Bryant University Bulldogs BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST WINNING STREAK OF SEASON AGAINST NJIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON THE ROAD, TIPOFF AT 7 P.M.

February 16, 2009

BULLDOGS LOOK FOR FIRST WINNING STREAK OF SEASON AGAINST NJIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON THE ROAD, TIPOFF AT 7 P.M.

THE MATCHUP -- BRYANT at NJIT
Date: February 18, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Newark, N.J.
Arena: Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center (1,500)
Series: Bryant leads, 2-0

BRYANT BULLDOGS UPDATE
The Bulldogs continued to win at home, recording their first back-to-back wins of the season with Monday's 71-53 topping of Wagner College. Junior captain Kelsey O'Keefe recorded her 10th double-double of the season with her 19-point, 10-rebound performance, while senior captain Cara Johnson earned her first double-double of the season with a game-high 20-point, 10-rebound effort. Bryant shot 54.2 percent in the second frame, continuing its late-game shooting spike, for 46.3 percent shooting from the field on the day.

On the year, O'Keefe's 16.4 points per game average paces the Bulldogs, while her 8.3 rebounds per contest are also a team high. The big forward shoots a team-best 78.6 percent from the line and is successful from long range over 37 percent of the time (42-for-113). She hits 44.8 percent from the floor. Junior point guard Kristin Mraz has handed out a team-best 63 helpers this season while sophomore Siamone Bennett has a squad-high 32 blocks.

THE GAME
Wednesday's matchup is the third meeting between Bryant and NJIT and is the second time the squad's have met this season in Division I. The Bulldogs topped the Highlanders, 66-62, on January 28, 2009 at the Chace Athletic Center.

SCOUTING NJIT (6-16)
The Highlanders snapped a three-game losing streak with an 83-67 win over Longwood Saturday afternoon at home. NJIT made a school-record 14 threes en route to its sixth win of the season. The Highlanders shot 60.9 percent from long distance and 50.8 percent from the floor, led by 22 points from Jackie McCaffrey, who went 7-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown. Jill Dickinson also recorded double-figure scoring with 15 points.

On the year, NJIT is led by 16.7 ppg from Jessica Gerald, while Kehinde Oyelola chips in 9.1 per outing and pulls down a second-best 5.3 rpg with a team-high 12 blocks. Taiwo Oyelola paces the Highlanders on the glass with 5.5 rebounds per contest. McCaffrey has dished out a team-high 49 assists.

LAST TIME OUT
Led by double-doubles from captains Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y.) and Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.), the Bryant University women's basketball team won back-to-back games for the first time this season, topping future Northeast Conference opponent Wagner, 71-53, Monday night at the Chace Athletic Center.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? BRYANT vs. WAGNER [2/16/09]
Johnson led the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season while O'Keefe notched her 10th double-double of the year with 19 points and 10 boards in the win, pacing a team that shot 46.3 percent from the field to move to 8-16 on the season.

The game stayed fairly even in the opening minutes, with Bryant taking a slight four-point edge off a Johnson three-pointer - her second of four on the day - 3:15 into the contest, 11-7.

But after the seven-minute mark the Bulldogs (8-16) started to build their lead on the Seahawks (7-18), taking an 18-10 advantage with 11:44 to play and extending that lead to as many as 10 points, 24-14, before taking a 30-23 edge into the intermission.

The Bulldogs outshot Wagner, 40 percent to 24.2 percent in the frame, with Johnson scoring 13 of her 20 points in the opening 20 minutes. Bryant was a dismal 20 percent from the line, connecting on just 2-of-10 freebie opportunities.

But in the second half, Bryant quickly remounted a double-digit advantage with another Johnson long ball just 28 seconds in and kept the margin hovering around 10 for much of the half.

Bryant upped their advantage even more in the final six minutes, moving their lead to 15 points, 60-45, off a fast break layup from junior Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.) with just under four minutes to play.

And with the lead staying at 15 as the clock ticked under two minutes, the Seahawks had no choice but to start fouling. Bryant stretched their lead to 18 on 5-of-6 shooting from the foul line in the final two minutes to take a 71-53 final tally and complete back-to-back wins for the first time all season.

O'Keefe registered a trio of blocks to top off her double-double performance, also chipping in three assists. Schermerhorn had a team-best five helpers, while Jaime Campbell (Springfield, Mass.) pulled down seven boards and added seven points in a strong 17 minutes of floor time.

The Bulldogs outrebounded Wagner, 50-45, and went 7-for-17 from downtown on the day.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
Bryant won its first back-to-back games of the season, upped their home record to 5-2 and upped their mark against future NEC opponents to 4-5 on the back of double-doubles from both its captains.

DOUBLE OR NOTHING
Senior captain Cara Johnson and junior captain Kelsey O'Keefe have recorded the team's only double-doubles of the season, with 10 of the coming from O'Keefe and one coming from Johnson. Both captains recorded double-doubles against Wagner on Feb. 16, with Johnson collecting 20 points and 10 boards and O'Keefe recording 19 and 10.

HOT HANDS FOR HUDSPETH
Sophomore sharpshooter Lindsey Hudspeth has shown a hot hand to end January and start February, averaging 8.3 points per game from Jan. 24 through Feb. 14 after coming up with only 2.9 in the previous 16 outings. She has matched or recorded new career highs in points (18), rebounds (7), assists (2) and minutes (29) since the end of January and has upped her accuracy to 41.9 percent over the last seven contests. She was also 11-for-25 from downtown.

FEELING HOT HOT HOT
Despite closing January with a 2-6 record, the Bulldogs can thank juniors Kristin Mraz and Kelsey O'Keefe for keeping the games close over the 30-day period. Mraz, a junior guard, caught fire in the month's early games, averaging a second-best 9.8 points per game before the Dartmouth loss after getting just 5.7 points per outing before the new year. Mraz shot 43.2 percent from the floor (16-of-37), 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 through the month's first five bouts. She has dished out a team-high 24 assists with eight steals and collected 23 rebounds in January.

O'Keefe recorded five double-doubles in January 2009, averaging 18.3 points per game over the month. The junior forward and co-captain shot a team-best 54.4 percent (56-for-103) from the floor, including 45.5 percent from downtown (15-of-33). She pulled down 9.6 per game off the glass with a squad-high nine steals, and recorded back-to-back 26-point outings.

YOU'RE THE TOP
On top of getting onto Bryant's top-10 all-time scorers list, O'Keefe now sits at No. 6 with 1,313 career points, the Bulldog junior captain is in the top five of four other career statistical categories. The junior forward is second all-time in made field goals (473), fourth all-time in rebounds (643) and fifth all-time in 3-point field goals made (111). Sophomore Siamone Bennett also made a career top-5 list after just under two years of play, her 60 blocks coming in tied with O'Keefe at No. 5 all-time.

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 254-250 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 six 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 1,313 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 she is one of the fastest to reach the landmark. She also moves up to No. 6 on the Bryant all-time scorers list.

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 4-2 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, and has since earned three other home wins, including the first back-to-back victories of the season of Feb. 14 and 16.

The Bulldogs are also shooting better in Smithfield, connecting on 43.2 percent of shots from the floor at home as compared to 36.9 percent away from the Chace Athletic Center. Bryant also converts 42.3 percent of 3-pointers at home, connecting on just 29.1 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: 1-0
  Ivy League: 0-4
  Northeast Conference: 4-5
  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 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 return to Smithfield for a 1 p.m. Senior Day contest against Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, Feb. 21.

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.