Pioneers Head to CCSU in NEC Tilt
12/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (4-4, 1-0 NEC) vs. Central CT State Blue Devils (0-8, 0-0 NEC)
Game #9 - Monday, December 10, 2007 - 7:00 pm - New Britain, Conn. - William H. Detrick Gymnasium (3,500)
Radio: SacredHeartPioneers.com
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers are looking to make it 2-0 in Northeast Conference play as they head to New Britain to take on the Central Connecticut Blue Devils. The Pioneers won their conference opener on Saturday at Monmouth, 61-58, to start the year 1-0 in the NEC for the eighth time in the last nine years. The Blue Devils are still looking for their first win of the season as they play host tonight in what will be their league opener. After tonight's game, SHU will be off until December 19th at Lehigh.
Series... The Pioneers lead the all-time series, 18-8 and have won 12-straight meetings. Sacred Heart is 15-2 against the Blue Devils since joining the NEC after posting a pair of wins last season. The last Central victory came in 2001, 55-42, at home. They posted their other win in SHU's inaugural D-I season, 1999-2000, 61-45, also in the Detrick Gymnasium. The two teams met for the first time during the 1979-80 season, with the Blue Devils coming away 74-55 winners. CCSU holds a 6-3 edge during both team's Division II days.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 282-206 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 156-87 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, (281) and winning percentage (.577). He 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. Beryl Piper (CCSU `87) is in her first season at the helm of her alma mater's basketball program. Piper spent the last 19 seasons as the head coach at New Britain High School where she guided the team to three state titles. She played both basketball and softball at Central and was inducted into CCSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 1999 .
Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is beginning their ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 107-38 conference record, having never finished lower then tied for third in the final league standings. The Pioneers have won back-to-back NEC Regular Season Championships and laid claim to the 2006 NEC title winning the league tournament. Head Coach Swanson is closing in on becoming the conference's all-time leader in regular season NEC wins at 107. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart juniors Kaitlin Sowinski and Stephanie Ryan posted matching double doubles for the second-straight game to lead the Pioneers to a 61-58 win at Monmouth in the NEC opener for both clubs. Sowinski led SHU with 15 points and 10 rebounds while also posting five blocked shots. Ryan scored 14 and pulled down a career-high 14 boards. The Pioneers also got double digit afternoons from junior Khalia Cain, 10 points, and freshman Alisa Apo, 12 points off the bench. The Pioneers had to fend off a pesky Hawk team that battled back from a nine-point hole to tie the game at 50-50 with 6:25 left. SHU used a 7-0 run to jump back in front but another late charge put the Pioneers up just one, 57-56, with 1:23 to go. The Pioneers needed to make one more stop and Cain come up with a big steal and she along with Lisa Moray and Cosgrove made four-of-six at the line in the waning seconds to seal the win. SHU struggled at the free throw line hitting 22-of-38 (57.9%) and just two-of-23 (13.0%) from behind the arc.
Scouting the Blue Devils... The Central Connecticut Blue Devils are still searching for their first win in 2007-08, dropping all eight of their games thus far. The Blue Devils are coming off a 76-64 loss at Providence last time out. CCSU has played just twice at home this season, falling to Rhode Island, 74-57, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 77-51. Sophomore Emily Rose is the only Blue Devil in double figures, averaging 10.5 points per game. She is shooting 41.4% (24-58) from behind the arc, sixth among the NEC leaders. Sophomore forward Danica Covington is averaging 9.9 rebounds per game, eighth in the league. The Blue Devils were picked to finish 10th in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting with CCSU... Sacred Heart seniors Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, while the Pioneers shot 52.7% en route to a 77-49 win over Central Connecticut at home last February. Central held a 6-4 lead in the opening minutes but the Pioneers out scored the Blue Devils 31-4 over a stretch of 12 minutes to build a comfortable first half lead. SHU ran away with the game on the strength of a 20-0 run during a 0-10 CCSU scoreless drought with Pape scoring half of the Pioneers points on the jaunt. Sacred Heart's lead peaked at 33, 67-34, in the second half and never dipped below 24 as Pioneers cruised to the 77-49 victory. Pape finished nine-of-18 and came up with five steals, five rebounds and five assists. Walker was a perfect six-of-six from the field en route to her 15 points and just missed her 22nd career double double with nine rebounds. Sophomore Kaitlin Sowinski blocked five shots, all in the first half, while scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds. Freshman Lindsey Gibson played well off the bench for SHU, scoring six points and pulling down seven rebounds, both career-high marks. The Pioneers finished the game shooting 52.7% (29-55) but turned the ball over a season-high 25 times. SHU finished the game with 32 points off 26 Central turnovers and held a 42-24 advantage in the paint and scored 19 fast-break points in the win.
News and Notes...
- Juniors Kaitlin Sowinski and Stephanie Ryan both posted back-to-back double double games this week, a first since Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker did the same against Saint Peter's and Rider during the 2005-06 season. Sowiniski had 20 and 10 against Dartmouth and 15 and 10 at Monmouth while Ryan notched 10 points and 11 boards against the Big Green and 14 points and 14 rebounds at Monmouth.
- The Pioneers continue to play solid defense, holding teams to just 53.4 points per game and a 36.5% field goal percentage and 26.3% three-point percentage. In fact, just one team has reached 60 points on the Pioneers this season, Rhode Island in the opener (62-48).
- Senior Lisa Moray missed the BYU game with an illness but was back against Dartmouth. Moray came into that game with the hot hand from behind the arc, hitting 13 of 26 (.500) over her previous three game stretch. But the missed time may have cost the senior. This week, she went ice cold, hitting just 2 of 21 in the two games including an 0-for-11 day at Monmouth, the worst shooting day of her career.
- Freshman Alisa Apo had her best day in a Pioneer uniform in her own backyard. The Cherry Hill, NJ native came off the bench at Monmouth to score 12 points with a pair of steals, an assist and a block in the win over the Hawks.
- After facing CCSU on Monday, the Pioneers will have 10 days off for exams, returning to action on the 19th at Lehigh.
Ryan and Sowinski - SHU's 1-2 Punch... The Pioneer duo of Stephanie Ryan and Kaitlin Sowinski seem to be getting better and better each time out with the two coming off their second-straight double double games. The two are Sacred Heart's top-two scorers and rebounders. Sowinski is fourth in the NEC in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Ryan, who struggled to score points in the first four games, has found her offensive groove, averaging 10.8 points over her last four ball games. She leads SHU in rebounding (8.0) and in steals (16).
