Bucknell University Athletics
Women's Basketball Looks for First Win of Season in Home Opener Against Loyola (Md.)
11/24/2003 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2003
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TONIGHT'S GAME: Bucknell comes into the game with Loyola holding a slim 3-2 lead in the series history which began in 1984.
The Bison, who hold an 18-11 all-time mark in home-openers, traveled to Loyola a year ago and defeated the Greyhounds, 76-73.
The Orange and Blue have played Loyola in Lewisburg twice in the series history, winning both meetings.
SCOUTING LOYOLA: The Greyhounds enter this evening's contest with a record of 0-1. Loyola hosted Wake Forest to open the 2003-04 season, dropping a 66-51 decision to the Demon Deacons.
Katie Scherle was Loyola's top-scorer in the contest with 15 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. Krystle Harrington was also in double-figures scoring with 10 points.
HOME OPENERS: Bucknell team's have seen some success in home openers, posting an 18-10 overall record when playing in Lewisburg for the first time.
The past eight years have been especially kind to the Bison with only two losses in that span. Last season's five-point loss to West Virginia (77-72) and the 1998-99 loss to Kent State (81-54) are Bucknell's only two home-opening losses since the 1995-96 season.
This year marks the beginning of a new era, as the Orange and Blue play their first home-opener in Sojka Pavilion after parting from Davis Gymnasium last season.
HOLLOBAUGH IMPRESSIVE IN DEBUT: Freshman Lindsey Hollobaugh made an impressive collegiate debut on Friday, November 21, at West Virginia. The 5-9 guard became just the second freshman in the past 12 years to earn the start in the first game of the season, and Hollobaugh made the most of the opportunity.
On 7-of-13 shooting (3-of-4 from three-point territory), Hollobaugh led all scorers with 20 points. With the point total, she became just the third player in Bucknell history to score 20 or more points in her collegiate debut. The last player to accomplish the feat: senior Desire Almind in 2000 (21 points in a 79-73 win over American).
ALMIND MATCHES CAREER-HIGH FOR BLOCKS: Senior Desire Almind is quickly climbing the Bucknell career blocks list, entering her final season in ninth place with 46.
With her career-high tying three blocks at West Virginia to open the season, Almind needs just three more rejections to move into eighth place on the list.
THREE NEW STARTERS A FIRST: When head coach Kathy Fedorjaka started freshman Lindsey Hollobaugh, junior transfer Lillian Drumgold and junior transfer Brooke Tomovich at West Virginia last Friday, it marked the first time in Bucknell women's basketball history that the season-opening starting five featured three different players who had never stepped foot on the court in a Bucknell uniform.
BU's other two starters were 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 107 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.
