Game Notes
Emmitsburg, Md. - Winners of four straight, the Long Island University women's basketball team opens Northeast Conference play on Saturday at Mount St. Mary's. The Blackbirds (5-1, 0-0 NEC) and Mountaineers (2-4, 0-0 NEC) will tipoff at 3:00 p.m. at Knott Arena. Live video of the contest can be accessed here, and live stats will also be available here.
Storylines
• Long Island matched the best start in program history through six games with a 64-52 win over Albany on Wednesday. The 5-1 start has been done twice before by Blackbird teams (1968-69 & 1976-77).
• Senior Ashley Palmer continued her stellar play by recording game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (14) against the Great Danes. The Oxford, Pa. native is averaging 20.8 points and 8.8 rebounds over her last five contests.
• Palmer moved into second place on LIU's all-time scoring list with 1,560 points, passing Kim Mac Millan (1999-02). The 5-10 forward is 185 shy of the top spot held by Tamika Dudley (1999-03).
• The Blackbirds are 12-11 all-time in NEC openers and 10-13 in road conference openers since they joined the conference in 1988-89.
• Senior Kiara Evans dished out a season-high seven assists in the win over Albany, and now is 14 shy of Coleen McGlynn (1988-92) for third place on LIU's career list.
• Long Island swept the season series with the Mount last season, winning at home 63-60 before taking a 65-61 decision in Maryland later in the year. Palmer averaged 18.5 points over the two contests including a 20-point outing at the Wellness Center on Jan. 17.
Palmer Moves Up Charts
•Ashley Palmer has been on a scoring tear of late, going for 20 more in back-to-back games and averaging 20.8 points over the last five contests.
•Against Albany, the 5-10 forward moved within 200 points of LIU's all-time career scoring record of 1,745 set by Tamika Dudley
•Palmer's 14 rebounds against the Great Danes gave her 811 for her career, good for 8th all-time. She's 41 shy of seventh place on the list, currently held by Sandra Felix (1981-85).
•She is also 32 field goals away from tying Dudley for the career field-goals made mark of 658.
•Palmer also ranks sixth on the field-goals attempted list (1,300), third in free-throws made (270) and fifth in free-throws attempted (410).
Block Party
•Junior Ebony Davis has been a menace for opposing offenses in the paint over the last two contests.
•Davis has come within one block of LIU's single-game record in each of the last two games, swatting four shots against both La Salle and Albany.
•On the season, Davis has 14 blocks -- just three away from last season's team high of 17 held by Chelsi Johnson.
•Davis is already just 13 blocks away from 10th place on the LIU single-season chart.
Getting Defensive
•Long Island has held its opponents to 35.2 percent shooting over the first three games of 2011-12, including a 25.6 mark from three-point range.
•Against Albany on Wednesday, the Blackbirds buckled down in the second half an allowed the Great Danes to shoot just 25.0 percent from the field in the stanza, and 28.6 percent overall.
•Last season, teams shot 37.9 percent from the floor and just 31.7 percent from beyond the three-point line.
•The Blackbirds are allowing 57.2 points per game, down from 59.0 last year.
Last Season's Series
•Long Island swept the Mount in their two contests a year ago.
•At the Wellness Center in January, the Blackbirds built a 22-point cushion only to see the Mountaineers nearly pull off the miraculous comeback.
•Palmer finished with 20 points in the victory.
•Later in the season, LIU went on the road and backed by a key 13 points from current student assistant coach Justine Stevenson came away with a 65-61 victory.
Comeback Kids
•Long Island has had a pair of impressive comeback wins thus far early in the season.
•Most recently, the Blackbirds came from down by as many as eight to down Albany at the Wellness Center.
•Previously, LIU came back from a double-digit deficit in the second half to down Tennessee Tech.
•The 11-point margin was the largest that a Blackbird unit had overcome since last season's stirring comeback victory over Boston University.
•Kiara Evans sparked LIU in the contest against the Terriers, scoring 22 points in a nine-minute stretch to erase a 12-point deficit.
•The Blackbirds have authored five second-half comebacks that erased double-digit deficits in head coach Gail Striegler's tenure.
Scouting Mount St. Mary's
•The Mount is 2-4 so far in non-conference play, having defeated Maryland-Eastern Shore and Navy.
•No Mount St. Mary's player averages in double figures, but seven players average over 5.0 points per game.
•Sydney Henderson has started all six games and leads the team at 9.7 ppg, while also dishing out 3.7 assists per contest. Selina Mann leads the squad in rebounding, assists and steals.
•The Mount are being outrebounded by an average of 7.5 boards per game.
Sneak Preview
•The Blackbirds will continue their two-game NEC stint at home against Wagner on Monday, Dec. 5.
•The Seahawks begin the weekend with a 1-5 record and will take on St. Francis (N.Y.) on Saturday before making the trek to Downtown Brooklyn.
•LIU downed Wagner twice last season, and 32-39 all-time against the Staten Island-based school.