Women's Basketball | 12/14/2015 3:58:00 PM

BLOOMSBURG (6-2, 3-2 PSAC East) at WEST CHESTER (6-4, 3-3 PSAC East)
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 - 5:30 p.m.
West Chester, Pa. | Hollinger Field House

GAME NOTES:
Bloomsburg at West Chester Game Notes

GAME COVERAGE:
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RELATED LINKS:
Bloomsburg - Roster | Schedule | Statistics
West Chester - Roster | Schedule | Statistics

A LOOK BACK ...
Bloomsburg won its 14th consecutive meeting, and improved to 52-20 lifetime, against East Stroudsburg with a 73-52 victory over the Warriors at Nelson Field House on Tuesday, December 1. The Huskies have not lost to East Stroudsburg since dropping a 70-58 decision to the Warriors on February 11, 2009.

Bloomsburg then improved to 7-3 lifetime against Mercyhurst with a 66-61 double-overtime victory over the Lakers at Nelson Field on Friday, December 4. The Huskies closed out the week with an 82-63 loss to Gannon on Saturday, December 5, also at home. Bloomsburg dropped to 2-6 lifetime against the Golden Knights.

THE WEST CHESTER SERIES ...
Bloomsburg leads the all-time series against West Chester by a 38-33 margin. The Huskies have won seven of the last ten meetings between the two schools, including a string of four straight victories from February 16, 2013 to January 10, 2015. However, West Chester won the last meeting, 93-88, in West Chester of February 11, 2015. Seven of the last ten contests have been decided by ten points or fewer.

LAST MEETING AGAINST WEST CHESTER ...
West Chester snapped a four-game losing streak against Bloomsburg with a 93-88 overtime win over the Huskies at Hollinger Field House. Bloomsburg had five players in double figures led by Marla Simmons (Lebanon/Cedar Crest) who finished with 21. Camden Boehner (Gettysburg/Gettysburg Area) scored 20 points in 26 minutes off the bench for the Huskies. Taylor Maldonado (Stroudsburg/Allentown Central Catholic) (15), Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) (13), and Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) (10) also reached double digits. Bloomsburg trailed by ten at halftime but then outscored West Chester by ten in the second half to force overtime. West Chester got 25 points from Dallas Ely and 22 from Jasmen Clark in the win. Bloomsburg was outrebounded by a 54-29 margin in the loss.

SCOUTING WEST CHESTER ...
It has been an up-and-down start for the Golden Rams thus far as the team enters with a 6-4 overall record and a 3-3 mark in conference play. They have not had a winning, or a losing, streak longer than two games in the early stages of the season. West Chester is 4-2 on its home court this season, including a 2-1 mark against conference foes. Brittany Sicinski leads four Golden Rams in double figures this season, posting a team-high 14.9 points per game. She also averages 5.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists through ten games. Those figures increase to 18.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists against conference opponents. Dallas Ely averages 13.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. Kendall Benovy (11.7) and Anna Kuntz (10.2) also average in double figures in scoring. Kuntz pulls down a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game with Benovy right behind at 7.4. Porscha Speller is the main threat off the bench, averaging 7.2 points per contest. The Golden Rams are +4.9 in rebounding margin and +5.7 in scoring margin through the opening ten contests.

HUSKIES SEVENTH IN ATLANTIC REGION ...
Bloomsburg enters the contest ranked seventh in the Atlantic Region according to the latest Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) media poll released on Monday. The Huskies received 23 points in the regional poll, down from the 27 points they received last week. West Liberty leads the rankings with all six first-place votes and 60 total points. California (PA) is right behind with 54 total points.

Bloomsburg is also receiving votes in the latest USA Today Sports Top 25 Division II Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll released Tuesday. The Huskies received 10 total points in the latest rankings, down from the 38 they received a week prior. Fort Hays State received 12 first-place votes and is tops in the country according to the coaches' poll. The Huskies, however, are not receiving votes in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Limestone is the top-ranked team in the country according to the media poll.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK ...
Bloomsburg earned a season-opening 76-72 victory at New Haven on November 13. The Huskies trailed, however, for a majority of the contest, falling behind by as many as 18 points with 9:01 left in the second quarter and still trailed by double digits with 2:38 left in the third quarter before mounting a comeback. The Huskies outscored the Chargers, 27-16, in the fourth quarter to come away with the win. Then, at Seton Hill on November 21, the Huskies pulled off an even more impressive come-from-behind victory against the Griffins. Trailing 71-58 with 6:56 left in regulation, Bloomsburg scored the next 20 points over the net 6:30 to take a seven-point lead. The Huskies held on from there, 82-79, to post a win the PSAC opener.

In fact, over the course of the first eight games of the season, Bloomsburg has trailed at one point in seven of those contests. The only game in which the Huskies have not trailed was the 62-61 victory over University of the Sciences on November 29, but they needed a miss at the buzzer to hang on.

IMPRESSIVE CAREER ...
Redshirt senior Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) is putting together a fine career in a Bloomsburg uniform. Chosen as a preseason All-PSAC East selection, Sadowski ranks third on the team in scoring (12.1 ppg), second on the team in rebounding (6.7 rpg), and tops in blocked shots (1.4 bpg). She is 20th in the PSAC in rebounding and is tops in the conference (28th in the country) in field goal percentage at 58.7%. All told, Sadowski needs 127 points to join the 1,000-point club - Catherine Noack was the last player to score at least 1,000 points, joining the club during the 2013-14 campaign. Sadowski now has 126 career blocks in a Husky uniform - third on the program's all-time list.

STARTERS PROVIDING THE SCORING ...
Through eight games of the regular season, Bloomsburg is getting most of its offensive production from its five starters - juniors Mia Hopkins (Pittston/Pittston Area), Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic), and Alex Ross (Lancaster/Manheim Township); redshirt senior Adreana Sadowski (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights); and a combination of freshmen Alyssa Mack (Walnutport/Allentown Central Catholic) and Julia Gantz (Havertown/Archbishop John Carroll). Mack has started each of the last four games (once for Sadowski who missed the University of the Sciences game with an illness) while Gantz started the first five.

The Huskies' bench has scored just 84 points in eight games - an average of 10.5 points per game. The bench has provided 15.1% of the team's scoring through the first eight games. The leading scorer off the bench, not including Mack or Gantz, is junior Kristie Costantino (Norristown/Archbishop John Carroll) who is averaging 3.8 points per game this season. In comparison, the opponent's bench has scored 122 points in eight games (15.3 points per game) - 22.6% of the opponents' point total this season.

TOO MANY SECOND CHANCES ...
Through the first five games of the season, Bloomsburg had outrebounded its opponents in four of those contests and was tied in rebounds in the other. However, in the three-game stretch against East Stroudsburg, Mercyhurst, and Gannon, the Huskies were outrebounded in all three games and really struggled in allowing multiple chances for the opponents to score. The Warriors, Lakers, and Lady Knights pulled down 64 offensive rebounds during the three-game stretch (21.3 per game), including 26 by Mercyhurst in Bloomsburg's double overtime victory over the Lakers on December 4. Fortunately for the Huskies, the teams only averaged 11 second-chance points in the three games. Bloomsburg has now been outrebounded 336-327 for the season but has allowed 127 opponent's offensive rebounds (15.9 per game). In comparison, the Huskies have 89 offensive boards in eight games.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE ...
Junior Mia Hopkins (Pittston/Pittston Area) could not have asked for a better start to her Bloomsburg University career. In eight career games with the Huskies, Hopkins has posted seven double-doubles, which is currently tied for tops in the country. She opened the season with seven consecutive double-doubles but saw her streak end at seven in the loss to Gannon on December 5 when she finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. She is tied with five other players with seven double-doubles but only one of those players (Jazz Green of Coker) has reached seven as quick as Hopkins. Both have done it in eight contests.

FIRST TIME IN A WHILE ...
Junior Mia Hopkins (Pittston/Pittston Area) scored 13 points and pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds in the win over the University of the Sciences on November 29. The 16 rebounds represented the first time that a Bloomsburg player had at least 15 boards in a game since Colleen Kegerreis pulled down 15 in a 71-70 loss against Cheyney on Janaury 14, 2009. Hopkins recorded another 16-rebound effort against Mercyhurst on December 4.

MACK ATTACK ...
For the second time this season, freshman Alyssa Mack (Walnutport/Allentown Central Catholic) was named the PSAC East Freshman of the Week as announced by the league office on Monday, December 7. She helped lead the Huskies to a 2-1 record during the week by averaging 8.7 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.7 steals in the three contests. In the win over East Stroudsburg on December 1, Mack had nine points and tied her career-highs in assists (2) and steals (2). She added six points and a career-high three steals in the win over Mercyhurst on December 4 and then tied a career-high with 11 points and three triples in the loss to Gannon on December 5. Mack leads all Bloomsburg freshmen in scoring averaging 7.8 points per game. She leads the team with 11 three-pointers and is third on the team with ten steals. She earned her first Freshman of the Week honors on November 23 after averaging 9.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in wins at Goldey-Beacom and Seton Hill and a loss at California (PA). She reached double figures in scoring in two of those three games.

ROSS RISING TO THE OCCASION ...
Junior Alex Ross (Lancaster/Manheim Township) is taking advantage of a significant increase in playing time this season. Ross scored a career-high 18 points in the 62-61 win over University of the Sciences on November 29, going 9-of-12 from the field in the process. She added 13 points, five rebounds, and a career-high five assists in the victory over East Stroudsburg on December 1 and then recorded her first career double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in the loss to Gannon on December 5. She has now reached double figures in scoring in six of the eight games so far this season. Prior to her output against U. Sciences, she scored her previous highs of 11 against both New Haven and Goldey-Beacom. She averaged 1.0 points and 1.1 rebounds as a freshman and then 1.2 points and 1.7 rebounds last season. This season, she is fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 10.5 points per game, is third in rebounding at 5.6 boards per contest, and is third in assists per game (2.4). She has easily established career-highs in all three categories.

NO KLUNK-ER HERE ...
While Hopkins has been getting much of the spotlight, junior Morgan Klunk (Felton/York Catholic) has put together a fine start to her 2015-16 season. She ranks second on the team in scoring (13.5), fourth on the team in rebounding (5.4), and second on the team in assists (3.0). She is also third in the conference in field goal percentage, knocking down 42 of her 74 shot attempts for a 56.8% clip.

HOPKINS AMONG BEST ...
Junior Mia Hopkins (Pittston/Pittston Area) has taken the league by storm through the opening month of the regular season. She ranks in the top ten in the PSAC in a number of categories, including points per game (third), rebounds per game (first), double-doubles (first), free-throw percentage (eighth), assists per game (ninth), steals per game (tied for first), and minutes per game (fifth). She is also tied for 11th in the PSAC in blocks per game. In the country, Hopkins is tied for first in double-doubles, fourth in rebounds, 21st in steals, and 37th in scoring.

THREE-POINT STRUGGLES ...
Bloomsburg enters Wednesday's contest ranked 16th out of 18 teams in the PSAC in three-point field goal percentage, making just 39 of its 151 long range attempts (25.8%). The Huskies, however, did improve drastically in the win over East Stroudsburg, making six of their 14 attempts from beyond the arc. Bloomsburg averages only 4.9 three-pointers per game thus far with freshman Alyssa Mack (Walnutport/Allentown Central Catholic) leading the way with 11. Alex Ross (Lancaster/Manheim Township) is next with nine makes. However, Mack is just 11-of-41 from beyond the arc (26.8%). Ross leads the team in percentage, going 9-of-28 (32.1%).

UPCOMING SCHEDULE ...
The Huskies will return home on Saturday, December 19, when they entertain Mansfield at Nelson Field House. Start time is slated for 3:00 p.m. and will be the second game of the men's and women's doubleheader against the Mountaineers.