Pioneers Play Host to The Mount
12/8/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Sacred Heart Pioneers (2-5, 1-0 NEC) vs. Mt. St. Mary's Mountaineers (3-3, 0-1 NEC)
Game #8 - Monday, December 8, 2008 - 7:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)
Radio: www.SacredHeartPioneers.com Multimedia: Live Video, Gametracker
The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers have won two-straight after starting the season 0-5 as they play host to Mount St. Mary's in Northeast Conference action Monday night. The Pioneers are coming off an 81-45 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday afternoon in the league opener for both clubs. For the second-straight game this week the Pioneers used their entire bench in the win and are coming off their best offensive performance of the season. SHU shot a season-high 53.4% (31-58) from the field and were led by sophomore Alisa Apo who led four Pioneers in double figures with 16 points. Apo has led Sacred Heart in scoring in four of the five games this season. The Mount stays in state to face the Pioneers, coming off a 66-41 loss at Central Connecticut State in their conference opener on Saturday. The Mountaineers posted a season-low 41 points in the loss.
Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 14-4. The Mount snapped a 13-game Pioneer winning streak in the series with a 74-63 win at home in the only meeting last season. Sacred Heart's 13-game streak extended back to the 2001 NEC Tournament when the Mount elimanted the Pioneers in the semifinals, 50-45. The streak included a pair of NEC Tournament meeting with the Pioneers ending the Mount's season in 2005 and 2007. The two schools met for the first time during SHU's inaugural season in the NEC, splitting both meetings. SHU is 9-0 at home against the Mount, 5-3 in Emmitsburg and 0-1 at a neutral site.
The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 19th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 299-218 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 173-99 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, (299) and winning percentage (.578). 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. Bryan Whitten (King's College `91) is in his second season on the Mount St. Mary's bench after posting a 8-22 mark last year. Whitten began his coaching career as the head coach of Division III King's College where he led the Lady Monarchs to a 220-103 record.
couting the Mount... Mount St. Mary's got off to a 3-1 start to their season but have lost two-straight and are coming off a 66-41 loss at Central Connecticut on Saturday in their NEC opener. The 41 points was a season-low for the Mount as they end a three-game road swing tonight and head home to play host to SHU's crosstown rival Fairfield University on Wednesday night. Three Mountaineers are averaging double figures on the season led by senior guard Brianna Gauthier's 11.8 points per game. Sophomore Leah Westbrooks and junior guard Hassanah Olivers are averaging 10.5 and 10.3 points, respectively. Westbrook is the team's leading rebounder at 8.5 boards per game, ranking fourth among the NEC leaders. Sophomore Mary Dunn is second in league in field goal percentage hitting 52.1% (25-48). Dunn is averaging 9.7 points per game and is coming off a career-high 16 points at CCSU last time out.
Last Meeting with Mt. St. Mary's... Senior Dominique Mazzuchi notched her first career-double double with 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 74-63 win at home over Sacred Heart in their only meeting last season. The Mount win ended a 13-game SHU winning streak in the series. The Pioneers jumped in front in the early minutes, opening the game with three-point makes from freshmen Maggie Cosgrove, Alisa Apo and Stephanie Ryan to lead 9-4. The Mount showed early on they were game and pulled out in front by front by four, 19-15, midway through the half as senior Tiffany Green buried back-to-back three's of her own. Sacred Heart responded and took a six-point advantage, 31-25, with three minute to play but a Mazzuchi three with 46 seconds was followed by a long Green three just before the horn to send the Mount into the locker room up 37-36. The Mount carried the momentum of Green's three over to the second half and never looked back opening the second stanza on a 14-4 run to take a double-digit lead with 13:40 showing on the clock. Mazzuchi scored seven on the run and kept the hot hand, hitting two more three's as the Mount extended their lead to 20, 68-48, with 9:36 to play. SHU tried to chip away at the Mountaineer advantage and whittled the lead down to 12 with just over five minutes to play but four-straight turnovers on the next four Pioneers possessions halted any hope of a comeback. Apo lead all Pioneers scorers with 20 points in the loss, coming on seven-of-12 shooting. The freshman guard tied her career-high pulling down eight boards. Junior Kaitlin Sowinski scored 19 points but shot just nine-of-22 in the game
Last Time Out... Sacred Heart sophomore Alisa Apo led four players in double figures with 16 points and four assists as the Pioneers posted an 81-45 win over visiting Fairleigh Dickinson in the Northeast Conference opener for both teams. The Pioneers outscored the Knights 43-22 in the second half and shot a season-best 53.4% (31-58) from the field in the win. SHU led 25-19 with just under four minutes to play in the half and used a 13-4 run to push the lead to double digits for good, heading into the locker room up 38-23. Sacred Heart's lead hit the 20-point mark by 16:43 and the closest the Knights could get was down 16, thanks to five-straight makes at the free throw line to trail 46-30 at 14:49. From there it was all Sacred Heart as a 15-5 run made it a 27-point lead with just over 10 minutes to go as they coasted home for the victory. Apo finished the afternoon hitting five-of-nine from the field, two-of-four behind the arc and four-of-four at the line. Stephanie Ryan finished with 11 points and three steals followed by Kaitlin Sowinski who hit five-of-eight for 10 points to go with six rebounds, a block and an assist. Liz Gruber came off the bench to net a season-high 11 points, hitting three-of-four from behind the arc. For the second-consecutive game, all 14 Pioneers saw action in the win. The Pioneers scored 19-points on the fast break and out rebounded the Knights 47-28 in the win. Fairleigh Dickinson shot just 23.6% (13-55) and 18.8% (3-16) from three in the loss. FDU committed 21 turnovers that SHU converted into 27 points on the other end.
Coaching Milestones... Sacred Heart head coach Ed Swanson is closing in on a pair of coaching milestones. Swanson is one win away from reaching 300 for his career and three wins away from becoming the all-time leader in NEC wins.
Everyone in on the Act Part II... In back to back games over Stony Brook and Fairleigh Dickinson, all 14 Pioneers on the roster saw action as SHU picked up their first two victories of the season. The Pioneers are coming off a 36-point win over FDU and a 39-point win over Stony Brook, 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 against SBU, hitting the 50 rebound mark for the first times since grabbing 52 in the 2006 NEC Championship game against Quinnipiac.
Offense Finding its Stride... The Pioneers are coming off their best shooting performance of the year, hitting a season-high 53.4% (31-58) from the field and 45.5% (10-22) from three in beating Fairleigh Dickinson, 81-45. SHU has posted 81 points in back-to-back wins and are now averaging 68.0 points per game. The Pioneers are leading the NEC in three-point shooting percentage, 37.8% (42-111) and second in free throw percentage, 72.7% (112-154).
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 winding up a three game home swing against Mount St. Mary's and will close out the 2008 calender year by playing five of seven in the friendly confines of the William H. Pitt Center.
Winless Streak Snapped... After a 0-5 start, the Pioneers come into tonight's game off back-to-back 30-plus point wins last week. 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.
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