Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Basketball Eyes Fifth Straight Victory as it Closes Homestand Wednesday vs. Lafayette
1/31/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2006
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Bucknell hosts Lafayette Wednesday in the final contest of its four-game homestand. The Bison have the chance to go undefeated on a four-game homestand for the first time since 1986-87. Experiencing their most success since the 2001-02 NCAA Tournament campaign, the Bison will be looking to end a two-game losing streak to the Leopards, who swept the season series last year. Freshmen Amanda Brown (11.1 ppg) and Lauren Schober (10.4 ppg) continue to lead Bucknell, although junior Lindsey Hollobaugh scored a team-high 18 points, her most since suffering a knee injury in early December, last Saturday against Navy. She has raised her scoring average to 10.0 points per game after not being at that plateau since prior to her injury. Lafayette, which owns a 2-7 road record this season, will be playing its third straight road game and will be trying to end a two-game losing streak.
ABOUT LAFAYETTE: Since opening the season with a three-game wining streak that featured a stellar defense that yielded just over 48 points per contest, Lafayette has gone 3-13 and is giving up nearly 68 points per game. The Leopards, who are in the midst of a two-game losing skid, are paced by the trio of sophomore forward Vanessa Van De Venter (10.9 ppg), junior guard Kara Stetler (10.2 ppg) and senior guard Lindsay Myers (9.4 ppg). All three have started all 19 games and have accounted for nearly 52 percent of Lafayette's points. The Leopards, who are coached by fifth-year mentor Tammy Smith, have already eclipsed their win total from all of last season. In fact, Smith had only won 12 games in her first four seasons in Easton and has already won half that many games this season.
BISON VS. THE LEOPARDS: Lafayette leads the all-time series 31-24, but Bucknell has dominated since the mid-1990s, winning 17 of 23 meetings since the 1994-95 campaign, including an eight-game winning streak that was snapped last year. The Leopards are tied with Lehigh as the opponent Bucknell has faced the most times (55) in its history.
LAST YEAR: Lafayette swept the season series with Bucknell, marking the first time the Leopards recorded a sweep of a season series since 1998-99. The 55-53 loss to Lafayette in Easton, Pa., on Jan. 21 marked the first time Bucknell had lost to the Leopards since the 1999-2000 campaign and ended the Bison's eight-game winning streak over their in-state foe.
WITH A VICTORY OVER LAFAYETTE, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...improve to six games over .500 for the first time since ending the 2001-02 season with a 21-10 record
• ...improve to 6-1 in the Patriot League for the first time since 2000-01
• ...win its fifth straight game for the first time since 2001-02
• ...post seven wins in an eight-game span for the first time since 2001-02
• ...go undefeated on its four-game homestand
SAD TO SEE JANUARY GO: Bucknell posted a 6-2 (.750) record in January, its best mark since going 3-1 (.750) in March of 2002. The Bison last registered a higher winning percentage in a month in February 2002 when they went 6-1 (.857). Lauren Schober averaged a team-high 14.6 points per game during the month, while Amanda Brown poured in 12.3.
BEST PL STARTS: By opening the Patriot League slate with a 5-1 record, Bucknell has equaled its best conference start since 2001-02.
Bucknell's Best Patriot League Starts Year Start Final PL W-L 1999-2000 7-0 8-4 2000-01 6-1 9-3 2001-02 5-1 11-3 2005-06 5-1 --
PATRIOT LEAGUE SUCCESS: In addition to being at the top of the Patriot League standings, Bucknell tops the PL in both scoring offense and scoring defense during conference games. The Bison are averaging more than 70 points per game and holding opponents to just 53 in their six league contests. Patriot League opponents are making just 32.2% of their field goal attempts against the stingy Bison defense.
HALFTIME LEADS: Bucknell owns a 10-2 record when leading at halftime. The Bison, who have won their last nine games they led at the half, have not trailed at halftime of a game since hosting Stony Brook Jan. 3.
15-POINT VICTORIES: For the first time in program history, Bucknell has won three consecutive games by at least 15 points. The Bison, who are outscoring the opposition by an average of 4.7 points per game this season, have outscored opponents by 21 points per game in their last six victories.
POINTS AT A PREMIUM FOR OPPONENTS: Over the last four games Bucknell has limited its opponents to a total of just 202 points. It equals the lowest four-game total for Bison opponents since 1980-81. The 1995-96 team also yielded just 202 points over a four-game span.
Least Points Allowed by Bucknell in Four-Game Span (since 1980-81) Year Points Allowed 2005-06 (Jan. 18-Jan. 28) 202 (45, 58, 45, 54) 1995-96 (Feb. 7-Feb. 21) 202 (40, 66, 47, 49) 1994-95 (Feb. 4-Feb. 11) 203 (44, 56, 52, 51) 1994-95 (Feb. 1-Feb. 8) 206 (54, 44, 56, 52) 1996-97-1997-98 (Feb. 22-Nov. 19) 208 (48, 60, 53, 47)
HOME STRETCH: Wednesday's game against Lafayette is the fourth of 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 longest homestand of the season, while last year the Bison dropped all four. So far, Bucknell is 3-0 on this year's four-game home stretch. The last time the Bison had a four-game homestand where they won all four games was in 1987-88.
STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell has limited its opponents to a Patriot League-best 34.9% shooting percentage from the field this season. The Bison have held three of their last seven 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. 30, Bucknell ranked 12th in field goal percentage defense.
MORE STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell's opponents are averaging just 59.4 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.
10-3 IN LAST 13: Bucknell has won 10 of its last 13 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.
BLOCKED SHOTS FOR FOSTER: Sophomore Hope Foster leads the Patriot League and is second on Bucknell's single-season blocked shots list with 69 this season. She holds the Bison record of 72, which she set last year as a freshman. She ranks sixth all-time in PL annals. The Washington, D.C., native has blocked at least four shots in a game nine times this season and 16 times in 47 career games. Earlier this year she had a string of 33 games with at least one block snapped. In the latest NCAA rankings, which include games through Jan. 30, Foster ranked fifth in the nation in blocks.
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. Hope Foster, Bucknell 2005- 47 141
2005-06 Patriot League Blocked Shot Leaders Player, School Games Blocks Avg. 1. Hope Foster, Bucknell 19 69 3.6 2. Kaitlin Foley, Holy Cross 19 15 0.8 3. Brittany Keil, Holy Cross 19 12 0.6 Abby Lipskis, American 19 12 0.6 Gretchen Polinski, Colgate 19 12 0.6
HOLLOBAUGH REACHES 1,000 POINTS: 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 13th on Bucknell's career scoring list with 1,049 points. She is averaging 14.6 points per game in her career, good for fourth on the Bison career list.
UP NEXT: Bucknell concludes its four-game homestand Wednesday, Feb. 1, against Lafayette at 7 p.m. The Bison were swept in the two-game season series by the Leopards last year. Bucknell had won eight consecutive games in the series prior to that.
