January 9, 2009

BULLDOGS TRY TO GET BACK ON TRACK AGAINST INTRASTATE RIVAL BROWN SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Friday, January 9, 2009

BULLDOGS LOOK TO GET BACK ON TRACK AGAINST INTRASTATE RIVAL BROWN SATURDAY AT 1 P.M.

THE MATCHUP - Bryant at Brown
Date: January 10, 2009
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Providence, R.I.
Arena: Pizzitola Sports Center (2,800)
Series: First Meeting

BRYANT BULLDOGS UPDATE
The Bulldogs are looking for their sixth win of the season as they travel to nearby Providence to take on intrastate rival Brown University. In its last outing, Bryant stumbled against a tough Holy Cross squad who shot nearly 47 percent from the floor, 73-54, on Wednesday night on the road. Junior Kristin Mraz scored a career- and game-high 21 points off 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the Bulldogs in the loss.

On the year, Bryant is led by 12.5 points per game from junior Kelsey 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 7.3 boards per contest while shooting 71.4 percent from the line and dishing out 31 assists. Bennett's 19 blocks and 14 steals lead the team, while Mraz has begun to take over duties at the point, turning it on as of late to average 12.0 points per game over the last three contests and 10.8 over the last five. The junior guard also has a team-high 34 helpers.
THE GAME
Today's 1 p.m. matchup is the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Bears and the second time Bryant has squared off against an Ivy League team this season.

SCOUTING BROWN (1-12)
The Bears are looking for their first win since the end of November, when they took a 65-52 win out of Orono, Maine on Nov. 28, and just the second victory of the season. Since then, Brown has lost eight straight, capped off by its most recent loss, 60-43, to American on Jan. 6. Betsy Jacobson led Brown with 12 points in the loss, and the Bears shot just 22.2 percent in the second half. That, combined with late turnovers, resulted in a 16-point second frame and their 12th loss of the year.

Sophomore Karly Grace paces the Bears on the season, averaging 7.0 points per game in 13 contests. Natalie Bonds's 5.3 boards per outing lead the team on the glass, while her 11 blocks are also a team best. Courtney Lee had 27 steals on the season and a team-high 42 assists, but no Bear has scored over 100 points yet this year.

BROWN VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
The Bears have squared off against members of the NEC twice this season. And while the Bulldogs can't call themselves Northeast Conference members quite yet, here is how Brown fared against the Bulldogs' future conference opponents:
11/16 vs. Quinnipiac Loss, 62-39
12/5 vs. LIU Loss, 52-47

Brown has also faced off against a common Bulldog opponent outside the NEC in the University of Rhode Island. The Bears, like the Bulldogs, fell to the Rams, 75-59.

LAST TIME OUT
A career-high 21 points from junior Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, N.Y.) wouldn't be enough the keep the Bryant University women's basketball team on the side of winning as the Bulldogs fell, 73-54, to Holy Cross Wednesday night at the Hart Center.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? BRYANT at HOLY CROSS (1/7/09)
It was Mraz who kept the Bulldogs (5-9) in the game in the early goings, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 14 of the team's first 18 points, tying her career high just 8:18 into the contest.

Her fourth trey, the last of the frame for the guard, at 11:42 made the score 23-18 in favor of the Crusaders (5-10), who got their first 13 points of the outing from the combination of Jessica Pearson and Kathy Gruzynski. But it would be Bethany O'Dell who would follow with the next 10-straight Holy Cross points, as the home side would grow its lead up to as many as 10 points, 36-26, with 2:40 showing on the clock.

But in the waning minutes of the frame the Bulldogs closed the gap, narrowing their deficit to 36-29 off a Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount Laurel, N.J.) long ball and got within four with 1:21 to play off a Jaime Campbell (Springfield, Mass.) midrange jumper from just outside the paint, 36-32.

But two Holy Cross buckets, including a buzzerbeater from Pearson, upped the home team's lead back to eight, 40-32, entering the break.

At the half, Mraz led all scorers with 16 points -- half of Bryant's first session tally -- and was an impressive 6-for-7 from the floor. Campbell had a team-best four rebounds while chipping in another eight pionts.

But after the break, Holy Cross took another double-digit advantage, opening the half on a 16-4 run to up the score to 56-36 with 14:24 on the clock and put a damper on any hope of a Bulldog second-half comeback.

Bryant would score just nine points through the first 13:32 of the frame, getting outscored in the second half, 33-22. Mraz would score five second-half points, including one more 3-pointer, to finish the contest with a game-high and career-high 21 points. The guard went 7-for-11 from the floor, including going 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and 2-for-2 from the line on the outing. Campbell would be the only other Bulldog to score double digits (10 points).

Bulldog freshmen Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) and Brittany Stahura (Amsterdam, N.Y.) saw significant playing time in the contest, as did senior Steph Fontaine (Franklin, Mass.), particularly in the second session.

O'Dell led the Crusaders with 15 points and nine boards.

The Bulldogs outrebounded Holy Cross, 42-38 on the day, but were outshot, making just 34.4 percent from the floor while allowing the Crusaders to convert on 46.9 percent of opportunities.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
Mraz proved she has the ability to run the offense and carry the team when necessary. Her impressive 21-point performance was a new career high for a player who has had tremendous success off the bench in 2008-09.

BENCH BLISS
Junior guard Kristin Mraz has proved herself far more effective coming off the bench than she was as a starter the first five games of the season. The first sub off the bench for coach Mary Burke and the Bulldogs, Mraz shoots 31.7 percent off the bench as compared to 23.5 percent shooting as a starter, and averages 2.7 assists per contest in her non-starting role.

FEELING HOT HOT HOT
Despite a 1-2 record over the last three games, the Bulldogs can thank Mraz for keeping the games close as of late. The junior guard has caught fire, leading the team with 12 points per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the floor (12-of-23), including hitting 6-of-10 from long distance, 85.7 percent from the line (6-of-7) and averaging a team-best 30 minutes a game. She has also dished out 10 assists with a trio of steals and has collected 11 rebounds.

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 1,094 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 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 251-243 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 four wins so far this season to get Burke to the landmark win.

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 on Monday 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 35.9 percent away from the Chace Athletic Center. Bryant also converts over 40 percent of 3-pointers at home, connecting on just 26.5 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: 0-1
  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 on the road for another contest, travelling to New Haven, Conn. for a Tuesday, January 13 date with Yale before returning home. Tipoff is 7 p.m.

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.