Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Looks to Extend Winning Streak to Six Saturday at Colgate
2/3/2006 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2006
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Bucknell looks to keep a number of streaks intact Saturday when it invades Colgate's Cotterell Court. The Bison enter the contest with a five-game winning streak and hope to extend it to six for just the third time in program history and draw within one of the program record of seven. The Bison, who already own the longest road winning streak in the 33 years of the program, will attempt to extend that figure to seven straight victories. They will also try to win their eighth consecutive game away from Sojka Pavilion, also a record. Additionally, Bucknell's defense will be challenged to keep its streak of not allowing an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent from the field intact. The Bison, who have held eight straight opponents to less than 60 points in regulation, have not seen another team make better than 40 percent of its field goals since Iona in the second game of the season. Colgate has a streak of its own it would not like to end. The Raiders enter Saturday's game having won two straight games for the first time this season as they attempt to even their PL record at 4-4.
ABOUT COLGATE: Colgate, which owns a 5-15 overall record under second-year head coach Kristin Hughes, has posted a 2-1 record since falling 73-58 to Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion two weeks ago. The Raiders, who are in the midst of a four-game homestand, have defeated Army and Lehigh in back-to-back games at Cotterell Court within the last week. Despite winning their last two games, the Raiders are still yielding 72 points per game, which is the worst in the Patriot League.Colgate is led by sophomore guard Melanie Cargle, who is averaging 12.3 points per game, while senir Megan Ballard is just behind her with an 11.5 points per game average. She is nationally ranked in steals, averaging nearly four per contest. Freshman Gretchen Polinski, a three-time winner of the Patriot League Rookie of the Week award, paces the squad in rebounding at 6.6 per game.
BISON VS. THE RAIDERS: Bucknell owns a 26-17 all-time edge in the series, but have fallen in each of the last two games at Cotterell Court. In fact, the Bison are just 2-4 against the Raiders in the last six meetings.
LAST MEETING: Lauren Schober scored 15 points as four Bison reached double figures and Bucknell opened its four-game homestand with a 73-58 victory. Bucknell used a 13-2 run early in the second half to jump out to a 47-26 lead. The advantage ballooned to as many as 26 points later in the second half.
WITH A VICTORY OVER COLGATE, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• ...improve to seven games over .500 for the first time since ending the 2001-02 season with a 21-10 record
• ...improve to 7-1 in the Patriot League for the second time in program history and the first since opening 1999-2000 with a 7-0 league mark
• ...win its sixth straight game for the first time since January 2002
• ...post eight wins in an nine-game span for the first time since 2001-02
• ...sweep a season series from Colgate for the first time since 2002-03
FEDORJAKA GOES FOR 200: Ninth-year Bucknell head coach Kathy Fedorjaka, who is in her 13th season as a college head coach, will be attempting to win her 200th career game Saturday against Colgate. Fedorjaka has a career record of 199-153, including 132-115 while at the helm of the Bison. With a win, Bucknell will clinch its fifth regular season with at least a .500 record under Fedorjaka's tutelage.
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. Bucknell opened February with a win over Lafayette Wednesday night. It was the first time the Bison opened a month with a win since January 2005.
BEST PL STARTS: By opening the Patriot League slate with a 6-1 record, Bucknell has equaled its best conference start since 2000-01. The best seven-game start the Bison had while playing in the East Coast Conference was 4-3 in 1986-87 and 1989-90.
Bucknell's Best Patriot League Starts Year Start Final PL W-L 1999-2000 7-0 8-4 2000-01 6-1 9-3 2005-06 6-1 --
PATRIOT LEAGUE SUCCESS: In addition to being at the top of the Patriot League standings, Bucknell tops the PL in scoring defense during conference games, and is second in scoring offense. The Bison are averaging nearly 70 points per game and holding opponents to less than 53 in their seven league contests. Patriot League opponents are making just 32.3% of their field goal attempts against the stingy Bison defense.
HALFTIME LEADS: Bucknell owns an 11-2 record when leading at halftime. The Bison, who have won their last 10 games they led at the half, have not trailed at halftime of a game since hosting Stony Brook Jan. 3.
LARGE VICTORY MARGIN: Bucknell, which has won five consecutive games by at least 13 points, is outscoring its opponents by a league-best 5.1 points per game this season. After winning just five games by at least 10 points last year, the Bison have nine wins by double figures this season.
POINTS AT A PREMIUM FOR OPPONENTS: Over the last five games Bucknell has limited its opponents to a total of just 250 points. It is the lowest five-game total for Bison opponents since 1980-81. Bucknell is allowing just 58.6 points per game this season, the second-best figure in program history.
Scoring Defense Year Points Allowed/Game 1975-76 56.9 2005-06 58.6 1974-75 59.0 1979-80 59.0
4-0 HOMESTAND: Bucknell defeated Lafayette Wednesday night to end its four-game homestand undefeated. It was the first time since 1986-87 the Bison completed a perfect homestand of at least four games.
STRONG DEFENSE: Bucknell has limited its opponents to a Patriot League-best 34.8% shooting from the field this season. The Bison have held three of their last eight 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.
11-3 IN LAST 14: Bucknell has won 11 of its last 14 games, marking the first time since the 2001-02 campaign it has experienced a stretch that good. The five-game winning streak the Bison are in the midst of is also the longest since the 2001-02 campaign.
UNSELFISH BISON = SUCCESS: Bucknell tallied 16 assists Feb. 1 against Lafayette. It marked the eighth time this season the Bison have dished out at least 15 assists and they have won each of those games.
DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS: Eight different Bucknell players have combined to total 56 double-figure scoring games this season. Five players - Amanda Brown, Lauren Schober, Kesha Champion, Hope Foster and Lindsey Hollobaugh - have tallied at least 10 points nine times. Last year, in 28 games, there were just 66 double-figure games registered by seven different Bison players.
BLOCKED SHOTS FOR FOSTER: Sophomore Hope Foster leads the Patriot League and has broken her own Bucknell single-season blocks record with 73 this year. She ranks sixth all-time in PL annals. The Washington, D.C., native has blocked at least four shots in a game 10 times this season and 17 times in 48 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- 48 145
2005-06 Patriot League Blocked Shot Leaders Player, School Games Blocks Avg. 1. Hope Foster, Bucknell 20 73 3.7 2. Carly Meyer, Navy 15 13 0.9 3. Kaitlin Foley, Holy Cross 20 16 0.8
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 12th on Bucknell's career scoring list with 1,058 points. She is averaging 14.5 points per game in her career, good for fourth on the Bison career list.
UP NEXT: Bucknell returns home for a single game Tuesday, Feb. 7, against American. The Bison defeated the Eagles 66-43 in Washington, D.C., last month and are 3-4 all-time against American at home. The Eagles own the advantage in the all-time series, 8-6.
