BULLDOGS LOOK TO SNAP LOSING STREAK BEFORE RETURNING HOME, TAKE ON MONMOUTH MONDAY NIGHT AT 7 P.M.

February 9, 2009

BULLDOGS LOOK TO SNAP LOSING STREAK BEFORE RETURNING HOME, TAKE ON MONMOUTH MONDAY NIGHT AT 7 P.M.

Game Notes

THE MATCHUP - Bryant at Monmouth
Date: February 9, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: West Long Branch, N.J.
Arena: Boylan Gym
Series: First Meeting

BRYANT BULLDOGS UPDATE
The Bulldogs close out their current four-game road trip with a 7 p.m. matchup against future NEC rival Monmouth University. They enter West Long Branch, N.J. off a 66-49 loss to Quinnipiac Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs look to rebound after committing 25 miscues and shooting a dismal 29.3 percent shooting from the floor against the Bobcats. Junior leading scorer Kelsey O'Keefe managed her second-consecutive double-double and ninth of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the team, and was the only Bryant player to record double-digit scoring.

On the year, O'Keefe's 15.7 points per game average paces the Bulldogs, while her 8.6 boards per outing are also a team high. The big forward shoots 76.7 percent from the line - bested only by junior PG Kristin Mraz's 76.9 percent success rate - and shoots over 36 percent from long range (37-for-101). Mraz has handed out a team-best 57 helpers so far this season while sophomore Siamone Bennett has a squad-high 29 blocks.

THE GAME
Monday's 7 p.m. matchup is the first-ever meeting between Bryant and future Northeast Conference foe Monmouth, and the fourth of six straight games against NEC competition.

SCOUTING MONMOUTH (11-11)
In search of back-to-back wins, the Monmouth University women's basketball team enters Monday's faceoff having snapped a two-game losing skid with a 71-54 win over St. Francis (N.Y.) this past Saturday. Monmouth played one of its best games of the season, shooting 55.8 percent from the floor on the day and dishing out 20 assists on 24 field goals. Senior Jennifer Bender scored a career-high 27 points and fellow senior Marisa Jimenez added 13 points and a career-high 10 helpers. Freshman Alexis Scott added 13 points and career-best four assists of her own in the contest. 

Preseason All-Conference pick Jennifer Bender paces the Hawks on the season, averaging 15.4 points per game, complimented by a team-best 7.4 boards per contest. The senior shoots 44.1 percent from the floor with a team-high 17 blocks in a squad-best 34.4 minutes per outing. LaKia Barber runs with Bender to contribute 12.2 ppg of her own with 17 steals. Marisa Jimenez leads the team in steals with 25 and assists with 65.

LAST TIME OUT
The Bryant University women's basketball team struggled to find its shot against an aggressive Quinnipiac team Saturday afternoon, falling to the Bobcats, 66-49, at the TD Banknorth Sports Center despite the ninth double-double of the year from junior Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, Mass.).

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? BRYANT at QUINNIPIAC [2/7/09]
Bryant (6-15) needed time to get into a rhythm early in the first half, costing them an early deficit, 19-11, with 11:39 to play in the frame.

Miscues, both forced and unforced plagued the Bulldogs - they would end the game with 25 turnovers - who fell behind by double figures with 8:43 left in the opening frame, 24-13, off a Brianna Rooney 3-pointer. Quinnipiac (13-8) upped its advantage to 14 points on Mandy Pennewell trey of her own 1:20 later.

With 6:09 showing, sophomore Lindsey Hudspeth (Mount Laurel, N.J.) broke up a 10-0 Bobcat scoring run with three points from downtown to make it 29-16 in the home team's favor, and a change in personnel - the addition of freshmen Lekia Cowen (Hopedale, Mass.) and Brittany Stahura (Amsterdam, N.Y.) - gave the Bulldogs a bit more life and enough push to make up five points for a 31-22 hole with 3:13 to play in the opening session.

But the Bobcats would outscore the Bulldogs 5-2 in the final three minutes to send the visitors into the locker room down, 36-24.

Bryant saw less-than-par shooting in the first frame, hitting just 26.7 percent of shots to Quinnipiac's 42.9 percent success rate. The Bulldogs were also outrebounded in the half, 24-19. O'Keefe led Bryant in the first 20 minutes, nearly recording a first-half double with nine points and nine boards.

Out of the intermission, junior Courtney Schermerhorn (Lowell, Mass.) cut the Bobcats' lead to 43-35 with her first points of the contest, a three from the right corner, with 15:37 to play.

But from there, Quinnipiac would go on a 10-2 streak through the nine-minute mark to run the score to 53-37.

The Bulldogs wouldn't make up any ground through the frame's 12th minute, falling behind by 20 points, 62-42, and would keep the deficit through the game's final buzzer, falling in their fourth-straight contest, 66-49.

O'Keefe led the Bulldogs in scoring with 13 points and pulled down 12 boards for her second-consecutive and ninth double-double of the season and was the only Bulldog to score in double figures. Bryant shot 32.1 percent in the second half for a 29.3 shooting percentage on the day.

The Bobcats were led by 18 points from Erin Kerner, while Mandy Pennewell notched her own double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. The teams matched up on the glass in the end, 41-41, while Quinnipiac shot 39.1 percent for the outing.

THE HIGHLIGHTS
Kelsey O'Keefe stays hot with her ninth double double of the season.

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 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.

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 252-249 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 1,248 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 37.3 percent away from the Chace Athletic Center. Bryant also converts nearly 40 percent (39.7) 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
  MEAC: 0-0
  Northeast Conference: 2-4
  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 home to the Chace Athletic Center for two games, but continue their stint against Northeast Conference opponents, hosting Central Connecticut on Saturday, Feb. 14 before welcoming Wagner to Smithfield, R.I. on Monday, Feb. 16.

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.