Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Wilkes (5-15, 1-8) at Manhattanville (12-8, 5-4)
Saturday, February 5, 2011 / 1:00 p.m. 
Kennedy Gymnasium / Purchase, NY

LIVE STATS
GoValiants.com

LIVE AUDIO
ESPNWilliamsport.com

AT A GLANCE
The Lady Colonels are looking to get back in the win column as they travel to New York to take on Manhattanville College on Saturday afternoon. The Valiants, also coming off a loss this week, defeated WU earlier this season in a game that saw Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) go for 29 points. She stands just 48 points shy of 1,000 for her career.

LAST TIME OUT
WU was unable to put together its third straight come-from-behind victory, falling short in a 69-55 loss to Misericordia on Thursday.

Down by as many as 12 points late in the first half, the Lady Colonels got a layin by Sr. G Erin Schneider (Colchester, CT/Holy Name) and a 3 by So. G Megan Kazmerski (Kingston, PA/Holy Redeemer) to cut their deficit to 7 and take the momentum going into halftime. After WU cut it to five early in the second half, the Cougars exploded with a 22-5 run to take a comanding 53-31 lead with less than 12 minutes to go. They were able to hold off a late 17-7 run by the Lady Colonels to take the win.

Kazmerski finished with 13 points while Schneider had 10. Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) led WU with 15 points while Jr. G Whitney Connolly (Liberty, PA/Liberty) added 14 points and 9 boards.double-figures.

GOING FOR 1,000
Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) continued her climb to 1,000 career points with 15 against Misericordia on Thursday and is poised to become just the 9th WU player to reach the milestone. She now stands at 952 in her three-plus seasons, needing just 48 more to reach the mark with five games remaining. Lynam will need to average 9.6 ppg to reach 1,000 and 16.0 ppg to do it at home. In her 18 games played this season, Lynam has scored at least 16 points 13 times.

BIG TIME SCORER
Lynam's 20.1 ppg is 2nd in the Freedom Conference and 13th in the nation. She's gone for 20 points eight times, including a 29-point effort against Manhattaville in January, and has hit 30 on two different ocassions, with a season-high 32 points in the Lady Colonels comeback win over Susquehanna.

Averaging 29.3 mpg, Lynam is 2nd on the team with a 38.0 FG% (119-313) and an 84.5 FT% (87-103).

HITTING DOUBLE-FIGURES
Lynam has scored in double-figures 48 times in 77 career games at WU, including 17 of the 18 games that she's played in this season. She's scored at least 20 points in her career 14 times, including three 30-point performances, with a career-high of 33 points coming against Arcadia as a sophomore.

DOUBLING HER EFFORTS
Averaging a career-high 20.1 ppg this season, Lynam is scoring nearly twice as much as her career average coming into the year of 10.2 ppg.

Helping her scoring totals rise has been an increase in her shooting efficiency. Coming into this season, Lynam had a 32.9 FG% and a 23.9 3FG%. So far this year, she's converting 38.0 pct of her FGs and 30.8 pct of her 3FGs. Her FT% has remained constant throughout her career, converting 83.3%.

FINDING HER GROOVE
After a slow start to the year, So. G Megan Kazmerski (Kingston, PA/Holy Redeemer) has improved her offensive game, reaching double-figures in scoring 13 times, including seven of the past nine games. Over that stretch she's averaging 13.3 ppg and 7.0 rpg, compared to the season's first five games in which she averaged just 7.2 and 5.6.

Kazmerski scored a season-high 21 points against Delaware Valley, going 9-19 from the fi eld, including 3-5 from 3. She went for 18 points in the comeback win over Susquehanna and recently scored 19 points on 8-18 FGs in the Lady Colonels huge comeback win over Cedar Crest.

She's 2nd on the team with 11.1 ppg while averaging 31.2 mpg with 36 assists.

THE REBOUND LEADER
Kazmerski has also worked to become the Lady Colonels leading rebounder, grabbing 6.7 rpg from her guard position. She's led WU in rebounds eight times this year, getting reaching double-figures three times, recording two double-doubles. She's grabbed 8.0 boards over a recent five-game stretch, including 13 each against King's and DeSales.

PICKING PASSES
In addition to scoring and rebounding, Kazmerski tops the Lady Colonels in steals, totaling 42 so far this season. Her 2.1 spg is 6th in the conference, as she has 2+ swipes in 14 games this year, including 4 at Cedar Crest.

GETTING OFFENSIVE
After scoring 5.3 ppg last year, Jr. G Whitney Connolly (Liberty, PA/Liberty) has started to improve her offensive game, hitting double-figures in scoring 10 times this year, including five of the past seven games. Against DeSales, she set a new career-high with 18 points, going an incredible 12-12 at the line.

Over the past seven games, Connolly is averaging 12.1 ppg and 5.9 rpg while hitting 32-36 FTs and dishing out 14 assists. Against Albright, she scored 17 points on 6-9 FGs and grabbed 9 rebounds after scoring 14 points, hitting 9-12 FTs against TCNJ.

She's been hot from the free throw line, leading the Freedom Conference and ranking 28th in DIII with an 85.4 FT% and recently ended a streak where she had hit 25 straight. Through 20 games, Connolly is 2nd on the team with 39 assists, 3rd with 9.8 ppg and 4th with 5.2 rpg.

RUNNING THE POINT
So. G Amanda Pawlowski (Nanticoke, PA/Holy Redeemer) has been steady running the Lady Colonels offense this season, leading the team with 44 assists. She's dished at least one out in all 19 games she's played, getting 3 on six occasions and posting a season-high 4 against Albright.

Over the past four games, Pawlowski has an incredible 5.5 assist-turnover ratio, totaling 11 assists and just 2 turnovers while playing 31.8 mpg. For the season she's averaging a team-leading 32.1 mpg, reaching double-figures in scoring twice, including a 12-point, 5-rebound, 3-assist performance against Baptist Bible.

PROVIDING A SPARK
So. G Angela Palmerio (Telford, PA/Lansdale Catholic) has given WU energy off the bench, scoring 4.7 ppg and grabbing 2.5 rpg. She has a team-leading 43.2 FG% (32-72), hitting an impressive 11-17 FGs (64.7 pct) over a recent four game stretch.

She's earned four starts, tying a season-high with 13 points and 3 boards against King's. Palmerio dropped 13 points in just 24 minutes against Western New England and is averaging 18.5 mpg.

STEPPING UP
Stepping into a more full-time role this year, Sr. G Erin Schneider (Colchester, CT/Holy Name) has produced, ranking 4th on the team with 6.5 ppg while dishing out 34 assists, 4th on the Lady Colonels. Her 19 made 3s are 3rd on the team, as she's hit at least one in 11 of 20 games played.

Schneider has hit double-figures in scoring four times this season, getting a season-high 17 against MIT, going 6-11 from the field and 4-7 from 3 in 30 minutes. She also scored 10 points on 4-8 FGs against Misericordia, hitting 2-3 of her 3-point attempts and had 13 points, going 5-5 from the free throw line, against FDU.

ALL-AROUND THREAT
One of the most versitile players for the Lady Colonels, Sr. G Brittany Ely (Montrose/Montrose) is 2nd on the team with 5.8 rpg and has 14 steals while scoring 4.1 ppg and dishing out 15 assists.

Ely posted her 2nd career double-double against Western New England with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, adding 3 steals and 2 assists for WU. She's grabbed at least 6 rebounds in six games this year and has a team-leading 19 offensive boards.

OFF THE BENCH
So. F Sam Rohn (Levittown/Neshaminy) and Fr. G Helen Lawry (Glenville, NY/Burnt Hills - Ballston Lake) have given the Lady Colonels extra minutes off the bench this year, as Rohn averages 12.8 mpg and Lawry 16.6 mpg.

After averaging 1.8 rpg in her first four games played, Rohn picked it up, grabbing 3.1 rpg in 14.8 mpg in a recent five-game stretch, including 5 boards in a season-high 22 minutes against Eastern.

Lawry's minutes have remained steady in her 17 games this season, getting a season-high 23 against TCNJ. She saw valuable minutes in crunch time in the comeback win over Cedar Crest, converting a go-ahead layup while scoring 6 points and 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. Earlier in the season, she scored 8 points and grabbed 3 boards in 22 minutes against Misericorida.

FROM THE FOUL LINE
The Lady Colonels have the top two free throw shooters in the conference, as Connolly's 85.4 FT% is 1st and Lynam's 84.5 FT% is 2nd. They also rank fairly high in the nation, as Connolly is 28th in DIII
and Lynam is 50th.

As a team, the Lady Colonels are shooting 70.9 pct from the line, but have been hot over the last seven games, connecting on 79.7 pct of their shots (106-133), including going 15-16 in the comeback win over FDU and 21-24 against rival King's.