March 6, 2008

NO. 6 BRYANT FACES OFF AGAINST NO. 2 FRANKLIN PIERCE IN NE-10 SEMIFINALS, FRIDAY AT 7 P.M.

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BRYANT UPDATE

THE GAME                                                           
Tonight's contest marks the Bulldogs' first appearance in a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament semifinal since the 1995-96 postseason, when Bryant suffered a 78-57 loss to Bentley College. This also marks just the second league semifinal matchup for 17-year head coach Mary Burke. A win tonight over two-seed Franklin Pierce - the Ravens swept the Bulldogs in this year's two-game season series - would send Bryant to Sunday's NE-10 Championship game for the first time since 1988-89 (a 71-70 win over Bentley). The Bulldogs are 1-0 all-time against the Ravens in postseason play (a 57-53 win in the NE-10 First Round, Feb. 27, 2005).

LAST TIME OUT                                                   
The sixth-seeded Bulldogs stunned third-seeded and regionally fourth-ranked Assumption College in Tuesday's conference quarterfinal in Worcester, Mass. Sophomore Kelsey O'Keefe notched her eighth double-double of the season (15 points, 10 rebounds), while Bryant
outrebounded the Greyhounds, 43-35.

UP NEXT                                                               
The winner of tonight's matchup will face the winner of #1 Stonehill/#4 Bentley in Sunday's Northeast-10 Conference Championship, hosted by the highest remaining seed. Tipoff is 1 p.m.

SCOUTING FRANKLIN PIERCE                              
The Ravens finished second on the NE-10 conference ladder, earning them the tournament's second seed. Franklin Pierce snuck by seventh-seeded LeMoyne, 54-53, at home Tuesday night in the NE-10 Quarterfinals on the back of a combined 34 points from sisters Johannah (17) and Jennifer Leedham (17).

The Ravens are currently ranked third in the NCAA Northeast Regional Poll and hold a No. 17 ranking in the latest national poll. Led by 22.0 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game from sophomore All-American and leading scorer Johannah Leedham (17 points, six rebounds, three steals vs. LeMoyne), Franklin Pierce is No. 2 in the league in scoring average (71.3 ppg) and tops in field goal percentage (.453) and 3-point field goal percentage (.382). The Ravens have won nine straight entering tonight's 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, the ranking they have called home the past three weeks.

These rankings determine the recipients of the five NCAA at-large bids for each region. The Division II Championship consists of eight regional championships with eight teams participating in each region. The tournament winners of the three Northeast conferences - the NE-10, the ECC and the CACC - receive an automatic qualifier to NCAA Regional Tournament, with the remaining five at-large bids filled in from the top of the regional poll. However, this week's poll, released March 5, does not include Tuesday's win 64-58 over Assumption.

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                                              
O'Keefe leads the team with ten appearances on the NE-10 Weekly Honor Roll, including being named Player of the Week this week. Junior Cara Johnson and senior Lynne-Ann Kokoski each have three honor roll nominations while sophomore Courtney Schermerhorn has also earned an appearance. Rookie Siamone Bennett also debuted in this week's honors, earning Freshman of the 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/853), field goals made (7th/304), 3-pointers made (T-4th/62), 3-pointers attempted (5th/218) and blocked shots (5th/45). Her current numbers rank her in the top-10 in scoring average (2nd/14.5 ppg), field goal percentage (2nd/.458) 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 record books, senior captain Lynne-Ann Kokoski sits at No. 3 in all-time assists (358) and is tied for No. 5 in steals (153). She has played 2695 total minutes for the Bulldogs (No. 5) and her 231 made free throws are 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).

BRYANT JOINS THE DIV. 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 NEC 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 NEC include: Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, Lond Island U., Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis (NY), St. Francis (PA) and Wagner.

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.