January 23, 2009

WOMEN RETURN TO ACTION AT HOME SATURDAY AFTERNOON, HOST DARTMOUTH AT 1 P.M.

BULLDOGS BACK IN ACTION AT HOME AGAINST DARTMOUTH SATURDAY AT 1 P.M.

THE MATCHUP - Bryant vs. Dartmouth
Date: January 24, 2009
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Smithfield, R.I.
Arena: Chace Athletic Center (2,600)
Series: First Meeting

BRYANT BULLDOGS UPDATE
The Bulldogs return home after a 10-day break from the hardwood to host Ivy League competitor Dartmouth College at the Chace Athletic Center. In their last outing, the Bulldogs took a tough 77-71 loss to Yale on the road. Bryant shot 51.9 percent in the second half to try to make up a six-point halftime deficit, but would run out of time in their comeback, falling to the Bulldogs by a 77-71 final. Junior Kelsey O'Keefe registered her second-consecutive double-double and fifth of the season, tying her season high with a game-best 26 points, also pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.

On the year, Bryant is led by 14.2 points per game from O'Keefe, who joined the 1,000-point club with her first basket in Dec. 1's home-opening win. The co-captain also paces the Bulldogs on the glass, collecting 7.8 boards per contest. Sophomore Siamone Bennett's 22 blocks lead the team, while junior Kristin Mraz has taken over duties at the point while dishing out a team-best 42 helpers and shooting 73.9 percent from the line.

THE GAME
Today's 1 p.m. matchup is the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Big Green. It is the fourth time Bryant has squared off against an Ivy League team this season and the third-straight game against an Ivy League opponent. \

SCOUTING DARTMOUTH (5-9)
Dartmouth enters the Chace Center off a 10-day break of their own, but registered two-straight wins in their last pair of games. Most recently, the Big Green topped the University of New Hampshire on Jan. 13, 62-49 on the road. Darcy Rose and Brittney Smith paced the team with 12 points and eight rebounds each as Dartmouth lead nearly the whole way. Koren

Schram and Smith pace the Big Green with 12.8 points per game apiece, while Smith's 8.2 rebounds per outing are also a team high. The 6-1 sophomore compliments those numbers with a team-best 16 blocks and 27 steals (No. 2) while handing out 22 assists. Schram leads Dartmouth with 29 steals and 34 helpers, and both average better than 35 minutes per contest.

DARTMOUTH VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Big Green have squared off against members of the NEC just once this season. And while Bryant can't call itself a Northeast Conference member quite yet, here is how Dartmouth fared against the Bulldogs' future conference opponents:
12/30 vs. Wagner Win, 69-56 Dartmouth has also faced off against a pair of common

Bulldog opponents outside the NEC in the 2008-09 season. Dartmouth, like the Bulldogs, fell to a tough Holy Cross side, 57-45 (Bryant fell, 73-54). The two teams also shared the same fate against the University of New Hampshire (both won).

LAST TIME OUT
Despite the second-straight double-double from junior Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) and plenty of heart from the Bulldog side, the Bryant University women's basketball team couldn't complete their second-half comeback for the second-consecutive contest, falling to Yale, 77-71, at the John J. Lee Amphitheater Tuesday night.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? BRYANT at YALE (1/13/09)
Bryant (5-11) started out with the early lead, taking an 8-5 advantage 4:30 minutes into the contest on the first basket of eight-straight points from junior Jaime Campbell (Springfield, Mass.). But the home team would catch up to the visiting Bulldogs and trade leads before Yale (7-7) - aided by a trio of early offensive fouls called on Bryant - took a 17-10 advantage with 12:30 left to play in the half.

Yale would slowly grow its lead up to 11 points, 33-22, with 3:35 showing on the clock as Bryant reverted back to plentiful turnovers and hasty shot decisions. But the Rhode Island Bulldogs regrouped and began to chip at that lead, starting with a layup from O'Keefe. Bryant would outscore the home side, 8-3 in the final three minutes to enter the break down by just six, 36-30.

O'Keefe, tied with Yale's Yoyo Greenfield, led all scorers with 12 points at the half, while Bryant outrebounded Yale in the first frame, 24-17. The visiting Bulldogs went without a three-pointer in six attempts on the half with Yale going 4-for-9 from beyond the arc.

After the break, Bryant caught up in the early goings, cutting the home team's lead to a single tally 3:40 into the frame on a Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y.) layup started by a heads-up poke-away on the part of Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, N.Y.). But Bryant soon fell behind again by four, where they remained for much of the session's first 10 minutes.

Another Johnson bucket with 9:22 to play brought the visiting Bulldogs within two, 51-49, before a pair of Siamone Bennett (Newburgh, N.Y.) free throws tied the contest at 51-51 with 8:31 showing on the clock.

O'Keefe gave Bryant the lead with 7:49 to go, completing a tough 3-point play, but Yale responded with three points of their own to reknot the game at 58-58. The teams would trade leads until Yale went up quickly by six, 66-60, with under five minutes to play. And despite a number of players in foul trouble on both benches, it was an edge that the hometown Bulldogs would keep.

Bryant would get within one once more, with 1:05 to play thanks to a pair of Mraz freebies, and Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.) would try to narrow the gap with eight seconds left off a inbounded layup, but in the end, the Ocean State Bulldogs would fall, 77-71.

Bryant's 71 points ties a team high for the Bulldogs this season, while O'Keefe tied her own season high with a game-best 26 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Johnson and Campbell also chipped in double-digit scoring with 12 and 11, respectively. The visiting Bulldogs shot 51.9 percent in the second frame for a game total of 43.9 percent, while Yale finished with 42.2 percent shooting from the floor. Bryant owned the glass Tuesday night, outrebounding the home side, 47-33, but made just 65.6 percent (21-of-32) from the charity stripe.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
O'Keefe earned back-to-back double-doubles for the first time this season after collecting nine last year at the Division II level. The Bulldogs as a team showed their heart, digging in to shoot over 50 percent in the second half to try to right a less impressive first frame.

PATTERN BREAKER
Through the season's first 15 contests, the Bulldogs played into a win-loss-loss pattern without exception. Tuesday's loss at Yale was their third-straight defeat, bucking Bryant's previous pattern.

FEELING HOT HOT HOT
Despite a 1-4 record in January, the Bulldogs can thank juniors Kristin Mraz and Kelsey O'Keefe for keeping the games close as of late. Mraz, a junior guard, has caught fire, averaging a second-best 9.8 points per game after getting just 5.7 points per outing before the new year. Mraz is shooting 43.2 percent from the floor (16-of-37), including hitting a team-best 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from long distance, 90.9 percent from the line (10-of-11) and averaging 29.2 minutes a game. She also dished out a team-high 18 assists with five steals and collected 19 rebounds.

O'Keefe has recorded a trio of double-doubles so far in 2009, averaging 16.4 points per game over the last 24 days. The junior forward and co-captain is shooting a team-best 55.2 percent (32-for-58) from the floor, including 39.1 percent from downtown. She is pulling down 8.8 per game on the glass with a squad-high seven steals, and has scored 26 points in each of the last two contests.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Junior co-captain Kelsey O'Keefe and sophomore forward Siamone Bennett were named to the Fordham Holiday Tournament all-tournament team for their performances over the two-day classic Dec. 28 and 29. O'Keefe, who led the team in points both games, averaged 15.5 points per contest, while Bennett averaged 13.5 points per outing.

BURKE EARNS 250TH CAREER VICTORY
With a first-round win over Colgate University at the Fordham Holiday Classic on Dec. 28, 18-year head coach Mary Burke earned her 250th career victory. In her 18th season as head coach of the Bryant University women's basketball program, Burke has a career record of 251-245 and has enjoyed two 20-win seasons over her coaching days. She entered 2008-09 with a 246-234 career record. The Bulldogs' have earned five wins so far this season to get Burke to the landmark victory.

BABY GRAND
With a layup 43 seconds into Dec. 1's 53-50 win over St. Francis (NY), junior Kelsey O'Keefe became the 19th player in Bryant women's basketball history to pass the 1000-point plateau. The 6-1 forward enters tonight's game with 1,146 points after being the team's top points scorer in each of the past two seasons. O'Keefe is the first player to achieve such a feat since Joanna Skiba ('07) reached the 1000-point plateau against Assumption College on November 30, 2006, and O'Keefe is one of the fastest to reach the landmark.

BURKE NAMED TO INTERSCHOLASTIC LEAGUE HALL OF FAME
Rhode Island hoops pioneer and Bryant head coach Mary Burke has been named among the 12 headed for the RI Interscholastic League Hall of Fame.

A Rhode Island native, Burke was a great multi-sport athlete in the early days of the league's girls sports programs and is one of the best athletic success stories of any of the league's female graduates. She will be inducted on May 6 at the league's annual Hall of Fame induction dinner at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick.

BRYANT JOINS THE DIVISION I NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
In October of 2007, Bryant University officially accepted an invitation to join the Division I Northeast Conference. The school began a four-year transition in the fall of 2008-09 and become a full member of the Northeast Conference in the fall of 2012-13. 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.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Chace Athletic Center has been kind to the Bulldog women in the past, but it will have less chances to be lucky this season in Division I. The women host just eight home contests and are 2-1 in the safe confines of the Chace Athletic Center. The Bulldogs hosted St. Francis (NY) on Dec. 1, getting their first Division I home win, and returned home in January 2009 where they fell to St. Bonaventure in the first game of back-to-back home contests to open the new year. But Bryant got back to winning with a 63-53 topping of Colgate at home.

The Bulldogs are also shooting better in Smithfield, connecting on 40.7 percent of shots from the floor at home as compared to 36.7 percent away from the Chace Athletic Center. Bryant also converts over 40 percent of 3-pointers at home, connecting on just 26.0 percent on the road.

CROSSING ENEMY LINES
Including members from Bryant's future home in the Northeast Conference as well as Independents, the Bulldogs will compete against seven different Division I conferences in 2008-09. Here is how they've fared so far.
Bryant vs. Division I conferences:
  America East: 1-1
  Atlantic 10: 0-3
  Independent: 0-0
  Ivy League: 0-3
  MEAC: 0-0
  Northeast Conference: 2-1
  Patriot League: 2-3

NO TIME TO WAIT
On November 14, the 2008-09 women's basketball team joined the women's soccer team and women's volleyball team as the only Bulldog programs to get their-ever first Division I win in their first DI contest with a 69-66 win over UNH. Kelsey O'Keefe scored a season-high 17 points in the contest on four three-pointers and 6-for-15 total shooting from the floor while Siamone Bennett and Kristin Mraz also scored in the double digits with 15 and 13 points, respectively. O'Keefe and senior Cara Johnson paced the team on the boards, each collecting seven.

OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS
Senior Cara Johnson and junior Kelsey O'Keefe have been named the 2008-09 team captains.

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs stay at home for one more game, hosting the New Jersey Institute of Technology Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. before making the trek to the Pittsburgh area for a pair of contests versus future Northeast Conference opponents Saint Francis (PA) and Robert Morris University.

MAPPING IT OUT
Despite its home in Smithfield, R.I., Bryant boasts no homegrown talent on its 2008-09 roster. Instead, the Bulldogs hail from five different states, with six players coming to Douglas Pike from Massachusetts and six from the tri-state area. The Bay Staters make up much of the junior class (Schermerhorn, O'Keefe, Campbell, Mayshar) and add senior Fontaine and frosh Cowen, while five (Bennett, Mraz, Johnson, Dessingue, Stahura) call New York home. The remainder of the Bryant roster come from New Jersey (Hudspeth) and Maine (Wood).

BULLDOGS ON THE AIR
Fans can catch all of the action this year by logging onto www.bryantbulldogs.com to watch all Bryant home games live online, courtesy of Penn Atlantic. Also this year, track each game live online for free with LIVE STATS by visiting www.bryantbulldogs.com and clicking the Live Stats link.