Women's Basketball Release 2.12.16 

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- Only six games remain in the Patriot League regular season, and Army West Point and Bucknell remain tied atop of the standings with an 11-1 record. Despite dropping a midweek contest to the Bison, Lehigh solely sits in third at 8-4. With Loyola's loss to Navy, Holy Cross took over fourth place in the standings at 7-5. The Mids and Greyhounds are now tied at .500 (6-6). American (4-8), Lafayette (3-9), Colgate (2-10), and Boston University (2-10) round out the standings.

Patriot League Twitter Notebook - @PL_WBB
* All ten teams will play on Saturday and can be watched on the Patriot League Network.
* Army’s Kelsey Minato is now the all-time leading scorer at the Academy with 2,336 career points.
* American’s Lauren Crisler and Lehigh’s Lexi Martins were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District II team.
* Bucknell held the nation’s leading rebounder -- Lexi Martins -- to just six en route to a 67-54 season sweep of Lehigh.
* American held Boston U. to just 33 points, marking the lowest score by an opponent for any team in the League this season.
* AU’s 46-point victory over BU is the fifth-largest in program history, most since defeating Baltimore, 97-43, in Jan. 1983.
* Colgate senior Josie Stockill set a new career-high 29 points in Saturday’s 78-55 loss to Army.
* Sophomore Tricia Byrne hit two crucial free throws with 11 seconds remaining to lift Holy Cross to a 57-54 win at Lafayette.
* Navy held Loyola without a point in the final 1:55 to claim a 45-38 victory.
* Navy head coach Stefanie Pemper is five wins away from 150 victories at the Academy.

Patriot League Notebook

American, Bucknell Highlight Wednesday Action
It was certainly a night for the books and several new records were reached during Patriot League action. Army West Point’s Kelsey Minato became the Academy’s all-time leading scorer, while several players, including Colgate’s Josie Stockill, set career-highs. American also earned the program’s fifth-largest victory -- and highest since defeating Baltimore 97-43 in January of 1983 -- with a 46-point margin win over Boston University. The Eagles also held the Terriers to the lowest opponent score of any team in the League this season of just 33 points. Bucknell’s Jacquie Klotz also put up a noteworthy performance, notching her 10th double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds, to help the Bison earn an important season sweep over third-place Lehigh.

Patriot League Slate Winding Down, Only Six Games Remain
With two-thirds of the Patriot League season completed, each remaining outcome is more crucial than the next. Game 13 of the League schedule is on the docket for Saturday and features a battle between the third and fourth teams in the standings as well as the defending Patriot League champion taking on the 2016 preseason favorite. Fourth-place Holy Cross hosts third-place Lehigh to kickoff the day’s action, beginning at 1:05 p.m. Bucknell and Boston University will play host to Colgate and Loyola Maryland, respectively, with both games beginning at 2 p.m. Army West Point and American will get underway at 3 p.m. at Christl Arena, while Lafayette will wrap up the day’s action in Annapolis with Navy at 7 p.m.

Crisler, Martins Earn CoSIDA Academic All-District Accolades
American junior Lauren Crisler and Lehigh junior Lexi Martins were named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District II Women’s Basketball Team, as announced by the organization on Thursday, for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. Both Crisler and Martins will advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second-, and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month. Crisler, a two-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selection, earns her first Academic All-District honor. A native of North Wales, Pa., the junior forward boasts a 3.92 grade-point average as a finance major. The only Eagle to start in all 23 games this season, Crisler leads American with 212 points and is among the League’s top 10 in rebounding (6.3 per game) and field goal percentage (.446). An Academic All-League selection as a sophomore and a two-time Patriot League Academic Honor Roll member, Martins garners her first Academic All-District recognition. Hailing from Irvington, N.Y., Martins holds a 3.62 GPA as a Political Science major. The junior forward leads the Mountain Hawks with 331 points (14.4 per game), 325 rebounds (14.1 per game), and 59 assists (2.57 per game). Martins rebounding average ranks second in all of Division I women’s basketball, while her 17 double-double rank third.

Moving on Up in the Patriot League Record Book
Colgate senior Josie Stockill recorded seven blocks -- tying her own Cotterell Court record -- in Wednesday night’s game against Army West Point to bring her season total to 86, moving her to 9th in the Patriot League top-ten all-time blocks in a single season. In the opening game of the Patriot League season at Lafayette, Stockill set a new single-game record of 13 blocks, which is also still an NCAA individual game-high. She currently sits tied for sixth with Army’s Erin Anthony (2007-11) on the League’s all-time list with 222 career blocks. In addition, she set a new career-high of 29 points against the Black Knights on Wednesday to bring her career mark to 975, 25 shy of reaching 1,000.

Looking to Join 1,000 Point Club
The Patriot League welcomed Holy Cross senior Lisa Mifsud to the 1,000 point club when she tallied exactly 1,000 career points with a trey at the 4:07 mark in the fourth quarter against Bucknell on Feb. 6. Mifsud is the second player this season to reach the milestone, as Lafayette senior Jamie O’Hare reached the mark on January 9, when the Leopards defeated Boston University 71-56 at the Kirby Sports Center. With six more games left in the Patriot League regular season, three other players are inching closer towards the mark and will look to reach it over the course of the remaining games. Bucknell junior Claire DeBoer is just one point shy after netting 15 points against Lehigh on Wednesday to bring her career total to 999. Colgate senior Josie Stockill is also closing in milestone and is 25 points away. Lehigh junior Lexi Martins, who is 15 away from reaching 800 career rebounds, is also approaching the 1,000 career-point mark with 911 points. DeBoer, Stockill, and Martins will become the 96th, 97th, and 98th Patriot League women’s basketball players, respectively, to join the 1,000 point club if they reach the mark this season.

Army’s Kelsey Minato on Pace to Set Patriot League Scoring Record
Army West Point’s senior All-America candidate Kelsey Minato became the Academy’s all-time scoring leader on Wednesday against Colgate when she buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 27 seconds on the clock in the third quarter. She surpassed Kevin Houston’s (USMA’87) record of 2,325 and finished with 29 points to bring her career total to 2,336. Earlier in the season, Minato became the first women’s basketball player at West Point to reach 2,000 career points. The senior guard is well on her way to break the women’s basketball Patriot League scoring record before tournament play even begins. With six games left in the regular season and averaging 23.8 points per game, she would reach 2,478.8 points to break the record by 16.8 points. And again, that’s projected to happen before the Patriot League tournament.

Follow the Action on the Patriot League Network
Once again, the Patriot League will partner with Campus Insiders on the Patriot League Network, a streaming platform that will enable fans to watch League regular season and postseason events for free. With the exception of the contests on CBS Sports Network, all home games both in non-League and Patriot League play will feature free live streaming on PLN.

2016 Patriot League Tournament
The 2016 Patriot League Tournament, featuring all 10 teams playing at campus sites, begins with the first round on Saturday, March 5 (#10 seed plays at the #7 seed and the #9 seed visits the #8 seed) followed by the quarterfinals two days later (#1 overall seed hosting the 9/8 winner and the #5 seed playing at the #4 seed on one half of the bracket and the #2 seed at home against the 10/7 winner with the #6 seed at the #3 seed on the other side). The four remaining squads then move to on the semifinals and championship, which will be hosted by the highest-seeded semifinal team on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12. The first round and quarterfinal games will be shown on Patriot League Network as will the semifinals, while the championship game will be aired on CBS Sports Network. All Patriot League Tournament games will be played at the site of the higher seed.
More information can be found on the women’s basketball championship page, here.

Team Notebook

AMERICAN (6-17, 4-8) The Eagles recorded its largest victory in more than three decades with a 79-33 win over the Terriers on Wednesday at Bender Arena ... Boston University was unable to make its first seven shots and missed a pair of free throws, while American rattled off 14 points ... AU was 6-of-8 from the field, which included a 2-of-2 mark from beyond the arc, in the first five minutes of the game ... The home team controlled the game the rest of the way, holding the visitors to just 12 points in the first half for a 39-12 advantage ... The Eagles produced the highest point total in a single game this season, while holding the Terriers to the lowest score by any opponent faced by a Patriot League team this season ... The 46-point margin of victory is the program’s fifth largest and best since January 1983 when American defeated Baltimore, 97-43 ... Senior Ari Booth, who collected 13 points in the first quarter, registered a career-high 22 points in just 20 minutes of playing time ... Sophomore Emily Kinneston tallied 13 points off the bench and added a career-high eight rebounds and six steals, while freshman Cecily Carl chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

ARMY WEST POINT (20-2, 11-1) The Black Knights cruised to a 78-55 victory over the Raiders Wednesday night at Cotterell Court ... Army jumped out to an early 8-3 lead though Colgate answered with an 8-2 run of its own to go ahead 11-10 with four minutes remaining in the first half ... The Black Knight netted the game’s next eight points and would never trail the rest of the way ... Army senior Kelsey Minato hit a trey with 27 seconds on the clock in the third quarter to surpass Kevin Houston’s all-time Academy scoring record of 2,325 points ... She finished with 29 points -- to bring her career total to 2,336 - and added four assists ... Classmate Aimee Oertner pitched in 12 points, four rebounds, and three blocks.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY (2-21, 2-10) The Terriers fell to the Eagles on Wednesday at Bender Arena, 79-33 ... Freshman Naiyah Thompson led Boston U. and matched a career high nine points, while junior Courtney Latham posted eight points.

BUCKNELL (17-6, 11-1) The Bison outrebounded the League-leading Mountain Hawks 40-29 on Wednesday night en route to a 67-54 win at Stabler Arena ... Bucknell also held the nation’s second leading rebounder, Lexi Martins, to just six boards - her lowest mark and second time being held to single digits in a game this season ... The Mountain Hawks took an 18-17 lead to end the first quarter, but the Bison opened the second period on a 17-3 run and never looked back ... The visitors maintained the lead for 38:27 minutes to the home team’s 31 seconds ... Sophomore Jacquie Klotz tallied her 10th double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds to lead Bucknell ... She was 8-of-13 from the floor, which included a 5-of-8 mark from downtown ... Junior Claire DeBoer notched 15 points and added seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals ... Senior Tyler Craig and freshman Kyi English also reached double-digit points in scoring with 10 points apiece, while Craig also added eight rebounds and four assists.

COLGATE (4-18, 2-10) The Raiders dropped a home contest to the Black Knights on Wednesday at Cotterell Court, 78-55 ... After Army jumped out to an early 8-3 lead, Colgate answered with an 8-2 run of its own to go ahead 11-10 with four minutes remaining in the first half ... However, the Black Knight netted the game’s next eight points and would never trail the rest of the way ... The Raiders were led by senior Josie Stockill with 29 points, nine rebounds, and seven blocks ... Stockill has now broken into the Patriot League’s all-time top ten record for blocks in a season, sitting at 9th on the list with 86 ... Classmate Paige Kriftcher netted 10 points and also hauled in five rebounds.

HOLY CROSS (9-13, 6-5) After the Leopards grabbed a six-point lead three minutes into the third quarter, the Crusaders went on a 17-2 scoring surge to help lift them to a road win on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center, 57-54 ... Holy Cross extended its lead to 11 points when sophomore Tricia Byrne converted a layup less than a minute into the final period to make it 42-31 ... Lafayette came within one, 55-54, with 11 seconds on the clock on a pair of good free throws ... A foul by the Leopards put Byrne at the line who made both shots to extend the lead to three, 57-54 ... Lafayette made two last-second trey attempts but neither fell and the Crusaders earned the win ... Sophomore Katie Doherty tied a career-high 16 points, on a 6-of-10 shooting clip, to lead the Crusaders while also hauling in five rebounds ... Byrne finished with 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals, while senior Molly Hourigan pitched in nine points, a team-high eight rebounds, four steals, and a pair of blocks.

LAFAYETTE (5-16, 3-8) The Leopards couldn’t net two last-second trey attempts and fell to the Crusaders on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center, 57-54 ... Lafayette came within one, 55-54, with 11 seconds remaining in the game on a pair of good free throws from junior Ashley Lutz ... A foul by freshman Alex Cantwell put Holy Cross at the charity stripe and two good shots pushed the score to a three-point difference ... Senior Jamie O’Hare and junior Ashley Lutz both made three-point shots in the final second but neither was able to convert ... O’Hare netted a game high 22 points, posting 20-plus points for the fifth time this season ... She also contributed five assists and five rebounds ... Lutz finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, and Cantwell matched a career-high 10 boards.

LEHIGH (15-7, 8-3) The Mountain Hawks were outrebounded by the Bison 40-29 on Wednesday night en route to a 67-54 win at Stabler Arena ... Lehigh took an 18-17 lead to end the first quarter on a Quinci Mann jumper, but Bucknell opened the second period on a 17-3 run and never looked back ... Senior Elizabeth Sharlow led the way for Lehigh with 13 points and also posted five rebounds and three assists ... Senior Kerry Kinek followed with 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds ... Martins was held to just eight points, in addition to just six rebounds.

LOYOLA MARYLAND (9-14, 6-6) The Greyhounds made a late rally but fell short and dropped a road game to the Mids on Wednesday at Alumni Hall, 45-38 ... After opening the scoring on a layup from senior Jeneh Perry, Loyola Maryland was unable to score again in the first quarter until senior Diana Logan added a second layup with 17 seconds on the clock as Navy held an 11-4 lead ... The Greyhounds cut the deficit to three before the half, and both teams scored 12 points in the third to make the score 35-29 to begin the final period ... The Mids went up by eight but Loyola responded with seven points of their own to trail by just one, 39-38 ... However, Navy held them scoreless the rest of the way for the win ... Senior Colleen Marshall led the way with 11 points and added eight rebounds, while Perry posted a game-high 14 boards in addition to eight points ... Sophomore Bri Betz-White chipped in nine points.

NAVY (12-11, 6-6) The Mids held off a late rally by the Greyhounds to claim a 45-38 Wednesday win at Alumni Hall ... Navy took an early lead, 11-4, by the end of the first quarter and then a 20-17 advantage going into the break ... After both teams tallied 12 points in the third quarter, the Mids opened the final period with seven of nine points scored over the first four minutes ... The Greyhounds responded with seven points of their own to trail by just one, 39-38, though Navy held them scoreless the rest of the way and added six of their own to seal the victory ... Senior Peri Curtis led the Mids with 14 points, eight rebounds, and three steals ... Juniors Ashanti Kennedy and Sarita Condie each chipped in seven points.