Jan. 4, 2008

Sacred Heart vs. Wagner Game Notes in PDF Format

Sacred Heart Pioneers (7-6, 2-0 NEC) vs. Wagner Seahawks (2-9, 0-1 NEC)

Game #14 - Saturday, January 5, 2008 - 2:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)

Radio - WICC 600 am; SacredHeartPioneers.com

The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers play their first game in the new year as they play host to Wagner College in a Northeast Conference match-up Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers are off to a 2-0 start in the league after wins at Monmouth and Central Connecticut last month as they look to stay perfect hosting the Seahawks in their return to NEC play. SHU snuck away with a 62-61 win over Columbia to close out 2007 and have won their-last two at home. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are looking to halt a nine-game slide after losses to Pittsburgh and James Madison in their holiday tournament.

Series... The Pioneers lead the all-time series, 11-7. Sacred Heart has won six-straight in the series after a pair of wins last season over the Seahawks. SHU posted a 76-49 win at home in January and a 79-54 win on the road in February. From 2001-2004, SHU and Wagner split their six meetings, each team winning on their home court. The two schools met for the first time during the 1978-79 season, with Wagner coming away with a one-point victory, 64-63, in Fairfield. The Pioneers and Seahawks would face-off again the following season as Wagner posted a convincing 73-44 win. It would be 19 years before the two schools would take to the hardwood again when Sacred Heart joined the Northeast Conference for the 1999-00 season. Wagner took both meetings that year and then eliminated the Pioneers from the NEC Tournament with a 59-56, win at Monmouth.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 285-208 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 159-89 record since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-00. Swanson is the program's longest tenured coach and is the all-time leader in coaching wins, (285) and winning percentage (.578). He earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a then school record 21 wins in 2003-04. Gela Mikalauskas (Kean `77) is in her 14th season as the head coach at Wagner College. Mikalauskas has a 181-194 (.482) record in her 14 seasons at Wagner and overall. This is Mikalauskas second stint as head coach of the Seahawks. She was named the NEC Coach of the Year in 1989 and is a member of the Wagner Athletics Hall of Fame as she holds the most victories (181) in program history.

Last Time Out... Sacred Heart junior center Kaitlin Sowinski broke a 61-61 tie with nine seconds left on the clock hitting a free throw for her career-high 31st point and notched her seventh blocked shot in the closing seconds to preserve a 62-61 win over the Columbia Lions last Saturday. A back and forth first half saw nine ties with neither team opening more then a four-point advantage. Sowinski carried SHU over the first 20 minutes of action, pouring in 19 points while no other Pioneer managed more then three points. Where Sowinski did much of her damage in the first half, Stephanie Ryan picked it up in the second half, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the stanza. Columbia refused to go away and pulled even twice in the second stanza and tied the game at 61-61 with 24 seconds left. Sowinski's free throw gave SHU the one-point advantage and she turned away a last second Danielle Brown attempt to seal the win. Ryan finished with her second-straight double double and her fourth this season, adding 10 rebounds to her 14 points. She also made three steals and passed out four assists in the win.

Scouting the Seahawks... The Wagner Seahawks burst out to the gates in 2007-08, posting impressive wins over Columbia, 78-67, and Princeton, 75-49, in the season's first two games but have since fallen on hard times. The Seahawks have dropped nine-straight since the season opening wins and are coming off a pair of lopsided losses in their own holiday tournament to Pittsburgh, 85-41, and James Madison, 100-48. Wagner is led by senior guard Chelsey Bunyer who is averaging 11.2 points per game. Senior Ali Ridge is the team's top-rebounder at 7.4 rebounds per outing while also leading the team at the charity stripe making 21-of-24 (.875). Sophomore guard Andrea Reed is the NEC leader in assists, passing out 65 helpers on the year, an average of 5.9 per game.

Last Meeting with Wagner... Sacred Heart's Jasmine Walker scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half and Kerri Burke handed out five assists to become the school's all-time assist leader as the Pioneers posted a 79-54 win at Wagner last February 6th. SHU's Amanda Pape led all-scorers with 23 points as the Pioneers clinched an NEC Tournament spot with the win. The Pioneers never trailed in winning their sixth-straight over the Seahawks, opening the game on an 8-0 run and outscoring Wagner 26-9 over the final 10 minutes of the first half. The Seahawks cut the lead to 10 in the first three minutes of the second half but SHU put the game away with a 23-8 run that gave them their biggest lead of the night, 70-44 with five minutes to go. Pape's 23 points were complemented by five assists, four rebounds and four steals. The Pioneers shot over 50.0%, hitting 28-of-52 (53.8%) and did a great job of limiting their turnovers with just 11 while taking advantage of 19 Seahawk miscues to the tune of 27 points.

Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is beginning their ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 108-38 conference record, having never finished lower then tied for third in the final league standings. The Pioneers have won back-to-back NEC Regular Season Championships and laid claim to the 2006 NEC title winning the league tournament. Head Coach Swanson is closing in on becoming the conference's all-time leader in regular season NEC wins at 108. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.

Team News and Notes...

- Sacred Heart jumps back into NEC play full-time after finishing the non-conference portion of the schedule at 5-6 after a 62-61 win over Columbia to close out the 2007 calender year. SHU is off to a 2-0 start in the league after road wins at Monmouth and Central Connecticut last month.

- Junior center Kaitlin Sowinski posted career numbers in leading the Pioneers to the one-point win over Columbia. Sowinski finished 13-of-22 from the field on her way to a career-high 31 point afternoon. Sowinski became just the second Pioneer to top the 30-point plateau in Division I play. Former Pioneer Amanda Pape hit the mark twice, most recently last season against Saint Francis-PA (32 pts.) The 6-4 center also came up with seven blocks, tying her season-high, with the last coming on a potential winning attempt by Columbia with two seconds left.

- Sowinski is third in the NEC in scoring at 18.4 points per game and second in field goal percentage at 56.4%. She leads the league in blocks with 51 on the year, a mark that ranks her fifth among the NCAA leaders.

- Junior Stephanie Ryan is part two of the Pioneers dynamic duo, averaging 11.2 points and a team-leading 8.3 rebounds per game. Ryan is coming off back-to-back double doubles last week and now has four on the year. She leads the NEC in defensive rebounds with 83 and is also among the conference leaders in steals with 26.

- Freshman Alisa Apo joined fellow rookie Maggie Cosgrove in earning this week's Choice Hotels NEC Rookie of the Week award. Apo is third on the team averaging 8.5 points per game.

- On the year, the Pioneers are averaging 13.8 assists per game on the season, third among the NEC's leaders. Four players have over 25 assists led by junior Khalia Cain with 38. Freshman Maggie Cosgrove is right on her heels with 32 while senior Lisa Moray has 29 and junior Stephanie Ryan has 28 to her credit.

Alisa Apo Nabs First NEC Award... Freshman Alisa Apo was named the Choice Hotels Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week, joining fellow freshman Maggie Cosgrove in picking up the league's top-rookie honor this season. Apo broke out with a 20 point effort at Lehigh and came back with a 19 point outing to help SHU gain a 79-65 win over Princeton at home. Over the two week stretch, Apo averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 45.5% from the field and 42.9% from behind the arc. On the year, she is third on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game, leading the team in three-point percentage (37.9).