BULLDOGS LOOK FOR WIN ON ROAD AT QUINNIPIAC SATURDAY AFTERNOON; TIPOFF AT 12 P.M.

February 2, 2009

BRYANT CONTINUES ROAD TRIP WITH QUINNIPIAC BOUT SATURDAY AFTERNOON; TIPOFF AT 12 P.M.

Game Notes / Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio

BRYANT BULLDOGS UPDATE                                                          
The Bulldogs continue on their current four-game road trip with a noon matchup against Quinnipiac Saturday. They enter Hamden, Conn. off a hard-fought 91-80 loss to Robert Morris Monday. Despite the loss, Bryant scored its highest points total of the season with 80 points and saw four players record double-digit scoring, including the eighth double-double of the season from junior leading scorer Kelsey O'Keefe (25p, 11r). Junior Kristin Mraz scored 13 points to go along with a game-high seven helpers. Senior Cara Johnson and sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth also scored in double-digits with 18 and 10, respectively.

On the year, O'Keefe's 15.8 points per game average paces the Bulldogs, while her 8.4 boards per outing are also a team high. The big forward shoots 75.9 percent from the line - bested only by junior PG Kristin Mraz's 76 percent success rate - and shoots over 37 percent from long range (36-for-96). Mraz has handed out a team-best 55 helpers so far this season while sophomore Siamone Bennett has a squad-high 29 blocks.

THE GAME
Saturday's noon matchup is the 30th meeting between Bryant and future Northeast Conference foe Quinnipiac, and the first time the teams have met in Division I competition.

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC (12-8)
Losers of three straight, the Bobcats are looking to right the ship against Bryant following three consecutive conference defeats. Most recently, Quinnipiac fell to Mount St. Mary's, 70-64, led by career numbers from Brianna Rooney (10 rebounds, 9 assists). Erin Kerner led the team with 16 points while two others also scored in double-digits.

Kerner paces the Bobcats this season, averaging 17.2 points per game while chipping in another 3.2 rebounds per outing and dishing out a team second-best 43 assists. Mandy Pennewell also averages double-digit scoring with 12.1 per contest. Kathleen Neyens leads Quinnipiac on the glass, pulling down 4.9 boards per game while Jackie Mann has a team-best 14 blocks on the year. Brianna Rooney hands out the most helpers on the team, having 73 so far this season.

LAST TIME OUT
Despite four players finishing with double-digit scoring, the Bryant University women's basketball team couldn't get past a tough Robert Morris side, falling on the road, 91-80, to the Colonials Monday night at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? BRYANT at Robert Morris [2/2/09]
Junior co-captain Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.) scored a team-high 25 points, picking up her sixth double-double of the season on the back of her third-consecutive 20+ point outing to compliment 11 rebounds.

The Bulldogs (6-14) shot a respectable 40 percent in the first half, but took a 50-39 deficit into the half thanks to 51.4 percent shooting from the Colonials (12-10) in the opening frame. Bryant scored five three-pointers in each session, with O'Keefe going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.

And while the Bulldogs evened it up in the second half, shooting 46.4 percent to Robert Morris's 40 percent for a second-frame score of 41-41, it wouldn't be enough to get the visitors back on top as Bryant fell, 91-80.

Senior co-captain Cara Johnson (Endicott, N.Y.) scored 18 points while junior guard Kristin Mraz (Johnstown, N.Y.) and sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount Laurel, N.J.) also chipped in double-digit points, with 13 and 10, respectively.

But it was the 33 points of Northeast Conference Player of the Week and preseason all-conference pick Sade Logan that did in the visiting Bulldogs, while Monet Johnson (20) and Kendra Williams (17) also registered big points for the Colonials.

On the day, Robert Morris also won the battle on the glass, 52-36.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
The Bulldogs scored a new team high points total for the second-straight contest, recording 80 just a game after setting the season high at 75 against Saint Francis (PA).

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. 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 has recorded five double-doubles so far in 2009, averaging 18.3 points per game over the month of January. 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.

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 252-248 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 1,235 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. 10 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 3-2 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.

The Bulldogs are also shooting better in Smithfield, connecting on 40.6 percent of shots from the floor at home as compared to 37.9 percent away from the Chace Athletic Center. Bryant also converts nearly 40 percent (39.7) of 3-pointers at home, connecting on just 29.2 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
     MEAC: 0-0
     Northeast Conference: 2-3
     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 play out the final contest of a four-game road trip, taking on Monmouth on Monday, Feb. 9 at 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.