SHU Opens NEC Schedule Hosting Fairleigh Dickinson
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2008
Sacred Heart vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Game Notes in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (1-5, 0-0 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (1-4, 0-0 NEC)
Game #7 - Saturday, December 6, 2008 - 2:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)
Radio: Pioneer Radio Network (WICC 600 AM, WINE 590 AM, WPUT 1510 AM)
Multimedia: Live Video, Gametracker
The Storyline... The 2008-09 Northeast Conference schedule kicks-off Saturday afternoon as Sacred Heart plays host to Fairleigh Dickinson. The Pioneers are coming off their first win of the season on Wednesday night, an 81-49 romp over Stony Brook as they get set to take on the Knights in the conference opener for both teams. FDU is 1-4 on the year, looking to snap a four-game losing streak. The Knights have been off since last Sunday's 68-64 loss at Saint Peter's College. The Pioneers are 8-1 in their previous nine NEC openers and have won four-straight as they open their 10th season of play in the league.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 15-1 and have won 11-straight over the Knights after sweeping both meetings last season, 77-65, at home and 77-61 on the road. Fairleigh Dickinson's lone win in the series came during the 2001-02 campaign when they posted a 64-60 win in the Rothman Center. The two teams have met once in the post season, an 83-55 Pioneer win in the opening round of the 2005-06 NEC Tournament. SHU is 8-0 at home against the Knights and 7-1 in Teaneck, NJ.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 19th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 298-218 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 172-99 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, (297) and winning percentage (.577). He has twice been named the NEC Coach of the Year and is four conference wins away from becoming the league's all-time leader in regular season win. Peter Cinella (Western New England `90) is in his second season on the Fairleigh Dickinson bench after posting a 13-17 record in his inaugural season. Cinella came to FDU after 14 years at American International College where he was the winningest coach in that program's history at 299-135. He led the school to nine NCAA Tournaments, two trips to the Elite Eight and an appearance in the 2006 NCAA Championship game.
Scouting the Knights... The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights opened their season with a 59-51 win over future NEC member Bryant University but have since dropped four-straight. Three of their four losses have come at the hands of fellow New Jersey institutions in Rider (65-64 ot), Princeton (62-47) and Saint Peter's (68-54). The Knights are led by junior forward Christy Altamirano who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding at 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, numbers that rank her seventh and fourth respectively in the NEC. Sophomore guard Alyssa Mayrose and freshman guard Mariyah Laury also average double digits, scoring 12.8 and 12.2 points per game. Fairleigh Dickinson was picked to finish fifth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting with FDU... Guard Khalia Cain led four Pioneers in double figures tying her season-high with 18 points to lead Sacred Heart past Fairleigh Dickinson 77-61 on the road last February. The Pioneers shot 50.0% (28-56) from the field and tied their season-high with nine makes from behind the three point arc. Tied 8-8 in the first three minutes of the game the Pioneers rattled off an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to jump in front 19-8. Stephanie Ryan got the run started with her first of four three's on the night and Cain finished it off with a jumper in the lane. SHU's lead hit 15 points at the five minute mark before a Knight rally cut it down to single digits. Sacred Heart started the second half hitting three-straight from behind the arc, two by Ryan, and went up 48-34. Ryan's fourth triple of the night put SHU up 17 with 14 minutes to go and the lead hit 23, 64-41, by the midway point thanks to a runner in they lane by the junior. SHU went to the bench to finish it out and the Pioneers delivered, seeing the lead hit it's highest mark at 24, 73-49, with four and a half to go as all but one player scored in the win. In addition to Cain's 18, Alisa Apo scored 16 with six rebounds and two assists. Maggie Cosgrove finished with 10 points and Ryan added 14 with seven boards and a pair of helpers.
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart snapped a five-game losing streak with a 81-42 win over visiting Stony Brook Wednesday night. The Pioneers never trailed and led by as many as 39 points as they end their season-opening skid and notch their first win heading into the start of Northeast Conference play. The Pioneers got a game-high 15 points from senior center Kaitlin Sowinski who hit all four of her shots in the second half and collected seven rebounds in the win. As a team, the Pioneers shot 46.7% (38-60), including 51.6% (16-31) in the second half. Sophomore Alisa Apo finished with 14 points and five assists while senior Stephanie Ryan rounded out the Pioneers in double figures with 11 points. Stony Brook kept the game within reach for much of the first half, trailing 20-14 at the 7:32 mark. From there, the Pioneers began to pull away, outscoring the Seawolves 18-8 to lead by 16 at the break, 38-22. The second half opened with the Pioneers rattling off a 13-4 run in the opening minutes to build their lead to 25, 51-26. SHU never let Stony Brook back in, building their lead to 39 points with 3:51 to play thanks to a 26-9 jaunt. The Seawolves shot just 20.7% (6-29) in the second half and were plagued all game by foul trouble and turnovers. SHU converted 23 Seawolf turnovers into 24 points at the other end.
Winless Streak Snapped... The Pioneers picked up their first win of the season, snapping an 0-5 streak to open the year, their first 0-5 start since the winless (0-21) 1982-83 season. This season marked the first time a Pioneer team has opened 0-5 under Head Coach Ed Swanson's. SHU was also 0-5 in 1981-82 and started 0-4 in 1984-85.
Home Cooking... Sacred Heart opened this season with four of their first five games on the road including a season-opening swing through Kansas and Marquette. The Pioneers are in the midst of a three game home swing that ends Monday night against Mount St. Mary's. The Pioneers will close out the 2008 calender year by playing five of seven in the friendly confines of the William H. Pitt Center.
Apo and Taylor Among the NEC Leaders... Sophomore Alisa Apo and freshman Callan Taylor are ranked among the Northeast Conference leaders in several offensive statistical categories. Apo is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game on the year, ranking her sixth among the league's top-scorers. She is tied for 10th in the NEC In assists (3.00 apg), fourth in free throw percentage hitting 87.2% (34-39) and eight in three-point field goals per game (1.67). Taylor is off to an impressive start to her rookie season, ranking first in the NEC in free throw percentage hitting 91.3% (21-23) at the line and second behind the arc at 53.4% (7-13).
Sowinski Honored in the Pre-Game... Prior to this afternoon's tip-off, senior Kaitlin Sowinski will receive a commemorative basketball in honor of her scoring her 1,000th career point. Sowinski became the 13th player in Sacred Heart school history to eclipse 1,000 points for her career when she reached the milestone in last season's NEC Tournament quarterfinal match-up with Monmouth. Sowinski scored 18 points against the Hawks to reach the plateau in the final game of her junior season. Through six games this season, she has 1,092 points and counting, moving her into 12th place on the all-time list.
Apo's Career Night... Sophomore Alisa Apo, last season's NEC Rookie of the Year, has been the driving force on the SHU offense this season, scoring at a 16.7 per game clip. Apo posted a career-high 31 points against Lehigh where she hit nine-of-16 from the field, four-of-six from three and nine-of-12 at the line. Since her career night, she has followed up with a 19 point effort at Manhattan and 14 last time out against Stony Brook.
Everyone in on the Act... For the first time this season, all 14 Pioneers on the roster saw action in Wednesday's 81-42 win over Stony Brook. The 39-point win was the Pioneers largest-margin of victory since an 84-44 win over Fairleigh Dickinson at home in 2006. SHU pulled down 54 rebounds as a team, hitting the 50 rebound mark for the first times since grabbing 52 in the 2006 NEC Championship game against Quinnipiac. Off the bench, freshman Kris Iovino and sophomore Maureen Reilly each saw their first action of the year and chipped in six points each. Sophomore Markie Schmidt made a career-high three blocks in the win.
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