Feb. 4, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

Sacred Heart Pioneers (14-8, 9-2 NEC) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (8-13, 4-6 NEC)

Game #23 - Monday, February 4, 2008 - 7:00 pm - Teaneck, N.J. - Rothman Center (5,000)

Radio: WICC 600 am; www.SacredHeartPioneers.com

The Storyline... Sacred Heart closes out a three-game road swing Monday night at Fairleigh Dickinson. The Pioneers split their two trips to Brooklyn last week, falling at Long Island University, 56-43, while rebounding with a lopsided 65-37 win at St. Francis-NY. The 43 points scored at LIU tied for the Pioneer's lowest offensive output of the season while the 37 points allowed at SFNY was the fewest given up to any team through 22 games. SHU's big three of juniors Kaitlin Sowinski, Stephanie Ryan and freshman Alisa Apo led the offensive charge against the Terriers, all scoring double figures in the win.

Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 14-1 and have won 10-straight over the Knights after taking the first meeting this season, 77-65, at home. Fairleigh Dickinson's lone win in the series came during the 2001-02 campaign when they posted a 64-60 win in the Rothman Center. The two teams have met once in the post season, an 83-55 Pioneer win in the opening round of the 2005-06 NEC Tournament. SHU is 8-0 at home against the Knights and 6-1 in Teaneck, NJ.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 292-210 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 166-91 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, (292) and winning percentage (.582). 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. Peter Cinella (Western New England `90) was named Fairleigh Dickinson's head women's basketball coach back in June, becoming the program's sixth head coach. Cinella came to FDU after 14 years at American International College where he was the winningest coach in that program's history at 299-135. He led the school to nine NCAA Tournaments, two trips to the Elite Eight and an appearance in the 2006 NCAA Championship game.

Last Time Out... The Sacred Heart Pioneers burst out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back on their way to a lopsided 65-37 win at St. Francis-NY Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers held the Terriers to just 16.7% shooting in the first half building a 39-11 lead at the break en route to the win. The Pioneers came out on fire to start the game running out to a 9-0 lead by the 13 minute mark and made it 26-6 with eight and a half to go in the half. SHU kept their foot on the accelerator and ran their lead to 39-11 at the half thanks in most part to freshman Alisa Apo. The freshman guard scored all of her 16 points in the first half and finished the game six-of-nine from the field with a pair of three's while adding a career-high six assists to her stat totals. She also pitched in with three steals and five rebounds as well. Junior Kaitlin Sowinski scored 10 points in the first half and finished her afternoon off early in the second half on three-straight possessions with jumpers in the paint to push the SHU lead to 47-15 and give her 16 points. The Pioneer lead hit it's high-point at 38, 55-17, midway through the second half after a pair of three's from senior Lisa Moray. The Terriers played the second half even with the Pioneers, both teams scoring 26 points, but were hurt all afternoon by turnovers. St. Francis finished with 27 miscues, one off their season-high, leading to 27 Pioneer points at the other end. In addition to Apo and Sowinski's 16-point efforts, Stephanie Ryan finished with 11 points, two assists and a steal in the win. The Pioneers shot 46.9% (23-49) in the win and held a 32-12 edge in the paint.

Scouting the Knights... The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights have lost two in a row after a win over Wagner at home two Saturdays ago. The Knights fell to Monmouth, 72-66, in overtime and 64-59 to Quinnipiac, last week. Senior forward Jennifer Walkling has led FDU in scoring in all but four games this year and is fourth in the NEC in scoring at 17.1 points per game. Walkling is the league's top-rebounder pulling down 9.9 boards per game. As a team, the Knights are second in the league in rebounding averaging 41.1 caroms per outing. FDU is fourth in scoring defense at 60.6 ppg and second in field goal percentage defense at 41.7%.

Last Meeting with FDU... 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, on January 21st. 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.

Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is beginning their ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 115-40 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 115. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.

Team News and Notes...

- After their lowest NEC offensive out of the year, 43 points at LIU last Monday, the Pioneers bounced right back with a 65-37 win at St. Francis-NY. The 37 points scored by the Terriers was the fewest allowed by the Pioneers all season. The 28-point win was their second largest margin of victory this year. SHU posted a 31-point win at Central Connecticut (71-40) in December.

- Junior Kaitlin Sowinski has found double digits in all 22 games this season. The junior center is closing in on 1,000 career points, heading into Monday's match-up with 894.

- Freshman Alisa Apo saw her streak of five-straight games in double digits snapped with an eight point outing at LIU. The freshman bounced right back on Saturday, hitting six-of-nine from the field, scoring all 16 points in the first half of SHU's win over St. Francis-NY.