March 5, 2004

Final Stats

STATEN ISLAND, NY (March 5, 2004) - The Sacred Heart women's basketball team grinded out a 51-48 win over the Long Island Blackbirds to advance to the semifinals of the Northeast Conference Tournament for the first time in two years. Despite shooting just 28.8% from the field, the Pioneers did just enough offensively to survive and move on.

"Survive and advance. That's what it's all about," stated head coach Ed Swanson. "We didn't play our A-game today and if this was a regular season game, I would probably be pretty upset right now. But today, I am ecstatic to be moving on."

The first half featured some poor shooting by both clubs with the Pioneers hitting just nine-of-30 (30.0%) from the field. Sacred Heart got up quickly, jumping out to 5-0 lead, 2:30 into the game on an Ashley Kohl (Palmyra, PA) three and a pair of Nicolle Rubino (Port Jefferson Station, NY) free throws. From there Sacred Heart's offense went stone cold, missing their next eight shots.

Both teams plodded through the first 10 minutes as the Blackbirds held an 11-7 lead at the second media timeout. SHU came out of the break with a quick 9-0 run, taking back the lead at 16-11 at the seven-minute mark. The Blackbirds picked it up offensively and closed the half with a 17-11 run to lead 28-27 at the break.

The Pioneers, who have finished 0-7 this season when trailing at the half, responded to the challenge and took the lead, 33-28, with 15:24 on the clock. That's when the game took a bizarre twist as a power outage in the local area cut the lights in the Spiro Center. Play was halted for about 15 minutes while generators were used to bring the lights back up and get the game started.

Sacred Heart didn't miss a beat, quickly running their lead to nine, 37-28, after the short break. The Blackbirds finally got on the board nearly six minutes into the half on a lay-up by junior Ravin Chase. Sophomore Erin Pinchbeck followed with a lay-up of her own off a Rubino turnover and quickly the lead was cut to five. SHU's Duggan answered with a jumper at the other end but Amber Wirth banged a shot in the lane followed by a Pinchbeck three to slice the lead to two, 39-37.

The Pioneers responded once again and built their lead back to six, 45-39, with 6:31 on the game clock. But as quickly as Sacred Heart could build a lead, LIU was just as quick to erase it. The Blackbirds put together an 8-1 run to grab the lead, 46-48, with just 2:17 to play.

On SHU's next possession, NEC Rookie of the Year Amanda Pape (Stamford, CT), who struggled from the field shooting 1-of-11, showed that her game isn't just scoring, finding a wide-open Rubino under the hoop to tie it back up. The Blackbirds turned the ball over on their next possession and Sacred Heart had a chance to put the game away but Kohl's three-attempt bounced off the back of the rim. The rebound kicked out of bounds off LIU. The Pioneers went to their freshman standout on the inbounds and Pape was able to get in the lane and draw a foul. She hit one-of two as play switched sides with the Pioneers up one, 49-48, with just over a minute to go.

Long Island three chances to take the lead, but shots by Masa Susic, Wirth and Kelli Sawyer all missed their mark. Pape came up with the final rebound and the Blackbirds were forced to foul. LIU sent Rubino to the line and the sophomore sensation calmly buried both her attempts, leaving SHU up three, 51-48, with 15 second to play.

After the Pioneers' sixth team foul of the half and a 30-second timeout, Long Island set up for one final shot to tie the game. Sawyer got the ball off the inbounds and looked for Wirth but SHU's defense clamped down and Pape picked off the fellow freshman's pass as the horn sounded securing the win for the Pioneers.

The win is the first in three tries against Long Island in the tournament. The Blackbirds knocked Sacred Heart out of the playoff the past two seasons. Senior Kate Maher (Waterford, Ireland) played inspired basketball, pulling down 12 rebounds with six points and four assists. Junior Colleen Duggan led the Pioneers with 14 points in the win. Despite her poor shooting, Pape finished with five assists and nine points, seven-of-10 at the line, and probably the biggest steal of her young career.

LIU's Pinchbeck finished with a game high 15 points while Sawyer chipped in with 13 and five assists. Chase pulled down 14 rebounds in the loss.

The Pioneers will take on the winner of the Monmouth and Wagner quarterfinal game on Sunday at 2:30 pm.

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