Dec. 8, 2010
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Lafayette College Women's Basketball
Manhattan College Women's Basketball
EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette women's basketball team heads to Manhattan College in search of its first winning streak of the season. The Leopards are 3-5 overall with an 0-4 road record, while the Lady Jaspers, who are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, are 5-2 on the season with a 3-1 tally at home. Tip-off from Draddy Gymnasium is slated for 7 p.m. and will feature streaming audio coverage via LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com with Matt Panto and Shane Baglini on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
After falling behind visiting Fairleigh Dickinson by a score of 19-7 with 8:07 to play in the first half on Saturday, the Leopards outscored the Knights, 44-18, the rest of the way to claim a 51-37 win. Junior Melissa Downey scored 11 points to pace a balanced Lafayette offense. Senior co-captain LaKeisha Wright also reached double figures with 10 points as well as seven rebounds and a game-best four assists. Freshman Danielle Fiacco and junior Sarah McGorry shared the game high with 11 rebounds apiece as the Leopards outrebounded Fairleigh Dickinson, 48-42.
POINTS AT A PREMIUM
The Leopards surrendered a season-low 37 points to Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday in a 51-37 victory - the fewest points allowed by the Maroon and White since a 55-32 win at Holy Cross on Feb. 5, 1992. The Knights managed just 13 second-half points, shooting 5-for-31 (16.1 percent) from the floor after halftime. The Lafayette defense forced 15 turnovers, including six Leopards' steals, and blocked seven shots in the contest.
BLOCK PARTY
With 18 blocked shots in the first eight games of her career, freshman Danielle Fiacco is already ranked 10th all-time on the Leopards' single-season blocks list. Fiacco, who is also the team's leading rebounder with 6.6 boards per outing, tallied six rejections - the most by any Patriot League player this season - in the Dec. 4 win over Fairleigh Dickinson. The single-season program record is 74 blocks by Lenora Johnson '81 in the 1979-80 campaign. Johnson also holds the career record at Lafayette with 177 rejections.
JASPER JABBER
Selected to finish fourth (of 10 teams) in the MAAC preseason poll, the Manhattan Lady Jaspers are currently 5-2 on the season after winning their fourth straight game on Monday night. Abby Wentworth leads the offense with 14.6 points per game and is also the Lady Jaspers' top facilitator with 4.3 assists per outing. Nadia Peters heads the rebounding effort with 6.3 boards per contest.
LAST MEETING
The Leopards and Lady Jaspers last met on Dec. 7, 1996 in Riverdale, N.Y. as a part of the Big Apple Classic. Tiffany Bedics '99 scored a game-high 21 points for Lafayette, but the Lady Jaspers took the win by a score of 66-53.
AGAINST COMMON OPPONENTS
Lafayette and Manhattan have both defeated St. Francis (N.Y.) this season. The Lady Jaspers opened their season with a 63-34 road win, while the Leopards hosted the Terriers on Nov. 23 and notched a 74-52 decision. Lafayette is 0-1 against the MAAC, having lost to Fairfield on Nov. 28. Manhattan is yet to play a Patriot League team, though Army is also on the Lady Jaspers' slate for a Dec. 30 meeting.
DEPTH PERCEPTION
All 11 active Leopards have appeared in all eight games this season with every player averaging at least 7.9 minutes per outing. The Lafayette bench is contributing 25.0 points and 25.0 rebounds per contest - over 42 percent of the team's scoring and 58 percent of the rebounding. The Lady Jaspers utilize an eight-player rotation, with the non-starters tallying 16.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
I'M SO TIRED
The Leopards' ninth game of 2010-11 comes just 26 days into the campaign. From the season-opening win over Bryant on Nov. 14 to Sunday's victory over Fairleigh Dickinson, Lafayette had no more than two days off between contests. In total, the Leopards will play 11 games in the first 30 days of the season. During this stretch, they will play in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and New Jersey and never play back-to-back games in the same state. Following the Dec. 13 game at Princeton, the Leopards will have two weeks off to focus on exams and celebrate the holiday season.
AND COUNTING...
With a game-high 17 points in the Nov. 23 win over St. Francis, senior co-captain LaKeisha Wright became the 15th member of the Leopards' 1,000-Point Club. Wright, who has since surpassed Alicia Yapsuga '99 for 14th place all-time, currently stands at 1,052 career points. She is 104 tallies shy of Beth Mowins '89 and the all-time top-10 in Lafayette history.
WINDEX WARRIORS
The Leopards are currently leading the Patriot League with 42.9 rebounds per game. Lafayette also tops the league in offensive rebounds (18.0 per game) and rates third in rebounding margin (+3.5). The Leopards' most dominant effort on the boards came in the 74-52 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) on Nov. 23. Lafayette held a 59-37 edge on the glass while turning 33 offensive rebounds into 28 second-chance points against the Terriers.
SOMETIMES THE NUMBERS DO LIE
Despite suffering a 72-63 loss on Dec. 1, the Leopards outrebounded St. Bonaventure, 31-20, and shot a season-best 50 percent (22-44) from the floor. Lafayette's six three-pointers, 54.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 86.7 percent (13-15) showing at the free throw line against the Bonnies were also season highs.
ACCEPTING CHARITY
Lafayette currently ranks second among Patriot League teams with a .720 free throw percentage. Individually, senior co-captain Lauren Jackson (21-for-22, 95.5 percent) trails only Meredith Ward from Holy Cross in free throw percentage. Jackson ranks seventh in the all of Division I in efficiency at the line. Monmouth's Erin Rooney is the nation's only perfect shooter at 20-for-20 at the stripe.
MAKING THE MOST OF IT
Sophomore Alicia Manning made her first career start at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday and delivered for the Leopards with a career-high 19 points. Manning shot 6-for-9 from the field, 5-for-6 from three-point range and sank both of her free throw attempts against the Bonnies. She more than doubled her previous career best of nine points - a mark she has reached twice this season - and also set new personal standards for field goals made, three-pointers made and minutes played (33).
CONFERENCE CALL
The Leopards have challenged five Northeast Conference opponents through their first eight games of the season. Lafayette hosted and defeated Bryant, St. Francis (N.Y.) and Fairleigh Dickinson and lost at preseason conference favorite Long Island and Monmouth. In total, the Maroon and White will challenge half of the 12-team conference, with a contest against Quinnipiac (12/28) still on the horizon.
IT'S BEEN A WHILE
The 22-point margin of victory against St. Francis (N.Y.) on Nov. 23 was the most lopsided Lafayette win since Jan. 31, 2001, when the Leopards won at Colgate, 76-49. The only other 20-point win for the Maroon and White since 2001 was a 70-49 thrashing of NJIT on Dec. 5, 2008.
HOME AND AWAY
The Leopards' back-to-back road games at Long Island and Liberty were a rare occurrence in the non-conference schedule. Lafayette will not play two true road contests in a row again until Jan. 12 and 15 at Patriot League opponents Colgate and Navy. However, the Leopards' first back-to-back games on College Hill this season will not be until the end of January when Army and American come to Easton on Jan. 26 and 29.
LEOPARDS BEING OFFENSIVE
It took just 20 minutes of the 2010-11 season for the Leopards to demonstrate their up-tempo offense installed by new head coach Dianne Nolan. Lafayette poured in 40 points in the first half of its season-opening win over Bryant on Nov. 14. Not only did the Leopards never score 40 points in a half last season, but the Maroon and White failed to reach the 40-point plateau in seven complete games in 2009-10. In total, Lafayette's 84 points (as well as the 72 scored in regulation) topped the season high of 65 points recorded in a 78-65 loss to Long Island last year.
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Eleven players scored more points than Melissa Downey on Nov. 14, but two of the junior's five tallies were the most crucial in the Leopards' overtime victory against Bryant. Downey converted the game-tying layup with just five seconds remaining in regulation, sending the contest into an extra period. The Lafayette guard spent most of the afternoon helping her teammates get on the board en route to matching her career high with a game-best eight assists.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
Junior Sarah McGorry took a charge to negate the game-winning layup by Bryant's Danielle Douglas with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation. McGorry's heads-up play sent the game into overtime, where the Leopards came away with a four-point victory.
A STRONG FOUNDATION
The Leopards are among the most experienced teams in the Patriot League, as they return their top six scorers and top three rebounders from last season. Aside from Army, which did not lose any letterwinners from last season's roster, Bucknell is the only other Patriot squad to return its three best on the boards from the 2009-10 campaign.
STIFF COMPETITION
St. Bonaventure was the Leopards' third 2010-11 opponent that advanced to the postseason last season. Depending on how the matchups fall at the Hawk Classic on Dec. 28-29, nearly one-third of Lafayette's schedule could be comprised of the teams that played into March in 2009-10, including a trio of defending conference champions.
ROUND TWO
Nine of the Leopards' 15 non-conference opponents are repeat challengers from the 2009-10 campaign. Lafayette defeated Monmouth and Penn last season while falling to Bryant, Long Island, Liberty, Fairfield, St. Bonaventure, Fairleigh Dickinson and Princeton.
HAVE WE MET?
On the other side of the coin, Lafayette challenges Manhattan on Dec. 9 for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Depending on the draw on day two at the Hawk Classic on Dec. 29, the Maroon and White will play either tournament host St. Joseph's - another team they have not faced since 1996 - or New Hampshire - which would be the Leopards' first-ever meeting with the Wildcats.
FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT
The Leopards have met Lehigh on 76 occasions, by far their most games against any opponent. The rivalry is older than both the Patriot League and the East Coast Conference, dating back to Feb. 4, 1975. Lafayette is 40-36 all-time against the Mountain Hawks. League rival Bucknell is the Leopards' second most-frequent opponent with 65 all-time outings. Princeton has challenged Lafayette most often among non-conference foes, with the 39th meeting of the two programs coming on Dec. 13.
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
According to the latest NCAA report of Division I institutions, Lafayette College ranks third in the nation in student-athlete graduation success rate (GSR). The Leopards post an impressive 97 percent GSR, ranking well above the national GSR for Division I student-athletes of 79 percent. Fourteen of the Leopards' 20 intercollegiate sports included in the study - including women's basketball - boast a 100 percent GSR, with every Leopards' program registering above the Division I average.
LSN ALL-ACCESS
This season, 10 Lafayette regular-season women's basketball contests - including all seven Patriot League home games - will be broadcast regionally to more than 10 million viewers on RCN-4, RCN-8 and WBPH-60. Additionally, RCN and WBPH will carry all of the Leopards' postseason home games. As an element of Lafayette's multimedia agreement with CBS College Sports, every televised game - as well as the three non-televised home contests - will be streamed live on the Internet and available worldwide through LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com. Select road contests will also feature LSN All-Access audio broadcasts.
TAKING CHARGE
Stepping up and taking a charge may not show up in a box score, but each offensive foul drawn by the Lafayette women's basketball team will definitely be counted this season. The Leopards have announced their "Charge for Children & Caregivers" initiative, which will generate donations for both the Boys & Girls Club of Easton and CareGivers America. Fans can pledge an amount as little 10 cents per charge taken by a Leopard, with pledge amounts being totaled at the end of the each month. The pledge form can be downloaded at GoLeopards.com or picked up at any Lafayette home game.
CAPTAINS' BLOG
Senior co-captains Lauren Jackson, Elizabeth Virgin and LaKeisha Wright will be authoring a blog, "The Full-Court Press", on GoLeopards.com this season. Check back throughout the 2010-11 campaign for the latest updates and insights from the Leopards' captains.
HOME BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS
The Leopards' next game is their last at Kirby Sports Center in 2010, as in-state rival La Salle visits Easton for a 1 p.m. contest. The game will be streamed live on the Internet through LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com. After three straight games away from College Hill to close out the calendar year, 2011 kicks off with a home outing against Penn on Jan. 2.
