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FAIRFILED, CONN. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team is in its final weekend of the regular season play on the road. The Blackbirds will take on Sacred Heart, Saturday, March 1 in a 1 p.m. match up in Fairfield, Conn. After clinching a spot in the Northeast Conference tournament on Monday, LIU is now playing for a higher seed. With just a two-game difference between third and eighth place, and all teams playing two final regular season games, the regular season standings are anything but set.
• Last time Sacred Heart and LIU faced off, it was a tale of two halves in the Steinberg Wellness Center, as the Blackbirds rallied back from a halftime deficit for the first time this season to beat Sacred Heart, 62-54. Senior Cleandra Roberts had her sixth double-double of the season, leading all players with 21 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free throw line. Sophomore Sophie Bhasin added 18 points and freshman Aleisha Myers had nine, while junior Whippy had six points and six rebounds, and junior Kelly Robinson led all players with six assists.
• The Blackbirds, who have won four of their last five games, are coming off a win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Monday. Before the game LIU honored its four seniors, Fanny Cavallo, Genise Presley, Courtney Sullivan and Cleandra Roberts. The Blackbirds defeated the Knights, 56-40. Roberts led all scorers with 17 points, along with seven rebounds, while Cavallo had a game-high and career-high 14 rebounds, as well as four steals and two blocks. Myers chipped in 12 points, going 4-for-7 from behind the arc, while sophomore Bhasin added nine points
ALL-TIME SERIES
• Though LIU won the most recent match-ups, Sacred Heart holds the all-time advantage, 15-14 between the two teams. Last year, the teams split, with each squad winning in their home gym.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
• Sacred Heart has split down the NEC lineup. While the Pioneers have suffered eight losses to NEC teams, they have also beaten each of the top teams in the league, almost entirely on their home court. The Pioneers are 7-1 in NEC games at home, including wins over first-place Robert Morris (71-57), Saint Francis U. (95-88), Wagner (63-46) and St. Francis Brooklyn (77-53).
• Gabi Washington continues to lead the Pioneers, averaging 17.4 points per game, seventh in the NEC. She's also third in the conference in made three-pointers, as she averages 2.25 per game. She's not the only source of points for SHU, however, as the Pioneers have three other players averaging in double-digits. Senior Ericka Norman has 11.0 points per game, Katie Shepard has 10.1 points per game, and Hannah Kimmer is averaging 10.0 points per game.
CLE CHASING 1,000
• Senior
Cleandra Roberts has been on a scoring
tear this season, and she currently averages 18.8 points per game, third in the Northeast Conference.
• Her scoring output this season has increased so drastically from her first three seasons at LIU, that she's quickly closing the gap on the 1,000 point mark.
• In her freshman year, she averaged 4.1 points per game, scoring 114 points all season. In her sophomore season, it was 4.6 points per game, scoring 144 total points. In 2012-13, her junior year, she more than doubled those numbers, averaging 9.3 points per game, and scoring 223 over the season. Coming into her senior year, she had 481 career points.
• Nothing in her past compares to the scoring numbers she has put up this season. So far this year, Roberts has averaged 18.7 points per game, scoring 505 points so far.
• Her current career total sits at 985 points, just 15 points shy of the 1,000-point mark, with two regular season games left, and the potential of more with the NEC Tournament on the horizon.
• She would become the 18th player in LIU Brooklyn women's basketball history to surpass the 1,000-point mark.