March 5, 2007

Sacred Heart vs. Monmouth Semifinal Gamenotes in PDF Format
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2007 NEC Tournament Notes in PDF Format
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2007 NEC Tournament Semifinal #3 Sacred Heart Pioneers (21-9) vs. #5 Monmouth Hawks (18-12)

Game #31 - Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - 7:00 pm - Fairfield, Conn. - William H. Pitt Center (2,100)

The Storyline... The #3 seeded Sacred Heart Pioneers will host the #5 seed Monmouth Hawks Tuesday night in the Northeast Conference Semifinals with the winner advancing to Saturday's title game. The Pioneers are appearing in their fourth-straight NEC semifinal after hanging on for a 70-67 win over Mount St. Mary's Saturday afternoon. The Hawks come back to Connecticut for the second round after beating Quinnipiac in Hamden, 63-58. In a re-match of the 2004 NEC semifinals, the Pioneers are looking for their second-straight trip to the league championship game after winning their first title last season. The Hawks last appearance in the championship game was after beating Sacred Heart at Wagner that year. Seniors Amanda Pape and Jasmine Walker are leading the way for the Pioneers, scoring 24 and 23 points on Saturday. Pape averages 17.9 ppg and 3.9 steals while Walker is posting 11.4 ppg and 10.0 rpg in eight career playoff games each.

Series... Sacred Heart leads the all-time series, 9-6. The Pioneers the season series winning 60-51 on their home court and 59-54 at Monmouth after trailing by 16 points in the second half. SHU has won four-straight in the series dating back to the 2004-05 season. The two teams have met just once in the postseason, with the Hawks owning a 64-60 win over the Pioneers in the 2004 semifinals at Wagner College. The two schools met for the first time during the 1997-98 campaign, with Monmouth coming away 65-59 winners. The Pioneers are 4-2 at home against the Hawks, 5-3 at Monmouth and 0-1 at a neutral site.

The Coaches... Ed Swanson (SHU `89) enters his 17th season as head coach at his alma mater. Swanson posts a 277-201 record in his career at Sacred Heart. His teams have a 151-82 record since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-00. Swanson is the program's longest tenured coach and is the all-time leader in coaching wins, (277) and winning percentage (.579). He also earned his first ever NEC Brenda Reilly Coach of the Year award after guiding SHU to a then school record 21 wins in 2003-04. Michele Baxter (St. John Fischer `87) is in her third season at the helm of the Monmouth women's basketball program. Baxter has a 40-30 (.571) record in her three seasons at Monmouth and overall.

Last Meeting with Monmouth... On the strength of matching double doubles from seniors Jasmine Walker and Amanda Pape, Sacred Heart battled their way back from a 16-point second half hole to steal away a 59-54 win at Monmouth on February 27th. The Pioneers used some crafty work on the boards, holding a 39-35 edge in rebounding, while outscoring the Hawks, 37-19, in the second half to come away with their fourth-straight win. Sacred Heart was forced to play from behind for most of the game Friday night, finding themselves behind 15 at the break, 35-22. SHU shot just 28.6% (8-28) over the first 20 minutes, turning it over eight times. The Pioneers used a 15-0 run midway through the second half to pull back in front, and Walker and Pape helped deliver the win in the closing minutes. Walker gave the Pioneers the lead for good at 1:50, with an offensive put back and Pape hit a wide open back-door cut off a feed from Moray for a four-point, 58-54 lead with 45 seconds to play. Moray joined Pape and Walker in double digits with 11 points along with three helpers.

NEC Tournament Notes, Streaks, Trends... This is Sacred Heart's eighth-straight appearance in the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Pioneers are 8-6 in their tournament history, winning the 2006 title.

The Pioneers advanced to the NEC Semifinals for the 4th straight season by defeating Mount St. Mary's for the 13th-straight time Saturday afternoon. SHU is 2-1 against the Mountaineers in the postseason also knocking them out in the 2005 tournament.

SHU will host it's seventh-straight NEC Tournament game. The last time the Pioneers played a playoff game away from the Pitt Center it was March 7, 2004 against Monmouth at Wagner College, the host of that year's tournament. The Pioneers are 5-2 in tournament games played in the William H. Pitt Center. SHU is 3-4 at neutral sites.

SHU has been the #1 seed once (2006), the #2 seed twice (2005, 2004), the #3 seed twice (2007, 2002), the #5 seed twice (2003, 2001) and the #6 seed once (2000).

Tournament Highs and Lows - Largest Margin of Victory - 28 pts vs. FDU 3/4/06 (83-55) Largest Margin of Defeat - 17 pts vs. LIU 3/3/02 (73-56) Most Points Scored - 83 pts vs. FDU 3/4/06; vs. QU 3/2/02 Fewest Points Scored - 45 pts vs. Mt. St. Mary's 3/4/01 Overtime Games - 1 - L, 68-62 vs. Robert Morris 3/8/05 Last Home Tourn. Win - 70-67 vs. Mount St. Mary's 3/3/07 Last Home Tourn. Loss - 68-62 OT vs. Robert Morris 3/8/05 Last Road Tourn. Win - None Last Road Tourn. Loss - None Last Neutral Site Tourn. Win - 51-48 vs. Long Island 3/5/04 Last Neutral Site Tourn. Loss - 64-60 vs. Monmouth 3/7/04 Most Points Scored - Amanda Pape, 25 pts vs. QU 3/11/06 Most Rebounds - Jasmine Walker, 17 rebs. vs. QU 3/11/06 Largest Attendance - 1,406 vs. Quinnipiac 3/11/06

Streaks, Trends, Milestones, Notes... The Pioneers meet Monmouth for just the second time in the NEC postseason. The Hawks knocked SHU out of the 2004 tournament with a 64-60 win in the semifinals at Wagner. Monmouth edged the #4 seeded Quinnipiac Bobcats 63-58 on the road on Saturday. The Pioneers got the home game via #8 St. Francis-NY's 61-51 upset over top-seeded Long Island.

Sunday's NEC title game will feature tonight's winner against the winner of #2 Robert Morris vs. #8 St. Francis-NY. The highest remaining seed will host with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 pm, live on Fox Sports-NY.

SHU finished the regular season at 15-3, tying for the NEC Regular Season Championship with Long Island and Robert Morris. The Pioneers won last season's regular season title outright. SHU locked up their third 20 win season, marking the third time in the last four years the Pioneers have hit the 20 win mark.

The Pioneers are the tournament's hottest team, coming in to Tuesday night's match-up owners of a season-best six-game winning streak.

Senior Amanda Pape became the first player in Sacred Heart history and the third in NEC annals to record 2,000 career points. Pape needed 24 coming in to Saturday's game and hit that number on the head with a pair of free throws with 3:42 left. Jess Zinobile from Saint Francis (PA) is the league's all-time leader with 2,338 points and Beth Swink, also of the Red Flash is second with 2,127.

Pape finished with 20 or more points for the sixth-straight game and eighth in the last 10. She played all 40 minutes for the third-straight outing. She has also posted career-best number in three-point field goals made (23), field goals (204) and assists (110) this season and needs just two steals to eclipse the 101 she turned in last year.

Senior Jasmine Walker continued her late season tear on Saturday with her third-straight and seventh double double in the last eight ball games with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Walker's 23 points is a season high and matches her career high set against Long Island last season. Walker posted her 11th double double of the season and 27th of her career.

For the second time this season, sophomore Kaitlin Sowinski flirted with a triple double scoring 12 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking eight shots. Sowinski's 12 rebounds matches her career high set at Yale earlier this year. This was just the second double double of her career.

Junior Lisa Moray passed out a career-high eight assists in the quarterfinal win over the Mount, boosting her assist numbers to a career-best 101 on the season. She continues to lead the NEC in assist to turnover ratio with just 44 turnovers this year.