Women’s and Men’s Basketball Face Off Against Dowling College
Brookville, N.Y. (Jan. 30, 2013) - The LIU Post women's and men's basketball teams will go up against Dowling College in a pair of East Coast Conference matchups tonight. Tip off for the women's game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the men's contest will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Pratt Recreation Center.
LIU Post's women's team will be looking to avenge a 70-69 overtime loss they suffered the last time the two teams met in Pratt Recreation Center. The Pioneers are looking for their ninth consecutive home victory, which would build on the team's overall record of 12-5 and winning record in ECC play. The team is shooting 39.1 percent (416-1065) from the field with help from scoring leaders senior
Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior
Alexis Peters (Dorchester, Mass.). Marciniak leads the Pioneers with 14.9 points per game followed by Peters with 11.0 points per game. Peters is also among the team leaders in assists per game with 3.4, trailing only senior
Ashley Caggiano (Holtsville, N.Y.), who has 3.5 assists per game. Senior
Samantha Kopp (Franklinville, N.Y.) is second in the ECC with 9.6 rebounds per game. LIU Post's stifling defense is averaging 9.8 steals per game this season.
Coming in at No. 17 in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll, the women's side for Dowling is defending a 9-0 conference record and the highest ranking in program history. The team is shooting 40.1 percent (361-901) from the field and 28.6 percent (75-262) from three-point range. Junior Julia Koppl leads Dowling's three point shooting attack, converting 29.8 percent (25-84) of her shots from behind the arc. Senior Connie Simmons has a team-best 3.3 assists per game while senior Danielle Wilson is at the top of the ECC in rebounds per game and field goal percentage with marks of 10.8 and 53.2 percent (118-222), respectively. Wilson earned ECC Player of the Week honors by averaging 17 points and 14.5 rebounds in addition to making seven blocks in the Golden Lions' last two games.
The Pioneer's men's team is coming off an 82-74 road loss to first place University of Bridgeport. The Pioneers still have a 12-5 mark overall that includes a 7-2 record against ECC opponents. LIU Post is shooting 33.6 percent (82-244) from behind the free throw line and out rebounding opponents by a whopping margin of +10.5 (727-549). Junior
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) is team's hot hand. Coming off an ECC Player of the Week Award, Allen set career highs in points during back-to-back ECC games against St. Thomas Aquinas College and Bridgeport, scoring 29 and 33 points respectively. He is also second in the ECC with 9.2 rebounds per game and a shooting percentage of 55.3 percent (105-190). Senior
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) leads the conference in scoring with 18.4 points per game, while Allen is second on the Pioneers with 18.4 followed by senior
Jonathan Kohler (Bordentown, N.J.) at 17.4 points per game. Kohler is making an ECC-high 86.1 percent (31-36) of his free throws and senior
Billy Butler (Elmont, N.Y.) remains the conference leader in assists per game with 5.2.
Dowling's men's team had a four-game win streak snapped with a frustrating 68-66 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas. The Lions are just below .500 in the ECC at 4-5 and are 7-10 overall this season. They are shooting 63.6 percent (217-341) at the free throw line and making 42.7 percent (410-960) of their field goals. Junior Justin Alexander is in the ECC's top five in rebounds per game with an average of 7.9. He also has team highs in assists per game with 2.4 and blocks per game with 2.1. Sophomore Darien Davis, senior Josh Malone and junior Corwin Austin are Dowling's top three scorers with double-figure averages of 12.5, 12.3 and 11.4 points per game respectively.