Bucknell University
St. Bonaventure
Women's Basketball Plays Host to St. Bonaventure Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion
11/29/2022 12:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NOTE: The first Bucknell Basketball Luncheon of the 2022-2023 season will be held on Thursday, Dec. 1 at the Bull Run Tap House in Lewisburg. The event begins at noon, and will feature comments from men's head coach Nathan Davis and women's head coach Trevor Woodruff. Junior guard Josh Adoh and sophomore guard Elvin Edmonds will be in attendance from the men's team, as well as sophomore guard Cecelia Collins and freshman guard Blake Matthews from the women's program.
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's basketball team is back at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday to host St. Bonaventure for its fourth home game of the season. Wednesday's game precedes the men's basketball team's 7 p.m. matchup with Saint Francis at Sojka.
Bucknell is coming off a loss to Temple and is looking to even its home record at 2-2 on the early season.
The Bison and the Bonnies have met five times in the last six years, and Bucknell has claimed four of those meetings. Bucknell has also seen plenty of success against the Atlantic 10 under head coach Trevor Woodruff, going 5-1 against the conference during his tenure.
Game Notes | Digital Program
Men's Basketball/Women's Basketball Doubleheader – Fans holding a men's or women's ticket are permitted entry for both games.
What: Bucknell (2-5, 0-0 PL) vs. St. Bonaventure (1-5, 0-0 A-10)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 4:30 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 (2.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.9 apg)
So./G: Cecelia Collins (13.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.0 apg)
So./G: Isabella King (7.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 1.3 apg)
So./G: Remi Sisselman (6.6 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.0 apg)
Sr./F: Emma Shaffer (8.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
With a win over St. Bonaventure, Bucknell would...
• ... improve to 3-5 on the season.
• ... improve to 2-2 at home.
• ... move to 7-8 all-time against the Bonnies.
• ... improve to 3-0 against the Bonnies and 6-1 against the A-10 under Woodruff.
• ... move to 60-22 overall under Woodruff.
• ... improve to 32-7 at home under Woodruff.
Headlines
• Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a home loss to Temple when it hosts St. Bonaventure on Wednesday in the second game of a three-game homestand. The Bison are 2-5 this season following Sunday's loss to the Owls.
• Bucknell's two wins came back-to-back against Cornell and Iona last week. The Bison have challenged themselves with a grueling non-conference schedule that has included two ACC teams. The five teams the Bison have lost to possess a 24-7 record this season.
• The Bison have relied largely on youth through their first six games. In their last three 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 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 St. Bonaventure
• The Bonnies are 1-5, earning their only victory over Siena on Nov. 16. They most recently lost three games to Bellarmine, Georgia State and Cleveland State at the Hampton Inn Cleveland Downtown Viking Invitational over Thanksgiving.
• St. Bonaventure was picked to finish last in the 2022-23 Atlantic 10 preseason poll after placing ahead of only George Mason last season with a 12-16 (4-12 A-10) record.
• Senior forward I'yanna Lops and junior guard/forward Maddie Dziezgowski are both averaging more than 11 points per game. Lops is also tied for second in the Atlantic 10 with 1.7 blocks per game.
• St. Bonaventure is led by seventh-year head coach Jesse Fleming, who owns a 51-123 career record with the team.
Series History with the Bonnies/Atlantic 10
• St. Bonaventure leads 8-6 in the all-time series with Bucknell, which dates back to 1985. The Bison have won three in a row and four of the last five since 2016.
• St. Bonaventure's last win over Bucknell came in 2017, and the Bonnies claimed six of the first seven meetings in the series.
• Bucknell is 2-0 against the Bonnies during the Trevor Woodruff era, including a 72-60 win on the road last season.
• Four Bison scored in double figures in last season's meeting, and the team held a 41-33 edge on the glass while forcing 16 St. Bonaventure turnovers. Bucknell led by as many as 19 in the win and outscored the Bonnies 23-13 in the third quarter. St. Bonaventure cut the deficit to single digits in the fourth by outscoring Bucknell 23-16 over the final 10 minutes.
• The Bison have seen considerable success against Atlantic 10 opponents in recent years. They had won seven in a row against the conference prior to the season-opening loss at Saint Joseph's this year and are 5-1 against the Atlantic 10 under Woodruff. The Bison defeated three A-10 teams last season, including a win over Fordham in the first round of the WNIT.
• Bucknell is 26-42 all-time against current members of the A-10.
Series Record: 6-8
Record at Home: 3-4
Record at St. Bonaventure: 3-4
Neutral Site Record: 0-0
Trevor Woodruff Record: 2-0
Current Streak: 3 wins
Longest Winning Streak: 3
Last Time Out
• A hot-shooting Temple team connected on 32 of 59 field goals (54.2 percent), including 9 of 15 (60.0 percent) from 3-point range, to defeat Bucknell 77-62 Sunday evening.
• The Bison were shooting close to 50 percent for most of the contest, and finished the game 20-for-47 (42.6 percent).
• Temple built a 13-point advantage (45-32) early in the third quarter, but Bucknell was able to respond and narrow its deficit to six points on multiple occasions. A 24-10 run by the Owls gave them their largest lead of 20 points with just under four minutes to play in the contest.
• Temple led 32-23 in rebounds and forced 14 Bison turnovers.
• The Owls were led by Aleah Nelson, who scored 23 points highlighted by 6 of 9 shooting from behind the arc. Bucknell was led by 16 points apiece from Isabella King and Cecelia Collins.
New Notable Career Highs
Emma Shaffer — assists (6)
Emma Theodorsson — rebounds (5)
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 88-13 at Sojka Pavilion since the start of the 2015-16 season.
• Now in its 21st season playing at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell is 184-80 (.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 31-7 during the Trevor Woodruff era.
Up Next
Bucknell takes on Stony Brook at Sojka Pavilion at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3. It's Bucknell's last home non-conference game. The Bison next return to Sojka on Friday, Dec. 30 to host Holy Cross in the Patriot League opener.
