Nov. 28, 2008

Game Notes

Match-Up: Lafayette (0-4) vs. UTPA (3-1)
Tip-Off: 1:00 p.m.
Site: Easton, Pa.
Arena: Kirby Sports Center (3,500)
All-Time Series: 0-2
Coach Smith vs. UTPA: 0-2

THE MATCH-UP: After a lengthy four-game road trip to start the season, the Leopards finally open their home season this afternoon against Texas-Pan American. Lafayette, which stands at 0-4, dropped its most recent game, 58-54, at Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday night. The Broncs check in at 3-1 after defeating Air Force 53-41 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

NEXT UP: Lafayette is back on the road on Monday with a 7:30 p.m. game at Marist. After that, the Leopards return home for their longest homestand of the season, beginning Dec. 3 against Penn.

ON THIS DATE: One year ago today, Lafayette pulled off a 62-56 upset of Coppin State. The win, the Leopards' third straight, snapped the Eagles' 22 game home court win streak, the fourth-longest streak in the nation.

LAST TIME OUT FOR LAFAYETTE: In a game that came down to the final minute, Lafayette could not pull off a come-from-behind win and fell 58-54 to Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday night. The Leopards were within three of the lead with seven seconds to play but Mount St. Mary's Brianna Gauthier's free throw with 6.8 on the clock handed the Leopards their fourth straight loss.

Lafayette, which had two players in double figures, shot over 42 percent from the field while holding the Mount to a 37 percent effort. Emily Garner and LaKeisha Wright led the team with 13 points apiece. Seven of Garner's points came from the free throw line as the Leopards shot a season-best 69.6 percent from the free throw line.

SCOUTING UTPA: UTPA opened the year with a loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 14 but have now won three straight with victories against Tennessee-Martin, Texas Lutheran and Air Force.

The team is led in scoring by Teshay Winfrey, who is averaging 14.8 ppg. Two other Broncs join her in double figures: Rose Esther Jean (10.3 ppg) and Brittany Demery (10.0 ppg). Winfrey is also the team leader in rebounds with 8.3 per contest.

No Place LIKE HOME: Lafayette has been successful in recent years in its home openers, having won its last four. The streak began with a 63-47 win over Radford on Dec. 2, 2004.

RAINING THREES: Lafayette's 44.4 percent showing from three-point range against Mount St. Mary's was a season-high. Cristin Zavocki led the team with a 3-for-7 performance from beyond the arc to account for all nine of her points against The Mount.

WALK A MILE, OR 3000, IN MY SHOES: Lafayette wrapped-up its four game, season-opening road trip on Tuesday night tonight, the longest stretch of away games this year. In a span of 10 days and four games, the Leopards traveled 3,262 miles (mileage amounts are roundtrip totals): Murfreesboro, Tenn. (1632 miles), Cullowhee, N.C. (1336 miles) and Emmitsburg, Md. (294 miles).

The last time Lafayette opened the season with four straight road games was in 2001 (at Sacred Heart, at Fairleigh Dickinson, at Binghamton, vs. Long Island).

JUMPING FOR JACKSON: Sophomore Lauren Jackson had two career games in the consolation round of the WNIT. On Nov. 21, she scored a then-career high 10 points against Western Carolina on 4-of-10 shooting. Twenty-four hours later, she surpassed that mark with 11 points against UC-Riverside to lead the team in scoring for the second straight game.

LET ME HELP YOU WITH THAT: Senior Jessica Spicer leads Lafayette with 12 assists through the first four games. She has 198 for her career and needs 17 more to tie Angela Spell (1990-94) for 10th all-time on Lafayette's list of career assist leaders.

BUILDING BLOCK: Senior Emily Garner enters today's game with 26 career blocks. She needs three more to tie Chris Sieling '94 and Stephanie Hayes '94 for ninth all-time.

WELCOME TO THE WNIT: Lafayette earned the program's first-ever invite to the Preseason WNIT. The invitation came following a 14-16 2007-08 campaign, the winningest season in a decade for the Leopards.

The WNIT was played in the format that was introduced in 2007, where each team was guaranteed to play three games. The tournament opened on Friday, Nov. 14. The winning teams advanced to the second round of play while teams that lost in the first two rounds played consolation games last weekend. The championship was played on Nov. 23 where No. 4 North Carolina defeated No. 2 Oklahoma 80-79 to win the title.

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT: For the second straight season opener, all three of the Leopards' freshmen saw action: Melissa Downey, Sarah McGorry and Alexandra Serowoky. Serowoky led the trio with five points against Middle Tennessee.

2008-09 PATRIOT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL: The Leopards were picked to finish sixth in the Patriot League's preseason poll. Lafayette received 38 points. Holy Cross garnered the top spot with 90 points, including eight first place votes. Lehigh took the second spot with 83 points (six first place votes) and American was chosen to finish third, receiving 75 points with two first place votes. Bucknell took fifth with 53 points. Navy and Colgate rounded out the seventh and eighth spots with 35 and 14 points, respectively.

FRESH FACES: Lafayette welcomed three freshmen to the squad this fall: Melissa Downey, Sarah McGorry and Alexandra Serowoky.

Downey, a 5-8 point guard from Havertown, Pa., was a four-year starter at Cardinal O'Hara High School. Downey's squad won the Philadelphia Catholic Championship her freshman and sophomore seasons and she earned Second Team All-Delaware County honors during her high school career.

A 6-0 forward from Doylestown, Pa., McGorry was a four-year starter at Mount St. Joseph Academy. She scored her 1,000th career point during her senior season, during which she also shot 80 percent from the free throw line. As a junior, McGorry averaged 13 points and six rebounds per game.

Serowoky hails from Dearborn, Mich. and was a four-year letterwinner at Ladywood High School. Serowoky, who stands at 6-1, saw time as both at both forward and center. As a junior, she earned a spot on the Free Press Top 25 Preseason List and was later named an All-Catholic League and All-Area player.

SMITH ON THE SIDELINES: Head coach Tammy Smith is in her eighth season at Lafayette and 13th overall as a head coach. In 2007-08, she directed the Leopards to their most wins (14) and league victories (6) in a decade.

Smith is the fourth head coach in Lafayette's 35-year history. She has a career record of 154-231 (.400), which includes a 113-68 mark and two NCAA Tournament appearances in seven seasons at D-III Muhlenberg.

STRIVE FOR FIVE: All five of the team's seniors--Laura Cullen, Emily Garner, Meaghan Malone, Jessica Spicer and Cristin Zavocki--were chosen by their teammates to serve as captains for the 2008-09 season.

FEELS LIKE THE VERY FIRST TIME: The Leopards will play at least seven new opponents this year: Bryant, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, Rider, Rutgers and Virginia Tech. At the Virginia Tech Classic in December, the Leopards will play either Liberty or North Carolina A&T on the second day of the tournament for the first time, in addition to facing first-time opponent Virginia Tech on the opening day.

ALL-TIME RECORD: The program, now in its 36th season, has played 888 games, compiled an overall record of 407-481 (.458) and recorded five 20-win seasons.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2007-08 CAMPAIGN: • Lafayette's 14 wins doubled the win total from 2006-07 and also marked the most single-season victories in a decade
• The six league wins were the most in 10 years
• Second in the Patriot League in field goal percentage (.395)
• Held four opponents under 50 points on five different occasions. It was the first time since the 1993-94 season the Leopards gave up 50 or fewer points five times in a single season
• Senior Vanessa Van De Venter was named to the All-Patriot League First team and LaKeisha Wright earned a spot on the league's All-Rookie team.

PENNSYLVANIA PLAYERS: Three players with local connections - Melissa Downey (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), Amanda Leone (Easton, Pa./Easton) and Sarah McGorry (Doylestown, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy) - are on Lafayette's 2008-09 roster. Two of those players--Downey and McGorry--are freshmen, while Leone returns for her junior season.

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD: There is no denying the chemistry between seniors Jessica Spicer and Emily Garner on the court. Perhaps that is because the two have a long history of playing ball together, beginning with an AAU stint when the girls were just 10 years old. They played on the same AAU team in Fairfax, Va., while also both making the varsity team at Robinson High School as freshmen. Midway through their sophomore year, Spicer's family moved to Illinois, but the duo reunited at Lafayette for the 2005-06 season.

ACADEMIC ACCOLADES: Six members of the basketball team were named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll in 2007-08. Maureen Johnson '08 led the group with a 3.80 grade-point average (GPA) during the spring semester.

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Lafayette dropped nine games by 10 points or fewer last season, which included overtime losses at Holy Cross (77-70) and vs. American (60-57). In total, the Leopards played three overtime games with their one extra-session victory coming against Bucknell (64-58).

SUPREMACY FROM BEYOND THE ARC: Last season, Cristin Zavocki set a Lafayette women's basketball record with eight threes against Fairleigh Dickinson on Jan. 8. Against Holy Cross, she came close to re-writing the record books yet again. Zavocki drained six more treys (6-of-8) against the Crusaders to account for all 18 of her points.

HOOPS FOR HOPE: Members of the Lafayette women's basketball team hosted a charity shoot-a-thon called Hoops for Hope on Sept. 28 at Kirby Sports Center. The Leopards hosted the event in honor of two of the team's off-court heroes--Kasey Keenan and Lauren Loose, daughter of Lafayette football defensive coordinator John Loose. All proceeds from the event went directly to two pediatric cancer foundations--Kasey's Krusaders and Lauren's First and Goal.

LAFAYETTE vs. the PATRIOT LEAGUE: Lafayette has played 342 games all-time against the seven other current members of the Patriot League and is 150-192 (.439) in those contests. The Leopards own an 84-155 (.352) overall record since joining the league in the 1990-91 season.

American	3-17
Army	21-23
Bucknell	33-28
Colgate	28-22
Holy Cross	7-40
Lehigh	40-31
Navy	18-31
TOTAL	150-192

LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: For the 13th straight season, Lafayette features the most expansive television package in the Patriot League. This winter, 10 of Lafayette's women's basketball games will be televised during the 2008-09 season, with the possibility of three more games being added during the three rounds of the Patriot League Tournament in March.

All 10 telecasts will be produced by the Lafayette Sports Network (LSN), which annually produces the most expansive and highest quality television packages in the Patriot League. Each of those broadcasts will air live regionally to more than 10 million viewers on RCN-4 and WBPH-60.

As an element of Lafayette's long-term multi-media agreement with CSTV, all LSN telecasts are streamed live on the internet and available worldwide through LSN All-Access on GoLeopards.com. Lafayette was the first of the CSTV.com partners to make live video streaming available to fans everywhere when the 2000 Lafayette-Lehigh football game aired live on GoLeopards.com

Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of the Leopards' play-by-play duties for the 12th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season. In his eighth year as a member of the announcing crew is RCN's Dan Mowdy, who will report on the Leopards from the sideline.