Dec. 12, 2014

Patriot League Women's Basketball Weekend Preview - 12.12.14 

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - Five games, all on the road, headline a lighter-than-usual weekend calendar as half of the Patriot League teams are in the heart of their exam period. American will continue its tough early-season schedule when they head to Maryland to take on the 14th-ranked Terps in a 7 o'clock tipoff on Friday night.

Army travels to Central Connecticut and Colgate heads to Monmouth in a pair of Saturday afternoon contests while Boston University visits Marist in a 7 p.m. start. In the only game involving Patriot League teams on Sunday, Holy Cross will head west to take on in-state rival Massachusetts in a 2 o'clock scheduled tip.

Patriot League Twitter Notebook - @PL_WBB

*Patriot League teams went 4-2 in the early part of the week with Colgate and Holy Cross earning their first wins at home.
*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 (6-2) rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat St. Francis-Brooklyn Monday, its largest deficit overcome this season.
*Bucknell (5-3) made 11 3-pointers and improved to 3-0 at Sojka Pavilion this season with an 85-41 win Tuesday over UMBC.
*Boston University (3-6) lost 56-48 at Rhode Island despite outrebounding the Rams 51-31 - including 21 offensive boards.
*American (3-4) moved up to ninth nationally in free throw percentage (77.4%) by going 13-for-13 in a loss at UMass.
*Holy Cross (2-7) shot a blistering 56.7 percent from the field in the first half to snap a 16-game losing streak against BC.
*Lafayette (5-3) split a pair of games over the weekend, defeating SFU-Brooklyn Friday before falling at Seton Hall on Sunday.
*Navy (5-5) lost 72-64 at Oregon on Sunday despite making a season-high 14 three-point field goals against the Ducks.
*Colgate (1-7) ended a 7-game losing streak to Binghamton with a 74-55 win Wednesday at Cotterell Court.
*Loyola (1-7) lost at home to East Carolina Tuesday in its final game before heading in to an 11-day break for exams.

Patriot League Notebook

Colgate Savors First Victory of the Season
A couple of seven game skids ended on Tuesday in Hamilton, N.Y. with Colgate's 74-55 victory over Binghamton. The Raiders snapped a seven-game losing streak to start the season and also defeated the Bearcats for the first time since the 1970s which also was a stretch of seven games. Holy Cross ended an even longer run of futility against an opponent when they upended Boston College 80-64 which brought to a hault a 16-game losing streak to the Eagles. Army rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to defeat St. Francis-Brooklyn 61-55 Monday behind a season-high 32 points from Kelsey Minato and Bucknell drained 11 three-point field goals in a 85-41 home win Tuesday against UMBC. Also on Tuesday, Boston University and Loyola Maryland suffered setbacks to Rhode Island and East Carolina, respectively.

Patriot League Teams Hit the Road This Weekend
Five games, all on the road, headline a lighter-than-usual weekend calendar as half of the Patriot League teams are in the heart of their exam period. American will continue its tough early-season schedule when they head to Maryland to take on the 14th-ranked Terps in a 7 o'clock tipoff on Friday night. Army travels to Central Connecticut and Colgate heads to Monmouth in a pair of Saturday afternoon contests while Boston University visits Marist in a 7 p.m. start. In the only game involving Patriot League teams on Sunday, Holy Cross will head west to take on in-state rival Massachusetts in a 2 o'clock scheduled tip.

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.

Army to Retire Jerseys of Three Hall of Fame Players
Army Hall of Famers Melody Smith (USMA `84), Julie Del Giorno (USMA `86) and Katie Macfarlane (USMA `04) will be honored in a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the women's basketball game against American on Jan. 24, the team announced Monday. The trio will become the first women's basketball players to have their jerseys retired and raised to the rafters inside Christl Arena.

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.

Patriot League Coaches Reaching Milestones
After Lehigh head coach Sue Troyan reached the 300-win milestone in the Mountain Hawks season-opening win at Monmouth on Nov. 15, Dave Magarity earned his 150th at Army when the Black Knights defeated UC-Santa Barbara on Nov. 28. Stefanie Pemper coached the 200th game at Navy in the Mids loss at Portland State on Friday. Bucknell coach Aaron Roussell is closing in on 200 wins in his 11-year coaching career at University of Chicago and Bucknell. Roussell has 197 victories after the Bison win over UMBC.

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 A week after playing all 40 minutes and scoring a career-high 22 points in a win over Oregon, senior guard Jen Dumiak topped that with 24 points in a loss at Massachussetts. Dumiak averages 37.4 minutes per game, tops in the Patriot League ... American was perfect from the free throw line, converting on 13-of-13 attempts against UMass to raise its season percentage to 77.4 which is ninth nationally. The Eagles have converted 56 of their last 59 shots from the charity stripe (94.9%). Dumiak ranks 9th among Division I players having converted 40-of-42 (95.2%) on the season ... The Eagles play the remainder of the calendar year away from Bender Arena and are next in action on Friday, when they visit 14th-ranked Maryland in a 7 p.m. contest.

ARMY The Black Knights remained unbeaten at Christl Arena, but needed a 23-point second half effort from junior guard Kelsey Minato, who finished with 32 points in a 61-55 win over St. Francis-Brooklyn on Monday. The 14-point come-from-behind victory marked the largest deficit Army has overcome this year. Army improved to 11-2 all-time versus the Terriers and snapped a two-game losing streak in the series ... The Black Knights will play their next-to-last game Saturday before the start of Patriot League play on Dec. 31. Army has dominated the series with this weekend's opponent,winning all six previous meeetings versus Central Connecticut. The two teams have not met since the 2007 season when Army defeated CCSU 59-54. The Black Knights will wrap up the non-league portion of their schedule on Dec. 20 when they host St. Thomas Aquinas.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY Despite outrebounding host Rhode Island 51-31 on Tuesday, the Terriers dropped their third straight with a 56-48 loss to the Rams. Boston University was only able to turn 21 offensive rebounds into 10 second-chance points and URI converted 19 BU turnovers into 23 points. Freshman forward Kara Sheftic led the team with a career-high 12 points and also contributed six rebounds and two blocks to the effort while senior forward Mollie McKendrick chipped in with 10 points, nine rebounds and a team-high five assists ... Boston University has another road game against Marist on Saturday before beginning a two-week exam break. The Terriers will close out the calendar year with home games against Massachusetts followed by the Patriot League opener with Holy Cross on New Year's Eve.

BUCKNELL The Bison begin their 10-game exam break with a red-hot shooting performance in an 85-41 win Tuesday 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 cold start to the season had less to do with the snow in Hamilton,. N.Y. and more with the 42-15 record (74%) of their first seven opponents. Colgate was able to earn its first win of the 2014-15 campaign with a dominating 74-55 effort Wednesday against Binghamton. Senior forward Carole Harris led the way with 24 points - missing her career-high by a single digit - and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Mariah Jones reached a career-best with nine assists, while Josie Stockill added 13 points in her third straight double-figure scoring game ... The Raiders are in action again on Saturday at Monmouth before an idle week for exams. 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 The Crusaders had not defeated in-state rival Boston College since Dec. 9, 1997 until a dominating first half propelled them to an 80-64 win Wednesday at the Hart Center. Holy Cross snapped the 16-game losing streak by draining five three-point field goals in a 26-4 run that gave the hosts a 33-8 advantage midway through the first half. Junior guard Lisa Mifsud had 13 of her season-high 23 points during the stretch. Junior forward Raquel Scott recorded her fourth double-double of the season and the 23rd of her career with game-highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds ... Holy Cross shot a blistering 56.7 percent from the field in the first half of the win over BC and also converted 25-of-31 (80.6%) free throws to hold off the Eagles down the stretch. Holy Cross returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Amherst, Mass. to take on Massachusetts.

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 Maggie 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 Tuesday 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 return 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.