Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Travels to Loyola Looking for Third-Straight Win
12/2/2002 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2002
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TONIGHT'S GAME: Bucknell looks to start an official winning streak with its third victory of the season against Loyola. The Bison are 2-3 after opening the season 0-3 for the first time since 1994-95. The Orange and Blue have won two-straight with victories over Canisius (100-91) and Drexel (95-83).
Loyola carries a 1-2 record into this evening's game. The Greyhounds opened the season with two losses at Maryland (80-72) and UNC-Greensboro (61-47), before finally picking up a win over Howard (73-70) in the consolation game of the UNC Greensboro Airport Marriott Classic.
THE SERIES: This is just the fifth meeting in the history of the series. Bucknell claimed the opener in 1984, 59-58, before Loyola evened the series the following season with a 70-65 win.
The two teams did not meet again until 1989, when Bucknell again won on its court, 67-62. In the final meeting between the two school's, Loyola defeated the Bison, 76-62, in Baltimore in 1990.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The Bucknell women's basketball squad earned a 95-83 victory over visiting Drexel on Friday, November 29, in the final home game of the 2002 portion of this year's campaign. The Orange and Blue reached 90 points for the second straight game, improving to 2-3 on the year.
The Bison led from start to finish, opening up a 12-point lead just seven minutes into the contest. BU made its first four shots of the game, but Drexel responded with makes on its first five shots to stay close at 12-11 with four minutes gone in the first. From there, the Orange and Blue rattled off a 13-2 run, keyed by five points each from senior Kate Franks and freshman Jennie Ruth, to lead 25-13 with 12:41 to play in the half. The Dragons got as close as seven on three different occasions in the frame, but could not slow down a hot Bucknell squad. The Bison went on to shoot 58.6% (17-29) from the field in the first half for a 49-39 advantage at halftime.
Bucknell kept Drexel at a distance for the first three minutes of the second half, before a scoring drought eliminated an 11-point lead, 56-45, and cut it to one, 57-56, with 12:36 to play. Leading 59-58 two minutes later, the Bison mounted a 20-9 run over four minutes to push the advantage back to 12, 79-67. Creamer had 11 of BU's points during the run.
The Dragons started chipping away at the lead again, cutting it to five, 85-80, with just under two minutes to go in the game. With Drexel forced to foul, the Orange and Blue hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:32 to seal the victory.
The Bison shot 60.0% in the second half for a season-high 59.2% for the game.
CREAMER AND RUTH HONORED: Senior Molly Creamer and freshman Jennie Ruth were recently honored by the Patriot League as the Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively, for the week ending December 1, 2002.
Creamer picks up the award for the second straight week after averaging 28.0 ppg and 9.3 apg, while Ruth earns the honor for the first time in her career. The rookie averaged 10.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg.
FEDORJAKA REACHES 150: Head Coach Kathy Fedorjaka entered the early part of the 2002-03 season looking for her 150th career win. With the victory over Drexel (11/29/02), she reached the milestone. In nine seasons as a head coach, she has accumulated 150 victories.
