Dec. 19, 2014

Patriot League Women's Basketball Weekend Preview - 12.19.14 

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - After a 16-day break, Lehigh will put its unbeaten mark on the line this weekend when it joins host Arizona State, Eastern Illinois and Northwestern in Tempe, Ariz for the ASU Classic.

The Mountain Hawks will play two of 11 games involving Patriot League teams this weekend. On Friday, Bucknell hosts Yale and Lafayette travels to Stony Brook. Army and Loyola Maryland are both home on Saturday against St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Peter's, respectively, while American visits Maryland-Eastern Shore. The weekend wraps up on Sunday with Bucknell at Mount St. Mary's, Colgate welcoming Kent State, Lafayette entertaining NJIT and St. Peter's visiting Navy.

Patriot League Twitter Notebook - @PL_WBB
*After a light week, Patriot League teams get back in the swing with 11 games this weekend.
*Lehigh (7-0) is off to its best start since the 1984-85 season and is idle until taking part in the ASU Classic on 12/20-21.
*Army (7-2) shot better than 50-percent from the field for the fourth time this season (56.3%) in a win over CCSU.
*Bucknell (5-3) made 11 3-pointers and improved to 3-0 at Sojka Pavilion this season with an 85-41 win over UMBC.
*Boston U. (3-7) couldn't stop the long-range shooting of Marist on Saturday, who connected on 13-of-16 in the first half.
*American (4-5) shot 59.1 percent from the floor in the second half of a 60-52 win Wednesday at Manhattan.
*Holy Cross (2-8) lost for the first time in the last four meetings with Massachusetts Sunday in Amherst, Mass.
*Lafayette (5-3) split a pair of games prior to exam break, defeating SFU-Brooklyn before falling at Seton Hall.
*Navy (5-5) lost 72-64 at Oregon on Dec. 6 despite making a season-high 14 three-point field goals against the Ducks.
*Colgate (1-8) grabbed a season-high 51 rebounds in an 82-62 loss Saturday at Monmouth.
*Loyola (1-7) lost at home to East Carolina in its final game before heading in to an 11-day break for exams.

Patriot League Notebook

Dumiak Fills the Stat Sheet in American's Win at Manhattan
In the only game so far this week for Patriot League teams, American senior guard Jen Dumiak displayed her diverse talents in the Eagles 60-52 victory at Manhattan. Dumiak was a stat-sheet filler with 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds and a career-high six steals against the Jaspers. After Manhattan had whittled a 14-point deficit to just three with 2:16 remaining, Dumiak scored a basket with 1:14 remaining to stop the run. Classmate Arron Zimmerman (11 points) drained a three in the final minute to secure the Eagles' win.

Lehigh Puts Unbeaten Mark on the Line in ASU Classic
After a 16-day break, Lehigh heads to Tempe, Ariz. to take on Arizona State (8-1) in the ASU Classic on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks will then face either Eastern Illinois or Northwestern the following day. Those are just two of the 11 games involving Patriot League teams this weekend. On Friday, Bucknell hosts Yale and Lafayette travels to Stony Brook. Army and Loyola Maryland are both home on Saturday against St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Peter's, respectively, while American visits Maryland-Eastern Shore. The weekend wraps up on Sunday with Bucknell at Mount St. Mary's, Colgate welcoming Ken State, Lafayette entertaining NJIT and St. Peter's visiting Navy.

Patriot League Play on the Horizon
There is less than two weeks until the start of the 18-game Patriot League regular season on Wednesday, Dec. 31. All 10 teams will play in New Year's Eve matinees at 2 p.m. The opening week action features American at Bucknell, Army at Lafayette, Holy Cross at Boston University, Lehigh at Colgate and Navy at Loyola Maryland. The schools will play twice per week for nine weeks, concluding on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Follow the Action on 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.

Great Scott! Holy Cross' Raquel Has Award-Winning Week
In addition to being selected as the Patriot League Player of the Week, Holy Cross junior forward Raquel Scott was named the Corvias ECAC Women's Basketball Co-Player of the Week for Division I New England for the week ending Dec, 14. The Ridgewood, N.J. native averaged 25.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals in two games last week, while she went 18-of-31 from the field (58.1%), 4-of-6 from behind the arc (66.7%) and 11-of-15 from the free-throw line (73.7%). Scott shares the award with Shannon Samuels of UMass Lowell. Coincidentally, Samuels and the Riverhawks are the next opponent for the Crusaders when they square off at the Hart Center on Monday.

Army's Minato, Too!
Army junior guard Kelsey Minato was named the Women's Basketball Player of the Week by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) for the week ending Dec. 14. Minato averaged 24.5 points in wins over St. Francis Brooklyn and Central Connecticut State last week. Players eligible for the weekly award must play for one of the 73 New York-area schools across Divisions I, II and III that fall under the MBWA.

Colgate's Harris, Holy Cross' Scott Named `Good Works Team' Nominees
Allstate Insurance Company and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association have announced the candidates for the 2015 Allstate WBCA Good Works Team, which includes Colgate senior Carole Harris and Holy Cross junior Raquel Scott among 56 Division I Women's Basketball nominees. This prestigious community service award recognizes a distinguished group of student-athletes who choose to dedicate their limited free time to improving the lives of those around them. The final roster of award recipients will be unveiled in February and members of the Allstate WBCA Good Works Team will be recognized during the 2015 WBCA Convention and at the 2015 NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa Bay.

Defending Champion Army Picked to Repeat in Patriot League
Army wasn't picked to win the 2014 Patriot League Tournament title, but when the dust settled it was the Black Knights who were advancing to the NCAA Tournament. If Coach Dave Magarity's squad is going to make a return engagement, they will have to do so as the frontrunner because Army was tabbed as the favorite in the preseason poll of League coaches and SIDs who are not eligible to rank their own team. The Black Knights totaled 159 points to come in front of second-place American, which totaled 132 points and one first-place vote. Bucknell and Holy Cross were tied for the third spot at 123 points, with the Bison receiving two first place votes. They are followed by Lehigh (88), Navy (85), Lafayette (70), Colgate (47), Boston University (39) and Loyola Maryland (34). The Mids, who finished as the regular season champion last season, received the remaining first place vote.

Patriot League Championship, Army-Bucknell on CBS Sports Network
The Patriot League Men's Womens Basketball Championship will be televised on CBS Sports Network again this season on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. Also, the Feb. 15 regular season contest pitting defending Patriot League Champion Army against Bucknell will also be carried live by CBS Sports Network at 2 p.m. The Patriot League enters into its 12th straight year in partnership with CBS Sports Network. CBS Sports Network (CBSSN) is the 24-hour cable home of CBS Sports. It is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers on Verizon FiOS Channel 94 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 643 (1643 in HD) and via satellite on DIRECTV Channel 221 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information on how to get CBS Sports Network, visit CBSSportsNetwork.com.

American Sports Network to Carry Pair of Regular Season Games
The American Sports Network (ASN) will televise a pair Patriot League regular season women's basketball games in January. The Lafayette at Lehigh meeting at 1 p.m. on Sun., Jan. 25 and the Navy at American matchup at 8 p.m. on Tue., Jan. 27 will be carried on Sinclair Broadcast Group's affiliates in select regions of the country. ASN launched in July and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of NCAA Division I conferences, including the Patriot League.

2015 Patriot League Tournament
The 2015 Patriot League Tournament, featuring all 10 schools, begins with the first round on Wednesday, March 4 followed by the quarterfinals two days later. The semifinals will be played on Monday, March 9, with the Patriot League Championship held on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. The first round, quarterfinal and semifinal games will be shown on Patriot League Network, with the championship on CBS Sports Network. All Patriot League Tournament games will be played at the site of the higher seed.

Team Notebooks

AMERICAN The Eagles are not home for the holidays as they will play the remainder of the calendar year away from Bender Arena with road contests at Maryland-Eastern Shore (12/20), Wake Forest (12/28) and Bucknell (12/31) in the Patriot League opener. American will start 2015 on the road, too, with a game at Holy Cross on Jan. 3. Head coach Megan Gebbia's squad will not play in front of a home crowd until Jan. 7 against Loyola ... American used a hot-shooting second half (59.1%)to pull away for a 60-52 win over Manhattan on Wednesday. The teams were tied at 24-all heading into halftime, but senior guard Jen Dumiak poured in 16 of her game-high 20 points in the final 20 minutes as the Eagles built a 14-point advantage. Junior forward Michelle Holmes added 12 points and nine rebounds as American posted a 33-29 rebounding advantage, marking just the second time this season that they have won the battle on the boards.

ARMY The Black Knights certainly have Central Connecticut's number, improving to 7-0 all-time against the Blue Devils. After falling behind 4-0 to start the game, Army junior guard Jean Parker went 3-for-3 from behind the arc to spark a 15-0 run for the visitors. Parker would finish the contest with a career-high 25 points and a program-record seven three-point field goals. Cara Enright ('08), Jen Hazlett ('14) and Kelsey Minato shared the previous mark of six ... Army shot 56.3 percent (27-of-48) from the field to mark the fourth time the Black Knights have reached the 50-percent mark this season ... the team's shooting percentage is the second-highest this season after shooting 56.4 percent at Manhattan on Nov. 22.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY After leveling their record at 3-3 with a 62-57 win over Stephen F. Austin in the final game of November, the Terriers have dropped four straight to start the month of December. Boston University ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday as Marist hit 13-of-16 three-point field goals in the first 20 minutes to take a 57-24 halftime lead ... One bright spot for BU in their final game before beginning a two-week exam break was the charity stripe. The Terriers connected on all 11 of their free throws including a perfect 10-for-10 by freshman forward Kara Sheftic. Sophomore forward Meghan Green led Boston U. in scoring with 15 points against the Red Foxes. The Bedford, N.H. native has led or tied for the team scoring lead in six of 10 contests this season.

BUCKNELL The Bison begin their 10-game exam break with a red-hot shooting performance in an 85-41 win over visiting UMBC. Bucknell made 11-of-20 three-point field goal attempts and set or matched season-highs in points (85), 3-pointers (11), points in a half (49), field goals (31), 3-point field goal percentage (.550) and rebounds (62). The Bison were just one 3-pointer shy of tying the program's single-game record of 12, set in 1994 and equaled in 2009. Junior guard Sheaira Jones scored a career-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting and a 4-of-6 mark from beyond the arc, while also adding a season-high six rebounds ... Bucknell will have three games prior to the Patriot League opener on Dec. 31, hosting on Yale on Dec. 19 followed by road contests at Mount St. Mary's (Dec. 21) and Binghamton (Dec. 28).

COLGATE The Raiders lost 82-62 at Monmouth on Saturday despite the first career double-double by junior forward Josie Stockill. The New Zealand native scored 16 to miss her career-best by one point, and added a career-high tying 11 rebounds against the Hawks ... Head coach Nicci Hays Fort made rebounding a point of emphasis heading into the Monmouth game and the Raiders responded with a season-high 51 boards -- including 22 offensive rebounds -- but could not overcome 24 turnovers ... Colgate finishes the non-League portion of the schedule with consecutive Sunday games with Kent State (Dec. 21) and at Siena (Dec. 28).

HOLY CROSS After missing the first three games of the season due to injury, pre-season All-Patriot League selection Raquel Scott has found her rhythm with four straight double-doubles and three straight games with 25+ points. The junior forward is averaging nearly a double-double with 20.7 points and 9.9 rebounds per game ... Junior guard Lisa Mifsud is quietly putting together a solid season. Following a career-high nine assists in a loss at UMass on Sunday, Mifsud is third in the Patriot League at 4.8 assists per game, sixth in scoring at 14.4 points per game and fifth in the League with a 1.3 assist to turnover ratio ... After a home contest against UMass-Lowell on Dec. 22, Holy Cross will participate in the Seawolves Holiday Classic on Dec. 28-29 along with Norfolk State, Western Michigan and host Stony Brook.

LAFAYETTE The Leopards turned the tables on St. Francis-Brooklyn with a 73-51 win over the Terriers on Dec. 5. Lafayette lost the 2013 meeting between the teams by 22 points. In this encounter, Lafayette turned the ball over only eight times and recorded 19 assists on its 30 field goals. Senior guard Maddie Peabody had eight rebounds and eight assists for the Leopards ... The Leopards were tied with Big East foe Seton Hall at 32-all on Sunday, but the Pirates pulled away for a 80-63 victory. Junior guard Jamie O'Hare led Lafayette in scoring in both games last week with 18 and 14, respectively ... One of the keys to the Leopards 5-3 start this season has been the emergence of sophomore forward Ashley Lutz to compliment Emily Homan in the post. After averaging 3.4 minutes a game as a freshman, Lutz has recorded double-doubles in two of her last three games ... Lafayette is in the midst of a 12-day exam break, returning to the court on Dec. 19 at Stony Brook.

LEHIGH The Mountain Hawks started a 16-day exam break on a high note with a 73-71 win at Saint Joseph's on Dec. 4. Lehigh built a 13-point lead in the second half but need a layup from freshman guard Quinci Mann with 4.4 seconds remaining to secure the win. The team is now 7-0 on the season and will next play at Arizona State on Dec. 20 as part of the ASU Classic ... A big factor for the Mountain Hawks this season has been dominance on the glass, outrebounding opponents by an average of 11.6 per contest which is 20th in the nation. Leading the way for Lehigh is sophomore forward Lexi Martins who leads the Patriot League with 10.6 rebounds per game, followed closely by junior forward Kerry Kinek at 9.1 per game. Kinek exploded for 22 points and 19 rebounds in a win over Hampton on Tuesday.

LOYOLA MARYLAND The Greyhounds ran into a buzzsaw when red-hot East Carolina visited Reitz Arena. Coming on the heels of its first win of the season, Loyola Maryland fell behind early and was unable to overcome an early deficit in an 82-33 loss to the Pirates. Junior forward Jeneh Perry scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds in the setback ... The Greyhounds are off until Dec. 20 when they host St. Peter's. Former Loyola Maryland head coach and current Peacocks' head coach Pat Coyle will be recognized prior to the game ... The program also announced that they will host a celebration of women and their contributions to, and ongoing participation in, athletics on Saturday, Jan. 31 when the Greyhounds' women's basketball team welcomes Patriot League for Army.

NAVY After traveling nearly 4800 miles and playing two games in 24 hours, the Mids returned from their first ever trip to the state of Oregon for a well-deserved 15-day break for exams. After losing 56-50 at Portland State on Dec. 5, Navy couldn't sustain a 21-point halftime lead the following day against Oregon as the Ducks rallied for a 72-64 victory ... Navy made 11-of-22 three-point field goals in the first half against Oregon, including three apiece from freshman Taylor Dunham and senior Chloe Stapleton. Dunham and Stapleton finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively, to lead the Mids ... The losses halted Navy's four-game win streak and leveled the season record at .500 (5-5). Head coach Stefanie Pemper coached her 200th game at Navy in Friday's loss at Portland State.