Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Basketball Returns Home to Face Delaware State Friday Night
12/30/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2005
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After more than a month away from home, Bucknell finally returns to the Sojka Pavilion floor Friday night against Delaware State. The Bison posted an impressive 4-1 record on their five-game road trip to improve to 6-4, their best start since opening the 2000-01 campaign 11-3. All four of those wins came without preseason All-Patriot League selection Lindsey Hollobaugh on the floor as she suffered a knee injury against Air Force. Newcomers Amanda Brown and Jacquie Seawright led Bucknell in its most recent win, a 74-63 victory at Buffalo Wednesday night, with 22 points apiece. It was the first time since the 2004 Patriot League Tournament that two Bison reached the 20-point plateau in the same game. With a win over the Hornets, the Bison will post their first five-game winning streak since reeling off five in a row in 2001-02. Delaware State enters Friday's game with a 5-3 record, but has lost two of its last three games. The Hornets did defeat Patriot League foe Navy earlier this year.
DELAWARE STATE: Under sixth-year head coach Ed Davis, who has a career winning percentage of .676, Delaware State has posted a 5-3 mark this year despite playing six of its first eight games on the road, plus one neutral-site contest. After winning their first three games, the Hornets have alternated wins and losses the last five outings. Just sophomore forward Raquel Collier is averaging in double figures with 12.5 points per game, but Delaware State does have four players scoring at better than 8.0 points per contest. Like Bucknell, Delaware State is a young team with six freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and one senior on the 11-person roster. The Hornets lone junior, Ronke Adedoyin, suffered a likely season-ending injury two games ago. Delaware State, which defeated Patriot League foe Navy earlier this year, has attempted just 46 3-point field goals this season. Collier leads the team with four 3-pointers this year.
BISON VS. THE HORNETS: Bucknell and Delaware State will meet for the first time since November 1999. The Bison, who lead the all-time series 3-0, won that game 79-68 at Delaware. The only game played in Lewisburg took place at Davis Gym Nov. 17, 1998 and the Bison won that contest 73-66. The two teams first met in 1987.
WITH A VICTORY OVER DELAWARE STATE, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...post its first five-game winning streak since February 2002
• ...improve to 4-0 all-time versus Delaware State
• ...improve to 3-0 against teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this year
• ...be off to its best start since opening the 2000-01 season 11-3
GOING FOR FIVE IN A ROW: Bucknell will be aiming for its fifth consecutive victory Friday against Delaware State. The Bison have not won five games in a row since the 2001-02 NCAA Tournament season when they defeated Lafayette, Navy, Army, American and Colgate consecutively in February. The last time Bucknell won four games in a row was December 2003.
THREE STRAIGHT ROAD WINS: Bucknell has won three consecutive road games for the first time since the 2000-01 campaign. That year, the Bison defeated Lafayette on the road and then played three home games before winning at Colgate and Lehigh. The last time Bucknell played three straight road contests and won them all was in 1986-87. The Bison had lost five consecutive road games prior to the current three-game spurt.
BISON VS. THE MEAC: Delaware State is the third opponent for the Bison from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference this season. Bucknell is 2-0 against the MEAC, defeating Coppin State (54-48) and UMES (93-92).
BENCH PRODUCTION: Behind 22 points from both Amanda Brown and Jacquie Seawright, Bucknell's bench tallied 52 of the team's 74 points Wednesday against Buffalo. The Bison bench is averaging 27.2 points per game, while the starters are averaging 36.2. Brown, who is second on the team in scoring at 10.9 points per game, has come off the bench in all 10 games. Fellow freshman Lauren Schober is averaging 7.8 points while also coming off the bench in all 10 contests.
TRIO STEPPING UP: Freshman Amanda Brown, sophomore Kesha Champion and freshman Corrine Keller have stepped up their games since leading scorer Lindsey Hollobaugh went down with a knee injury against High Point. In the four games since Hollobaugh got hurt, the trio is averaging a combined 38.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists. Through the season's first six games, the threesome was averaging 19.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
BISON RETURN HOME: Wednesday's game at Buffalo was the fifth consecutive game away from home for Bucknell. It was the longest stretch of games away from home for the Bison since 2002-03 when they also played five consecutive games outside of Lewisburg.
CHAMPION PL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the first time since March 2004 a Bucknell player picked up the Patriot League Player of the Week this week with sophomore guard Kesha Champion earning the honor. Champion scored 12 points, tied her career high with seven rebounds and dished out five assists in last week's 62-57 win over Cornell. Desire Almind was the last Bison to earn the award. Since Almind last won that honor, Champion, Hope Foster, Kristina Collymore, Corrine Keller and Lauren Schober have each picked up PL Rookie of the Week honors once.
REPLACING HOLLOBAUGH: Freshman Corrine Keller was inserted into the starting lineup against High Point in place of the injured Lindsey Hollobaugh. The lone freshman to earn a starting assignment this year, she is averaging 10.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 34.5 minutes per game in her four starts. The Bison have won all four games with the Rochester, N.Y., native in the starting lineup.
BROWN NETS 20 POINTS AGAIN: When freshman guard Amanda Brown netted 20 points, including seven in overtime, during Bucknell's 93-92 triple overtime victory over UMES, she became the first Bison rookie to score at least 20 points since current junior Lindsey Hollobaugh tallied 20 in the 2004 Patriot League Tournament against Colgate. Brown bettered her 20-point performance with 22 points against Buffalo Dec. 28.
CLOSE GAMES: After going 4-7 in games decided by six points or less in 2004-05, Bucknell is 4-1 in games decided by six points or less in 2005-06.
SOJKA SUCCESS: Bucknell has won two of its first three games at home this season to improve its all-time record at Sojka Pavilion to 21-13 (.618).
Bucknell's All-Time Record in Sojka Pavilion Year W-L Pct. 2002-03 4-2 .667 2003-04 8-5 .615 2004-05 7-5 .583 2005-06 2-1 .667 Totals 21-13 .618
NON-CONFERENCE SOJKA SUCCESS: Bucknell's 59-55 loss to Saint Joseph's Nov. 27 snapped a seven-game home winning streak against non-conference foes for the Bison. Prior to that defeat Bucknell last lost a non-conference home game Jan. 2, 2004 when it fell 59-49 to Manhattan. The Bison are 10-4 all-time in Sojka Pavilion against non-league foes.
BLOCKS RECORD FOR FOSTER: Sophomore Hope Foster had a banner defensive year as a freshman. She blocked 72 shots to break Desire Almind's year-old Bucknell single-season record of 62. With 39 more blocks this year she is up to 111 in her career, good for second on the Bison career list. In addition to moving up the Bucknell charts, Foster has quickly ascended the Patriot League blocks list, ranking seventh all-time.
Patriot League Career Blocks Player, School Years Games Blocks 1. Kathy Courtney, Holy Cross 1994-97 117 309 2. Lisa Andrews, Holy Cross 2002-05 118 201 3. Karen Juda, Holy Cross 1993-96 112 194 4. Kelly Roche, Fordham 1991-93 78 174 5. Leandra Fuller, Colgate 2002-05 119 170 6. Jessica DePalo, Lehigh 2002-05 114 136 7. Hope Foster, Bucknell 2005- 38 111
FOSTER AMONG NATION'S LEADERS IN BLOCKS: Hope Foster is among the nation's leaders in blocked shots with 39 in 10 games (3.9 bpg). She ranked fourth in the country in the latest national rankings, but has blocked nine shots in the two games since those rankings were released.
MORE BLOCKS FOR FOSTER: Hope Foster, who is second on Bucknell's career shot blocks list with 111, blocked seven shots for the second time in three games against Cornell Dec. 20. The seven blocks tied the Bucknell single-game record she already shared with Anne Kirwin. Foster has 39 blocks this season, and has at least one block in 25 consecutive games. As a team, Delaware State has just 17.
SOPHOMORE PRODUCTION: Without a senior on the roster, the Bison sophomore class of Kesha Champion, Kristina Collymore, Hope Foster, Sarah Latham and Ashton Sprouse has had to play like veterans. Each of the five members of the class has started at least one game this season and the quintet has piled up impressive statistics. They have combined to score 43 percent of the team's points, grab close to 49 percent of the rebounds and dish out more than 48 percent of the team's assists.
1,000 POINTS ON THE HORIZON: Through 63 career games, junior guard Lindsey Hollobaugh has amassed 967 points. Her 899 points at the completion of her sophomore year was the third-highest figure in Bucknell history, trailing only Molly Creamer's 1,008 and Jennifer Walz's 973. Creamer and Walz are the only two Bison to reach 2,000 career points. With 33 more points, Hollobaugh will become the 15th player in Bucknell history to tally 1,000 career points. Desire Almind, who reached that plateau at the end of the 2002-03 campaign, was the last Bucknell player to reach 1,000 points. Hollobaugh, who scored a Bucknell-record 483 points as a freshman, is averaging 15.3 points per game in her career, good for fourth on the Bison career list.
OVERTIME FACTS: Bucknell played the first triple overtime game in program history against UMES Dec. 17 and won 93-92. A few facts about the overtime win:
• It was the first overtime game for the Bison since a 79-69 win over Navy in the 2003 Patriot League Tournament
• Bucknell has won its last four overtime games.
• Ninth-year head coach Kathy Fedorjaka has guided the Bison to an 8-3 record in overtime games
• Bucknell improved to 14-12 all-time in overtime games
• It was the fourth multiple-overtime game in program history and the Bison improved to 1-3 in those contests.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION: Bucknell scored just 58 points in regulation against UMES, but exploded for 35 points in the three overtime periods. The 93 total points the Bison scored were the most since they netted 94 in a 94-75 win over Holy Cross in the 2004 Patriot League Tournament. It was just the third time in the last 87 contests Bucknell has topped 90 points.
HOLDING OPPONENTS TO 60 POINTS OR LESS IN REGULATION: Bucknell's defense did not allow an opponent to score more than 60 points in regulation for seven straight games before Buffalo netted 63 Dec. 28. It tied the longest streak in the 33-year history of the Bison program.
Most Consecutive Games Holding Opponent to 60 Points or Less Year W-L 1973-74 - 1974-75 7 1979-80 7 1996-97 - 1997-98 7* 2005-06 7* *includes an overtime game where opponent scored less than 60 in regulation
Seven Straight Games Bison Opponent Failed to Eclipse 60 Points Opponent Regulation Score Coppin State 48 Siena 48 Saint Joseph's 59 Air Force 58 High Point 60 UMES 58 Cornell 57
UP NEXT: Bucknell will plays its second consecutive home game Tuesday, Jan. 3, when it hosts Stony Brook at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison and Seawolves opened the season against each other with host Stony Brook winning 81-72. The Seawolves lead the all-time series 2-1.
