Bucknell University
Temple
Women's Basketball Begins Three-Game Homestand with Temple Sunday Afternoon
11/26/2022 7:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team begins its three-game homestand on Sunday when it hosts the Temple Owls. It's Bucknell's third game in six days over the Thanksgiving break.
The Bison are coming off a 65-48 road loss to ACC team Syracuse. Bucknell's four losses are to opponents that possess a combined 19-3 record, and the visitors to Sojka Pavilion this weekend won't be any easier. Despite their 1-4 record, the Owls have also faced one of the tougher schedules in the NCAA this season. Sunday will be the third time Bucknell and Temple have met in four years.
Bucknell has gone with the same starting five in the last two games, which has happened just twice over the first six contests. Only Cecelia Collins and Emma Shaffer have started every game this season. While the team had its struggles offensively on Friday, the most recent group of starters accounts for over 70 percent of the team's scoring.
The Bison are now more than halfway through their non-conference schedule, which comes to an end on Dec. 20.
Game Notes | Digital ProgramWhat: Bucknell (2-4, 0-0 PL) vs. Temple (1-4, 0-0 AAC)
When: Sunday, Nov. 27 at 4 p.m.
Where: Sojka Pavilion - Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 90.5 WVBU
Live Statistics: BucknellBison.com
Last Game's Starters
Fr./G: Blake Matthews (2.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)
So./G: Cecelia Collins (12.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.8 spg)
So./G: Isabella King (6.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)
So./G: Remi Sisselman (5.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.7 spg)
Sr./F: Emma Shaffer (8.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.1 apg)
With a win over Temple, Bucknell would...
• ... improve to 3-4 on the season.
• ... improve to 2-1 at home.
• ... move to 1-3 all-time against Temple.
• ... move to 60-21 overall under head coach Trevor Woodruff.
• ... even its all-time program record at 636-636.
Headlines
• After earning its first two wins of the season in back-to-back games, the Bison fell at Syracuse on Friday to move to 2-4 on the young season. While the Bison struggled to score, they held yet another high-powered offense well below its season average. The 65 points Syracuse scored were its fewest of the season.
• Bucknell has challenged itself with a grueling non-conference schedule that has included two ACC teams. The four teams Bucknell has lost two have a combined 19-3 record.
• The Bison have relied largely on youth through their first six games. In their last two games, the Bison have started one freshman, three sophomores and just one senior.
• Bucknell finished 24-10 overall and 12-6 in Patriot League play last season. The Bison reached the 2022 Patriot League Championship game playing as the No. 4 seed in the tournament, but they fell 65-54 to No. 2 seed American.
• Bucknell received an at-large bid to the 2022 WNIT and defeated Fordham in the first round before falling to Drexel in the second. Bucknell is the only Patriot League team with two all-time WNIT victories under its belt.
• Bucknell graduated two seniors in the spring, including two-time First Team All-Patriot League guard Taylor O'Brien and 2022 PL All-Defensive Team member Marly Walls. O'Brien led the Bison in scoring over the past two seasons, scored the fifth-most single-season point in program history as a senior (567) and graduated ranking 21st on Bucknell's all-time scoring list (1,125).
• Bucknell sophomore Cecelia Collins was voted to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team. She was a Second Team All-League selection last year. This is the first time since 2011 Bucknell has not returned a junior or senior All-League player.
• Bucknell was picked fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. It's the first time since 2015-16 Bucknell was not picked in the top three. The Bison have gone 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Senior Emma Shaffer, junior Caroline Dingler and sophomore Cecelia Collins were named captains ahead of the 2022-23 season.
• Head coach Trevor Woodruff is in his fourth season at Bucknell. He's 57-18 over that time, including a 36-8 mark in Patriot League play. He was named PL Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons.
• Following the retirement of assistant coach Jim Reed during the offseason, Kelly Mazzante was elevated to associate head coach, and former manager of basketball operations LaSashia Connelly was named an assistant coach. Molly Gillis joined the staff during the offseason as the program's new manager of ops.
Scouting Temple
• Temple is 1-4 to begin the season, but two of its losses have come against nationally ranked opponents (No. 24 Princeton, No. 24 Villanova). The Owls also lost to Saint Joseph's, who Bucknell fell to in the season opener. Temple's one win is over Georgetown.
• Temple was picked to finish seventh in the 2022-23 American Athletic Conference preseason poll. The Owls went 13-15 (8-8) last season.
• Aleah Nelson paces the Owls' offense with 15 points per game. The two-time All-CAA transfer from Towson has scored in double figures in four of Temple's five games and is ninth in the conference in the category. Nelson is one of three Owls averaging double figures.
• Temple is under the direction of head coach Diane Richardson, who took over the program last April after a successful five-year stint with Towson. She boasts an 81-70 career record, including a 24-8 mark with the Tigers last season. She guided Towson to a 2021-22 WNIT appearance.
Series History with the Owls/AAC
• Bucknell and Temple meet for the third time in the last four years. The Owls are 3-0 in the all-time series, which dates back to 1993.
• Temple hit seven of its first 15 3-pointers and built a 35-26 lead over the Bison by halftime of last year's meeting. The Bison also started hot from beyond the arc, knocking down each of their first three threes, but they finished the game shooting just 29.3 percent from the floor.
• Bucknell led just once in the game at 11-9 in the first quarter. The Owls stretched their margin to 14 at 48-34 by the end of the third quarter, but the Bison hung around in the fourth by limiting Temple to just a single field goal in the period.
• The Bison led 33-32 at halftime of the 2019 matchup and were up by as many as six in the first quarter, but Temple outscored Bucknell by 12 points in the second half with a 56.4 percent effort from the floor. It ended in a 72-61 win for the Owls in the only other meeting at Sojka Pavilion.
• Bucknell is 1-3 all-time against current members of the American Athletic Conference. Bucknell earned a 56-48 win over Cincinnati at the 2019 Puerto Rico Clasico.
Series History with Temple
1/3/93 vs. Temple (n) L, 67-53
11/20/19 Temple (h) L, 72-61
11/20/21 at Temple (a) L, 59-46
Last Time Out
• Bucknell limited Syracuse to just six points in the first quarter and led through the early minutes of the second, but the Orange pulled away in the second half to win 65-48 at the JMA Wireless Dome Friday evening.
• Despite seeing plenty of open looks, Bucknell suffered from a 2-for-21 showing from 3-point range.
• Syracuse was 24-of-60 for the game, including shooting 58.8 percent in the second quarter and 50 percent in the third.
• Dyaisha Fair led the Orange with 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting. She had 20 of Syracuse's 28 points in the first half.
• Cecelia Collins scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting for Bucknell. The sophomore went 6-for-7 at the foul line. As a team, Bucknell went 10-for-11 at the free throw line and shot 33.3 percent overall. Isabella King was also in double figures with 10 points, sinking both of Bucknell's threes.
• Bucknell opened the game with a 10-2 lead thanks to a cold 1-for-11 start by the Orange. Syracuse also committed seven of its 13 turnovers in the opening frame, but it was a 14-2 run to start lasted well into the second quarter that gave the Orange the lead for good.
New Notable Career Highs
Blake Matthews — rebounds (6), minutes (24)
Grace Sullivan — points (8), rebounds (6)
Patriot League Preseason Awards
• Cecelia Collins was one of five players named to the 2022 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• Collins is Bucknell's lone returning All-Patriot League player, earning spots on the Second Team and the All-Rookie Team as a freshman in 2021-22. She became the first Bison freshman to earn a spot on the First, Second or Third Team since 2001.
• Collins was one of two sophomores to make the Preseason All-League Team.
• Boston University senior Sydney Johnson was named the Patriot League Player of the Year.
• While not earning a spot on the five-player Preseason All-League Team, Boston senior Maren Durant was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, an award that was just added prior to this season.
Bison Picked Fourth in Patriot League Preseason Poll
• Bucknell was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll based on a vote by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
• Bucknell was last picked fourth in the preseason poll prior to the 2015-2016. It has been picked third or higher every year since.
• Boston University was picked first, followed by Lehigh and Holy Cross. Reigning Patriot League Champion American was picked eighth.
• Bucknell is 100-16 in league play since the start of the 2015-16 season.
Overall Success in Sojka Pavilion
• The Bison are an incredible 88-12 at Sojka Pavilion since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Now in its 21st season playing at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell is 184-79 (.700) on its home court.
• Bucknell finished a perfect 16-0 at Sojka Pavilion in 2016-17.
• The Bison were 12-3 in Sojka last season, are 1-1 this season, and are 31-6 during the Trevor Woodruff era.
Bucknell hosts St. Bonaventure at Sojka on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 4:30 p.m.
