Pioneers Close Home Stand Against The Big Green
12/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 3, 2007
Sacred Heart vs. Darmouth Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (3-3, 0-0 NEC) vs. Dartmouth Big Green (0-5, 0-0 Ivy League)
Game #7 - Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 7:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)
Radio: WICC 600 am; SacredHeartPioneers.com
The Storyline... The Pioneers are on a three-game roll as they take on the Dartmouth Big Green to close out a four-game home stand. Sacred Heart notched their third-straight win on Saturday, beating BYU of the Mountain West Conference, 49-44. Junior Kaitlin Sowinski continues to be the Pioneer's go-to-player, posting 16 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals in the win. SHU will jump into Northeast Conference play for the next two with stops at Monmouth and Central Connecticut on the docket. The Big Green are still searching for their first win of the season coming off a 57-50 loss at home to Northeastern last time out, their fifth-straight loss on the year.
Series... Dartmouth leads the all-time series, 1-0. The only meeting between the two schools came at the Citizens Bank Classic at Dartmouth in 1998, a 95-58 win by the Big Green.
Pioneers vs. the Ivy League... The Pioneers are 17-13 all-time versus the teams from the Ivy League. Sacred Heart has faced every teams in the league with the exception of the University of Pennsylvania. SHU has faced in state rival Yale the most of any school, holding an 9-3 series lead including eight-straight wins. The Pioneers are tied 3-3 with Columbia and hold a 2-0 lead over Princeton, both teams they will face this season. SHU is also even, 3-3, in their all-time series with Brown. SHU has faced Cornell and Dartmouth each just once, losing both games.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 281-205 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 155-86 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, (281) 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. Chris Wielgus (Springfield `74) is in her 23rd season at Dartmouth College and is the Big Green's all-time winningest coach with a 330-238 record. She also spent two seasons at the head coach at Fordham where she posted records of 21-8 (1991-92) and 16-13 (1992-93).
Scouting the Big Green... The Dartmouth women's basketball team is still searching for their first win of 2007-08 after an 0-5 start. The Big Green have struggled on the offense end, averaging just 42.4 points while shooting 29.1% to start the year. Senior guard Kristen Craft has been a bright spot for the Big Green, leading the team in scoring 10.4 per game. The team's leading rebounder is sophomore forward Margaret Smith who is pulling down 7.8 boards per game. Darmouth returned four starters this season off a club that finished 15-14 overall and 9-5 in the Ivy League, good for second place. The Big Green were picked to finish fourth in this season's preseason media poll.
Last Meeting with Dartmouth... The Dartmouth Big Green opened their Citizens Bank Classic Tournament by posting a 95-57 win over the Pioneers on December 29, 1998. Dartmouth led 48-31 at the half but an 8-0 spurt by the Pioneers out of the break but the lead to nine but the Big Green outscored SHU 47-18 the rest of the way. Dartmouth had six players, including all five starters, in double figures led by Katie O'Connor who scored a game-high 17 points in the win. The Big Green shot 52.3% (34-65) and went to the free throw line 30 times, hitting 23. The Pioneers got 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench from Katie Toole while starter Jessica Bresnahan scored 11 with six rebounds and four assists in the loss.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart junior center Kaitlin Sowinski scored a team-high 16 points with six rebounds, three blocks and two steals to help guide the Pioneers to a 49-44 win over visiting Brigham Young University Saturday afternoon. SHU junior Khalia Cain gave the Pioneers a 45-44 lead with 14 seconds left and freshman Maggie Cosgrove put the game away with four-of-four at the line in the closing seconds. With the game knotted at 44-44 with just 37 ticks left, SHU called time out to set up a shot. Before the Pioneers could get one off, Cain was fouled on the floor and went to the line shooting one-and-one. She hit the first to give SHU the lead, 45-44, but her second missed the mark with the Pioneers getting possession on a loose ball out of bounds. BYU was forced to foul with just 10 seconds left and put the freshman Cosgrove on the line and the rookie promptly knocked down both for a three-point advantage. The rookie point guard then came up with maybe the defensive play of the night, drawing a charge on BYU's Jazmine Foreman with five seconds left. The Cougars again sent her to the line and with ice water in her veins, Cosgrove buried the final two freebies and sent her team home with a 49-44 victory in their first-ever meeting with the Cougars and with a team from the Mountain West Conference. SHU held a distinct advantage at the charity stripe, making 12-of-18 while BYU hit all four of their free throws.
News and Notes... - The Pioneer's 49-44 win over BYU marked their lowest point total in a win since the 2000-01 season when they beat Fairleigh Dickinson, 49-42 (1/6/01).
- SHU posted their first win in their first try against a team from the Mountain West Conference in beating the Cougars on Saturday.
- The Pioneers have won three-straight at home to start the year and have taken seven-straight in the Pitt Center dating back to last season.
- Junior Kaitlin Sowinski has scored in double figures in every game this season, a streak of six-straight. The longest streak of her career is seven-straight, last season.
- Freshman Maureen Reilly stepped in to make her first career start and scored seven points with eight rebounds in the win.
- Defense, Defense, Defense. The Pioneers continue to be on the of the NEC's toughest defensive team's holding opponents to 52.7 points per game, second in the league rankings. The are holding teams to just 38.1% shooting from the field and 26.2% from three, ranking 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Sowinski - NEC Player of the Week... Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski was named the Choice Hotels NEC Player of the Week on Monday. Sowinski has been vital to Sacred Heart's resurgence following an 0-3 start to the season. The junior center turned in two consistent 16-point performances to help the Pioneers complete a 2-0 week and even their overall record at 3-3. With her second 16-point game of the week, Sowinski was the only Sacred Heart scorer to reach double figures during a 49-44 win over defending Mountain West Conference regular season champ Brigham Young. She also added six rebounds, three blocks, and two steals, while only picking up two fouls against the Cougars, who are coming off their second-straight NCAA appearance. Sowinski contributed a game-high 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four blocks in an early-week win over Albany.
