Women's Basketball Release 12.1 

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - A total of 19 games are on tap this week (12/1-12/6) with only eight of them being played at a Patriot League team’s home court. Saturday is when a number of the 11 road contests take place, as five of the six games scheduled are away.

The week’s action starts off on Tuesday night when Boston University takes on UMass-Lowell at 7 p.m. and wraps up on Sunday, with Holy Cross at Pitt, NJIT at Lafayette, and Lehigh at Illinois.

Women's Basketball Quick Notes
* The 10 Patriot League teams combined will play 19 games this week (12/1-12/6) with 11 of them being on the road.
* Lehigh (6-1) suffered its first loss of the season in the Christmas City Classic to Villanova, 65-44.
* Army West Point (4-1) set the pace early versus Rider to come out on top, 57-42.
* Bucknell (4-2) dropped its second game to Canisius but will look to bounce back at home against YSU on Wednesday.
* Navy (4-2) has now played three-straight overtime games, dropping the latter to Colorado State, 82-73.
* Loyola Maryland (2-4) will head to Old Dominion and Mount St. Mary’s this week to continue its four-game road swing.
* Holy Cross (1-5) edged out Bryant, 65-64, and had four different players finish with double-digit points.
* Lafayette (1-5) scored at least 20 points in three periods of the 72-69 win over St. Peter’s.
* Colgate (0-4) will search for its first win of the season at LIU Brooklyn on Saturday.
* Boston University (0-5) posted team highs of 55 points against Harvard and 52 versus Dartmouth last week.
* American (0-6) rallied in the fourth period against Wake Forest, scoring 22 points, but came up just a point short, 71-70.

Patriot League Notebook

Army West Point Ranked No. 24 in College Insider Mid-Major Top 25
With its lone loss coming at the hands of then No. 9/14 Duke, 72-61, Army West Point cracked the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 with 99 points to rank 24th in the most recent poll released on Nov. 24. The Black Knights are led by senior Kelsey Minato, who has collected 111 points across five games to lead the League with a 22.2 scoring average. Against the Blue Devils, Minato totaled 23 points and collected six boards. Jean Parker also totaled six rebounds and finished with 12 points. Army recently added its fourth win of the season over Rider and will look to add to the win column this week at Yale and at home against Albany. In its 6th season of existence, the Top 25 is voted on by a panel of Division I head coaches from the 23 different conferences that make up the Mid-Major poll.

Ready for the Road
A total of 19 games are on tap this week (12/1-12/6) with only eight of them being played at a Patriot League team’s home court. Saturday is when a number of the 11 road contests take place, as five of the six games scheduled are away. The week’s action starts off on Tuesday night when Boston University takes on UMass-Lowell at 7 p.m. Six teams will then be in action on Wednesday with Lehigh, Bucknell, Navy, and Holy Cross all hosting contests. Army West Point is the only team with a game scheduled for Thursday – Yale at 7 p.m. – while Bucknell and Lafayette welcome Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Francis Brooklyn, respectively, the next day at 7 p.m. The Black Knights will be back in action on Saturday at home, while Colgate, Navy, Boston U., Loyola Maryland, and American will all play on the road. The week will wrap up on Sunday, with Holy Cross at Pitt, NJIT at Lafayette, and Lehigh at Illinois.

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.

Tying Machine, Condie is Clutch
The Mids are currently sitting on a 4-2 record and of those six games played so far this season, half of the contests have gone to overtime. Navy has now played three consecutive overtime contests since its first with Elon. With 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation, Sarita Condie hit a three-pointer to force extra time at 48-48. Trailing 54-51, Condie sunk another trey with just 9.5 seconds left to force yet another overtime. The Mids captured a 73-70 victory, then followed up with a 59-58 overtime win over Siena in the Navy Classic. Against Colorado State in the same tournament, Condie made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the score and send the game into the first of two overtime periods, before ultimately falling to the Rams, 82-73.

Holy Cross and Lafayette Snap Five-Game Losing Streak with First Wins of Season
Both Holy Cross and Lafayette entered Saturday on a five-game losing skid and without a win, and both ended the day victorious. The Crusaders held a 20-7 lead at one point in the first period versus Bryant and entered the break with a 38-29 advantage. The Bulldogs weren’t going down without a fight and with five seconds left in the fourth, cut the margin to 63-61. Raquel Scott knocked down two free throws right after, which proved to be critical, as Tiersa Winder from Bryant sunk a trey at the buzzer to end the game 65-64. On the other hand, the Leopards trailed St. Peter’s 14-8 after the first period but went on to record at least 20 points in the next three periods to earn a 72-69 victory. Tied at 68-68 with 2:12 left in regulation, Rookie of the Week Angela Ribarich hit two shots from the line to give Lafayette its final lead, while Jamie O’Hare knocked two more in from the line with 16 seconds remaining for the victory.

Army West Point Tabbed as Preseason Favorite
After an early exit from the 2015 Patriot League Women’s Basketball Tournament, Army West Point will look to make run for the title as the Black Knights are once again favored in the preseason poll -- voted by the coaches and sports information directors who were not allowed to rank their own teams. Army West Point received 13 first-place votes and totaled 155 points to come in ahead of second-place Holy Cross. The Crusaders tallied 130 points and two first-place votes, edging out Lehigh who earned 127 points and three first-place votes. Bucknell and American each received a first-place vote and totaled 119 and 111 points, respectively, followed by Navy (83), Colgate (55), Loyola Maryland (47), Lafayette (43), and Boston University (30).

Patriot League Championship, Army-Navy on CBS Sports Network
Both matchups between Army West Point and Navy this season are scheduled to air on CBS Sports Network, with the first of the two being played at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, January 23 at 11:30 a.m. as part of a double-header feature with the men’s teams. A second double-header featuring the Army West Point and Navy squads is on tap for Saturday, February 20, this time from Annapolis with the women tipping off at 11 a.m. CBS Sports Network will also televise the 2016 Patriot League Women’s Basketball Championships, for the seventh year in a row, on Saturday, March 12 at 6 p.m.
CBS Sports Network, the 24-hour home of CBS Sports, is available across the country through local cable, video and telco providers and via satellite on DirecTV Channel 221 and Dish Network Channel 158. For more information, and to access the CBS Sports Network channel finder, go to www.cbssportsnetwork.com.

American Sports Network to Carry Pair of Regular Season Games
American Sports Network will broadcast two women’s basketball contests, beginning with action between Holy Cross and Lehigh in Bethlehem , Pa. on Sunday, January 17 at 3 p.m. The ASN schedule concludes with the regular season as Bucknell visits Lafayette on Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m.
American Sports Network is a sports programming initiative of Sinclair Networks Group, a division of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified television broadcasting companies in the country today. Sinclair’s television group reaches approximately 37.5% of US television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates.

2016 Patriot League Tournament
The 2016 Patriot League Tournament, featuring all 10 schools, begins with the first round on Wednesday, March 5 followed by the quarterfinals two days later. The semifinals will be played on Friday, March 11, with the Patriot League Championship held on Saturday, March 12 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.