a steal.
Cosgrove - NEC Rookie of the Week... Pioneer freshman Maggie Cosgrove earned her first Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week award after her performance against Binghamton on Sunday. Cosgrove made her second career start at point guard against the Bearcats and broke out with 12 points, seven rebounds, and two assists in 31 minutes of play en route to the win. All 12 of Cosgrove's points came from behind the arc as part of a 4-of-5 three-point shooting clip. For the season, the freshman is averaging 4.8 points while hitting a team-best 42.9% from behind the arc (6-14). Cosgrove becomes the first Pioneer rookie to pick up the award since Amanda Pape during the 2003-04 season.
Sowinski Dominating the Paint... Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski is off to a torrid start, leading the Pioneers in scoring each of the four games while coming off a back-to-back 20 point performances. Sowinski poured in 20 against Binghamton, hitting seven-of-nine from the field and six-of- nine from the field. Prior to that, she posted a career-high 24 on Fairfield. The 6-4 center is averaging 18.0 points per game on the young season, ranked fourth among the NEC leaders. She is shooting 56.9% (29-51) from the field through four games, third in the league rankings. Defensively, she continues to make her presence felt in the paint with 11 blocks.
Moray Back on Track Behind the Arc... Coming into the 2007-08 season, senior Lisa Moray returned as the Pioneer's leading three-point threat after hitting a school record 69 treys last year. But Moray struggled out of the gates, hitting just one-for-12 from behind the arc over the first three games while missing her first 11 from downtown. But like all good shooters, the senior kept shooting and found her way out of the slide, hitting nine-of-18 over the last two ballgames. Moray hit five-of-eight from three against Fairfield for 15 points and knocked down four-of-10 against Binghamton for 12 points. Moray's five three's against the Stags marked the seventh time in her four year career she has made five or more shots from three-point range in a game.
Ryan Solid All-Around... Stephanie Ryan is just four games into her Pioneer career after transferring last season from Fairfield but the junior forward has fit in quite well. Ryan is the Pioneers top-rebounder at 7.3 per clip, a mark that has her 10th among the NEC leaders. In fact, she's done everything you can ask of a player except score big points thus far. She's had at least one assist and one steal in every game and leads the team with nine takeaways on the defensive end. The only area were she has struggled is shooting the basketball, hitting just 10-of-36 (.278) on the year.
Smart with the Basketball... Senior Lisa Moray is back atop the NEC leaderboard in assist-to-turnover ratio. The senior guard led the league last season with 106 assists (3.3 per game) against just 51 turnovers (1.6 per game). Through the first four games, Moray is tops once again with 12 assists coming against just five miscues. Also getting into the act is junior Khalia Cain who leads the team with 13 helpers on the year with eight turnovers. Cain is quickly becoming one of the Pioneer's leaders on the court this season and can play both guard positions.
No Place Like the Pitt... The Pioneers have become one of the toughest teams on their home court, the William H. Pitt Center. Since the opening of the Pitt Center in 1997, his Sacred Heart teams have won 83% (111-22) of their home games including a perfect 15-0 in 2005-06 and 14-0 in 2003-04. Between 2002 and 2004, the Pioneers put together a string of 19-straight regular season wins at home in the Pitt Center. Their .835 winning percentage at home ranks the Pitt Center nationally as one the toughest arena for visiting teams to earn a win.
Pioneers Ink Four for 2008-09... Sacred Heart University head women's basketball coach Ed Swanson announced that four student-athletes have signed National Letters-of-Intent during the early signing period. Swing Guards Alexis Campbell (Ashburn, VA / Broad Run H.S.) and Kris Iovino (Murrysville, PA / Franklin Regional H.S.), guard Emily Hyncik (Skillman, NJ / The Peddie School) and forward Callan Taylor (Overland Park, KS / Blue Valley North H.S.) have signed letters and will join the Pioneers in the fall of 2008.
