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BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Riding high off the first Northeast Conference win of the season, the LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team hits the road once again this weekend, heading north to face off against Bryant, Saturday, January 18 at 1 p.m. As with every NEC game this season, the matchup will be streamed live at www.NECFrontRow.com
The Blackbirds will be looking to avenge a loss to the Bulldogs from the 2012-13 season. In that matchup, LIU took a 31-30 lead into halftime, but was held to just 18 second-half points, as the Bulldogs took the win at home, 64-49. Tamika Guz led LIU in scoring, with 14 points. The two teams are tied all-time, with each team claiming three wins.
LIU earned its first NEC win of the season Monday night, in the Blackbirds' first game back in the Steinberg Center in over a month. LIU beat Central Connecticut State, 60-51, to improve to 3-11 overall, 1-3 in the NEC.
Sophomore Sophie Bhasin lit it up in the second half for LIU, scoring 17 of her 22 points in the final 20 minutes of the game, helping hold off the CCSU rally, and propel the Blackbirds to victory.
The Blackbirds would make 12 of their 13 free throws in the final five minutes, including Bhasin's 7-for-8. The sophomore made two free throws with just three seconds left on the clock to seal the win, 60-51 for the Blackbirds.
LIU shot 84 percent from the free throw line, going 27-for-32 as a team overall, in what would prove to be the difference in the game. Strong defense played a part as well, as the Blackbirds held CCSU to just 51 points, their second lowest point total of the season.
Bhasin led all scorers with 22 points, including going 9-for-10 from the free throw line, along with eight rebounds. Senior Cleandra Roberts had 12 points and six rebounds in the win, while senior Fanny Cavallo added nine points and four rebounds. Robinson had seven points and three assists, while Aleisha Myers added six points, and Whippy had four points, four rebounds and three assists.
ALL-TIME SERIES
• Bryant, entering its second season as a full-fledged member of Division I and the Northeast Conference, has only taken on LIU six times in women's basketball. Saturday's match-up will be the seventh all time. The two teams are dead-even all-time, 3-3, trading wins season after season.
• In 2009-10, LIU went 2-0 against Bryant. In 2010-11, the Bulldogs returned the favor, winning both games that season. In 2011-12, LIU won the only matchup, 51-41 in the Wellness Center, before Bryant returned the favor in 2012-13, winning the only game between the two teams in Rhode Island.
• In that matchup, LIU took a 31-30 lead into halftime, but was held to just 18 second-half points, as the Bulldogs took the win at home, 64-49. Tamika Guz led LIU in scoring, with 14 points.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
• Bryant started the season slowly, as they went 5-6 in non-conference play, but have been on fire since starting the NEC slate. The Bulldogs are 3-1 in the Northeast Conference, most recently knocking off one of the remaining unbeaten teams, as they used a buzzer-beater to take down Saint Francis U., 88-86 on the road.
• Bryant is one of the highest-octane offenses in the league. The Bulldogs are the second-highest scoring team, averaging 71.0 points per game. And a lot of those shots are made, as the team has both the highest field goal percentage and the highest three-point field goal percentage league-wide, hitting 42.8 percent of their shots overall, and 38.1 percent from behind the arc. Most of those made shots come off passes, as the Bulldogs are also tops in the NEC in assists, averaging 15.4 per game.
• Coach Mary Burke is working with an experienced squad in 2013-14, as her four leading scorers, all averaging double-figures, are three seniors and a graduate student. Another senior is the first to come off the bench, and only one sophomore and one freshman see significant playing time.
• Senior point guard Jenniqua Bailey, who had the game-winner against SFU, leads the NEC in field goal percentage, hitting 50.3 percent of the shots she takes. She's also second in the league in assists, dishing out 4.73 assists per game. Bailey is second on the team, with 13.5 points per game.
• Senior guard Courtney Schissler leads the team with 13.7 points per game, along with 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Senior forward Naana Ankoma-Mensa is second in the NEC in rebounds per game, pulling down 9.3 boards per game. She's also third on the team in scoring, averaging 12.9 points per contest.
• And rounding out the top four is graduate student Meredith Soper, a guard who's averaging 11.1 points per game, along with 6.4 rebounds per game
FOWL TROUBLE
• The Blackbirds love to go to the foul line, and so far this season, it's paid off for the team. LIU Brooklyn is currently second overall in the NEC in team free throw percentage, hitting 73.2 percent of free throws.
• 221 of the team's points this season have come from made free throws. Out of 874 total points, that means that a solid 25 percent of LIU's offense has been made when the Blackbirds drew fouls and went to the line.
• Sophomore Sophie Bhasin is the top free throw shooter on the team, averaging 90.0 percent from the line, making 36 of her 40 shots so far. That includes going 6-for-6 in three straight games, and most recently, shooting 9-for-10 from the line in LIU's win over CCSU.