Women's Basketball Set for ECC Semifinal Round Against Dowling on Saturday
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (March 1, 2012) – With Wednesday night's ECC quarterfinal victory, the women's basketball team now advances to play Dowling on Saturday in the semi-finals at Queens College.
Facing off against NYIT in the quarterfinal round of this season's ECC tournament, the Pioneers were able to come out with an 85-70 win, improving to 21-8 overall. The C.W. Post bench managed to outscore the Bears bench by a 26-17 advantage and as a group, the Pioneers knocked down nine three-pointers.
Kenyatta Sears (Hampton, Va.) came off the bench to connect on three shots from downtown to account for her 11 points while
Felicia Joyner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) led with 23 points and five assists.
Samantha Kopp (Franklinville, N.Y.) notched a double-double behind 10 points and 10 rebounds while also tallying five blocks.
Going into Saturday's action, the Pioneers have pushed the season's scoring margin to 11.0 points per game over opponents. This has been helped by a 41.7 shooting percentage, helped by 16.0 assists a game, while opponents are only shooting 37.5 percent. The interior has also come up with 8.9 more rebounds a game over teams and have sent back 3.4 blocks a game.
Shooting 41.6 percent from the field, Joyner continues to lead C.W. Post in scoring with 17.1 points per game and has knocked down a team lead 88 free throws. Leading at 9.7 rebounds per game,
Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is also scoring 10.3 points per game to help produce a low-post presence. Kopp is also a big part of that low-post, shooting 55.3 percent from the field for 8.5 points a game and is pulling in 7.2 boards a game. She has also totaled 40 blocks on the season, leading the Pioneers. Coming on over the past few weeks on the season,
Alexis Peters (Dorchester, Mass.) has her averages up to 7.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
With a 20-6 overall record that included that top conference mark of 13-3, Dowling earned a bye through the quarterfinal round as the number one seed in the ECC. The Golden Lions last played on Saturday, Feb. 25 with a 57-40 win over Queens as the team generated 28-10 points in the paint and 23 points off turnovers. Connie Simmons led with 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Sarah Schicher totaled six blocks to go with her 10 points and seven rebounds.
Only allowing 50.6 points per game, the Dowling offense has been able to score 61.2 points a game. The low defensive average has been contributed to team's shooting 31.6 percent against the Golden Lions with the defense rejecting 5.2 shots a game and controlling the rebounding column by a 4.6 margin. Dowling has also taken advantage of free throw attempts, shooting 71.4 percent from the stripe as a team.
At 11.7 points per game, Simmons is the lone individual on the team to average double-figures. She is also pulling in 6.6 boards a game to go with 2.7 assists a game. Schicher is shooting 49.0 percent to help her 9.9 points per game is leading with 7.3 rebounds a game and 2.2 blocks per game. Julia Koppl has connected on 45 three-pointers to earn a 9.1 scoring average.
Playing each other twice this season, Dowling has come away with both victories. The first came in a 70-69 overtime road victory back on Nov. 30 followed up with a Jan.28 69-57 home win. Schicher in the two games has averaged 16.0 points per game, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. Koppl has also tallied 16.0 points per game to help lead Dowling. Joyner has paced the Pioneers with 16.0 points a game, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
The semi-final game is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start on Saturday, with the winner advancing to Sunday's ECC Championship. The weekend games will all be played at Queens College, the host for both the men's and women's basketball semi-final and championship rounds.