Sacred Heart on the Road to Face La Salle
12/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2007
Sacred Heart vs. La Salle Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (6-5, 2-0 NEC) vs. La Salle Explorers (5-6, 0-0 Atlantic-10)
Game #12 - Friday, December 28, 2007 - 1:00 pm - Philadelphia, Pa. - Tom Gola Arena (4,000)
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers travel down to Philadelphia to take on the La Salle Explorers in a Friday afternoon holiday matinee. The Pioneers head to the City of Brotherly Love after their best offensive performance of the year in a 79-65 win over Princeton last weekend. SHU shot a season-high 52.6% with four starters in double figures in the win. The Explorers are also playing well after winning the Central Florida Classic with wins over UNC-Greensboro and Appalachian State.
Series... La Salle leads the all-time series, 2-0. The Explorers posted a 70-60 win in Fairfield last season. The first meeting took place during the 2000-01 season as part of the La Salle Holiday Tournament. The Explorers posted a 59-55 win in the championship game. SHU had beaten Morgan State, 67-66 , the day before to advance to the championship game against La Salle.
Pioneers vs. the Atlantic-10... Sacred Heart is 1-6 all-time versus the Atlantic-10 Conference. The Pioneers are 1-1 against Massachusetts. SHU lost in Amherst in 2002-03, 74-48, but rebounded in the 2003-04 season opener with a 61-46 win at home. The Pioneers are 0-2 against La Salle, losing 59-55 in 2001 and 70-60 at home last season. SHU is also 0-2 against Rhode Island, falling in this year's season opener, 62-43, and in 1998-99, 69-66. SHU's other loss came at Richmond, 78-43, in 2004-05.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 284-207 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 158-88 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, (284) and winning percentage (.578). 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. Tom Lochner (Temple `89) is in his fourth season at the helm of the La Salle University women's basketball program. Lochner has a 47-50 (.485) record at La Salle and overall in his three seasons as a head coach. He started his coaching career at La Salle in 1987 as a volunteer assistant coach, spending 17 seasons as an assistant and associate head coach before taking over the reigns of the program.
Last Time Out... The Pioneers had four starters in double figures while shooting a season-high 52.6% (30-57) on the way to a 70-65 win over visiting Princeton last Saturday. Junior Kaitlin Sowinski led the offensive charge with 23 points while freshman Alisa Apo continued her hot shooting with 19, her fourth-straight outing in double digits. The Pioneers saw a 21-point second half lead whittled down to nine with just over seven minutes to go. Sowinski powered an 11-0 run, scoring the first five points on the jaunt to push the lead to 76-55 with 3:13 to go putting the game out of reach. Junior Khalia Cain's posted a season-high 16 points while junior Stephanie Ryan added 13 points. SHU out rebounded the Tigers 36-28 while turning the ball over a season-low 13 times.
Scouting the Explorers... The La Salle Explorers are 5-6 on the season and are coming off a pair of wins at the UCF Classic. A 63-47 win over UNC-Greensboro put the Explorers in the Classic championship game against Appalachian State. Down as many as 14 points to the Mountaineers, La Salle stormed back for a 66-62 win. The Explorers have played the NEC once already this season, falling 65-64 to Quinnipiac at home. Senior Carlene Hightower is the team's leading scorer and rebounder registering 17.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Jamie Walsh is also averaging double figures at 12.3 points per game while leading the team with 26 makes behind the three-point arc on the year. Walsh is a 41.3% shooter from downtown. The Explorers were picked 10th in the Atlantic-10 Preseason Poll while Hightower was a Preseason All-Conference pick.
Last Meeting with La Salle... The Sacred Heart Pioneers built a 12-point lead 12 minutes through the first half but couldn't hold on as the La Salle Explorers got 26 points and 17 rebounds from senior Crista Ricketts on the way to a 70-60 win last November in Fairfield. The loss halted a 15-game home winning streak for the Pioneers. The Explorers went to the free throw line 34 times, hitting 23, while holding a 51-38 advantage on the glass.. Alyse Hoover came off the bench to score 13 points to Ricketts 26. Sacred Heart's Kaitlin Sowinski scored 14 point to lead four Pioneers in double digits. Kerri Burke, Amanda Pape and Lisa Moray all had 10 points in the loss. Jasmine Walker pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds in the loss. Sowinski added seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks to her totals. SHU shot just 31.0%, hitting just 22 of 71 shots and just six of 23 from behind the arc.
Team News and Notes... - SHU bounced back from their loss at Lehigh with an impressive 79-65 win over Princeton at home last weekend, evening their record at 1-1 against the Ivy League this year. The Pioneers will close out the non-conference portion of this year's schedule on Sunday afternoon facing the Columbia Lions.
- The 79 points scored against the Princeton Tigers marked a season-high mark in what was on of SHU's top-offensive performances on the year. On the road to their 70 points, the Pioneers made a season-best 30 field goals while shooting a season-high 52.6%, their third game this season eclipsing the fifty percent mark.
- SHU had 16 assists on their 30 makes, their third-straight game with 16 or more helpers and seventh game with at least 15 assists. On the year, the Pioneers are averaging 14.1 assists per game on the season, second among the NEC's leaders. Four players have over 20 assists led by junior Khalia Cain with 32. Freshman Maggie Cosgrove is right on her heels with 29 while junior Stephanie Ryan has 24 and senior Lisa Moray has 23.
- Freshman Alisa Apo has found an offensive groove and has played her way back into the starting lineup. Apo is leading the team averaging 16.3 points over her last four games and is coming off a 19-point afternoon against Princeton and a season-best 20-point night at Lehigh. Over the last four games, Apo has shot 52.6% (20-38) from the field and 50.0% (7-14). On the year she is averaging 9.0 points per game while shooting a team-best 42.3% (11-26) from behind the arc.
- Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski has scored double-figures in every game this season, an 11-game streak that marks the longest of her career. She posted 23 points to lead SHU over Princeton, her fourth game this season at or above the 20-point mark. Sowinski sits second in the league in field goal percentage, hitting 55.7% (73-131) from the floor on the year.
- The Pioneer's two starting guards, Khalia Cain and Maggie Cosgrove, both have positive assist-to-turnover ratios. Cain has 32 helpers against just 22 turnovers and Cosgrove has 29 assists and 22 miscues. Senior Lisa Moray has 23 assists against 11 turnovers.
- Junior Stephanie Ryan is leading the NEC in defensive rebounds with 67 on the year. She leads the team with 8.0 caroms per game.
