March 10, 2009

Game Notes

Match-Up: No. 7 Lafayette (10-21) at No. 1 Lehigh
Tip-Off: 6:00 p.m.
Site: Bethlehem, Pa.
Arena: Stabler Arena (5,600)
Television: ESPNU
All-Time Series: 40-33
Current Streak: L, 3
Coach Smith vs. Lehigh: 4-14

THE MATCH-UP: History was made on Sunday when Leopards sank Navy, 62-55, to become the first No. 7 seed in Patriot League Tournament history to advance to the championship game on Wednesday night at Stabler. Lafayette squares off against No. 1 Lehigh, who defeated Army 61-42 on Sunday afternoon. This marks the fifth time in tournament history these two rivals have met, including a quarterfinal matchup one year ago.

ON THE LINE: The winner of Wednesday night's game earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, a feat the Lafayette program has yet to achieve. First-round play begins on March 21 and 22 in 16 host cities.

LAST TIME OUT FOR LAFAYETTE: The Leopards continued to shock the basketball world with a 62-55 upset of No. 6 seed Navy in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

The Leopards got a career performance from sophomore Lauren Jackson, who erupted for a personal-best 17 points, nine of which came from three-point range. Senior Jessica Spicer also added 17 points with all four of her field goals coming from beyond the arc. The Lafayette defense held Navy to a 36.5 percent shooting effort while the Leopards shot 40.7 percent for the game, including a 50 percent clip from three-point range.

LAFAYETTE IN THE PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT: Lafayette is 11-18 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament and is making its first title game appearance in 12 years (the Leopards advanced to the 1992 and 1997 championship games). Lafayette and archrival Lehigh have faced each other five times in the league tournament with the Mountain Hawks holding a slim, 3-2 advantage in those games:

Year     Match-Up           Score      Result  Round1996-97  No. 3 LU vs. No. 5 LC  62-63 (OT) L       Championship1998-99  No. 4 LU vs. No. 5 LC  64-55      W       Quarterfinals1999-00  No. 4 LU vs. No. 5 LC  85-75      W      Quarterfinals2000-01  No. 3 LU vs. No. 6 LC  52-60      L      Quarterfinals2007-08  No. 3 LU vs. No. 6 LC  51-62      L      Quarterfinals

EASTON'S OWN CINDERELLA STORY: The Leopards entered the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 7 seed and on a 10-game slide. That skid came to a screeching halt when the Leopards shocked No. 2 American, 58-56, to earn their first postseason victory in nine seasons. The upset trend continued the following day when Lafayette defeated No. 6 Navy to become the first No. 7 seed in the history of the Patriot League Tournament to advance to the championship game. A win on Wednesday would give Lafayette its first-ever Patriot League title.

ABOUT LAFAYETTE COLLEGE: Located in Easton, Pa. (70 miles west of New York City and 60 miles north of Philadelphia) on the banks of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, Lafayette is a small liberal arts school with a renowned engineering program. Lafayette, which has 23 Division I sports with a student body of 2,382 undergraduates, competes in the Patriot League with Army, Navy, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Colgate, American and Lehigh. Lafayette is the alma mater of Pete Carril and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon.

LEHIGH IN A NUTSHELL: The Mountain Hawks have won three straight games by an average of 18 points and are outscoring their opponents by nearly 12 points per game this season. Lehigh has a program-best 25 victories this season and enters Wednesday's game having won 12 of its last 13 games. The team is in the championship game for the first time since the 2001-01 season. The Mountain Hawks won their first and only league title in 1997 after defeating Lafayette 65-63 in overtime at Stabler Arena.

The Mountain Hawks boast the league's top scoring offense (68.0) and the third leading scorer in Erica Prosser (14.4 ppg). Alex Ross joins Prosser in double figures (13.6) and is the conference's fifth leading scorer. Head coach Sue Troyan is in her 14th season at Lehigh and has one Patriot League title (1997) to her name.

THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: Lafayette will be looking to deal the Mountain Hawks their first home loss of the season. Lehigh is 16-0 this year, marking the most wins in Stabler Arena in school history.

LAFAYETTE vs. the PATRIOT LEAGUE: Lafayette has played 355 games all-time against the seven other current members of the Patriot League and is 151-204 (.425) in those contests. The Leopards own an 88-167 (.345) overall record since joining the league in the 1990-91 season.

American    4-19Army            20-26Bucknell    34-29Colgate         28-24Holy Cross  7-42Lehigh          40-33Navy            18-34TOTAL           151-204

FLIPPING THE SWITCH: After spending the majority of the season as the league's sixth or seventh scoring offense, the Leopards have averaged 60.0 points during their two tournament games, the second-highest tournament average. Lafayette is also shooting a tournament-best 46.7 percent from the field.

IT'S A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT: Lafayette played in its 31st game of the season on Sunday, the most in a single season in program history. The Leopards had played 30 games five times.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL: Lafayette committed a season-low nine turnovers in its win over Navy while forcing the Midshipmen to turn the ball over 18 times. The win was Lafayette's first-ever in three games against Navy in the Patriot League Tournament.

UPSET ALERT: Lafayette pulled off the upset of No. 2 American and became the first No. 7 seed to win in the opening round since the 1998-99 season when Army defeated Bucknell 72-67. The win was head coach Tammy Smith's first postseason victory at Lafayette since taking over the program in 2001-02.

STABLER SUCCESS: With their quarterfinal and semifinal victories over the weekend, the Leopards are now 5-2 all-time in Patriot League Tournament games played at Stabler Arena. Lafayette went 1-1 in 1991-92 with an opening round win over Bucknell before falling to Holy Cross in the second round. In 1996-97, the No. 5 seed Leopards defeated Bucknell in the first round, posted an upset win over No. 1 Holy Cross in the second round and then suffered a 65-63 overtime heartbreaker to No. 3 Lehigh in the championship game.

NICE TO MEET YOU: The Leopards faced American in the postseason for the first time in the history of the Patriot League Tournament on Saturday and they are now 4-4 all-time when playing a Patriot League opponent for the first time in the conference tournament. The Leopards won their first tournament meetings against Colgate (1991), Bucknell (1992) and Army (1998) but dropped their first tournament games against Holy Cross (1991), Fordham (1992), Navy (1994) and Lehigh (1997).

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP HERE: Sophomore LaKeisha Wright leads the team in scoring this season, averaging 11.2 ppg. This success comes on the heels of a highly successful rookie campaign in which she finished with 276 points, becoming the first freshman since Vanessa Van De Venter '08 to reach the 200-point plateau.

This season, Wright led the team in scoring for five straight games (Jan. 10-24), becoming the first sophomore to lead Lafayette in scoring in at least five straight games since Jen Bayer '03. Wright earned three honorable mentions from the Patriot League this season.

ALL-TIME RECORD: The program, now in its 36th season, has played 918 games, compiled an overall record of 417-501 (.454) 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 history. She has a career record of 164-248 (.398), which includes a 113-68 mark and two NCAA Tournament appearances in seven seasons at D-III Muhlenberg.

FINISHING STRONG: Jessica Spicer is certainly hitting her stride as the season comes to a close.The senior captain is averaging 11.0 ppg over the last eight contests, including a season-high 18 against Lehigh on Feb. 21. She has also reached double figures in five of those eight games.

SINGLING OUT ZAVOCKI: As the end of the season draws near, senior Cristin Zavocki finds herself near the top of two Lafayette single season records. Zavocki's 54 three-pointers are third most in single-season history and only two behind the second place mark of 56, which she set last year. The number one spot of 62 belongs to Kara Stetler '07 (2005-06).

Zavocki has also attempted 181 shots from beyond the arc, the most in a single season. Against Bucknell, she surpassed the previous record of 168, which she set last year.

COUNTING DOWN: Emily Garner entered another of Lafayette's top-10 lists in the team's Feb. 11 game against Colgate. With her 10 boards against the Raiders, Garner moved into 10th place all-time in Lafayette history. She now has 699 for her career, including a team-leading 207 this season, which is good for eighth all-time. She needs 14 more to move into a tie for seventh place with Jen Bayer '03.

LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT: Senior Jessica Spicer leads Lafayette with 82 assists (2.7 apg) through 31 games. She has 268 for her career, good for sixth on Lafayette's career assists list.

BUILDING BLOCK: Senior Emily Garner has 35 career blocks and stands in sole possession of sixth place all-time in Lafayette history. She is nine away from tying Alicia Yapsuga '99 for fifth place.

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.

INJURY UPDATE: Freshman Alexandra Serowoky will miss the remainder of the season after tearing her ACL, MCL and suffering a lateral meniscus tear in Lafayette's game against Navy on Feb. 14. Serowoky missed 11 games earlier this season after breaking her elbow on Nov. 25.

STICKY FINGERS: Lafayette boasted a season-high 16 steals against Bucknell, easily surpassing the previous high of 11, which the team had done on four prior occasions (American-1/31, Army-2/28, Colgate-1/14 and Bryant-2/7). Those 16 steals were the most in a single game in eight years when the Leopards had 17 against Drexel on Feb. 13, 2001.

Against the Bison, Jessica Spicer had a season-tying five grabs. She now has 169 for her career and needs two three more to break into Lafayette's top-10 list.

PARTY FOUL: Lafayette and Army combined for 42 fouls and 55 trips to the free throw line on Feb. 25 in West Point. The Leopards finished with 19 fouls while the Black Knights racked up 23. Lafayette went 22-for-33 at the charity stripe, marking the most free throws since sinking 22 against American on March 1, 2008 and the most attempts since going to the line 34 times at Penn on Dec. 5, 2007.

SENIOR SENDOFF: Prior to the start of the Feb. 21 game against Lehigh, the Lafayette's five seniors were honored - Laura Cullen, Emily Garner, Meaghan Malone, Jessica Spicer and Cristin Zavocki. All five players, who were chosen as team captains for the 2008-09 season, started the game. For Cullen, it was her first collegiate start.

DOUBLY DELICIOUS: Against Lehigh on Feb. 21, Emily Garner recorded her fourth double-double of the season wtih 13 points and a career-tying 12 boards. The senior captain now has three double-doubles in the last six games. She also put up double figures in points and rebounds against Holy Cross (1/10), Colgate (2/11) and Navy (2/14).

Following her performances against Colgate and Navy, she picked up a weekly honorable mention from the Patriot League, the third Leopard to do so this season. In addition, she is one of only 11 Patriot League players to have more than one double-double this season.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: After opening the season 6-0 at home for the first time in 14 years, the Leopards finished 7-6 at Kirby Sports Center, matching their home win total from last season.

CLUTCH: Emily Garner and Amanda Smith were cool under pressure against Navy on Feb. 14, as both were perfect from the line. Garner sank all five of her attempts while Smith was 4-for-4. What's even more notable, however, is that Garner and Smith combined for all nine of the Leopards' free throws and free throw attempts against the Mids as the team posted its first perfect showing from the charity stripe all season.

WHAT ROOKIES?: Freshmen Sarah McGorry and Alexandra Serowoky certainly didn't play like rookies against Holy Cross on Feb. 7. Serowoky earned her first collegiate start, and the first start of any of the team's three freshmen this season, and pulled down a career-high nine rebounds against the Crusaders. McGorry scored a career-high 12 points in 22 minutes of action off the bench and sank a personal best 6-of-7 free throws.

TALK ABOUT PRODUCTION: Four players combined for all 23 of Lafayette's first half points against Holy Cross on Feb. 7 (LaKeisha Wright 10, Jessica Spicer 5, Amanda Smith 4, Meaghan Malone 4). Malone would go on to finish with a season-high 10 points.

POWERFUL PAIR: Senior captains Jessica Spicer and Cristin Zavocki each drained three three-pointers against American on Jan. 3 to account for all six of Lafayette's treys in the game. Zavocki and Spicer are one and two, respectively, in made threes for Lafayette, as Zavocki has 54 and Spicer has 35.

TALE OF TWO HALVES: On Jan. 28, Lafayette held Army to just 17 first-half points, the fewest scored by an opponent in the opening half this season. However, the Black Knights' offense erupted for 39 points in the second half to come from behind and pull off the 10-point win.

WELCOME BACK: On the Jan. 24 against Lehigh, junior Danielle Jenkins saw her first action in nearly two years after a knee injury kept her off the court for all of 2007-08 and for the first 20 games this season. Jenkins appeared in 25 games as a rookie, with one start.

HOT HALF: The Leopards scored 41 first-half points in their eventual 75-58 win over Bucknell on Jan. 21. The first half total marked the most scored by the team in any half this season and gave Lafayette a 19-point edge at halftime. That lead was the largest in eight years when the team took a 45-21 edge into halftime against Colgate on Jan. 31, 2001.

RAINING THREES: Lafayette shot 66.7 percent (8-of-12) from three-point land against Bucknell on Jan. 21, matching its season-high. The Leopards also made two-thirds of their three-point attempts (6-of-9) in a 70-49 win over NJIT on Dec. 5.

HELPING HANDS: The Lafayette women's basketball program has recently become involved with the Easton Area High School Tutoring Program. The program, which is held Monday-Friday for two hours each day, helps ease the transition between middle school and high school. A total of 40 Lafayette students, including the members of the women's basketball team, assist the students with homework, study skills, and preparation for exams. They also serve as role models and mentors.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING: In the last-second victory over Princeton, five Leopards reached double figures in a game for the first time in nearly two years. Cristin Zavocki led the team with 15 points. Joining her in double figures were Emily Garner (13), Elizabeth Virgin (11), LaKeisha Wright (11) and Jessica Spicer (10). The last time five players reached double figures in a game came on Feb. 17, 2007 (Garner 18, Spicer 13, Zavocki 11, Stetler 10, Van De Venter 10).

WHAT AN HONOR: Senior Cristin Zavocki has received two weekly honorable mentions from the Patriot League. She earned the most recent recognition on Jan. 5 following a week in which she averaged 14.3 ppg and sank 10 three-pointers, including five against Virginia Tech. Her first mention came after averaging 16.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during the week of Dec. 1 as she helped lead the Leopards to a 3-1 record. She reached double figures in all four games, including a season-high 21 against Marist.

SKY-HIGH: Sophomore LaKeisha Wright's 22 points in Lafayette's loss to North Carolina A&T were a career-high, surpassing her previous mark of 20. The 22 points were the most scored by a Lafayette player this season. Wright also made eight of her 11 free throw attempts, yet another career high.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Senior Cristin Zavocki was named to the Hokie Hardwood Classic All-Tournament Team. The senior scored 28 points in the two games, all but four of which game from three-point range.

ACCESS DENIED: The Leopards had six blocks against the Hokies, the most this season. Elizabeth Virgin accounted for four of those six blocks, a career-high for the sophomore that doubled her previous career mark of two. The six blocks were the most since the team recorded eight against Bucknell in a 55-53 win on Jan. 21, 2005.

EXTRA, EXTRA! The Dec. 21 overtime victory against Rice was the second extra-session game for the Leopards this season and they have been successful in both. The last time the Leopards won at least two overtime games in a single season came in 1997-98 when the team had three overtime victories (at Princeton, vs. Lehigh, vs. Central Conn. (2OT)).

HOOPS FOR HOPE: Prior to the start of Lafayette's game against Rice, members of the women's basketball team presented the money raised from their September shoot-a-thon, Hoops for Hope. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society both received checks of nearly $2,000.

The Leopards hosted the Sept. 28 shoot-a-thon in honor of two of the team's off-court heroes - Kasey Keenan and Lauren Loose, daughter of Lafayette defensive coordinator John Loose. Kasey's charity, Kasey's Krusaders, will donate its check for $1,802.50 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, while Lauren's charity, Lauren's First and Goal, will donate an equal amount to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.

THE LAST TIME...(courtesy of Coach Pat Fisher): The last time Lafayette faced a nationally ranked opponent, as the team did against No. 14 Rutgers on Dec. 19, was during the 1990-91 season when the Leopards took on No. 1 Virginia at the Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville, Va. Lafayette lost a 103-41 decision.

12 GAMES OF CHRISTMAS: Lafayette played 12 games before Christmas--a first in program history. The Leopards played 11 games before the 25th in 2006 and have played 10 games before Dec. 25 three times (1998, 2000, 2007).

MORE THAN MARGINALLY GOOD: The 21-point victory against NJIT on Dec. 5 was the team's largest margin of victory since a 76-49 win at Colgate on Jan. 31, 2001. The Leopards also won a 21-point decision last season against Morgan State (83-62).

OFF AND ON: Starting Nov. 29, the Leopards began a stretch in which they played five games in nine days. The stretch began against UTPA and ended on Dec. 7 against Bryant. 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).

NOT SO SWEET SIXTEEN: It took Lafayette seven games to break the 60-point mark with its 70-49 win over NJIT on Dec. 5. The last time a Lafayette team started the season without scoring 60 or more points in at least seven games was in 1994-95 when it took the Leopards 16 games to reach that mark (80-66 loss against Bucknell).

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?: The 114 combined points scored by Lafayette and Penn in the 59-55 overtime Leopard victory 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.

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.

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), Cullowhee, N.C. (1336) and Emmitsburg, Md. (294).

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).

NOT TOO SHABBY: The Leopards shot 58.3 percent (21-of-36) in their season opener at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 15. That stands as the second-best single-game showing in the Patriot League this season, behind American's 62.7 (32-of-51) percent effort vs. Columbia.

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.

FEELS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME: The Leopards played at least six new opponents this year: Bryant, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina A&T, Rutgers and Virginia Tech.

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.

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.

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.

COMING TO YOU LIVE: History was made on Nov. 4, 2008, for a multitude of reasons, the most obvious of which was the election of the United States' 43rd President, Barack Obama. History was also made that night on the campus of Lafayette when the College televised a presidential election for the first time in school history. Junior Amanda Leone played a large role in the telecast, serving as Political Director where she oversaw a group of students who researched various aspects and key issues of the election.

HAVE A QUESTION? OUR TEAM CAN PROBABLY ANSWER IT: If you have a question about almost any topic ranging from psychology to computer science, chances are one of the 15 players on Lafayette can answer it. There are eight different majors represented on the roster and one player (Amanda Smith) is a double major.

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.