Bucknell University Athletics
First-Place Bucknell Women's Basketball Hosts Colgate Saturday
1/20/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2006
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ABOUT COLGATE: Two years ago Colgate won more than 20 games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Last year the Raiders fell off to a 12-18 record. This year, Colgate has struggled with a 3-13 mark under second-year head coach Kristin Hughes. The Raiders have lost five of their last six games and are yielding nearly 73 points per game. They have won just one of their nine road games this year and are 1-2 overall in Patriot League play. Colgate, which possesses a balanced scoring attack, is led by sophomore guard Melanie Cargle with 11.9 points per game, while senior Megan Ballard is just behind her with 10.6 points per game. Ballard leads the team in assists (3.25 apg) and steals (4.0 spg) and ranks fourth in the nation in steals per game as of Jan. 17. Freshman Gretchen Polinski leads the squad on the glass with 6.0 rebounds per game, including a team-best 35 offensive caroms.
BISON VS. THE RAIDERS: Bucknell owns a 25-17 all-time edge in the series, although Colgate has won three of the last four contests. The Raiders scored 84 points in an 18-point win over the Bison in the regular-season finale for both teams last year. Bucknell is 2-1 all-time at Sojka Pavilion against Colgate, and 14-4 all-time at home in the series.
WITH A VICTORY OVER COLGATE, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...post its best Patriot League start since opening the 2001-02 PL slate 4-1
• ...improve to three games over .500 for the first time since ending the 2001-02 season with a 21-10 record
• ...snap a four-game home losing streak
• ...equal both its 2004-05 overall win total and 2004-05 Patriot League win total
• ...help head coach Kathy Fedorjaka move past former Lafayette coach Pat Fisher for third place on Patriot League career victories list with 64
PATRIOT LEAGUE SUCCESS: Bucknell enters the weekend tied atop the Patriot League with Army with matching 3-1 conference records. The Bison have won just one Patriot League regular season title in their history. They are currently outscoring league opponents by a whopping 68.8-51.5 margin. PL opponents are shooting just 30.3 percent against the vaunted Bucknell defense, while the Bison are making better than 42 percent of their field goals.
BALANCED ATTACK: Bucknell has five players averaging between 9.5 and 11.1 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.
HOME STRETCH: Saturday's game against Colgate opens a four-game homestand for Bucknell. It is the third consecutive season the Bison have played four straight games at home. In 2003-04 Bucknell split the four games on the season-long homestand, while last year the Bison dropped all four.
TURNOVERS: Bucknell committed just five turnovers, including just one in the second half, during the Jan. 18 win over Lehigh. That is the fewest turnovers for the Bison since at least the 1984-85 season. Bucknell's fewest turnovers in the last 20 years prior to Jan. 18 was six against Hofstra in 1988.
STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell has limited its opponents to a Patriot League-best 35.0 shooting percentage from the field this season. The Bison have held three of their last four 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 include games through Jan. 16, Bucknell ranked 23rd in field goal percentage defense.
MORE STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell's opponents are averaging just 60.8 points per game. The Bison, who have allowed more than 60 points on just eight occasions, have held opponents under that figure for a full season just three times. The last time Bucknell limited its opponents to a lower scoring average was the 1979-80 season when they averaged 59.0 points per game.
7-3 IN LAST 10: Bucknell has won seven of its last 10 games, marking the first time since the 2001-02 campaign it has experienced a stretch that good.
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.
UNSELFISH BISON: Bucknell tallied 16 assists Wednesday night against Lehigh. It marked the fifth time this season the Bison have dished out at least 15 assists and they have won each of those games.
ROAD SWEET ROAD: After struggling to a 3-13 record away from Sojka Pavilion last year, Bucknell has posted an impressive 7-3 mark away from home this season, including 6-3 on the road. The Bison are averaging 68.3 points per game away from home and just 54.0 at Sojka Pavilion, where they own a 2-4 record.
SIX 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. They have since extended it to six consecutive road wins.
Consecutive Road Victories Year Streak Final W-L 2005-06 6 in progress 1986-87 4 17-11 2000-01 4 20-8
SEVEN STRAIGHT AWAY FROM HOME: Bucknell's win at Lehigh on Jan. 18 was its seventh straight away from home to break the program record that had stood since 1986-87. The Bison have outscored their opponents by an average score of 73.1-58.7 during the seven 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 at Lehigh 58-45
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 62 more blocks this year she is up to 134 in her career to place her first 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- 44 134
2005-06 Patriot League Blocked Shot Leaders Player, School Games Blocks Avg. 1. Hope Foster, Bucknell 16 62 3.9 2. Gretchen Polinski, Colgate 16 12 0.8 3. Abby Lipskis, American 17 12 0.7
FOSTER AMONG NATION'S LEADERS IN BLOCKS: In the latest NCAA rankings, which include games through Jan. 16, Hope Foster ranked fourth in the nation in blocked shots with 3.9 per game. She has 62 blocks in 16 games, putting her on pace to smash her own Bucknell single-season record of 72 blocks. She has blocked at least four shots in a game eight times this year and 15 times in 44 career games and she has at least one block in 31 straight games. As a team, the Bison rank 22nd in the nation, averaging more than five blocks per game.
HOLLOBAUGH REACHES 1,000: With her first field goal in a 58-45 win over Lehigh on Jan. 18, Lindsey Hollobaugh reached the 1,000-point mark in her career. She is the 15th Bison in the history of the program to reach that figure. She currently ranks 15th on Bucknell's career scoring list with 1,014 points. She is averaging 14.7 points per game in her career, good for fourth on the Bison career list.
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
UP NEXT: Bucknell continues its four-game homestand with its final non-conference game of the year Tuesday night against Columbia. The game is slated to start at 6 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison are 1-0 all-time against the Lions.
