Billikens Play Two Games This Week
Nov. 17, 2008
COMING UP - Saint Louis women's basketball (1-1) is in action twice this week. The Billikens travel to Morehead, Ky., to face Morehead State (1-1) on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. (CT). Sunday, Nov. 23, Saint Louis welcomes Kansas (1-0) for a 4 p.m. tip-off at Chaifetz Arena. FOLLOWING THE ACTION - All Billiken home games this season will be video streamed live on the Internet via Billiken All-Access at www.slubillikens.com. Mike Deye and Robert Moehle will handle the play-by-play and analysis. Subscriptions are available for $79.95 annually or $9.95 a month. In addition, all home games and certain road contests will be available free of charge on GameTracker at www.slubillikens.com. TICKET INFORMATION - Tickets for all women's basketball home games can be purchased at the Chaifetz Arena Ticket Office, by phone at (314) 977-4SLU or online at www.slubillikens.com. BILLS SPLIT IN OPENING WEEK - The Billikens opened the season with an 85-77 loss at Southern Illinois last Friday, then rebounded Sunday with a last-second, 68-67 victory over Western Michigan in their Chaifetz Arena debut. Theresa Lisch scored a game-high 29 points at SIU, including a career-high-tying five 3-pointers (5-of-10), and Katie Paganelli added 16 points and a team-high five rebounds. Janisha Gearlds tallied eight points and four rebounds and registered game highs of five assists and three steals. Lisch posted her fourth career double-double (20 points, game-high 11 rebounds) against Western Michigan, including a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining that put SLU in the win column. Paganelli registered 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Alisha Goodwin scored 12 points, Lauren Woods collected a career-high eight rebounds and Heather King gathered six boards.
SCOUTING MOREHEAD STATE - Ohio Valley Conference member Morehead State returns two starters and two additional letterwinners from last year's team that was 11-19 overall and 9-11 (sixth place) in the OVC. The Eagles opened the season with an 83-57 loss at Atlantic 10 Conference member Duquesne before edging Ohio 56-52 at home. Junior guard Tiffanie Stephens leads MSU in the early going with 13.5 points per game, while sophomore guard Chynna Bozeman, a second-team All-Conference selection last season, follows with a 10.5 scoring average. Junior center Brittany Pittman averages a team-best 9.5 rebounds and already has 15 blocks. Pittman rejected an OVC-record 123 shots last year, a total that ranked second in the nation. Second-year head coach Mike Bradbury has a Morehead State and career record of 12-20. THE MOREHEAD STATE SERIES - The Billikens lead the series 1-0 after downing the Eagles 69-53 last season in St. Louis. Katie Paganelli scored a game-high 16 points. SCOUTING KANSAS - The Jayhawks have four starters and eight additional letterwinners back from their 2007-08 squad that posted a 17-16 overall record and a 4-12 mark (tied for 10th) in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas was one of 11 Big 12 teams to earn a postseason bid, advancing to the third round of the WNIT. Among the returning players are junior guard/forward Danielle McCray, an honorable mention All-Conference choice who averaged team highs of 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds last season, and sophomore center Krysten Boogaard, who was named to the Big 12 All-Rookie team. The Jayhawks, who host Iowa Tuesday before traveling to St. Louis, routed Sacred Heart 106-64 last Friday in their season opener. McCray led six Kansas players in double figures with a game-high 29 points. Head coach Bonnie Henrickson is 58-65 in her fifth season at KU, 216-127 in her 12th season overall. THE KANSAS SERIES - After defeating Saint Louis 81-55 in Lawrence, Kan., last season, Kansas owns a 3-1 series lead. Katie Paganelli netted a game-high 17 points in last year's meeting. The Billikens' only victory in the series was a 73-61 triumph in St. Louis during the 2001-02 campaign. HEAD COACH Shimmy Gray-Miller - The sixth head coach in Saint Louis women's basketball history, Shimmy Gray-Miller has a 31-58 record in her fourth season at the helm. Gray-Miller is a 1994 University of Michigan graduate. BOMBS AWAY - The Billikens rank second in the Atlantic 10 Conference in 3-point percentage, connecting at a 48.5-percent clip (16-of-33). Theresa Lisch leads the league with nine treys and is shooting 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from beyond the arc, numbers that have boosted her to second in the league in scoring at 24.5 ppg. On the SLU 3-point field goals career chart, Katie Paganelli has moved into seventh place with 91 treys, while Lisch is ninth with 87. BETTER ON THE BOARDS - After losing the rebounding battle 32-28 in the Southern Illinois game, Saint Louis responded by out-rebounding Western Michigan 48-35. The Bills, who were one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the A-10 a year ago, grabbed 13 offensive caroms against SIU and 14 against Western Michigan. RESERVES ARE READY - In SLU's first two games, Billiken reserves outscored the opponents' bench players by a combined 34-8. The margin was 20-6 against SIU and 14-2 against Western Michigan. A POSITIVE TREND - Last season, SLU shot at least 44 percent from the field in consecutive games just three times. The Billikens eclipsed that mark in each of their first two contests this year, connecting on 47.4 percent of their shots against Southern Illinois and 44.4 percent against Western Michigan. LISCH HONORED BY A-10 - Atlantic 10 Conference women's basketball head coaches and media representatives voted Theresa Lisch to the 2008-09 preseason All-Conference second team. Lisch was a third-team All-Conference selection last season. The Billikens were tabbed to finish 10th in the upcoming league race. CHAIFETZ ARENA - The new Chaifetz (SHAY-fetz) Arena debuts this season. The $81 million arena has a seating capacity of 10,600 and is located on the SLU campus along Laclede Ave. west of Compton Ave. Chaifetz Arena functions as a true multipurpose campus events center, hosting a myriad of SLU events including men's and women's basketball, volleyball, commencement, cultural events, conferences and conventions. The arena houses the department of athletics offices as well as Chaifetz Pavilion, a practice facility for basketball and volleyball and a competition venue for volleyball. The building is named for Dr. Richard A. Chaifetz, who donated a $12 million naming gift to the University. A 1975 SLU graduate, Dr. Chaifetz is chairman and CEO of ComPsych Corp. |
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