EMMITSBURG, Md. - The LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team is entering the final stretch of the regular season, and is hitting the road to take on Mount St. Mary's, in a game that will have Northeast Conference tournament implications. The Blackbirds (8-18, 5-10 NEC) and the Mount (7-19, 5-10 NEC) are currently tied for seventh place in the NEC standings, with the top eight qualifying for the tournament. The two teams will both be looking for a win to help them strengthen their spot in the standings, as they face off, Monday, February 23 in Emmitsburg, Md., at 7 p.m. in Knott Arena.
BLACKBIRD BITS• LIU Brooklyn women's basketball guard
Shanovia Dove picked an excellent afternoon to set a new career-high in points, as the sophomore led the Blackbirds with 26 points in a crucial Northeast Conference win over Wagner Saturday afternoon, 75-47 in the Steinberg Wellness Center. With the win, LIU improves to 5-10 in NEC play, moving into seventh place in the conference standings.
• Dove had a career-high 26 points in the win, shooting 67 percent from the field (9-for-13). She also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
• Junior
Jolanna Ford chipped in 13 points, two blocks, and a team-high eight rebounds.
• Junior
Sophie Bhasin and freshman
Drew Winter added eight points each, while junior
Shanice Vaughan had five rebounds, four steals and four assists.
• The Blackbirds forced 29 turnovers in the game, scoring 26 points off those turnovers. LIU also snagged 16 steals.
• Jasmine Nwajei, who came into the contest leading the nation in scoring, with 25.2 points per game, was held to just 15 points by the Blackbirds.
ALL-TIME SERIES• Mount St. Mary's won its first 23 games versus LIU Brooklyn from 1990-2001. LIU then turned the tables and won 17 of the next 21 meetings. The Mount has won the last five matchups entering Monday's game, and leads the all-time series, 32-17.
• The two teams last faced off in January at the Barclays Center, where Mount beat LIU, 76-69. The Mountaineers were led by Jacqueline Brewer, who shot 5-for-9 from the field and finished with 19 points. Jenn Carney and Sarafina Arthur-Williams added 16 points apiece, while Jody Chickey chipped in with 12. For the Blackbirds,
Sophie Bhasin recorded a game-high 23 points with
Shanovia Dove and
Shanice Vaughan scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively.
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS• Mount St. Mary's has struggled since beating the Blackbirds in January. The Mount is currently 7-19 overall, and 5-10 in NEC play, having lost eight straight games. That includes two overtime losses to Sacred Heart and Bryant, and being within two points of league-leading Bryant in each game.
• Most recently, the Mount fell victim to a last-second tip-in by FDU's Erika Livermore with 0.3 seconds left in Saturday's 54-52 loss at Knott Arena. The Mountaineers led by as many as nine points with 8:06 remaining before FDU stormed back to steal the win. Mount center Sarafina Arthur-Williams led all scorers with 17 points in the loss.
• The Mount is led by a pair of senior guards. Jacqueline Brewer is the team's top scorer, putting up 13.8 points per game. She's also a threat from long distance, as one of the top three-point shooters in the NEC. She shoots 41.8 percent from downtown, the second-best percentage in the league, and she averages 2.46 threes per game, the third best average in the conference.
• Senior guard Jenn Carney is next on the stat sheet, averaging 10.9 points her game. She's another hot shooter, as she's sixth in the NEC in three-point shooting percentage, at .394.
• Junior center Arhtur-Williams adds 7.6 points, and leads the team on the boards, with 6.3 rebounds per game.
NEC PLAYOFF PICTURE• The regular season has just three games remaining, and only four teams have clinched a berth in the upcoming Northeast Conference Tournament, with four more up for grabs.
• Bryant, CCSU and Robert Morris are in a three-way tie for first place, with identical 12-3 NEC records, and each has clinched a spot in the postseason. Sacred Heart, at 8-6, has snagged the fourth spot. Everything else is up in the air.
• St. Francis Brooklyn (7-8) and FDU (5-9) sit in fifth and sixth place, but both threatened by the four remaining teams, who are all still in striking distance at three games back. Mount and LIU Brooklyn are currently tied for seventh, with 5-10 records, and what would hypothetically be the final two playoff spots. But Wagner and Saint Francis U. are only one game back each, at 4-11, and with three games left, anything can happen.
WIN AGAINST WAGNER
• LIU's 75-47 win over Wagner on Feb. 21 was a first in several categories for the Blackbirds.
• It was the first time this season that LIU Brooklyn led for the entire 40 minutes of play.
• It was also the first time this season that LIU won by 25 points or more. Coincidentally, the last time the Blackbirds had a win of that margin was February 21, 2014, against, you guessed it, Wagner, when the Blackbirds won, 71-55.
DOVE DISHES OUT THE POINTS• In LIU's win against Wagner, sophomore
Shanovia Dove was on fire. The guard set a new career-high with 26 points.
• She shot 67 percent from the field (9-for-13), and also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals.