Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Goes for Sixth Straight Road Win Wednesday at Lehigh
1/17/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2006
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Bucknell returns to the road for its final game away from Sojka Pavilion until Feb. 4 Wednesday against Lehigh. The Bison will look to keep their five-game road winning streak alive while also exacting revenge on the Mountain Hawks for handing them losses in all three meetings last year. Lehigh, which along with Bucknell was one of five teams tied for first place in the Patriot League with 2-1 records entering this week, has won three of its last four games. The Mountain Hawks, who are led by the Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Sara Ellis, rank third in the league in scoring at 64.4 points per game, and first in the league in scoring margin as they outscore their opponents by 2.8 points per game. Bucknell, which outscores its opponents by 1.5 points per contest, and Lehigh are the only two teams in the Patriot League with positive scoring margins. The Bison, who have five players averaging at least 9.0 points, and three averaging double figures, are scoring 63.3 points per game, which is fourth in the Patriot League.
ABOUT LEHIGH: Eleventh-year head coach Sue Troyan has relied heavily on her starting five for production this year. She has used the same starting unit in all 16 games and four of the starters are averaging more than 32 minutes per game. Just one person off the bench sees more than 10 minutes of playing time per contest. Sara Ellis, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year, tops the team in scoring at 16.9 points per game. Forty-seven of her 81 field goals have come from 3-point range. Senior Jenny Callan is the lone player in the league averaging a double-double with 15.3 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Junior Adrienne Blount also tallies double figures in points as she is averaging 11.6. Sophomore point guard Claire Sullivan averages 7.5 assists per game, which tops the conference.
BISON VS. THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS: Lehigh holds a 28-26 edge in the second-most played rivalry in Bucknell history. The Bison have battled Lafayette 55 times, one more than Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks won all three meetings last season, including a 54-52 buzzer-beater in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. The Bison last defeated Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion in February 2004, and their last win at Stabler Arena came in February 2002.
WITH A VICTORY OVER LEHIGH, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...post its best Patriot League start since opening the 2001-02 PL slate 4-0
• ...end a three-game losing streak to the Mountain Hawks
• ...extend its program-record road win streak to six
• ...draw to within one win of both its 2004-05 overall total and 2004-05 Patriot League total
• ...help head coach Kathy Fedorjaka tie former Lafyette coach Pat Fisher for third place on Patriot League career victories list with 63
FRESHMAN STARTERS: Freshmen Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober were recently inserted into the starting lineup and have flourished. Brown, the team's leading scorer, has made four starts and is averaging 13.8 points per game while part of the starting unit. Schober has started each of Bucknell's three Patriot League contests and is averaging 17.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in those games.
BALANCED ATTACK: Bucknell has five players averaging between 9.0 and 11.2 points per game. The Bison last finished a season with five players scoring at least 9.0 points per contest in 1987-88. The quintet of Jennifer Walz, Marie Kocornik, Lynne Walshaw, Susie Hopper and Stacey Spitko each averaged at least 9.8 points per game and helped the 1987-88 squad average 71.6 points per game, the sixth-most in the history of the program.
OVERTIME GAMES: Bucknell lost 67-63 in overtime to Holy Cross last Saturday. Having already played a triple-overtime game against UMES earlier this season, it marked the first time the Bison have played two overtime contests in the same year since 2001-02. The loss broke a four-game overtime winning streak Bucknell had dating back to a 96-91 loss to Lehigh in 2000. The loss also dropped Kathy Fedorjaka's record in overtime games while at the helm of the Bison to 8-4. Bucknell is 14-13 all-time in overtime contests.
HOME STRETCH: Wednesday's game with Lehigh is the final road game for Bucknell until a Feb. 4 trip to Colgate. The Bison will return to Sojka Pavilion to play their next four games.
STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell has limited its opponents to a Patriot League-best 35.5 shooting percentage from the field this season. The Bison have held two of their last three opponents under 30 percent. The last time an opponent eclipsed 40.0 percent was Iona in the second game of the season. In the lastest NCAA rankings, which do not include last week's games against American and Holy Cross, Bucknell ranked 36th in field goal percentage defense.
ROAD SWEET ROAD: After struggling to a 3-13 record away from Sojka Pavilion last year, Bucknell has posted an impressive 6-3 mark away from home this season, including 5-3 on the road. The Bison are averaging 69.4 points per game away from home and just 54.0 at Sojka Pavilion, where they own a 2-4 record.
FIVE STRAIGHT ON ROAD: Bucknell's 66-43 victory at American on Jan. 10 was the fifth straight road win for the Bison, which established a new program record.
Consecutive Road Victories Year Streak Final W-L 2005-06 5 --- 1986-87 4 17-11 2000-01 4 20-8
SIX STRAIGHT AWAY FROM HOME: Bucknell's win at American on Jan. 10 was its sixth straight away from home to tie a program record that has stood since 1986-87. The Bison have outscored their opponents by an average score of 75.7-61.0 during the six games.
Bucknell's Six-Game Win Streak Away from Sojka Pavilion Opponent Score vs. High Point 71-60 at UMES 93-92 (3OT) at Cornell 62-57 at Buffalo 74-63 at Navy 88-51 at American 66-43
CLOSE GAMES: After going 4-7 in games decided by six points or less in 2004-05, Bucknell is 4-2 in games decided by six points or less in 2005-06.
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 59 more blocks this year she is up to 131 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- 43 131
2005-06 Patriot League Blocked Shot Leaders Player, School Games Blocks Avg. 1. Hope Foster, Bucknell 15 59 3.9 2. Gretchen Polinski, Colgate 15 12 0.8 3. Kaitlin Foley, Holy Cross 16 11 0.7 Brittany Keil, Holy Cross 16 11 0.7 Abby Lipskis, American 16 11 0.7
FOSTER AMONG NATION'S LEADERS IN BLOCKS: In the latest NCAA rankings, which include games through Jan. 9, Hope Foster ranked tied for third in the nation in blocked shots with 4.0 per game. She blocked seven shots in two games last week to see her average dip to 3.9 blocks per game. She has 59 blocks in 15 games, putting her on pace to smash her own Bucknell single-season record of 72 blocks. As a team, the Bison rank 22nd in the nation, averaging more than five blocks per game.
SINGLE-GAME BLOCKS FOR FOSTER: Hope Foster, who is second on Bucknell's career shot blocks list with 131, 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 59 blocks this season, and has at least one block in 30 consecutive games. She has blocked at least four shots in a game eight times this year and 15 times in 43 career games.
PLAYER/ROOKIE OF THE WEEK AWARDS: Four different Bucknell players have already picked up weekly awards from the Patriot League this season. Freshmen Corrine Keller, Lauren Schober (twice) and Amanda Brown (twice) have each won the Patriot League Rookie of the Week award, giving Bison a league-high three honorees. Bucknell has had a player win the award five times in the last seven weeks. Last month sophomore Kesha Champion became the first Bucknell player to be named PL Player of the Week since Desire Almind was cited in March 2004. In 2004-05, Bucknell had three different players earn Rookie of the Week accolades, but no one grabbed Player of the Week.
SOJKA SUCCESS: Bucknell is 2-4 at home this season and owns a 21-16 (.568) all-time record at Sojka Pavilion.
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 2-4 .333 Totals 21-16 .568
1,000 POINTS ON THE HORIZON: Through 68 career games, junior guard Lindsey Hollobaugh has amassed 998 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 two 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 14.7 points per game in her career, good for fourth on the Bison career list.
30-POINT VICTORIES: Bucknell's 37-point win over Navy on Jan. 7 was the fourth-largest victory in program history. It was the biggest since an 83-44 win over Lafayette in 2000-01. The Bison have won by at least 30 points 18 times in the 33-year history of the program.
Largest Victories in Bison History Opponent Date Score Margin Coppin State Dec. 10, 1985 83-36 47 Susquehanna Jan. 31, 1975 73-27 46 Lafayette Feb. 7, 2001 83-44 39 Navy Jan. 7, 2006 88-51 37
UP NEXT: Bucknell opens a four-game homestand by hosting Colgate Saturday at 4 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team. The Bison do not return to the road until Feb. 4 when they play at Colgate.
