Feb. 15, 2008

Sacred Heart vs. Saint Francis (PA) Game Notes in PDF Format

Sacred Heart Pioneers (16-8, 11-2 NEC) vs. Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash (6-17, 3-9 NEC)

Game #25 - Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 2:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)

Radio: WICC 600 am; www.SacredHeartPioneers.com

The Storyline... The Pioneers welcome the Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash to the William H. Pitt Center Saturday afternoon for the only meeting between the two school during the regular season this year. Sacred Heart clinched their ninth-straight NEC Tournament berth on Monday night with a 64-55 win over Monmouth as the battle for playoff seeding takes center stage with just five games remaining on the schedule. Heading into the match-up with the Red Flash, SHU sits all alone in second place with an 11-2 league record. Having dropped four-straight, Saint Francis is battling to stay alive in the playoff hunt coming in with a 3-9 NEC mark. The Red Flash have six games left on their schedule and are in ninth place, a game behind Monmouth for the final playoff spot.

Series... Saint Francis (PA) leads the all-time series, 7-6. SHU and SFPA split their two meeting last season, each winning on their home court. The Pioneers swept a season series from Saint Francis for the first time since joining the NEC last year in 2005-06, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Red Flash in the process. SHU is 2-5 all-time in Loretto and 4-2 in the Pitt Center against the Red Flash. Sacred Heart's 37-point victory at SFPA in 2005-06 (89-52) is the second largest win against a division opponent since the Pioneers joined the Northeast Conference. The Red Flash are responsible for the Pioneers worst NEC defeat since joining the conference, a 32 point loss, 87-55, during the 2003-04 season in Loretto.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) is in his 18th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 294-210 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 168-91 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, (294) and winning percentage (.583). 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. Susan Robinson Fruchtl (Penn State `92) is the sixth coach in St. Francis (PA) history and is 6-17 in her first season with the Red Flash. She spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Penn State University.

Last Time Out... Junior Stephanie Ryan notched her seventh double double of the season with 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Pioneers past Monmouth 64-55 Monday night. The win clinched Sacred Heart their ninth-straight Northeast Conference Tournament berth. The Pioneers trailed 26-25 at the half but shot a blistering 55.2% (16-29) in the second half to win for the fourth time this season when down at the break. Sacred Heart used an early 11-0 run to pull in front six, 36-30 at the first media time-out of the second half. The Hawks scrapped back and both teams traded the lead five more times before SHU would finally pull away. With 7:14 to and the game tied at 47-47, the Pioneers put together a 10-0 rally that put the game away. SHU finished the game shooting 42.9% (24-56) from the field and 46.7% (7-15) from behind the arc. The Pioneers turned it over 19 times in the win but 14 came in the first half. Junior Kaitlin Sowinski led all Pioneers with 16 points to go with six rebounds, six blocked shots, four assists and two steals. Freshman Alisa Apo rounded out the trio of double digit scorers with 15 points of her own along with four boards and four steals.

Scouting the Red Flash... The St. Francis (PA) Red Flash come in with a 3-9 NEC mark placing them ninth in the league standings and a game out of the last playoff spot. The Red Flash have lost four-straight coming in with a 61-47 loss to Long Island at home on Monday night. Sophomore guard Britney Hodges is the team's leading scorer at 15.6 points per game. She also leads the team behind the arc with 29 three's. Senior forward Emily Bollinger averages 9.1 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 52.7% (79-150) from the field. Junior guard Shawna Scott is second in the NEC in assists averaging 4.3 per game.

Last Meeting with St. Francis (PA)... Sacred Heart suffered their first NEC loss of 2007, losing at Saint Francis (PA), 69-63, on January 20th. The Red Flash got a game-high 19 points from Shawna Scott to lead the way. Sacred Heart was plagued by sloppy play much of the day especially in the opening minutes when they turned the ball over four times before they scored their first points of the game. The Red Flash lead hit seven, 42-35, at the 18:58 mark of the second half but their offense would stall out and go scoreless over the next seven minutes. Sacred Heart used the drought to their advantage and grabbed a four point lead after an 12-0 run that was fueled by a pair of Lisa Moray three's, 47-42, with 12 minutes to go. With the Pioneers leading 52-50 at the 7:24 mark, the Red Flash used a quick 6-0 spurt to grab the lead back for good, 54-52, and then outscored SHU, 19-11, the rest of the way for the win. Sacred Heart got 18 points apiece from both Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker, who also had a double double with 14 rebounds. Moray hit five-of-seven from behind the arc for 17 in the loss.

Pioneers in the Northeast Conference... Sacred Heart is in it's ninth season of play in the Northeast Conference. The Pioneers have posted a 117-40 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 117. Bill Sheahan from Mount St. Mary's is the all-time leader at 124 victories.

Team News and Notes...

- Sacred Heart clinched their ninth-straight trip to the Northeast Conference Tournament with Monday night's win over Monmouth. The Pioneers are currently in second place in the standings with an 11-2 mark, a half game behind Quinnipiac for first place. The win also assured SHU of it's eighth-straight winning season and 13th-straight year with at least a .500 record or better.

- The Pioneers will be going for the program's 400th win on Saturday. Since begin basketball in 1974-75, Sacred Heart has amassed a 399-454 overall record.

- Junior Kaitlin Sowinski is closing in on becoming the 13th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. Sowinski has 919 career points heading into Saturday's game.

- Junior Stephanie Ryan is coming off her seventh double double of the season where she scored 15 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. Ryan leads the team and is fifth in the NEC in rebounding at 8.3 per game.

- Freshman Alisa Apo continues to light it up against Northeast Conference competition. Apo is averaging a team-high 16.1 points per game and shooting 51.1% (23-45) from three-point range over the 13 NEC games this year. Overall, the freshman guard is averaging 12.2 points per game and is second in the NEC hitting 46.5% (33-71) from behind the arc.

- The Pioneers have steadily become one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league. On the year, SHU is hitting 35.3% (127-360) behind the arc, ranking third among the conference leaders. Over the last five games SHU is shooting 50.8% (33-65) from downtown led by Stephanie Ryan (10-14) and Alisa Apo (9-17).