Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Continues Road Trip Tuesday at Columbia
11/14/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2006
What: Bucknell (1-1) at Columbia (1-1)
Where: Levien Gym, New York, N.Y.
When: Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, 6 p.m.
Game Notes
Bucknell, which plays its first seven games of the season in a 16-day span, will play its third contest in five days Tuesday night at Columbia. The game also marks the middle contest of a three-game road trip that concludes Friday at No. 17 Michigan State. The Bison opened their season with an 85-77 home win over Hampton, but then fell in a tightly contested game at Saint Joseph's, 63-56. Junior forward Hope Foster and senior guard Lindsey Hollobaugh have combined for more than half of Bucknell's points this season as each ranks near the top of the Patriot League in scoring average. Columbia enters Tuesday's contest with the same 1-1 record as the Bison. The Lions, who are shooting nearly 56% from the field, defeated Loyola (Md.) at home on Friday, but fell to Delaware State on the road Saturday.
ABOUT COLUMBIA
Like Bucknell, Columbia split a pair of games over the weekend. The Lions, who have seven players on their roster at least 6-feet tall, lost just one senior to graduation last year. However, Columbia has started a trio of freshmen in each of its first two games. Senior guard Megan Griffith has led the Lions with 14 points in the season opener with Loyola (Md.) and 15 in a loss to Delaware State. The win over Loyola featured a balanced scoring attack as five Lions reached double figures. Freshman Chelsea Frazier has provided relief on the glass for Columbia, which is averaging just 25.5 rebounds per game. Frazier has hauled in 19 boards, including 18 on the defensive end.
BISON VS. THE LIONS
Bucknell and Columbia have met just two times. The Bison have won both contests rather handily, including 63-45 at Sojka Pavilion last year. The first meeting between the squads came in Kathy Fedorjaka's first year at the helm of the Bison. The 61-46 victory was the sixth in seven games to start Fedorjaka's career at Bucknell.
LAST MEETING - Jan. 24, 2006 (Sojka Pavilion) - Bucknell 63, Columbia 45
Jacquie Seawright scored a game-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench and Ashton Sprouse added a career-high 10 points, also in a reserve role, to help the Bison to a 63-45 victory. The Bison bench tallied a total of 33 points. Bucknell led by as many as 27 points (59-32) in the contest.
WITH A VICTORY OVER COLUMBIA, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...open its season with at least two wins in its first three games for the first time since 2001-02 when it opened the season 3-0
• ...open its road schedule with a record of 1-1 for the first time since 2001-02
• ...remain undefeated all-time against the Lions
• ...win its fourth consecutive game against Ivy League competition
QUICK FACTS
Bucknell reached the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth time in five years last year ... Hope Foster leads current Bison with 453 career rebounds ... Lindsey Hollobaugh needs 386 points to pass Desire Almind for third place on Bucknell's career scoring list ... the Bison were one of the best defensive teams in the nation last year as they ranked in the top 50 nationally in four defensive categories, including seventh in field goal percentage defense ... Bucknell tops the Patriot League in scoring this year (70.5 ppg) ... Bison starters have played 333 of a possible 400 minutes through two games ... despite yielding 70.0 points per game, Bucknell is holding opponents to 36.6% shooting from the field ... just once in its last six games has Bucknell allowed a team to shoot better than 40.0% ... it has been a span of 73 games since an opponent has converted at least 50.0% of its field goals against the Bison defense.
PL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Hope Foster was named the Patriot League Player of the Week Monday after an impressive start to her junior campaign last weekend. The 6-2 forward averaged team-highs in points (19.5), rebounds (11.5) and blocks (6.5). She just missed a rare triple-double as she tallied 20 points, 16 rebounds and a school-record eight blocked shots against Hampton. Foster followed that performance with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds at Saint Joseph's. A member of the Preseason All-Patriot League Team, Foster shot 15 of 24 (62.5%) from the field last week.
CHAMPION FOULS OUT
In her first two years, junior guard Kesha Champion fouled out just twice in 57 games, all starts. She has already equaled that figure through two contests this season and has fouled out of three consecutive games dating to last year. One of the best defensive players in the Patriot League, Champion finished with four fouls in a game 11 times last season.
DUO WITH 20 POINTS
Lindsey Hollobaugh (22) and Hope Foster (20) each tallied at least 20 points in the season opener with Hampton. It marked the first time since Dec. 28, 2005 two Bison reached the 20-point plateau. In that contest, a 74-63 win at Buffalo, Amanda Brown and Jacquie Seawright netted 22 points apiece.
20 POINTS AT SOJKA A RARE OCCURENCE
With Lindsey Hollobaugh and Hope Foster each scoring at least 20 points against Hampton, it marked a rare occurence at Sojka Pavilion - a Bison player netting 20 points at home. Before last Friday, Bucknell had totaled just one 20-point contest at home since Hollobaugh poured in 27 against Fairleigh Dickinson in January of her sophomore year. Overall, the Bison posted 10 20-point performances last year and nine came away from Sojka.
22 POINTS IN OPENER
Lindsey Hollobaugh's 22 points against Hampton marked the most in a season opener for a Bucknell player since Molly Creamer netted 28 and Desire Almind chipped in 26 in the 2002-03 season opener against Penn State. That was also the last time a pair of Bucknell players tallied 20 points in the season opener.
HIGH-SCORING OPENERS
Bucknell's 85 points it totaled in its season opener against Hampton marked the most it had scored in the first game of a season since the 1986-87 campaign. That year the Bison opened their season with a 94-81 victory over Vermont. Bucknell went on to win 17 games that year.
SEASON OPENERS
The 2006-07 campaign marks the 34th season of Bucknell women's basketball. With their win over Hampton Nov. 10, the Bison have posted a 14-20 record in season openers. The 85-77 victory against the Pirates broke a four-game losing streak in season openers for Bucknell. Prior to this year, the Bison last won their first contest of the season in 2001-02 when they downed Albany 64-45. Bucknell advanced to the NCAA Tournament that year. Under head coach Kathy Fedorjaka Bucknell is now 5-5 in its first game of the season.
EARLY OPENERS
Bucknell's season-opening date of Nov. 10 was the earliest in program history. In fact, it is a full four days earlier than any other season opener. The Bison began the 1998-99 season on Nov. 14 with an 81-54 loss to Kent.
2001-02 SIMILARITIES
For the first time since the 2001-02 campaign Bucknell returned all five starters from the year before this season. Interestingly, the Bison also opened their season at home for the first time since 2001-02. In 2001-02 Bucknell also had its second game of the season on the road in the state of Pennsylvania (at Pittsburgh). Another similarity is current assistant coach Monique LeBlanc was a member of the 2001-02 squad and is in her second season as part of the coaching staff.
BIG TURNAROUND
After struggling to a 10-18 record in 2004-05, Bucknell made a drastic improvement in 2005-06, posting an impressive 18-11 mark. The eight-game improvement was the best in the history of the program. The previous standard of seven occured when the Bison went from 11 wins in 1994-95 to a Patriot League title and an 18-9 mark in 1995-96.
ANOTHER BLOCKS RECORD FOR FOSTER
Junior forward Hope Foster continued to add to her long list of blocked shots record as the tallied a career-high and school-record eight blocked shots in the season opener against Hampton. That figure eclipsed the previous record of seven she reached twice in a 16-day span last December. Only 20 times in the history of the program has a played totaled five blocks in a contest and 12 of those belong to Foster.
FOSTER CONTINUES TO PILE UP BLOCKS
Junior forward Hope Foster already owns every Bucknell blocked shot record and she is closing in on the Patriot League mark as well. As a freshman she tallied 72 rejections to break Desire Almind's year-old Bucknell single-season record of 62. She easily eclipsed that figure last year with 95 blocks to pace the Patriot League for the second consecutive season. She already has 13 this year in just two games. The Washington, D.C., native owns the Bucknell career record, accumulating 180 blocks in her 59 career games. She is fourth in Patriot League annals, nearly two-thirds of the way to Holy Cross' Kathy Courtney's standard of 309 that has stood for a decade.
LARGE VICTORY MARGIN
Bucknell outscored its opponents by an average of 5.5 points per game last year, the second-largest margin in program history. The Bison won seven consecutive games by at least 13 points during one stretch. In 14 Patriot League regular-season contests, Bucknell outscored opponents by 12.1 points per game.
CREAMER, WALZ, HOLLOBAUGH?
Senior guard Lindsey Hollobaugh became the 15th player in Bucknell history to eclipse 1,000 points last year. She currently stands 12th on the Bison career list with 1,196 points. The Loganton, Pa., native is only 386 points shy of passing Desire Almind for third place behind Molly Creamer and Jennifer Walz, the only two Bucknell players to eclipse the 2,000-point plateau.
STRONG DEFENSE
Bucknell had a banner year defensively in 2005-06. The Bison ranked in the top 50 nationally in a number of defensive categories, including seventh in field goal percentage defense as it limited opponents to 35.2% shooting. Additionally, Bucknell ranked 33rd in scoring defense (57.7 ppg), 50th in blocked shots per game (4.3) and 50th in personal fouls per game (15.6). The 57.7 points per game the Bison defense yielded was the second-best mark in program history. Six of the top seven figures occured in 1980-81 or before.
BALANCED SCORING
One of the strengths of the 2005-06 Bison was the balance of the team. For the first time since 1987-88, five players averaged more than 9.0 points per game with Lindsey Hollobaugh, Hope Foster, Lauren Schober, Amanda Brown and Kesha Champion comprising the list. A total of six different players tallied at least 20 points in a game with Jacquie Seawright joining the above quintet on that list.
TWO-TIME CAPTAIN
Senior Lindsey Hollobaugh is the 11th two-time captain in the 34-year history of the Bucknell program. Last year she joined Lindsey Geosits, Monique LeBlanc and classmate Jacquie Seawright as the only juniors to serve as captains in head coach Kathy Fedorjaka's tenure as Bison head coach.
FIVE STARTERS RETURN
For the first time since 2001-02 Bucknell returned all five of its starters from the previous year in 2006-07. In 2001-02 the Bison ended up winning their only Patriot League Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. While the quintet of Amanda Brown, Lindsey Hollobaugh, Kesha Champion, Lauren Schober and Hope Foster was the most common starting unit, Bucknell utilized five different starting lineups. That quintet posted the most wins as it accumulated a 10-4 record.
SOJKA SUCCESS
Bucknell has posted a 1-0 home mark this year to improve its all-time record at Sojka Pavilion to 28-17 (.622). In their four years playing at Sojka Pavilion, the Bison have never finished below .500. Bucknell posted victories in six of its final seven home games in 2005-06.
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 8-5 .615
2006-07 1-0 1.000
Totals 28-17 .622
FOUR PATRIOT LEAGUE HONOREES RETURN
Bucknell has four players returning that garnered Patriot League postseason recognition last year, which is double any other team in the league. The Bison have First Team All-Patriot League choice Hope Foster, Second Team All-Patriot League selection Lindsey Hollobaugh as well as All-Rookie picks Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober back in the fold. Army and Holy Cross are the only other teams in the eight team league with multiple players who earned postseason awards returning. Both have a pair of players back this year. Bucknell has had at least two players honored by the Patriot League in its postseason awards every year since 1996. The four players cited last year is the most the Bison have ever had. On five separate occasions three Bucknell players have earned postseason league plaudits. In addition to trying to earn a repeat position on the All-League team, Foster will try to defend her title as the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year.
PATRIOT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
Bucknell was picked second in the Patriot League preseason poll, along with perennial league power Holy Cross. The duo is just two points behind Army, last year's champion, which is predicted to repeat. The Bison garnered six first-place votes, trailing only the Black Knights' seven. The last time Bucknell earned a second-place prediction in the preseason poll was 2002-03. The Bison ended up finishing fourth in the league standings with a 7-7 mark. Additionally, Hope Foster was selected to the Preseason All-League Team. At least one Bison has been chosen to the Preseason All-League Team in all 10 of Kathy Fedorjaka's seasons. Current senior Lindsey Hollobaugh was honored in the preseason each of the last two years.
PATRIOT LEAGUE WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
Bucknell dominated the Patriot League Rookie of the Week award in 2005-06 with three different players earning the honor. A Bison player won the award on five separate occasions with Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober copping honors twice each. Colgate ranked second in the league, winning the award four times. However, Gretchen Polinski won it each of those times. Only American, which had two different players named Rookie of the Week, came close to Bucknell's three honorees. Kesha Champion picked up the lone Player of the Week honor for Bucknell last season with a solid performance in a victory over Cornell in December.
.500 CONSISTENCY
After posting a 4-10 Patriot League record in 2004-05, Bucknell improved to 10-4 last winter. With the improvement, the Bison have now finished at or above .500 in league play in 10 of the past 11 years.
BISON REACH SEMIFINALS AGAIN
With a 64-54 victory over Lehigh in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament last March, Bucknell advanced to the semifinals of the postseason tournament for the fourth time in five years.
NATIONAL ROSTER
For the second consecutive year Bucknell has a non-Pennsylvania flair to it as the 11-person roster represents nine different states. While states that border Pennsylvania like Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio are represented, the Bison have players from far-away places like Georgia, Illinois and a pair of players from Texas.
UP NEXT
Bucknell continues its busy early-season schedule Friday night when it travels to East Lansing, Mich., to take on No. 17 Michigan State. The contest will conclude a three-game, six-day road trip. The last time the Bison faced a ranked foe was Penn State to open the 2002-03 season. The Nittany Lions, also a member of the Big Ten Conference, were ranked 14th nationally at the time.
