Dec. 5, 2008
Game Notes 
The Match-Up: Lafayette (2-5) vs. NJIT (1-4)
Tip-Off: 7:00 p.m.
Site: Easton, Pa.
Arena: Kirby Sports Center (3,500)
Live Webcast: LSN-All Access (Play-by-play: Dan Mowdy, Color: John Leone)
All-Time Series: 1-1
Current Streak: w, 1
Coach Smith vs. NJIT: 1-1
THE MATCH-UP: The Leopards continue their season long three-game homestand tonight against NJIT. Lafayette is coming off a thrilling, 59-55 overtime victory against Penn on Wednesday night to notch its second win of the season. The Highlanders enter Friday with a 1-4 record after defeating Maine, 68-60, last Saturday for their first victory of the season.
The all-time series between the teams is knotted at one with Lafayette having won a 61-53 decision last year in Newark, N.J.
NEXT UP: Lafayette concludes the homestand on Sunday with a 1 p.m. game against Bryant.
LAST TIME OUT FOR LAFAYETTE: The Leopards notched their second victory of the season in dramatic fashion, pulling out a 59-55 overtime win against Penn on Wednesday night. Lafayette led for the first 38 minutes of play but there were five lead changes in the final 1:05 of regulation. Three free throws by Cristin Zavocki following a Penn technical with eight seconds to play in the second half gave Lafayette a 51-49 edge, but Penn's Kelly Scott's layup at the buzzer forced overtime.
The score remained tied at 55-all in the extra session after Carrie Biemer's third trey of the night, but with 1:20 to play Jessica Spicer fed the ball to Zavocki under the basket to give the Leopards the two-point advantage (57-55). Zavocki's free throws with seven seconds on the clock sealed the 59-55 Lafayette win.
NJIT IN A NUTSHELL: In the victory over Maine, sophomore guard Jessica Gerald led NJIT with 26 points. Two other Highlanders reached the double-digit mark: junior forwards Taiwo Oyelola (15 points) and Kehinde Oyelola (10 points). Gerald leads the team in scoring, averaging 19.4 ppg and Kehinde is pulling down a team high 6.2 rebounds per game. Senior guard Jackie McCaffrey, sophomore forward Ivana Seric and Gerald are the only players to start all five games.
ON THIS DATE: Fifteen years ago, Lafayette won 58-46 over James Madison at the Syracuse University Tournament. Chris Seiling finished with a double-double (18 p, 12 r) in the game. The victory was the team's fourth straight in what would go on to be a six game win streak to open the year. The Leopards, under the direction of head coach Pat Fisher, finished the 1993-94 campaign with 18 wins and a 9-5 mark in Patriot League action.
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?: The 114 combined points scored by Lafayette and Penn in Wednesday's 59-55 overtime game were the fewest scored in a single overtime game in team history. The previous low of 124 points had been reached twice before, with the most recent a 64-60 overtime win at Fordham on Feb. 19, 1994.
OFF AND ON: Starting last Saturday, the Leopards began a stretch in which they will play five games in nine days. The stretch began on Saturday against UTPA and ends Sunday against Bryant. The schedule dictates that Lafayette will play a game every other day. The last time Lafayette played five games in nine or fewer days came in 1999 when the Leopards played five games in eight days (Nov. 27-Dec.4 against Georgetown, Delaware, Princeton, Air Force and Penn).
CALL OFF THE SEARCH: It took six games for Lafayette to record the first game in which three players reached double figures. In the overtime win against Penn on Dec. 3, Elizabeth Virgin had 17 points, Cristin Zavocki scored 15 and Jessica Spicer added 13. The longest stretch the Leopards went last season without three or more players reaching double digits was seven games (Jan. 26-Feb. 20).
LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT: Senior Jessica Spicer leads Lafayette with 23 assists (3.3 apg) through seven games. She has 209 for her career and needs six more to tie Angela Spell (1990-94) for 10th all-time on Lafayette's list of career assist leaders.
BUILDING BLOCK: Senior Emily Garner enters tonight's game with 26 career blocks. She needs three more to tie Chris Seiling '94 and Stephanie Hayes '94 for ninth all-time.
BACK-TO-BACK, BELLY-TO-BELLY: Cristin Zavocki's 21 points at Marist on Dec. 1 marked the second straight game in which she has led the team in scoring. The senior Psychology major scored a then-season high 15 points in the team's home opener on Nov. 29 before erupting for 21 against the Red Foxes.
WHAT SOPHOMORE SLUMP? Sophomore Elizabeth Virgin's 18 points against Marist marked a career high. Thirteen of those points came in the second half. Virgin's previous career high of 14 came last season at UTPA.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: With the 57-51 win over UTPA on Nov. 29, Lafayette has now won five straight home openers. The streak began with a 63-47 win over Radford on Dec. 2, 2004.
RAINING THREES: Lafayette's 44.4 percent showing from three-point range against Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 25 was a season high. Cristin Zavocki led the team with a 3-for-7 showing from beyond the arc to account for all nine of her points.
WALK A MILE, OR 3000, IN MY SHOES: Lafayette wrapped-up its four game, season-opening road trip on Nov. 25, the longest stretch of away games this year. In a span of 10 days and four games, the Leopards traveled 3,262 miles (all miles roundtrip totals): Murfreesboro, Tenn. (1632 miles), Cullowhee, N.C. (1336 miles) and Emmitsburg, Md. (294 miles).
The last time Lafayette opened the season with four straight road games was in 2001 (at Sacred Heart, at Fairleigh Dickinson, at Binghamton, vs. Long Island).
JUMPING FOR JACKSON: Sophomore Lauren Jackson had two career games in the consolation round of the WNIT. On Nov. 21, she scored a then-career high 10 points against Western Carolina on 4-of-10 shooting. Twenty-four hours later, she surpassed that mark with 11 points against UC-Riverside to lead the team in scoring for the second straight game.
SIMPLY THE BEST: The Leopards shot 58.3 percent (21-of-36) in their season opener at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 15. That mark stands as the best in the Patriot League this season, topping archrival Lehigh's 56.6 percent (30-of-53) effort against Penn.
NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT: For the second straight season opener, all three of the Leopards' freshmen saw action: Melissa Downey, Sarah McGorry and Alexandra Serowoky. Serowoky led the trio with five points against Middle Tennessee.
WELCOME TO THE WNIT: Lafayette earned the program's first-ever invite to the Preseason WNIT. The invitation came following a 14-16 2007-08 campaign, the winningest season in a decade for the Leopards.
The WNIT was played in the format that was introduced in 2007, where each team was guaranteed to play three games. The tournament opened on Friday, Nov. 14. The winning teams advanced to the second round of play while teams that lost in the first two rounds played consolation games last weekend. The championship was played on Sunday where No. 4 North Carolina defeated No. 2 Oklahoma 80-79 to win the title.
ALL-TIME RECORD: The program, now in its 36th season, has played 891 games, compiled an overall record of 409-482 (.459) and recorded five 20-win seasons.
SMITH ON THE SIDELINES: Head coach Tammy Smith is in her eighth season at Lafayette and 13th overall as a head coach. In 2007-08, she directed the Leopards to their most wins (14) and league victories (6) in a decade.
Smith is the fourth head coach in Lafayette's 35-year history. She has a career record of 155-232 (.401), which includes a 113-68 mark and two NCAA Tournament appearances in seven seasons at D-III Muhlenberg.
2008-09 PATRIOT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL: The Leopards were picked to finish sixth in the Patriot League's preseason poll. Lafayette received 38 points. Holy Cross garnered the top spot with 90 points, including eight first place votes. Lehigh took the second spot with 83 points (six first place votes) and American was chosen to finish third, receiving 75 points with two first place votes. Bucknell took fifth with 53 points. Navy and Colgate rounded out the seventh and eighth spots with 35 and 14 points, respectively.
FRESH FACES: Lafayette welcomed three freshmen to the squad this fall: Melissa Downey, Sarah McGorry and Alexandra Serowoky.
Downey, a 5-8 point guard from Havertown, Pa., was a four-year starter at Cardinal O'Hara High School. Downey's squad won the Philadelphia Catholic Championship her freshman and sophomore seasons and she earned Second Team All-Delaware County honors during her high school career.
A 6-0 forward from Doylestown, Pa., McGorry was a four-year starter at Mount St. Joseph Academy. She scored her 1,000th career point during her senior season, during which she also shot 80 percent from the free throw line. As a junior, McGorry averaged 13 points and six rebounds per game.
Serowoky hails from Dearborn, Mich. and was a four-year letterwinner at Ladywood High School. Serowoky, who stands at 6-1, saw time as both at both forward and center. As a junior, she earned a spot on the Free Press Top 25 Preseason List and was later named an All-Catholic League and All-Area player.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2007-08 CAMPAIGN: • Lafayette's 14 wins doubled the win total from 2006-07 and also marked the most single-season victories in a decade
• The six league wins were the most in 10 years
• Second in the Patriot League in field goal percentage (.395)
• Held four opponents under 50 points on five different occasions. It was the first time since the 1993-94 season the Leopards gave up 50 or fewer points five times in a single season
• Senior Vanessa Van De Venter was named to the All-Patriot League First team and LaKeisha Wright earned a spot on the league's All-Rookie team.
STRIVE FOR FIVE: All five of the team's seniors--Laura Cullen, Emily Garner, Meaghan Malone, Jessica Spicer and Cristin Zavocki--were chosen by their teammates to serve as captains for the 2008-09 season.
FEELS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME: The Leopards will play at least seven new opponents this year: Bryant, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, Rider, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. At the Virginia Tech Classic in December, the Leopards will play either Liberty or North Carolina A&T on the second day of the tournament for the first time, in addition to facing first-time opponent Virginia Tech on the opening day.
PENNSYLVANIA PLAYERS: Three players with local connections - Melissa Downey (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), Amanda Leone (Easton, Pa./Easton) and Sarah McGorry (Doylestown, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy) - are on Lafayette's 2008-09 roster. Two of those players--Downey and McGorry--are freshmen, while Leone returns for her junior season.
LAFAYETTE vs. the PATRIOT LEAGUE: Lafayette has played 342 games all-time against the seven other current members of the Patriot League and is 150-192 (.439) in those contests. The Leopards own an 84-155 (.352) overall record since joining the league in the 1990-91 season.
American 3-17Army 21-23Bucknell 33-28Colgate 28-22Holy Cross 7-40Lehigh 40-31Navy 18-31TOTAL 150-192
REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD: There is no denying the chemistry between seniors Jessica Spicer and Emily Garner on the court. Perhaps that is because the two have a long history of playing ball together, beginning with an AAU stint when the girls were just 10 years old. They played on the same AAU team in Fairfax, Va., while also both making the varsity team at Robinson High School as freshmen. Midway through their sophomore year, Spicer's family moved to Illinois, but the duo reunited at Lafayette for the 2005-06 season.
ACADEMIC ACCOLADES: Six members of the basketball team were named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll in 2007-08. Maureen Johnson '08 led the group with a 3.80 grade-point average (GPA) during the spring semester.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Lafayette dropped nine games by 10 points or fewer last season, which included overtime losses at Holy Cross (77-70) and vs. American (60-57). In total, the Leopards played three overtime games with their one extra-session victory coming against Bucknell (64-58).
SUPREMACY FROM BEYOND THE ARC: Last season, Cristin Zavocki set a Lafayette women's basketball record with eight threes against Fairleigh Dickinson on Jan. 8. Against Holy Cross, she came close to re-writing the record books yet again. Zavocki drained six more treys (6-of-8) against the Crusaders to account for all 18 of her points.
HOOPS FOR HOPE: Members of the Lafayette women's basketball team hosted a charity shoot-a-thon called Hoops for Hope on Sept. 28 at Kirby Sports Center. The Leopards hosted the event in honor of two of the team's off-court heroes--Kasey Keenan and Lauren Loose, daughter of Lafayette football defensive coordinator John Loose. All proceeds from the event went directly to two pediatric cancer foundations--Kasey's Krusaders and Lauren's First and Goal.
LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: For the 13th straight season, Lafayette features the most expansive television package in the Patriot League. This winter, 10 of Lafayette's women's basketball games will be televised during the 2008-09 season, with the possibility of three more games being added during the three rounds of the Patriot League Tournament in March.
All 10 telecasts will be produced by the Lafayette Sports Network (LSN), which annually produces the most expansive and highest quality television packages in the Patriot League. Each of those broadcasts will air live regionally to more than 10 million viewers on RCN-4 and WBPH-60.
As an element of Lafayette's long-term multi-media agreement with CSTV, all LSN telecasts are streamed live on the internet and available worldwide through LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com. Lafayette was the first of the CSTV.com partners to make live video streaming available to fans everywhere when the 2000 Lafayette-Lehigh football game aired live on GoLeopards.com
Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of the Leopards' play-by-play duties for the 12th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season. In his eighth year as a member of the announcing crew is RCN's Dan Mowdy, who will report on the Leopards from the sideline.
