Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Basketball Hosts Colgate for First of Four-Straight Home Games
1/30/2004 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 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.
BUCKNELL CELEBRATES NATIONAL GIRLS AND WOMEN IN SPORTS DAY: With National Girls and Women in Sports Day slated for Wednesday, February 4, Bucknell has scheduled a weeklong array of events in conjunction with this year's "Play Fair" theme. Co-sponsored by the Bucknell Women's Resource Center, the celebration is also a tribute to 30 years of women's athletics at Bucknell.
Admission to the Feb. 7 women's basketball game against American will be free to girls and boys 12 years old and younger, and there will be pregame face painting, snacks and tee-shirt giveaways, as well as a postgame autograph session with members of each of Bucknell's women's sports teams. At halftime, Bucknell's women athletes will be recognized, and past women athletes of the month will be honored.
Bucknell fielded its first varsity women's teams in the sports of basketball and field hockey in the fall of 1973. Thirty years later, Bucknell fields 14 varsity teams and has captured the Patriot League's women's overall sports championship trophy nine times in 13 years.
ABOUT THE COLGATE GAME: The Bison come into Friday's game against Colgate looking to extend a three-game win-streak over the Raiders. Bucknell swept Colgate last season, overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit for a 70-62 win in Hamilton, and defeating the Raiders 82-75 on Senior Day in the Sojka Pavilion regular-season finale.
Colgate (11-7, 3-2) brings a two-game win streak into the event after defeating Navy and Princeton at home in the last week.
THE SERIES: Bucknell holds a 24-13 lead in the 31 year history of the series. The Bison have won 14 of the last 19 contests versus the Raiders, including the last eight at Bucknell. Last year, the Orange and Blue hosted Colgate on senior day and defeated the visitors 82-75.
BU has dominated Colgate in Lewisburg for the past eight years, winning all eight contests at home since 1996. The Raiders' last win at Bucknell came on January 21, 1995 (74-58). The Bison are 13-3 all-time in Lewisburg.
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 Friday, January 30, Bucknell is ranked 243 of 324 schools. Of the eight Patriot League schools, Bucknell is the sixth-highest ranked team. Tonight's opponent, Colgate, is fourth in the conference at 200. Holy Cross is the league leader at 166.
As a conference, the Patriot League is 23rd out of 32 conferences.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET IN SOJKA: Seniors Molly Creamer and Kate Franks, and junior Desire Almind combined to score 41 of Bucknell's 45 second half points propelling the Bison to an 82-75 victory over Colgate in the final regular-season game of the 2002-03 season.
It was a battle from start to finish with neither team holding more than a six-point lead until Bucknell's seven-point advantage at the final buzzer. The first half featured seven ties and four lead changes between the two squads.
Bucknell got the early advantage, leading 10-6 just over two minutes into the game. The Raiders came storming back with a 9-2 run, behind six-straight points from Leandra Fuller, to take their largest lead of the contest, 15-12. A three-point play from Creamer 20 seconds later knotted the game for the fourth time, and over the course of the next six minutes, there would be three more ties and two lead changes.
The Orange and Blue led by six, 37-31, with 1:27 remaining in the half, before a late surge by Colgate cut the halftime deficit to one.
The second half was much the same as the first, featuring eight ties and five lead changes.
Colgate chipped away at the BU lead, getting five points from Megan Curtin during another 9-2 run that put the Raiders ahead, 55-53, for their last lead of the game. Franks responded with a three-pointer at the other end to give the Orange and Blue a one-point lead they would not relinquish.
The Bison, who only missed one free throw in the game, were a perfect eight-for-eight from the line in the final 2:01 of the game.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER FOR A FULL 40: Bucknell has not led from start to finish in any game this season. Of their nine victories, the closest the squad has come to leading the whole way through was in a 69-61 win over Winthrop in the Cornell Classic.
In that contest, the Lady Eagles were ahead just one time, a 10-9 score with 11:39 to play in the first.
