Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Basketball to Restart Streak Saturday at Saint Peter's
12/21/2012 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2012
| Bucknell (6-4) at Saint Peter's (0-8) Women's Basketball |
| WHERE: Jersey City, N.J., Yanitelli Center |
| WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 22, 5 p.m. |
| ONLINE AUDIO: SportsJuice.com |
| STREAMING VIDEO: None |
| LIVE STATISTICS: SaintPetersPeacocks.com |
COMPLETE GAME NOTES  |
ABOUT THE GAME
Bucknell women's basketball claimed its biggest win of the season, defeating Towson 75-62 on the road on Wednesday. The Bison will now attempt to get another winning streak going this Saturday when they take on St. Peter's in Jersey City, N.J. The last game before Christmas tips off at 5 p.m.
Fans can catch all the action, blow-by-blow, only on SportsJuice.com this Saturday with Danny Will calling the game. Live stats will also be available at SaintPetersPeacocks.com.
WITH A VICTORY ST. PETER'S, BUCKNELL WOULD...
• Earn its seventh win in 11 games or less for the first time since 2000-01.
• Improve to 3-0 against teams from the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference having also defeated Canisius (59-50) and Niagara (77-69).
• Win back-to-back games against the Peacocks for the first time in series history.
• Win consecutive games for the second time this season and the first time since winning five straight from Nov. 17 to Dec. 1.
QUICK FACTS
• Shelby Romine scored her 800th career point Wednesday at Towson (currently: 812). Alyssa Dunn is on the cusp of her own milestone with 496 career points, while Rachel Voss is at 596.
• Audrey Dotson became the season's first Patriot League Player of the Week for Bucknell and the team's second Bison Athlete of the Week on Dec. 17. The sophomore had 27 points and 17 rebounds vs. Longwood on the previous Saturday.
• With 10 rebounds vs. Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 28, Sheaira Jones became the first Bison other than Lindsay Horbatuck and Audrey Dotson to lead Bucknell in rebounding since Jan. 14, 2012. • Bucknell has six wins this season (6-4). The Bison totaled five all of last year (5-25).
• Felicia Mgbada finished her junior year ranked seventh at Bucknell in single-season blocked shots (39). She now ranks eighth in career blocks (81).
• Bucknell leads the Patriot League in defensive rebounds (32.8) and overall boards (45.2). Lindsay Horbatuck sits atop the individual list with 10.0 rebounds per game.
• Aaron Roussell collected his first win as Bucknell head coach on Nov. 17 at Canisius. The Bison defeated the Golden Griffins 59-50 in Buffalo.
• Aaron Roussell was hired as Bucknell's ninth head coach in April 2012. Roussell spent eight years at the University of Chicago where he amassed a 161-50 record and led the Maroons to three Sweet Sixteens and one Elite Eight.
• The Bison return four starters and 10 letterwinners from a year ago. Bucknell's only loss from the starting five was guard Christina Chukwuedo, who led the Patriot League in assist/turnover ratio last season.
LAST MEETING WITH ST. PETER'S - NOV. 11, 2011
• Bucknell 46, St. Peter's 35 (Sojka Pavilion)
• Amy Zehner put up a double-double and the Bison scored 28 points in the paint to push Bucknell to a 46-35 win over Saint Peter's at Sojka Pavilion. Adding to Zehner's 10 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener was an 11-rebound performance from Lindsay Horbatuck and an 11-point outing from Felicia Mgbada.
• All but 10 of the Bison's points came from inside the paint or the free throw line. The interior play was particularly important as Bucknell was unable to hit a shot from three-point range. The Bison were 0-for-5 from behind the arc and 19-for-52 (35.6%) overall on the night. Defensively, they held the Peacocks to 29.4 percent shooting at 15-for-51.
• At the final buzzer, the Bison were just 8 of 14 on free throws. They were 5 of 7 from the line in the final minute of the game, however.
• The Bison led through much of play, although they never put together a major run. Bucknell did not achieve a double-digit lead until seven seconds remained in the game when it went up by the final score of 46-35.
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
St. Peter's has started its season with eight straight losses. The most recent outing ended in a 63-41 defeat at Stony Brook, but the Peacocks played Lehigh much closer when they met the Patriot League opponent on Nov. 14. The Mountain Hawks came away with a 62-60 victory in Jersey City, N.J. St. Peter's has struggled to find the bottom of the net this winter and is averaging just 47.3 points. Opponents are putting up 71.3 points per game against the Peacocks.
St. Peter's finished with an overall record of 5-26 a year ago. The Peacocks were also 4-14 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last winter but advanced to the MAAC Quarterfinals after a first-round win over Canisius. Approximately half of that squad is back in 2012-13 as the Peacocks return eight of 15 letterwinners and three of five starters this season.
HISTORY VS. ST. PETER'S
• Bucknell and Saint Peter's have met just four times in the series, and the first three games came in the 1980s. The Peacocks won each of those first three games despite the Bison featuring as many as four future Hall of Famers on their roster during that stretch.
• When Bucknell and Saint Peter's played in 1986, just five Bison accounted for all of the team's 55 points. Jennifer Walz tallied 16 points, followed by Ann Kirwin with 14, Lynne Walshaw with 13, Stacey Spitko with 10 and Marie Korcornik with two.
• Two Bison have recorded double-doubles in series history. Before Amy Zehner's 10 point-10 rebound performance last November, Ann Kirwin finished with 25 points, including a 15-for-22 run at the free throw line, and 13 rebounds in 1984. The 1987 graduate averaged 16.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in three games vs. the Peacocks.
• St. Peter's is averaging 62.5 points and Bucknell is at 52.5 points per game in the four-game series. The Peacocks' average took a hit last season, however, when they scored just 35 points at Sojka Pavilion. Before that meeting, they had registered a mark of 71.7 points per game against the Bison. Last November was the first time in series history that St. Peter's had scored fewer than 65 points.
• Results:
Dec. 8, 1984 St. Peter's, 75-47 (Northeastern Tournament)
Jan. 4, 1986 St. Peter's, 67-55
Jan. 8, 1987 St. Peter's, 73-62
Nov. 11, 2011 Bucknell, 46-35
LAST TIME OUT
• Dec. 19, 2012: Bucknell 75, Towson 62 (Towson Center)
• Four Bison scored in double figures as Bucknell snapped a two-game losing skid with a 75-62 win at Towson. Shelby Romine scored 20 points, pushing her past 800 for her career. Lindsay Horbatuck and Alyssa Dunn each had 12 points, and Sheaira Jones added a career-best 11.
• Audrey Dotson grabbed 15 rebounds, which would have been a career best had she not totaled 17 in Bucknell's previous game vs. Longwood. The sophomore had 12 rebounds at the half, while Towson had 11 as a team at the midway point. Bucknell ended up winning the battle of the boards, 46-30.
• Bucknell went on an 18-2 run during the first half. The burst of offensive gave them a 17-point advantage at the break. The Bison ultimately finished with a 13-point win, giving them their largest margin of victory so far this season.
• The Bison were 8-for-22 (.364) from behind the 3-point arc. Despite all eight of those makes coming in the first half, the total was still a single-game high in 2012-13. Bucknell also made all 16 of their first free throw attempts. It went on to finish the game 19-for-20 (.950) from the line.
RALLYING BEHIND ROUSSELL
• Aaron Roussell became Bucknell's ninth head coach when he was hired in April 2012. On Wednesday, he also became the third coach in program history to improve Bucknell's wins total in their first season. Cindy Connelley (1983-84) enjoyed a one-game improvement with a 9-17 record, and Juliene Simpson (1991-97) had a five-win improvement with her debut record of 7-20. Roussell inherited a team that went 5-25 a year ago and has since led the Bison to a 6-4 mark so far this winter.
• Of the eight coaches to lead Bucknell prior to Roussell, only one - Rebecca Carr - registered a winning season in her debut campaign. The second coach in program history, Carr went 6-4 in 1976-77 before ultimately finishing her four-year tenure with the Bison with a 31-30 record.
• With six wins so far, Roussell has the fifth-most victories by a Bison head coach in their debut season. Kathy Fedorjaka leads the group (12-14 in 1997-98), followed by Cindy Connelley (9-17 in 1983-94), Terrie Grieb (7-12 in 1980-81) and Juliene Simpson (7-20 in 1991-92).
SUCCESS ON THE ROAD
Bucknell enters Saturday's game at St. Peter's with a 3-2 record in road games. The last time the Bison won more road games was in 2008-09 when they finished the season 8-7 away from Sojka Pavilion and 16-12 overall, their last winning season.
SEVENTH HEAVEN?
A win at St. Peter's on Saturday would give Bucknell its seventh win in its 11th game. That would be the team's quickest run to seven victories since 2000-01 when it started the year 7-1 and claimed its seventh win on Dec. 9, 2000 with a 79-66 decision over Harvard.
SNAPPING SERIES STREAKS
With its 13-point win over Towson on Wednesday, Bucknell snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Tigers. That was the third series winless streak the Bison have ended this year having ended Buffalo's run of success at three games and Mount St. Mary's at six. Still to come on its non-conference schedule are Yale, which has won each of the last three meetings with Bucknell, and Youngstown State, which has won the last five. Cornell and NJIT each won their last game against the Bison as well.
BOARD GAMES
Bucknell has allowed 16 combined offensive rebounds to its last two opponents - Longwood (7) and Towson (9). The Lancers and the Tigers also managed to grab just 30 total rebounds each, the fewest by a Bucknell opponent this season. One of the biggest contributors to limiting opponents' effectiveness on the glass has been Audrey Dotson, who is averaging 16.5 rebounds in those two games. Of the sophomore's 17 total rebounds against Longwood, 10 of them came on the defensive end, surpassing the total of any single Lancer. Dotson also had had 12 rebounds in the first half against Towson, which had just 11 as a team.
GETTING 800
Shelby Romine scored her 800th career point on Wednesday at Towson. It took the junior just nine contests to get from 700 to 800. During her career, Romine, who now has 812 points, is averaging 8.5 games to score 100 points.
WINNING VS. LOSING
At 6-4, Bucknell is off to its best start in more than a decade. A quick comparison of stats from games won vs. games lost tells part of the story. The Bison are averaging more than 14 more points in games won than they are in those four games they've lost. Alyssa Dunn leads the team in scoring in victories with 15.5 points per game, but the senior's average drops to 6.0 in losses.
EIGHT BALLS
Bucknell hit a season-best eight 3-point field goals at Towson on Wednesday and ultimately finished the game at 8-for-22 (.364) from behind the arc. The last time the Bison hit eight 3-pointers in a single game was Jan. 3, 2010 against Buffalo. Despite shooting 10-for-21 from 3-point range in that game, the Bison still fell 64-51. The last time Bucknell defeated a Division I opponent while making at least eight threes was Feb. 7, 2009. The Bison knocked off Navy 66-54 while shooting 8-for-19 from behind the arc.
A NICE BOOST IN SHOOTING
After shooting 6-for-37 (.162) from 3-point range against Buffalo, Penn and Longwood, Bucknell broke the mold and shot 8-for-22 (.346) on Wednesday at Towson. In the previous three games, Katherine Harris was 3-for-7, Shelby Romine was 2-for-15, Alyssa Dunn was 1-for-8 and the rest of the team combined to go 0-for-7. Against the Tigers, Romine improved to 4-for-6 from behind the arc, while Dunn was 2-for-7 and Sheaira Jones was 2-for-4.
MOVING UP THE LIST
Shelby Romine's 812 career points ties her with Denise Cohen (1979-83) for 26th in program history after passing Lauren Wagner (1992-96) on Dec. 1. Next in Romine's sights is former teammate Joyce Novacek (2007-11) in 25th with 846 points. Rachel Voss is also moving up the list. The senior's 592 points ranks 35th in program history. With two more points, Voss will tie Liz Rabenold (1977-81) for 34th.
BISON ONLINE
Now there are more ways than ever to follow the Bison. Head coach Aaron Roussell (@CoachRous) and assistant coach Christian Stefanopoulos (@CStef23) are both on Twitter. Bucknell Women's Basketball is also on Facebook.
For up-to-date information, videos and more for all of Bucknell's teams, don't forget @BisonSports on Twitter, facebook.com/BuckyBison and youtube.com/BucknellAthletics.
LOOKING AHEAD
Bucknell will play once more on the road before returning to Sojka Pavilion for a brief stop. The Bison will take on Youngstown State at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 29 in Youngstown, Ohio. The Penguins have won each of the last five meetings with the Bison, but the last game was a close one. Youngstown State won just 57-56 at Sojka Pavilion last November.
