Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Takes on Towson Tigers Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion
12/2/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2008
WHAT: Bucknell (3-2) vs. Towson (4-0) WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. WHEN: Wednesday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m. RADIO: WVBU 90.5 FM, SportsJuice.com STREAMING VIDEO: Bison Vision LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker Bucknell-Towson Game Notes
With a Victory Over Towson, Bucknell Would...
- Win its first game versus the Tigers in nearly 20 years.
- End its two-game losing skid.
- Earn its first win in Sojka Pavilion of the 2008-09 season.
- Move to 2-1 vs. Colonial Athletic Association teams this season.
About the Game
Success in the contest versus Towson is key for the Bison, who have begun to struggle to close out games after starting the season 3-0. Although Bucknell held leads in each of their last two games, including a 10-point advantage at Loyola (Md.) last weekend, the Bison have been unable to ultimately secure the victory. Against the visiting Tigers, Bucknell has the opportunity to right its ship and earn its first home victory of the 2008-09 season.
Bucknell-Towson Series
Bucknell and Towson have played 21 times since the series began in 1981, and the Tigers have moved to a 14-7 series advantage. The former East Coast Conference foes have not played in nearly ten years, however. The meeting also marks the first time Towson has played in Sojka Pavilion.
Last Meeting - Jan. 3, 1998
- Towson 75, Bucknell 53
- Bucknell shot just .362 from the field, compared to .457 by the Tigers. Only the Bison's Lyndsay Earnhart scored in double figures with 10 points. Earnhart also led the team in rebounds with eight.
- Towson's LaTonya Joyner was held to eight points in the game. Joyner eventually ended the season ranked eighth in Tigers' all-time scoring with 1,115 points. However, four other Tigers did score in double digits, dampening Bucknell's hopes for its first victory since 1989.
Quick Facts
Joyce Novacek recorded her first double-double of the season when she earned 14 points and 11 rebounds at Loyola (Md.) ... Novacek's 14 points also helped her to lead the team in scoring for the second consecutive game ... Le'Le' LeSeur surpassed her career highs in points, which she set earlier this year at Yale, when she tallied 10 points at Loyola (Md.) on Saturday ... LeSeur also set new bests in rebounds (nine) and blocks (two) ... Taylor Phillips surpassed her career best with nine rebounds versus Drexel ... Cosima Higham has recorded two double-doubles in three games, with the most recent one coming at Fordham (16 points-14 rebounds) ... Amanda Brown posted 22 and 21 points in the first two games of the season ... Morgan Wrightson recorded her first double-figure scoring game at Yale when she tallied 12 points ... Bucknell has two of the top 25 scorers in program history on this year's team in Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober.
History vs. Towson
- Bucknell was 6-9 against Towson when the two teams were members of the East Coast Conference. One of those wins, however, came in March 1987 to give the Bison a conference tournament victory over the Tigers. Bucknell pulled out the 77-74 win in that game.
- Susie Hopper's 34 points and 12 rebounds and Kirsten Ellison's 13 points and 15 boards were not enough to push Bucknell ahead of Towson in the Jan. 27, 1990 game, falling 91-81. Although Bucknell shot better than 40 percent, the Tigers again did one better, shooting 55.1 percent from the field. That theme was repeated later in the season when Bucknell's 47 percent was outdone by Towson's 53 percent from the field.
- Jessica Mathieson led the Bison with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Chiara Sockel added 15 when they met Towson at the 1996 Holiday Tournament at La Salle University. The Tigers walked away with another win, however, 61-54.
- Most Recent Head-to-Head Results:
About the Tigers
Towson enters the game with the Bison with a perfect 4-0 record. Most recently the Tigers defeated Duquesne, 59-56. Towson's Alis Freeman's three-point shot with less than two minutes to go gave the Tigers their second consecutive come-from-behind victory after trailing by 10 points at halftime.
Towson has also defeated Loyola (Md.) (75-66) on the road and Davidson (76-58) and Radford (59-53) on their home court this season.
Last Time Out
Bucknell was unable to rebound from its loss in the 2008-09 home opener, dropping a 62-51 decision at Loyola (Md.) on Saturday. Despite the disappointing result, the Bison still had some bright spots in the game. Amanda Brown scored her 1,000th career point on a jumper with 1:11 left in the contest. Joyce Novacek recorded her first double-double of the season, and Le'Le' LeSeur was just one rebound shy of posting her own.
Thousand Point Club
Bucknell women's basketball welcomed a new member to the 1,000-point club on Saturday. In the game against the Loyola (Md.) Greyhounds, Amanda Brown reached 1,002 points in her career, making her the 18th player in program history to reach the milestone. The senior needs 14 more points to tie former teammate Kesha Champion (1,016 points) and move into a three-way tie for 16th on the list of all-time scorers.
Hope Foster (1,256) and Champion became the 16th and 17th members of the club last season. Foster, who is the ninth on the list of all-time scorers at Bucknell, crossed the threshold against Penn State. Champion, now tied for 16th with former player Kim Delfs, achieved the milestone when she scored 13 points versus Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament. The two were the first teammates to reach 1,000 points in the same season since Desire Almind and Kate Franks in 2002-03.
Lauren Schober is the next Bison in the hunt for the 1,000-point mark. With 852 points, she is 148 points short of the milestone.
Shutting Down the Outside
Bucknell leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense at .167. Through their first five games, the Bison have held opponents to just 11 three-pointers on 66 attempts. Texas A&M, Mississippi, Florida A&M and Kansas round out the top five.
Senior Assistance
Seniors Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober are leading the Bison in assists this season. Brown, with 23 through the first five games, also has accumulated just nine turnovers, placing her in a tie for 28th in the nation with a 2.56 assist/turnover ratio. Schober has 10 assists on the season.
Quick to Three
The Orange and Blue wasted no time in stringing together three consecutive victories in the 2008-09 season. Although it earned victories in each of its first three games this year, Bucknell waited until the end of the season to accomplish the same feat last season. The 2007-08 Bison did not win at least three in a row until March when it defeated Army in the final regular-season game, before upsetting Army, American and Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament.
Crashing the Boards
The Bucknell sophomore class is taking its rebounding seriously in the early stages of the 2008-09 season. Cosima Higham, who leads the Patriot League in total rebounds (9.8/game) and defensive rebounds (7.0/game), has twice posted double-digit boards, and Joyce Novacek accomplished the feat last weekend. Novacek claimed 11 rebounds at Loyola (Md.), eight of which came off the offensive glass, helping her earn a league-leading 3.4 offensive rebounds per game. It was also the second consecutive game in which Novacek at least tied the team-high.
Getting In On the Act
After registering a combined five rebounds in the first three games of the season, Taylor Phillips broke out on the boards, pulling down nine versus Drexel. That total tied her with classmate Joyce Novacek for a team high. The sophomore trio accounts for nearly half (48.3 percent) of the team's rebounds this season.
Plenty of Time
Three Bison are averaging at least 30 minutes through the first five games of the season. Amanda Brown leads the trio, playing 37.8 minutes per game, including 40 minutes at Loyola (Md.) last weekend. She is followed by Joyce Novacek (30.4 mpg) and Lauren Schober (30.8 mpg). The high quantity of minutes is not new for Brown and Schober who have played a minimum of 40 minutes in a game a combined 17 times during their Bucknell careers.
Close Calls
Since defeating George Mason by 11 points in the first game of the season, Bucknell has had some tight fights. The Bison beat Yale 73-70 in New Haven, Conn., before following up by squeezing out a one-point victory over Fordham in New York. Their two most recent games were again decided by single digits, falling by nine points to both Drexel and Loyola (Md.).
20-Plus Points for Brown
Amanda Brown has started the season with back-to-back games with more than 20 points. That scoring total makes her the first Bison to post at least 20 points in the first two games of the season since Molly Creamer in 2001. Creamer, who is the all-time leading scorer at Bucknell, tallied 26 versus Albany before dropping 27 to help upset Pittsburgh a few nights later.
2008 Patriot League Champions
Bucknell captured the Patriot League Tournament championship last year despite being the No. 5 seed. With their win in the title game over Holy Cross, the Bison became the only team in history seeded as low as fifth to be crowned tournament champions. They also became the fourth team in the last five years to go from losing in the first round of the tournament to claiming the title the next season.
NCAA Tournament Appearance
The Bison made their second trip in history to the NCAA Tournament last year. With their automatic bid from winning the Patriot League Tournament, they earned the opportunity to face North Carolina in a first-round matchup in Norfolk, Va. North Carolina came out on top, 85-50. In Bucknell's only previous appearance at the NCAA Tournament in 2002, the Bison were defeated by Baylor 80-56 in Waco, Texas.
Patriot League Preseason Poll
Bucknell was picked fifth with 53 points in the 2008-09 Patriot League Preseason Poll. The Bison were voted to finish first in the league prior to the 2007-08 season, then slipped to fifth before claiming the Patriot League Tournament championship. Bucknell has finished at or better than predicted seven times in the last 10 years. Holy Cross was picked first with 90 points. Lehigh (83 points), American (75) and Army (60) rounded out the top four.
Preseason Patriot League Poll Team (First-place votes) Pts. 1. Holy Cross (8) 90 2. Lehigh (6) 83 3. American (2) 75 4. Army 60 5. Bucknell 53 6. Lafayette 38 7. Navy 35 8. Colgate 14Mixing It Up
The Bison have mixed things up after using the same starting lineup in each of their first three games. Since then, opponents have seen new lineups in the last two contest. The switches are not new to Bucknell fans, as the team used nine different sets of starters last year, including six different lineups in the season's first six games. That team tied for second on the list of most lineups used during a single season behind only the 1991-92 squad with 13. The 1981-82, 1983-84 and 1992-93 teams also had nine different starting lineups during the regular season.
Coaching Staff Additions
Bucknell welcomes two new assistant coaches to the program in 2008-09. Mandy Olley, a 2002 graduate of Old Dominion, joins the staff after a playing career that included four trips to the NCAA Tournament and a two-year turn as an assistant at Susquehanna University. Stephanie Marciano, a 2008 Yale graduate, ranks fifth all-time in assists for the Bulldogs, and brings valuable recent on-court experience to the coaching staff.
Small But Strong Senior Class
After having the largest senior class last season since 2001-02, the Bison are back to just two seniors on the roster in Amanda Brown and Lauren Schober. Bucknell graduated five seniors from the 2007-08 campaign - Kesha Champion, Kristina Collymore, Hope Foster, Ashton Sprouse and Andrea Wright.
Going the Distance
Five Bison from last year's squad recorded games of playing 40 or more minutes a combined 48 times during their careers. Amanda Brown, Hope Foster, Kristina Collymore and Lauren Schober each went the distance at least once in the 2007-08 season. Kesha Champion posted 40 or more minutes 11 times on her way to playing 1,159 total minutes on the season. Brown reached the 40-minute mark early in the 2008-09 season when the Bison took on Loyola (Md.) in November.
Games Playing at Least 40 Minutes (Career) Kesha Champion 16 Hope Foster 12 Amanda Brown 13 Lauren Schober 4 Kristina Collymore 3Sojka Crowds
Sojka Pavilion saw record-setting crowds for women's basketball in 2007-08. Three games drew fans numbering greater than 1,000 and became some of the highest-attended games in nearly five years of play at the arena. A crowd of 2,017 came to watch Bucknell take on the Patriot League's traditional powerhouse, Holy Cross on Jan. 20, 2008. The total marked a season high and made the game the third-highest attended women's basketball game at Sojka Pavilion.
Largest Sojka Pavilion Crowds (women's basketball) 1. vs. Lehigh (1/15/03) 2,641 2. vs. Navy (2/16/03) 2,322 3. vs. Holy Cross (1/20/08) 2,017 4. vs. Colgate (3/2/03) 1,861 5. vs. Penn State (12/15/07) 1,682 6. vs. Army (3/1/08) 1,319All-Patriot League Honors
Bucknell was no stranger to All-Patriot League Teams during the 2007-08 season. Hope Foster was named the league's Preseason Player of the Year, while Amanda Brown joined her teammate on the Preseason All-Patriot League Team. Foster later received First Team All-Patriot League honors at the conclusion of the regular season. It was the third consecutive year Foster earned the selection. Three Bison also were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team as they led Bucknell to its second tournament title. Brown, Kesha Champion and Lauren Schober were all honored. Champion was also named the tournament MVP.
90 PL Wins for Fedorjaka
With the Bison's final regular season victory over Army, head coach Kathy Fedorjaka earned her 90th career Patriot League win. Although that ties her for second-most league wins with Lehigh's Sue Troyan, Fedorjaka's Patriot League winning percentage at .616 is much better than Troyan's .529. Bill Gibbons of Holy Cross retains his commanding lead with 192 career Patriot League victories.
Up Next
Bucknell's stay at Sojka Pavilion is a short one, as the team gets back on the bus to travel to Penn State on Tuesday, Dec. 9 at the Bryce Jordan Center. Tipoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. and will mark the Bison's first televised game of the season. The contest can be seen on the Big Ten Network.
