Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Basketball Hits the Road Again for Games at Army and Lafayette
1/22/2004 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2004
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PATRIOT LEAGUE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ON THE AIR: Broadcasts of all Bucknell women's basketball Patriot League games will be carried live on the Bison Sports Network, which includes flagship station WMLP (AM-1380) in the Lewisburg area.
Doug Birdsong is in his fourth season as play-by-play announcer and is joined on the broadcast team by Chris Duffany for games on the road, and Evan Gropper at home.
Each broadcast will begin with a pre-game show 15 minutes prior to tip-off and conclude with a post-game show, featuring interviews with head coach Kathy Fedorjaka and select players.
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.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The Bison broke a 31-31 halftime tie with a 10-2 run to open the second half and jump out to a 41-33 lead they would not relinquish. Junior Lillian Drumgold scored the final six points of the run for the Orange and Blue.
Navy would only get as close as three the rest of the way, as Bucknell held on for its first Patriot League win of the season. The win was BU's 13th-straight over the Midshipmen.
ABOUT THE ARMY GAME: Bucknell enters the Army game looking to carry momentum from a win over Navy last Saturday that improved its record to 8-8 overall. The victory was BU's first Patriot League win of the season. The game at West Point marks Bucknell's seventh road game in the last nine contests. The Bison will look to improve to 4-3 away from home during that time.
Army entertains the Orange and Blue after dropping a 73-68 overtime game to Dartmouth on Tuesday. The Black Knights are 10-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play with wins over Lafayette and Colgate, and a loss to Holy Cross.
THE SERIES: Bucknell leads the all-time series with Army, 19-11. The Black Knights defeated BU at Army last season, 91-79, but the Orange and Blue had won the eight previous contests, and 17 of the last 20 with the Cadets.
Army opened the series, which began in 1984, with five-straight wins against the Bison, and claimed seven of the first nine, but have since only won four times. Every one of the Black Knight's wins since February 11, 1992 have, however, come at Army. BU is 7-8 at West Point.
BUCKNELL AND THE RPI: The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) is the measure of strength of schedule and how a team does against that schedule.
In the latest RPI rankings, updated Thursday, January 22, Bucknell is ranked 236 of 324 schools. Of the seven Patriot League schools, Bucknell is the sixth-highest ranked team. Tonight's opponent, Army, is second in the conference at 192. Holy Cross is the league leader at 156.
As a conference, the Patriot League is 24th out of 32 conferences.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET IN CHRISTL ARENA: Army's Katie Macfarlane scored 17 second half points on her way to a game-high 32 to lead the Black Knights to a 91-79 victory over Bucknell.
The Bison opened the game with two quick three-pointers from senior Molly Creamer and freshman Lindsey Geosits, and led by as many as 10, 18-8, six minutes into it. The Black Knights came charging back with a 13-6 run, capped by a three-pointer from Mallory Fritz, to get within three, 24-21. A layup by Creamer pushed the Bucknell lead back to five, 26-21, but Army responded with an 11-2 run, fueled by six points from Lindsay Brent, to take over the game, 32-28.
Macfarlane scored the final nine points of the frame for Army on the way to the 46-35 halftime lead.
Army carried momentum into the second, opening it up with a 7-0 run to jump out to a 53-35 lead. Junior Desire Almind got the Bison offense moving with a jumper at the 17:45 mark, in the process netting her 1,000th career point. The Orange and Blue proceeded to climb back into it with a 10-3 run over a three-minute span to get within nine, 56-47.
BU slowly chipped away at the disadvantage, getting within 10, 70-60, on the strength of two Kate Franks three-pointers. Army's lead was at 15 again with 6:18 to play, but Bucknell cut it to 10 three more times over the next three minutes. A jumper by freshman Jennie Ruth with 2:31 to play cut the deficit to single-digits for the first time since before the break at 81-73.
The Black Knights left the window open by hitting only 8-of-12 free throws in the final 1:22 of the game, but the Bison could get no closer than eight.
LEAGUE'S BEST GO HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Patriot League's top two scorers and rebounders will be squaring off this evening. Bucknell senior Desire Almind is second in the conference in scoring with 18.1 ppg, and leads the country in rebounding with 14.0 rebounds per game. Army senior Katie Macfarlane is leading the league in scoring with 18.9 ppg, and is second behind Almind in rebounding with 10.0 rpg.
This season, both players have recorded a career-high of 33 points. Almind's season-best rebound total of 20 is also her career-high, while Macfarlane has pulled in 19 boards once this year.
