Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Opens 2003-04 Season at West Virginia
11/20/2003 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2003
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TONIGHT'S GAME: This evening's contest at West Virginia is the season-opener for the Bison. It is the second-straight year the Orange and Blue are opening the campaign on the road.
The Mountaineers also kick off their 2003-04 season with the game against Bucknell tonight.
THE SERIES: Bucknell and West Virginia met for the first time in series history last season. Despite 30 points from Molly Creamer, and a double-double by Kristin Valdner (12 pts., 10 reb.), the Bison fell short in a 77-72 decision to the Mountaineers.
OPENING ON THE ROAD: BU's contest at West Virginia marks the 21st time in the 30-year history of Bucknell women's basketball that the team has opened the season on the road.
The Bison have not fared particularly well in those contests, posting a 6-14 record when opening the season away from Lewisburg.
On the contrary, when Bucknell's first game has come in the friendly confines of Davis Gymnasium (BU's old home until 2003), the Orange and Blue have gone 7-3.
PROBABLE STARTERS: If head coach Kathy Fedorjaka sticks to her plans to start freshman Lindsey Hollobaugh, junior transfer Lillian Drumgold and junior transfer Brooke Tomovich, it will mark the first time in Bucknell women's basketball history that the season-opening starting five features three different players who have never stepped foot on the court in a Bucknell uniform.
BU's other two probable starters are four-year starter Desire Almind and last year's starting point-guard Lindsey Geosits.
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: Bucknell was picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League in a preseason poll of head coaches and sports information directors. Defending champion Holy Cross is the preseason favorite, followed by American, Navy, Colgate, Army, Lehigh, Bucknell, and Lafayette.
Senior Desire Almind was also selected to her first preseason all-league squad, joining the Preseason Player of the Year, Katie Macfarlane from Army. Also on the early season team were Navy's Courtney Davidson, American's Chanel Hunt, and Maggie Fontana of Holy Cross.
SETTING THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE: With a perfect 100% graduation rate according to the latest NCAA/USA Today survey, Bucknell is a national model of scholar-athlete success. Bucknell, which recently garnered a USA Today Academic Achievement Award for leading the nation in graduation rates, also ranks third among all Division I institutions (behind Nebraska and Notre Dame) in total number of Academic All-Americans, with 106 since 1970. Bison teams also get it done on the playing fields, winning the Presidents' Cup - the Patriot League's all-sports crown - in 10 of 13 years, including the last six in a row.
SOJKA PAVILION: Bucknell will be playing its first full season in its brand new, 4,000-seat arena - Sojka Pavilion (pronounced SOY-ka). The facility is a part of the new Kenneth G. Langone Athletics & Recreation Center, which also includes a 16,000-square foot fitness center, a state-of-the-art natatorium featuring a 50-meter-by-25-yard pool, a new sports medicine center and new office suites for coaches and staff. The Bison debuted in Sojka Pavilion last Jan. 15 vs. Lehigh and went 4-2 in their new digs over the last six weeks of the season.
WELCOME NEWCOMERS: With merit aid in place for the first time at Bucknell, Kathy Fedorjaka has brought in two talented scholarship players, as well as a third recruited newcomer. In addition to the freshmen, the Bison welcome a transfer student to the fold. The first merit-aid recipients in Bucknell women's basketball history are Rachel Hanley, a 6'0" guard/forward from Charlottesville, Va. (Albemarle) and Lindsey Hollobaugh, a 5'9" guard from Loganton, Pa. who played at Central Mountain. In addition, Bucknell also welcomes 5'8" guard Amanda Fleming of nearby Sunbury, Pa., who attended Shikellamy High School. Joining the freshmen is junior transfer Lillian Drumgold. A 5'9" guard from Baltimore, Md., Drumgold played two seasons at UNC-Wilmington before coming to Bucknell.
NEW FACES ON THE SIDELINES: Kathy Fedorjaka welcomes two new faces to her coaching staff this season. Russ Sarfaty joins the staff after serving as an assistant at Winthrop and James Madison University's. Jackie Smith joins the Bison after a successful career at Furman University and a brief stint in Europe and Israel in the professional leagues.
WELCOME BACK: Bucknell senior Kristin Valdner and junior Laura Hatalsky are both returning this season after suffering a broken bone in their foot last season. Valdner missed the final 15 games of the year and Hatalsky, hampered before BU's season-opener, returned to play in one game at the end of the year.
FEDORJAKA CAREER COACHING MILESTONES: 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 10 seasons as a head coach, she has accumulated 161 victories.
Fedorjaka enters the 2003-04 season needing just six victories to reach 100 in her Bison coaching career.
ALMIND AND GEOSITS PICK UP ALL-LEAGUE RECOGNITION: Desire Almind and Lindsey Geosits are Bucknell's two returning all-league representatives.
Almind was named to the all-league second team for the second time in her career.
Geosits was a member of the All-Rookie team.
ALMIND REACHES MILESTONE: Desire Almind has had an impressive career to date, and the 6-0 forward added another accolade to her resume against Army last season (2/23/03).
Almind became just the fourth Bucknell player to reach 1,000 career points by her junior season. The former Patriot League Rookie of the Year became the 14th Bison women's player, and the 33rd in the conference, to reach the milestone.
MERIT AID APPROVED AT BUCKNELL: In November of 2002, the Bucknell University Board of Trustees approved a three-year pilot program that immediately implemented merit aid for the first time in school history. Bucknell awarded 42 merit scholarships to the incoming members of the Class of 2007, with six targeted to the basketball programs - three to the men's program and three to the women's program.
The merit scholarships will not take away from Bucknell's current need-based financial aid program. The merit aid plan is intended to help Bucknell enroll even more top academic students; increase campus diversity; support performing arts talent, such as music, theatre and dance; protect recent gains in Bucknell's first-year class profile; and strengthen Bucknell's competitive position with the Patriot League in men's and women's basketball.
COLLYMORE SIGNS NLI FOR BUCKNELL: Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka recently announced the signing of Kristina Collymore, a recruit from Montclair, N.J.
Collymore has scored 1,169 career points entering her senior season, and is a three-time all-conference and all-county player.
