Jan. 2, 2004
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Lafayette vs. Princeton Saturday's contest is the 30th meeting between the Leopards and the Tigers. Princeton leads the series by one, 15-14, after last season's 70-56 victory over Lafayette in Easton. Lafayette is 0-8 after falling to Cornell and Loyola at the Lafayette College Holiday Tournament. Princeton is 2-9 after losses to Montana and Idaho at the Montana Tournament.
The Storyline Lafayette hits the road again for a non-conference contest against Ivy League opponent Princeton. The Leopards returned home from a six game road streak to host the inaugural Lafayette College Holiday Tournament in which they went 0-2 against Cornell and Loyola.
The Starting Five Head Coach Tammy Smith has a strong starting line up in place since the return of captain and high scorer Colleen Fitzpatrick at forward. Freshman Kara Stetler continues to lead the floor at the point while sophomore Kristin Doherty took over the two guard position after Katie Kokolus was sidelined with a knee injury. Juniors Ashley MacLelland and Brianne Welte continue to provide much needed stability to the starting five and the forward and center positions.
SCOUTING PRINCETON Princeton is 2-9 after four straight losses, including two at the Montana tournament against hosting Montana (68-54) and Idaho (62-54). Senior Rebecca Brown leads the team, averaging 12.6 points per game. Katy Digovich and Casey Lockwood are both averaging over 10 points per game, and are also leading the team in rebounding with 6.0 and 8.0 rebounds per game respectively. The Tigers only wins this season came against Samford (84-58) at the Louisville tournament and versus Wagner (65-54) at home. Prior to the Montana and Idaho losses, the Tigers fell to Nebraska, Louisville, Lehigh, Sacred Heart, Hofstra, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. Princeton is coached by Richard Barron, now in his third season with the Tigers, has led the team to a 20-35 record in his first two seasons.
COMING UP Following the Princeton game, Lafayette will begin a four game home stand, taking on non-conference opponents Quinnipiac (Jan. 5) and Yale (Jan. 7) before kicking off Patriot League play on Jan. 10 against Colgate. The Leopards will then host league foe Army on Jan. 13 before heading north to Massachusetts to play a rescheduled Harvard game on Jan. 15 and Holy Cross on Jan. 17.
TRI-CAPTAINS Seniors Colleen Fitzpatrick and Elecia Kruise and junior Brianne Welte will serve as tri-captains this season. Fitzpatrick and Kruise both repeat as captains after serving as tri-captains with the graduated Liz Rojahn last season.
THE PATRIOT LEAGUE Lafayette was chosen to finish eighth this season in the Patriot League Pre-Season Poll. Holy Cross was picked to finish first in the regular season for the eighth straight season. Army's Katie Macfarlane was chosen as the pre-season player of the year.
SHARP SHOOTER Colleen Fitzpatrick led the Patriot League in field goal percentage (58.2) for the third consecutive year in 2002-03. She also finished the regular season ranked 13th in the nation in field goal percentage.
FROM THE HEART The Leopards welcome Kasey Keenan to the bench this season. Kasey, a fourth grader from Belvidere, N.J. is a huge supporter and fan of Lafayette basketball. She has attended summer basketball camps at Lafayette and has become a close friend of the team. Kasey was recently diagnosed with leukemia and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment with a very positive prognosis. The team has named Kasey a Junior Captain for the 2003-04 season, and she will be sitting on the bench with the team at all of the home games.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS With her entire senior season left, Colleen Fitztpatrick continues to climb the charts in the Lafayette history books. Fitzpatrick currently resides 9th on the career points charts (1,118), is 10th on the rebounds (537) charts and holds the fourth highest single-season points total (460) in Lafayette women's basketball history. Fitzpatrick was only the 13th Leopard to reach the 1,000 point plateau. The 5-11 forward moved into the top 10 on Lafayette's rebounding charts after pulling down 11 boards in the Denver Tournament. Fitzpatrick also moved into the top 10 in scoring after tallying 46 total points against Denver (25) and Texas-Arlington (21).
Leopards in the Record Books
CAREER Points1. Maureen McManus '87 1,8132. Stacey Cagenello '87 1,5213. Tiffany Bedics '99 1,4674. Chris Sieling '94 1,3775. Terri Dadio '92 1,2836. Laurie King '90 1,2117. Theresa O'Connell '90 1,7898. Beth Mowins '89 1,1569. Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 1,14910. Dana Wolfe '85 1,09811. Nancy Lembo '88 1,07612. Maureen McKenna '83 1,074
Rebounds1. Alicia Yapsuga '99 8132. Dana Wolfe '85 7923. Maureen McManus '87 7834. Laurie King '90 7695. Chris Seiling '94 7276. Jen Bayer '03 6737. Theresa O'Connell '90 6148. Keri Hollister '98 6029. Stacy Farrow '92 58510. Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 55311. Mary Prokpus '86 53612. Stacy Cagnello '87 518
SINGLE SEASONPoints1. Maureen McManus '87 626 '86-872. Maureen McManus '87 508 '85-863. Chris Sieling '94 480 '93-944. Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 460 '02-035. Terri Dadio '92 442 '91-926. Chris Sieling '94 436 '92-937. Beth Mowins '89 423 '88-898. Maureen McManus '87 406 '84-859. Stacey Cagenello '87 390 '85-8610. Alicia Yapsuga '99 394 '96-97
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR The 2003-04 women's basketball team has three players from foreign countries on the roster this season. Junior transfer Naida Dupovac hails from Sarajevo, Bosnia and comes to College Hill after two years at the junior college level. Incoming freshman Joanna Pekonen is originally from Lapeenranta, Finland and played in a Finnish women's league since 2000. Another freshman, Michelle Hunter, comes to Lafayette from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, where she was a four-year MVP for Hillfield Strathallan.
HIGH ALTITUDE Transfer Naida Dupovac and freshman Joanna Pekonen will add some much needed height to the Leopard frontcourt this season. Standing 6-4, Dupovac will look to see time at the forward position along with the 6-3 Pekonen.
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE Sophomore Brittney Rothweiler leads the team in free throw shooting, with an impressive 94 percent accuracy. In her two seasons as a Leopard, Rothweiler has missed only two free throws, racking up a shooting percentage of 95 percent. As a freshman, the guard went 24-of-25 from the line and in the first seven games of the 2003-04 season has gone 17-of-18, including an 8-for-8 performance at Wagner on Dec. 3.
THE FUTURE IS NOW With only two seniors on the 2003-04 squad, the Lafayette team is a wealth of youth, including four freshman brought in by head coach Tammy Smith's second recruiting class. With four juniors, five sophomores and the class of 2007, the young Leopards will be gaining experience to build the future of Lafayette basketball. Leading the freshman class is Mechanicsburg, Pa. native Kara Stetler. Stetler is the projected starter at the point guard position. Fellow guard Meghan Austin of Lynchburg, Va. will also be competing for time at the point. Forwards Joanna Pekonen of Finland and Michelle Hunter of Ontario, Canada also will be battling for time under the basket.
ON THE SIDELINE Head coach Tammy Smith (East Stroudsburg '82) returns for her third year at the helm of the women's basketball program. Bringing a second class of recruits to College Hill for the 2003-04 season, Smith is continuing her vision of progress for the Leopards, and is hoping to improve on last season's 3-25 finish. Assistant coaches LaRonda Murphy, Shelby Kealy and Ron Hoffman all return to the sidelines for the 2003-04 season aboard Smith's staff.
LEOPARD ATHLETICS ON THE WEB The quickest and most comprehensive source for information on Lafayette athletics is the world wide web. Go to www.lafayette.edu and click on "Sports." The athletics site is continuously updated with gameday press releases, schedules and results, rosters, statistics, player features, photos and more.
INJURY REPORT
-Katie Kokolus (So., G) - Out, ACL
HEAD OF THE CLASS Freshman Kara Stetler has been making an impact for the Leopards since she arrived on College Hill. Stetler, a native of Mechanicsburg, Pa., is the only Pennsylvania native in the 2003-04 freshman class. In her first three games as a Leopard, Stetler was a member of the starting line up and is currently averaging 6 points and 3.3 rebounds a game. Versus St. Peter's on Nov. 29, Stetler scored a career high 11 points, grabbed five rebounds, had two assists and two steals.
