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Feb. 5, 2004
LAFAYETTE VS. COLGATE Saturday's contest will be the 43rd meeting between the Leopards and the Colgate Raiders. Colgate leads the series 29-23 after defeating Lafayette 80-74 on Jan. 10 in Kirby Sports Center. In the last meeting, the Raiders had five players in double digit scoring, led by Emily Braseth with 24. The Leopards were led by Colleen Fitzpatrick with 16 points and Elecia Kruise with 14. Lafayette defeated Colgate 89-80 last season in Hamilton.
THE STORYLINE Lafayette continues with its Patriot League schedule, taking on the Eagles from American University and the Midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy. Lafayette has yet to win a contest this season, falling to 0-18 overall, 0-5 in conference play after home losses to Lehigh on Jan. 23 and Bucknell on Jan. 25. Colgate is 13-7 and is on a four game winning streak after defeating Navy, Princeton, Bucknell and Lehigh. The Raiders are currently sitting at the top of the Patriot League with a 5-2 conference record.
THE STARTING FIVE Head Coach Tammy Smith has had to do some reshuffling of her starting line up once again in the 2003-04 season. Senior co-captains Colleen Fitzpatrick and Elecia Kruise headline the starting five. Fitzpatrick suffered some early season injuries, but is currently logging the most minutes on the floor. Also in the line up is junior Lindsay Myers, who has been making an immediate impact since returning to the court from last season's knee injury. Freshman Kara Stetler will start at the point for the Leopards after coming back from an ankle sprain. Also making an appearance in the starting five is junior Naida Dupovac, replacing Brianne Welte in the paint.
SCOUTING COLGATE Colgate is 13-7 overall, 7-2 in Patriot League play. The Raiders are currently at the top of the conference charts after defeating Navy 80-57, Bucknell 78-66 and Lehigh 73-62 in Patriot League action. With an 87-57 win over Princeton on Jan. 27, Colgate is on a four game winning streak, including their last two games at home. Colgate is led by Emily Braseth, who is averaging 17.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. The most recent Patriot League Player of the Week, Malissa Burke, is averaging 14.3 points per game for the Raiders. Molly Patterson and Allison Lipinsky are also averaging double digit points for Colgate, with 11.6 and 10.3 respectively. Colgate is coached by Beth Combs, now in her third season at the helm of the Raiders. In her first two seasons at Colgate, Combs compiled a 23-35 record, 11-17 in the league.
COMING UP The Leopards continue a four game road stretch that included the Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 losses at American and Navy. Lafayette will travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on Colgate on Feb. 1 and then will play at Army on Feb. 10. The Leopards return home on Feb. 14 to host Holy Cross before hitting the road again for contests against Bucknell (Feb. 20) and Lehigh (Feb. 22).
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.
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. Currently, Fitzpatrick sits atop the league field goal percentage chart for the fourth straight year, with a 59.7 accuracy.
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.
KASEY'S KRUSADERS 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 As a senior, Colleen Fitzpatrick continues to climb the charts in the Lafayette history books. Fitzpatrick currently resides 6th on the career points charts (1,274), is tied for seventh on the rebounds charts (614) 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. Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 1,2747. Laurie King '90 1,2118. Theresa O'Connell '90 1,1899. Beth Mowins '89 1,15610. 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 '90 614 Colleen Fitzpatrick '04 6149. Keri Hollister '98 60210. Stacy Farrow '92 58511. 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. 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 have added 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 96.2 percent accuracy. In her two seasons as a Leopard, Rothweiler has missed only two free throws, racking up a shooting percentage of 96 percent. As a freshman, the guard went 24-of-25 from the line. In 2003-04, Rothweiler has gone 25-of-26, including a career high 8-for-8 performance at Wagner on Dec. 3.
PATRIOT LEAGUE LEADER Colleen Fitzpatrick, who is shooting 85.9 percent from the charity stripe on 73-of-85, is leading the Patriot League in free throw percentage. For the fourth year in a row, Fitzpatrick also leads the Patriot League in shooting percentage. The forward is currently shooting 59.7 percent from the field for the Leopards.
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 for the season, ACL -Ashley MacLelland (Jr., F)- 3-4 weeks, Stress Fracture -Brianne Welte (Jr., C)- Doubtful, hamstring
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. Stetler is the only freshman in the starting five, and has started all twelve of the Leopards' contests. Currently averaging 7.2 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, Stetler is also leading the team with 2.6 assists per contest.
PATRIOT LEAGUE INDIVIDUAL STATS
SCORING10. Colleen Fitzpatrick 14.1 ppg20. Kristin Doherty 8.6 ppg
REBOUNDING7. Colleen Fitzpatrick 6.2 rpg11. Brianne Welte 6.0 rpg29. Tricia Indoe 3.4 rpg
3PT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE12. Kara Stetler .304
3PT FIELD GOALS MADE14. Kara Stetler 1.00/game15. Kristin Doherty 0.85/game
BLOCKS5. Brianne Welte 0.88/game11. Shannon Dorsey 0.47/game
FREE THROW PERCENTAGE1. Colleen Fitzpatrick .8597. Kristin Doherty .77.8
MAKING THE SHOTS COUNT With Colleen Fitzpatrick leading the league in free throw percentage and Kristin Doherty sitting seventh on the chart with a 77.8 percent free throw shooting percentage, it comes as no surprise finding the Leopards sitting at the top of the team free throw percentage charts. The team has shot 313-of-414 for 75.6 percent accuracy.
