Home Conference Play Continues Saturday For Both Men's and Women's Basketball
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Jan. 6, 2011) – Conference play will continue inside the Pratt Recreation Center on Jan. 7, 2011 as the men's and women's basketball teams of C.W. Post welcome in the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader.
In the first game, the C.W. Post Pioneer women will be looking to continue on the winning way after defeating Bridgeport, 75-57, on Wednesday, Jan.4, and have won four of the team's last five games. The Pioneers used a 56-30 rebounding edge to help dominate the inside play and shot 47.1 percent from the field while Bridgeport managed to only shoot 28.4 percent. On the 24 field goals made as a team, 17 assists were generated.
Catherine Lutz (Easton, Pa.) connected on three shots from beyond the arc to lead the team with 16 points while
Samantha Kopp (Franklinville, N.Y.) led the rebounding charge with 12 boards to go with nine points.
Coming in with a 9-5 overall record and 1-2 conference mark, the Pioneers are among the top teams in many statistical categories inside the East Coast Conference. C.W. Post holds the number one spot in points per game (73.9 ppg), shooting percentage (40.5 percent), three-point field goal percentage (33.2), rebounding margin (+8.8 rpg), and assists per game (16.07 apg). The team has also benefited from aggressive play to hold a scoring margin of 8.6 points per game over opponents, which is second in the conference.
Felicia Joyner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) comes into play on Saturday the sixth leading scorer in the conference with 17.2 points per game while being third in three-point shooting with a 39.0 percentage. Lutz trails Joyner in fourth place in shooting percentage with a 36.6 percent.
Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ranks fourth in the conference 8.7 boards a game to go along with 10.8 points a game that puts her 12
th. Kopp is also in the top 10 in rebounding, pulling in 7.6 a game to slide into seventh.
Ashley Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.) generates 4.71 assists per game to rank her third while
Kenyatta Sears (Hampton, Va.) and her 2.07 steals per game average puts her eighth. Sears is also shooting a seventh ranked 34.0 percent from three-point range.
St. Thomas Aquinas returns to action on Saturday after falling to Molloy on Wednesday, Jan. 4, by a final score of 55-42. The Spartans were outrebounded 45-32 during the contest and did not connect on a shot from beyond the arc in 17 attempts while shooting 26.8 percent from the field. Briana Sloper put in 19 points and 10 rebounds despite the loss.
The Spartans have now lost the last three decisions and are 7-6 overall with a 2-1 conference mark. Despite offensive struggles to this point in the season, the squad is one of the better defensive teams, allowing the lowest opponent point per game average of 52.6 a game. This has helped the team achieve a positive 5.5 average scoring margin and have allowed the opponents to only shoot 33.4 percent from the field, which is second in the conference.
Sloper, a one-time Player of the Week winner this season and last year's Co-Player of the Year in the ECC, continues to be the top performer for the Spartans. To this point in the season, she puts herself fifth in the conference in scoring with a 17.8 point per game average while also ranking sixth in rebounding (7.9 rpg) and seventh in field goal percentage (44.7 percent). Reigning ECC Defensive Player of the Year, Bianca Kowigos has also played well this season with a fifth spot ranking in both assists per game with 4.31 a game and steals, 2.15 a game. Sylvia Davis comes into play ranked first in the conference with a 1.91 assist/turnover ratio.
The last time these two teams met was in last year's ECC Tournament in one of the semi-final games. C.W. Post came away with the 78-67 victory with
Janea Aiken pouring in 35 points with five assists while Joyner achieved her 1,000
th career point during the game behind a 22 point effort.
The men's team of each respective school will tip off following the women's game, as the C.W. Post men will be looking to improve to 3-0 in conference play after Wednesday's, Jan. 4., 94-78 victory over Bridgeport. The win snapped a three-game losing streak as the Pioneers held a 48-28 rebounding margin and created hustle points in the form of 15 off turnovers and 34 second chance points. Four C.W. Post players created 10 or more points with
Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) leading the way with 31 of his own while also hauling in nine rebounds.
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) was strong inside with 18 points and 15 rebounds and also came up with four steals.
C.W. Post enters play 8-4 overall to go with a 2-0 conference mark and takes the claim as the number one scoring offense in the conference with 86.7 points a game while being second in scoring margin (+5.2 ppg). The team has shot the ball with efficiency as this is evident in a second ranked 45.9 field goal percentage. The Pioneers are also first in rebounding with 44.1 boards a game to go with a first ranked rebounding margin (+9.4 rpg).
The Pioneers' offense is generated by the top two scorers in the conference with Bonneau and
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) holding onto those honors for the better part of the season. Bonneau is averaging 23.3 points a game to go with his sixth ranked 3.25 assists per game while being third in threes made a game (2.75). Carberry has accumulated a 20.5 point per game average while being in the top 10 of rebounds as well, as he sits ninth with 6.6 a game. The top rebounder in the conference also wears a Pioneer uniform, as Allen as tallied 9.5 boards a game to with his second ranked 52.7 shooting percentage. C.W. Post's rebounding domination continues with
Tyuan Williams (Newark, N.J.) averaging 7.0 a game to put him in sixth.
Terry Coleman (Newburgh, N.Y.) paces the offense with a third ranked 3.67 assists per game average.
The St. Thomas Aquinas men's team is currently riding a two-game winning streak after a thrilling 76-73 overtime win over Molloy this past Wednesday, Jan. 4. The Spartans used a 48-33 rebounding edge while also having three players score 20 or more points. Omar Kellman led that trio with 26 points of his own and also totaled 16 rebounds. The team used 11 steals to its benefit as well.
The Spartans have used defense to create victories, as the defense is third in the conference in points allowed with opponents scoring 71.1 points a game. However, the offense is on average scoring 4.5 points less than that a game and have struggled on the boards with a seventh ranked 33.7 rebounding average. The team is in the middle of the pack in the conference in terms of steals per game, averaging 7.45 a game as a group.
Justin Brown comes in as the top scorer for the Spartans, ranking him eighth in the conference with 18.3 points a game. He is also fifth in free throw percentage, shooting 78.9 percent from the line. Kellman comes into the game with the eighth best rebounding average at 6.6 rebounds a game while being third in field goal percentage with his 52.1 percentage.
The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m., with the women tipping off first followed by the men's game at approximately 3:30 p.m. All the action can be seen in the Pratt Recreation Center or can be followed online by the links provided through the Pioneer website.