March 12, 2008
2008 Patriot League Women's Basketball Championship Page
Box Score
Worcester, Mass. - Bucknell earned its second-ever Patriot League Women's Basketball Tournament title with a 57-45 victory over second-seeded Holy Cross on the Crusaders' home floor. The fifth-seeded Bison became the lowest seed in Patriot League Tournament history to be crowned champion. Both of Bucknell's championship titles have come on the Crusaders home court, also taking home the hardware in 2002.
"We answered the bell, faced adversity and rose to the challenge," said Bucknell Head Coach Kathy Fedorjaka about winning the tournament as the No. 5 seed. Fedorjaka improves to 11-9 in Patriot League Tournament games
While starting the second half up 31-17, Bucknell (16-15, 8-6 PL) allowed Holy Cross to make a few runs in the final stanza, but never saw their lead fall below seven points. It took three minutes and 20 seconds for the first points to be scored in the second half when Holy Cross' Alyssa May stole the ball and came up with a breakaway layup. Over the next seven minutes the teams traded points with Bucknell holding a 12-7 advantage over that span, including a Kesha Champion jumper at 15:46 that put her over the 1,000-career points mark.
Holy Cross (19-13, 10-4 PL) then made a 10-0 run starting with a layup by Elizabeth Campbell and ending with a pair of free throws by May to make it 43-36 at 6:02. The only other single-digit lead Bucknell allowed the rest of the way was at 3:16 when Bethany O'Dell drained a three-pointer to make it a 50-41 game. The Bison went 7-for-8 from the line down the stretch to seal the 57-45 victory.
No team held greater than a three-point advantage for most of the first half until Champion hit a jumper at the 6:11 mark to put the Bison up five and Cosima Higham added a layup to make it 22-15. Holy Cross' Briana McFadden sunk both of her free throw attempts with 5:09 left in the half, before Bucknell went on a 9-0 run to close out the first stanza. A three-pointer by Lauren Schober, another layup by Higham and back-to-back jumpers by Joyce Novacek and Amanda Brown put the Bison up 31-17 at the break.
With 13 points and eight rebounds in the championship game, Champion was tabbed the 2008 Patriot League Championship Most Valuable Player. For the tournament, she totaled 37 points, 19 rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
"In the tournament you don't have time to doubt yourself, you just have to go out there and lay it all out on the floor," said Champion about ever doubting her team would be cutting down the nets on Wednesday.
Brown led all players with 14 points for the Bison, while Schober had 10 points and a game-high six assists. Brown and Schober were both named to the All-Tournament Team. Novacek tied for game-high honors with eight boards. The Bison shot 41.5% from the floor compared to Holy Cross' 28.8%.
For Holy Cross, May was the only Crusader in double-digit scoring with 11 points, while grabbing seven rebounds. Laura Aloisi had a team-best eight boards to go along with six points, four assists and four steals. Holy Cross' two All-Tournament Team selections were O'Dell and McFadden.
Army's Cara Enright was also named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team after netting 25 points and grabbing nine boards in the Black Knights overtime game against Bucknell in the quarterfinals.
Bucknell will advance to the NCAA Tournament as the Patriot League's automatic qualifier. The 2008 NCAA Championship bracket will be announced on Monday, March 17 from 7 to 8 p.m. EST live on ESPN. First-round play in the 2008 championship will begin on Saturday, March 22 or Sunday, Match 23 for the Bison.
2008 Patriot League All-Tournament Team
Cara Enright, Army
Amanda Brown, Bucknell
Lauren Schober, Bucknell
Briana McFadden, Holy Cross
Bethany O'Dell, Holy Cross
2008 Patriot League Tournament Most Valuable Player
Kesha Champion, Bucknell
Game Notes
- Bucknell is the lowest seed to ever win the Patriot League Tournament title at No. 5. The lowest seed before this year was the No. 3 seed, which has earned the championship twice in League history. One of those times was last year when Holy Cross was the winner.
- Bucknell's Kesha Champion surpassed the 1,000 career points mark with 13 in the game. She entered the contest needing five to reach the milestone mark. She is the fourth Patriot League player to reach that mark this season and becomes the 58th all-time. She joins teammate Hope Foster as Bison to pass the mark this year. Foster now has 1,253 career points.
- Bucknell was knocked off in the quarterfinal round of the League tourney a year ago as the No. 1 seed.
- This year marked just the second time Holy Cross has ever lost the Patriot League Tournament Championship Game at the Hart Center. The other loss was to Bucknell in 2002.
- Bucknell's last appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2002. The Bison traveled to Texas to face Baylor, dropping an 80-56 contest.
- Holy Cross senior Laura Aloisi closed out her career with 445 assists over four years, including only playing 10 games last season before sitting out due to injury. Aloisi's 445 assists rank her seventh on the Patriot League's all-time career chart.
- American will also represent the Patriot League in postseason play having gained an automatic berth into the WNIT as the Patriot League's top team during the regular season. The Eagles will find out their WNIT opponent and game date on Monday as well, after the NCAA bracket has been announced.
