WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team ventures out of Northeast Conference play for the final time this season when they host future league member Bryant on Monday evening. The Hawks snapped a two-game losing skid with a 71-54 win over St. Francis College this past Saturday. MU played perhaps their best overall game of the season, shooting 55.8% from the floor for the game and dishing out 20 assists on 24 field goals. Senior Jennifer Bender scored a career-high 27 points and fellow senior Marisa Jimenez added 13 points and became the seventh Hawk in program history to dish out at least 10 assists with her career-high 10 dimes. Freshman Alexis Scott added 13 points and career-best four assists in the contest.
Game Preview (More information available under the 'Game Notes' section):
PAWING AROUND WITH THE BULLDOGS
Bryant is 6-15 on the season, including 2-4 against NEC competition. The Bulldogs are coming off a 66-49 loss to Quinnipiac their last time out. BU's fast-paced offensive attack is paced bu Kelsey O'Keefe's 15.7 points per game. O'Keefe has made 37 three-pointers (36.6%) and is also averaging a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game. Her main running mate is Cara Johnson, who is averaging 9.5 points per game.
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Bryant accepted an invitation from the NEC to become the league's 12th member over the summer, becoming a core member of the conference in 2012 upon completion of the five-year NCAA Division I reclassification period. Located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, Bryant is a charter member of the Northeast-10 Conference, which was formed in 1980. The school fields a nationally competitive athletics program that finished 27th in the Division II Director's Cup standings in 2006-07 and captured its third Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup trophy - awarded annually to the top athletics program among the 15 member institutions that make up the conference - in the last four years. The NEC is expanding for the first time since 1996 when Central Connecticut State (1997), Quinnipiac (1998), UMBC (1998, departed in 2003) and Sacred Heart (1999) were added.
THE GAME:
Monmouth (11-11) vs. Bryant (6-15)
February 9, 2009
Tip: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Boylan Gym
Radio: no radio
Internet: no Internet broadcast
Monmouth video streaming is still available, fee apply.
