March 4, 2008

NO. 6 BRYANT WOMEN FACE OFF AGAINST NO. 3 ASSUMPTION IN NE-10 QUARTERFINALS AT 7 P.M.

GAME NOTES (pdf) / LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO

BRYANT UPDATE

THE GAME                                                           
For the third time in four seasons, the Bryant women's basketball team looks to push past the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament Quarterfinals and move into Friday's semifinal matchup. The Bulldogs are 4-1 against the Greyhounds in postseason play and haven't had much luck against them this season. But with a possible NCAA Tournament bid on the line, Bryant will come out with something to prove tonight after being swept by Assumption in the regular season.

LAST TIME OUT                                                   
The Bulldogs started out the 2007-08 postseason with a 73-60 win over Saint Michael's in the NE-10 Tournament First Round matchup Sunday afternoon at the Chace Athletic Center. Kelsey O'Keefe scored 23 points and grabbed seven boards while Cara Johnson chipped in 22 points and eight rebounds in the win.

UP NEXT                                                              
The winner of today's matchup will face the winner of the LeMoyne/Franklin Pierce Quarterfinal on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

SCOUTING ASSUMPTION                                     
The Greyhounds finished third in the Northeast-10 Conference with a 15-7 league record, earning them a first-round bye in the 2008 conference tournament. That makes tonight's contest their first bout of the 2007-08 postseason.

Assumption is led by senior forward Charde Floyd, who averages 9.4 points per game and leads the NE-10 in rebounding (9.9 rpg). The Greyhound captain is also ranked in steals (71), assists (81), field goal accuracy (.518) and assists/turnover ratio (0.79). This season, Floyd became the fourth Greyhound to reach both 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in school history. Junior guard Bethany Plasski paces the Greyhounds in points, with a team-best 15.5 per contest.

REGIONAL RANKINGS                                          
After debuting at No. 6 in Week 1 of the NCAA Northeast Regional Poll and moving to No. 7 and No. 10 in consequent weeks, the Bulldogs currently sit at No. 8 in the Northeast polls. An automatic qualifier comes out of the three Northeast conferences, and the remaining five NCAA slots are filled in from the top of the regional poll.

HOME SWEET HOME                                           
The Chace Athletic Center has been kind to the Bulldog women this year, as they closed out their 2007-08 home schedule with Sunday's NE-10 Tournament First Round win with a 12-4 record on their home court. The Bulldogs averaged 66.9 points per game at home on the year, vastly outscoring their opponents (56.1 ppg).

GOING STREAKING                                              
Despite seeing their winning streak end on the road against the College of Saint Rose Jan. 5, the 2007-08 Bulldogs secured their place in the Bryant Recordbooks, defeating nine-straight opponents from Dec. 1, 2007 through Jan. 2, 2008 and stringing together the program's longest run of consecutive wins in school history. The record-making ninth victory came on Wed., Jan. 2, when the Bulldogs beat Merrimack College, 69-55, at the Chace Athletic Center to grab the top spot for consecutive wins in a season.

BRYANT HOLIDAY CLASSIC RECAP                       
The Bulldogs closed out 2007 in their annual Bryant Holiday Classic, held at the Chace Athletic Center, Dec. 28 and 29. The hosts went 2-0 in the two-day tournament with wins over the East Coast Conference's New York Tech (69-45) and the Coastal Atlantic Collegiate Conference's Caldwell College (74-55). The Bryant men also went 2-0 in the Bryant Holiday Classic, recording wins over Post University and Philadelphia University.

CROSSING ENEMY LINES                                     
With their non-conference schedule now behind them, the Bulldogs boast a perfect 5-0 record in games outside the Northeast-10. Bryant took four home wins and one on the road, and topped a trio of East Coast Conference teams (Adelphi University, the University of Bridgeport and New York Tech) and two Coastal Atlantic Collegiate Conference squads (Post University and Caldwell College). O'Keefe in particular thrived off non-league play, averaging 20.4 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game while shooting .578 from the field including 8-of-19 from 3-point land.

HONOR ROLL CALL
After averaging 22 points per game in Bryant's 2-0 week, sophomore Kelsey O'Keefe earned NE-10 Player of the Week honors for the first time this season. O'Keefe shot 13-for-16 from the line and 15-of-33 from the field, recording a double-double against Merrimack (21 points, 10 rebounds) before scoring 23 points with seven boards in a 73-60 win over Saint Michael's in Sunday's NE-10 Tournament first-round. Freshman Siamone Bennett also earned her first Freshman of the Week honor after collecting seven points and 10 boards, then adding four blocks in the 62-58 win over Merrimack. Also added four points and seven rebounds against Saint Michael's.

O'Keefe leads the team with ten appearances on the NE-10 Weekly Honor Roll, including being named the NE-10 Player of the Week this week. Junior Cara Johnson and senior captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski behind her with three honor roll nominations while sophomore Courtney Schermerhorn has also earned an appearance. Rookie Siamone Bennett also debuted in the weekly honors, earning Freshman of the Week this week.

O'KEEFE ON FIRE                       
In just her second season as a Bulldog, Kelsey O'Keefe has already cracked the top-10 in career points (7th/838), field goals made (7th/299), 3-pointers made (5th/61), 3-pointers attempted (5th/212) and blocked shots (5th/43). Her current numbers rank her in the top-10 in scoring average (2nd/14.4 ppg), field goal percentage (2nd/.465) and rebounding average (3rd/7.1).

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN        
Senior Lynne-Ann Kokoski notched the rare triple-double on December 19 against the University of Bridgeport, scoring 13 points, dishing out 11 assists and collecting 10 rebounds. In the Bryant women's basketball record books, senior captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski sits at No. 3 in all-time assists with 348 and No. 6 in steals with 152. Kokoski has played 2662 total minutes for the Bulldogs (No. 5) and her 230 made free throws are good for sixth all-time.

RECORD SETTERS                      
Multiple Bulldogs have set single-game records or made the top 5 in 2007-08. O'Keefe grabbed two top spots against Adelphi on Nov. 15, and the sophomore now owns the No. 1 spot for points in a single game (33) and field goals made (13). She is No. 2 in field percentage in a single game (.750; 9-for-12) and is also tied for most rebounds in a single game (15), set against Caldwell College on Dec. 29. Kokoski took hold of her own top spot with her 11 helpers in a triple-double effort against Bridgeport and again against Saint Anselm, tying her for No. 1 all-time in assists in a single game. Freshman Siamone Bennett's four blocks against Stonehill, and again against Merrimack to end the regular season, ties her at No. 2 for blocks in a single game, while her .889 (8-9) shooting Feb. 9 against AIC is tops for field goal percentage in a single game and her 15 blocks in the same contest also tie her for No. 1 in a single game.

The team has set some records as well, and in the first two contests of the season stole the No. 1 spot for free throws made (31) and attempted (43) in a single game (vs. Saint Anselm, 11/20/07) and are No. 2 for single-contest field goal percentage at a .575 clip (23-of-40) against Adelphi, Nov. 15.

MAPPING IT OUT                      
Despite its home in Smithfield, RI, Bryant boasts no homegrown talent on its 2007-08 roster. Instead, the Bulldogs hail from four different states, with six players coming to Douglas Pike from Massachusetts and eight from the tri-state area. The Bay Staters make up much of the sophomore class (Schermerhorn, O'Keefe, Campbell, Mayshar) and add Kokoski and Fontaine, while five (Lewis, Bennett, Mraz, Johnson, Dessingue) call New York home. The remainder of the Bryant roster come from Connecticut (Pierlioni, Reynolds) and New Jersey (Hudspeth).

BULLDOGS ON THE AIR                                       
Fans can catch all of the action this year by tuning into www.bryantbulldogs.com with Pat Sullivan and Jared Hager calling all of the action at no cost to the listener. For the second-straight year, fans can also watch selected games through www.NE10.tv at a cost of $6.99 per game. Also this year, track each game live online for free with LIVE STATS by visiting www.bryantbulldogs.com and clicking the Live Stats link.

BRYANT JOINS THE DIVISION I NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
In October, Bryant University officially accepted an invitation to join the Division I Northeast Conference. The school will begin a four-year transition and become a full member of the Northeast Conference in the fall of 2012. This will be Bryant's final season as a member of the Division II ranks, and the Bulldogs will begin a Division I schedule in 2008-09. Bryant will not be eligible for conference or NCAA postseason play during the four-year transition period. Other members of the Northeast Conference include: Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, Lond Island University, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis (NY), St. Francis (PA) and Wagner.