Sacred Heart Opens NEC Play on the Road at Monmouth
12/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2007
Sacred Heart vs. Monmouth Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (3-4, 0-0 NEC) vs. Monmouth Hawks (1-6, 0-0 NEC)
Game #8 - Saturday, December 8, 2007 - 3:00 pm - West Long Branch, N.J. - William T. Boylan Gymnasium (2,200)
Radio: SacredHeartPioneers.com
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers will open Northeast Conference play traveling to Monmouth for their league opener in a re-match of last season's NEC Tournament semifinal. The Pioneers saw their three-game winning streak snapped last time out falling to Dartmouth, 53-50, as they head out on the road for a pair of NEC games. The Hawks have lost two-straight coming in and return home after a 67-51 loss at American last time out.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 10-6. The Pioneers won all three meetings last season series capped by a 50-46 win at home over the Hawks in the semifinals of the NEC Tournament. SHU posted a 60-51 on their home court and 59-54 win at Monmouth after trailing by 16 points in the second half. Sacred Heart has won five-straight in the series dating back to the 2004-05 season. The two schools met for the first time during the 1997-98 campaign, with Monmouth coming away 65-59 winners. The Pioneers are 5-2 at home against the Hawks, 5-3 at Monmouth and 0-1 at a neutral site.
Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is beginning their ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 106-38 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 106. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 281-206 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 155-89 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. Michelle Baxter (St. John Fisher) is in her fourth season at the helm of the Monmouth women's basketball program. Baxter took over the reigns in January of 2005 and has led the Hawks to a 41-37 record. She is the fifth head coach in the school's history.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart got matching double doubles from juniors Kaitlin Sowinski and Stephanie Ryan but it wasn't enough as the Pioneers fell at the hand of Dartmouth College, 53-50, Wednesday night. Sowinski finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds with six blocks while Ryan notched her first career double dip with 10 points and 11 boards. The Pioneers used an 8-2 run late in the half to take their biggest lead of the game, 29-21, with 4:58 on the clock. From there, however, the SHU offense went into a funk for the rest of the first half, missing their last six shots while turning it over five times before the halftime horn. In the process, the Big Green took full advantage and ran off six-straight points to trail by just two, 29-27, at the break. Dartmouth built on their momentum from the first half and grabbed the lead back, 32-31, on a Brittany Smith lay-up with 15:47 to go. The two teams traded the lead back and forth four more times, sitting at 44-44 with seven minutes to go when it looked like SHU might pull away. Senior Lisa Moray buried a three and Sowinski laid one in off a feed from Khalia Cain to put the Pioneers up 49-46 with 4:37 on the clock. Sowinski's bucket proved to be the Pioneer's last field goal of the night as the Big Green stormed back. Dartmouth closed the game out with a 7-1 run squashing a pair of SHU attempts to tie in the final seconds. Despite shooting just 32.8% (19-58), the Big Green out rebounded Sacred Heart 39-38, including 21-16 in the second half, while hitting 11 of 17 at the free throw line. The Pioneers shot 36.4% (20-55) in the game but went to the line just eight times, hitting five. SHU was also plagued by turnovers, committing 19 miscues in the loss.
Scouting the Hawks... The Monmouth Hawks are off to a 1-6 start to their season and have lost two-straight coming into Saturday's match-up. The Hawks lone win came over Fordham, 65-59, in the University of Miami Holiday Tournament. Senior Veronica Randolph is the team's leading scorer, averaging 12.0 points per game. She is shooting 32.4% (11-34) from behind the arc on the year while averaging 5.5 rebounds per game. Junior guard Marbely Montas is averaging 9.1 points while junior forward Jennifer Bender is averaging 8.3 points while leading the team in rebounding at 7.9 per contest. The Hawks were picked to finish fifth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting with Monmouth... Senior Amanda Pape sparked a furious second half comeback for Sacred Heart, leading a 17-4 run over the final five minutes to help the Pioneers defeat Monmouth, 50-46, in the semifinals of last year's NEC Tournament. Pape led all scorers with 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, made seven steals and dished three assists in the win. With the score 12-8 in favor of the Pioneers with 9:58 left in the first half, Pape outscored Monmouth 12-5 by herself over the next six minutes to push the Pioneer advantage to 24-13 with 3:25 left. Sacred Heart took a 29-15 advantage into the intermission, holding Monmouth to just 7-27 from the field (25.9%) and forcing 15 turnovers. Pape finished the half with 16 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists. Sacred Heart came out of the locker room cold and the Hawks took advantage. MU used a 16-2 run out of the break to take the, 33-31, with 10:48 left. The Hawks looked to be running away with the game, building their biggest lead, 42-33, with 5:18 left to play. The Pioneers suffered through a 0-for-17 streak in the second half that was finally snapped with 3:11 left on a Jasmine Walker lay-up. SHU used a furious rally to grab back the lead on a Lisa Moray three, 45-42, with just over two minutes left as Pape sank four-straight free throws in the waning seconds to seal the win. The Pioneers shot just 9.1% (2-22) in the second half with just two field goals. SHU out rebounded the Hawks, 47-42, led by Jasmine Walker's 16.
News and Notes...
- Juniors Kaitlin Sowinski and Stephanie Ryan each posted double doubles in the loss to Dartmouth Wednesday night, marking the first time a pair of Pioneers have notched double dips in the same game since Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker accomplished the feat at Monmouth last season.
- For Sowinski, her 20 points and 10 rebounds marked her second double double this season and the fourth of her career. Her 20 points marked her third 20-point game this season.
- Ryan's line, 10 points, 11 rebounds, produced her first career double double night. She added a season-high five assists to her game totals.
- 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, 37.3% shooting from the field and 26.0% from three, all ranking second in the league.
- Senior Lisa Moray and junior Khalia Cain rank one and two atop the NEC leader board in assist-to-turnover ratio. Moray led the league last season with 106 assists (3.3 per game) against just 51 turnovers (1.6 per game). This season, Morayhas 18 helpers against just nine turnovers to lead the conference. Cain leads the team with 21 assists on the year with 14 turnovers.
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. 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.
