Jan. 25, 2008

Sacred Heart vs. Quinnipiac Game Notes in PDF Format

Sacred Heart Pioneers (12-7, 7-1 NEC) vs. Quinnipiac Bobcats (15-2, 7-0 NEC)

Game #20 - Saturday, January 26, 2008 - 2:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)

Radio: SacredHeartPioneers.com

The Storyline... The Sacred Heart Pioneers play host to the first place Quinnipiac Bobcats Saturday afternoon. SHU sits a game out of the top-spot at 7-1 in Northeast Conference play while the Bobcats come in at 7-0 and winners of their last six. The Pioneers rebounded from a loss at the Mount a week ago by handing Fairleigh Dickinson a 77-65 loss on Monday night, extending their home winning streak to six-straight. Sacred Heart head coach Ed Swanson will be coaching his 500th career game for the Pioneers on Saturday, taking on the school he has faced more than any in his tenure as head coach.

Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 27-22, after sweeping the season series last year, winning, 73-53 at home and 73-63 on the road. SHU has won four-straight and eight of the last 10 meetings. The Pioneers have won eight-straight against the Bobcats at home in the Pitt Center. Quinnipiac's last win in Fairfield came during the 2000-01 season, 72-69 in overtime. Today's game marks the 21st time head coaches Ed Swanson and Tricia Fabbri will face each other in the rivalry between the two schools with Swanson holding a 14-6 edge. Quinnipiac holds a 16-15 edge in the 31 meetings between the two schools during their Division II days. The first ever meeting took place during the 1975-76 season, SHU's second year of competition.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater and will coach his 500 game this afternoon at the school this afternoon. Swanson posts a 290-209 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 164-90 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, (290) and winning percentage (.581). 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. Tricia Fabbri (Fairfield `91) is in her 13th season at the helm of the Quinnipiac University women's basketball program. Fabbri owns a 167-181 (.480) record in her 13 seasons at QU and overall.

Last Time Out... Sacred Heart freshman Alisa Apo led four starters in double figures with a career-high 24 points to lead the Pioneers past Fairleigh Dickinson, 77-65, Monday night. Apo hit a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line and six-of-12 from the field in the win. A late 12-0 first half fun gave SHU a 20-point advantage with two minutes to go before the break. The Knights responded and scored the half's final seven points heading to the locker room trailing 38-25. FDU opened the second half cutting the lead to nine and then pulled within seven, 40-33, at the 17 minute mark. From there the SHU offense turned it into high gear, ripping off a 17-3 run over the next five and a half minutes to take their biggest lead of the night, 57-36. Three-straight FDU three's pulled the Knights to within 11 but the Pioneers answered and built their lead back to as many as 16 in the game's closing minutes en route to the win. Junior Khalia Cain finished the night with a season-high 18 points coming on seven-of-12 shooting while adding three assists to her stat line. Both Stephanie Ryan and Kaitlin Sowinski scored 14 points in the win with Sowinski adding 11 rebounds to complete the double double. The Pioneers held a big edge at the free throw line, hitting 22 of 27 while the Knight knocked down all six of there freebies.

Scouting the Bobcats... The Quinnipiac Bobcats come in with sole possession of first place in the NEC standings at 7-0. The Bobcats have six-straight and have lost just twice all season as the sport a league best 15-2 overall mark. The QU offense features three double digit scorers in juniors Erin Kerner and Mandy Pennewell and senior Monique Lee. Kerner leads all scorers at 16.0 point per game while Pennewell posts 14.7 per game and Lee chips in with 11.3. Lee also leads the team in rebounding at 8.8 boards per game. Kerner and Lee were both voted to the All-NEC Preseason team.

Last Meeting with Quinnipiac... The Pioneers closed out the regular season with a 73-63 over Quinnipiac last season, claiming a share of the Northeast Conference regular season title with the victory. The first half was all Sacred Heart as the Pioneers bolted out in front and used a 15-0 run to grab a 17-4 lead at 13:04. After bucket at 10:27, the Bobcat offense went stone cold going scoreless until the 3:44 mark. The Pioneers took full advantage and ran their lead to 28-10. A Brianna Rooney three to ended the slide but senior Amanda Pape scored the final seven points of the half for a 35-18 lead at the break. Sacred Heart's lead hit the 20-point mark, 49-29, with 13 minutes left when Quinnipiac began to chip away at the lead. QU used an 8-0 spurt to cut it to 12, 52-40, at the seven minute mark and sliced to single digits, 58-50, with 3:44 on the clock. SHU looked to its seniors to deliver the win and Jasmine Walker got the Pioneer lead to double digits on their next possession with a lay-up. Pape pushed it to 12 after a QU miss and the Pioneers hit 11-of-12 at the free throw line over the last 1:02 to seal the win. Pape finished with a team-high 22 points and added seven rebounds with three assists and two steals. Walker chipped in with a double double, 18 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Courtney Kaminski scored 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half in the loss.

Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is beginning their ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 113-39 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 113. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.

Team News and Notes...

- The Pioneers and Bobcats will face off on the hardwood for the 50th time Saturday afternoon. Sacred Heart has faced just two other programs as many times as Quinnipiac, the University of Bridgeport (51) and the University of New Haven (52).

- Over her last four games, freshman guard Alisa Apo is averaging 20.5 points while shooting 52.4% (11-21) from behind the arc and 82.1% (23-28) at the free throw line. The freshman guard is coming off a career-high 24 point night in Monday's win over Fairleigh Dickinson. In eight NEC games this season, Apo is averaging 16.5 points and hitting 48.8% (41-84) from three-point land. Apo is the reigning NEC Rookie of the Week and has captured the award three times this season.

- Junior Kaitlin Sowinski extended her streak of games in double figures to 19-straight. Sowinski picked up her 5th double double of the season on Monday, notching 14 points with 11 rebounds. She ranks fourth in the NEC is scoring average (17.4 ppg) and second in field goal percentage (54.4%).

- Sowinski is among the nation's leaders in blocked shots with 66 on the year. The junior ranks 5th nationally averaging 3.5 per game.

- Junior Khalia Cain scored a season-high 18 against FDU. The junior guard is the team-leader in assists with 55 helpers against just 36 turnovers on the year.

- Freshman point guard Maggie Cosgrove also sports a positive assist to turnover ratio on the year with 48 helpers and 44 turnovers. Cosgrove's older brother Casey is a sophomore guard on the Quinnipiac men's hoop team.