Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball Opens Second Half of Patriot League Play vs. Navy Saturday at Sojka Pavilion
2/8/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2008
What: Navy (5-17, 1-6 PL) at Bucknell (9-12, 4-3 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, 7 p.m.
Radio: WVBU 90.5 FM and SportsJuice.com
Live Video: Patriot League All-Access
Promotions: Women's Basketball Alumni Game - 4 p.m.
Game Notes
With a Victory Over Navy, Bucknell Would...
► Reach 10 wins for the 14th consecutive season
► Post its second winning streak of the season
► Defeat the Mids for the seventh consecutive time, and the 20th time in the last 22 meetings
► Improve to 8-1 in February over the last two years
About the Game
Bucknell and Navy meet for the second time this year Saturday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who won the earlier meeting between the two teams by 26 points last month, have dominated the series recently, winning 19 of the last 21 games. Bucknell also enters the contest on a high note, winning two of its last three games, including a road contest at first-place Army. The Mids are coming off their first Patriot League win of the year, a double-digit victory at Colgate, but have lost all but two of their games since the calendar flipped to 2008. Bucknell's lineup has been bolstered by the return of leading scorer Amanda Brown, who scored seven points off the bench against Army in her first game back after missing six contests with an injury. A young team, Navy's 13-person roster consists of two freshmen and six sophomores. Freshman Cassie Consedine, who recently won her fifth Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor, provides the bulk of the Mids' offense as she paces the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game.
Bucknell-Navy Series
Bucknell is 24-15 all-time against Navy, including wins in 19 of the last 21 meetings. The Bison have dominated the series in recent years, winning each of the last six meetings by an average score of 73.5 to 53.5. The Mids last won in Sojka Pavilion in January 2005.
Last Meeting - Jan. 12, 2008
► Bucknell 71, Navy 45 (Alumni Hall)
Lauren Schober paced four Bison in double figures with 17 points and Kesha Champion recorded her second career double-double with 15 points and 11 assists as Bucknell improved to 12-6 in Patriot League openers with a 26-point victory at Navy. The Bison had 20 assists on their 26 field goals and led 42-22 at halftime. Kelly Altschul led the Mids with 12 points off the bench, while Cassie Consendine totaled 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Upcoming Milestones
► Kesha Champion (894 points) - 106 points shy of 1,000 in career
► Kesha Champion (163 steals) - 6 steals shy of 10th place on Bucknell career list
► Kristina Collymore (386 points) - 14 points shy of 400 in her career
► Hope Foster (816 reb.) - 57 rebounds shy of equaling Bucknell's Desire Almind (2001-04) for eighth place on Patriot League career list
► Hope Foster (445 FGM) - 21 made field goals shy of 10th place on Bucknell career list
► Hope Foster (55 blocks) - 8 blocks shy of holding down top four spots on Bucknell single-season list
History vs. Navy
► Amanda Brown: 18.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg in four career games
► Kesha Champion: 9.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 4.7 apg, 2.0 spg in seven career games
► Kristina Collymore: One steal in 89 career minutes
► Hope Foster: Reached double figures in points twice in seven career games
► Le'Le' LeSeur: Seven points, eight rebounds in 37 career minutes
► Lauren Schober: 14.2 ppg and 45.0% from 3-point range in five career games
Women's Basketball Alumni Weekend
The Bucknell women's basketball program is holding its alumni weekend this weekend. Among the highlights of the weekend is the Alumni Game, which will take place Saturday at 4 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. Among the many alumni expected to return to campus for the festivities are Dawn Straub '82, Denise Cohen '83, Carolyn Gates '85, Cindy Huebner '85, Lorry Layer '85, Cammie Reinhart '85, Jennifer Walz '89, Kristi Dunleavy '93, Monica Nawarskas '94, Leslie Blue '99, Lori Houck '00, Jen Winhofer '00, Monique LeBlanc '02, Rebekah May '02, Kate Rounsley '02 and Kate Franks '03.
Winning Streaks
Bucknell will be going for its second winning streak of the season against Navy. The Bison's only other winning streak this year came when they won back-to-back games at Navy and American in January.
Brown Returns
Bucknell junior guard Amanda Brown played for the first time in more than a month when she came off the bench against Army. The 5'6" Brown scored seven points, including five late in the second half, in 21 minutes off the bench after missing the previous six games with a foot injury. She is Bucknell's leading scorer, averaging 12.7 points per game, and is 150 points shy of 1,000 in her career.
Low-Scoring Wins
Bucknell's 47-46 victory over Army this past Sunday was its lowest score in a victory since defeating Lehigh 39-38 on Jan. 26, 1980. Sunday's contest was the third-lowest score in a win in program history.
Bucknell's Lowest Scores in Wins (All-Time) Bucknell 33, Messiah 26 (1973-74) Bucknell 39, Lehigh 38 (1979-80) Bucknell 47, Army 46 (2007-08)
Scoring Drop
The last time Bucknell played Navy (Jan. 12) was also the last time it netted 70 points in a game. The Bison have reached that plateau only two times this year, a stark contrast from earlier in Kathy Fedorjaka's tenure as coach when they averaged over 70 points three consecutive years. Bucknell is currently averaging 59.7 points per game. Just twice in the last 20 seasons, and only once under Fedorjaka, have the Bison faiiled to average at least 60 points per contest.
Scoring Defense Improves in PL Play
Bucknell limited opponents to less than 58 points per game each of the last two years to hold down two of the top three spots on the program's scoring defense list. For most of this season opponents were scoring in the mid-60s, but that has changed with the onset of Patriot League play. Patriot League foes are averaging just 51.7 points per game, and that includes a pair of overtime contests. The Bison have held four of their seven conference opponents under 50 points. Bucknell's current scoring defense of 61.5 would rank sixth in program history.
13 Boards for Novacek
Freshman Joyce Novacek more than doubled her career high with 13 rebounds against Army this past Sunday. It marked the most by a Bison freshman in nearly nine years. Vicki Quimby, who had 13 rebounds on Feb. 17, 1999, also against Army, was the last Bucknell freshman with as many rebounds as Novacek grabbed. Nine of Novacek's rebounds came in the first half.
Dominant Teams
Bucknell and Army have dominated the Patriot League in recent years. Since the 2005-06 season, the Bison trail the Black Knights by just one game in the cumulative Patriot League standings.
Patriot League Record Since 2005-06 Army 27-8 Bucknell 26-9 Holy Cross 22-13 Lehigh 15-20 American 14-21 Navy 14-21 Lafayette 12-23 Colgate 10-25
Patriot League Blocks Record
Senior co-captain Hope Foster broke the Patriot League career blocks record with three blocks Jan. 30 at Lehigh. She now has 315 in her career and is just seven rejections away from 25th place on the NCAA career blocks list.
Recent Improvement for Foster
Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Hope Foster has been playing well recently, netting double figures in eight consecutive games until Army held her to eight points this past Sunday. She is averaging 12.9 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds over the last nine games. Prior to the recent hot stretch, she was averaging 9.5 points per game.
Champion Cooling Off
Kesha Champion had a five-game stretch near the end of non-conference play and the start of Patriot League play where she netted double figures five consecutive games and averaged 16.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists. She also shot a solid 11-for-21 from 3-point range over that span. In the six games since, Champion is averaging 8.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists. She has tallied double figures in points just three times in the last six games.
Even with Troyan Once Again
Bucknell's victory at Army coupled with Lehigh's home loss to Holy Cross brought Bison head coach Kathy Fedorjaka into a tie for second place with the Mountain Hawks' Sue Troyan on the Patriot League career wins list with 86. Fedorjaka is comfortably ahead of Troyan in Patriot League winning percentage (.619 to .528).
Ironwomen
Over the first half of the Patriot League schedule Bucknell players have logged at least 40 minutes of playing time nine times. Five current Bison have combined to play at least 40 minutes 39 times in their careers.
Games Playing at Least 40 Minutes (Career) Amanda Brown 11 Kesha Champion 11 Hope Foster 11 Lauren Schober 3 Kristina Collymore 3
FG% Difference
As would be expected, Bucknell is shooting much better than its opponents in victories, while that gap is reversed in losses. The Bison are outshooting opponents 41.6% to 32.8% in wins. In losses that is flipped around with opponents outshooting Bucknell 41.2% to 36.9%.
Up Next
Bucknell will wrap up its two-game homestand with a mid-week battle with American on Wednesday. Tip off for the contest is at 7 p.m. in Sojka Pavilion. The Bison have won six straight in the series, including a meeting at Bender Arena last month. National Girls and Women in Sports Day will be recognized with festivities surrounding the game.
