Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Wilkes (5-16, 1-9) vs. Eastern (13-8, 5-5)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 / 6:00 p.m. 
Marts Center / Wilkes-Barre, PA

LIVE STATS
GoWilkesU.com

LIVE AUDIO
ESPNWilliamsport.com

AT A GLANCE
The Lady Colonels return home to host Eastern University on Wednesday night as Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) gets closer to the 1,000 career point milestone. Needing just 30 to reach the mark, Lynam and WU will look to break a two-game losing streak and get revenge for an earlier season loss to the Eagles, who have won three straight after losing four of five.

LAST TIME OUT
WU again put together a late rally but fell short, losing at Manhattanville 84-72 on Saturday.

The Lady Colonels played close through most of the first half before Manhattanville went on a 17-5 run over the final 4:34 to take a 17-point lead into the break. WU got its deficit down to 14 points, then down to 10 with 15:32 remaining on the strength of cluth free throw shooting by Sr. G Erin Schneider (Colchester, CT/Holy Name), Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) and Jr. G Whitney Connolly (Liberty, PA/Liberty). The Lady Colonels later went on a 12-6 run to cut the Valiants lead to 58-53 with 9:18 left, but Manhattanville held off WU down the stretch to win by 12.

So. G Megan Kazmerski (Kingston, PA/Holy Redeemer) had a game-high 19 points while Lynam added 18 and Connolly chipped in with 14.

GOING FOR 1,000
Sr. G Sam Lynam (Spinnerstown/Quakertown) continued her climb to 1,000 career points with 18 against Misericordia on Saturday and is poised to become just the 9th WU player to reach the milestone. She now stands at 970 in her three-plus seasons, needing just 30 more to reach the mark with four games remaining. Lynam will need to average just 7.5 ppg to reach 1,000 and 15.0 ppg to do it at home. In her 19 games played this season, Lynam has scored at least 15 points 15 times.

BIG TIME SCORER
Lynam's 20.0 ppg is 2nd in the Freedom Conference and 15th 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 29.1 mpg, Lynam is 1st in the conference with a 85.2 FT% (92-108) and is 2nd on the team with a 38.0 FG% (124-326).

HITTING DOUBLE-FIGURES
Lynam has scored in double-figures 49 times in 78 career games at WU, including 18 of the 19 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 20.0 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 31.7 pct of her 3FGs. Her FT% has remained constant throughout her career, converting 83.6%.

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 14 times, including five of the past six games. Over that stretch she's averaging 14.8 ppg and 5.2 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 scored 19 points in the huge comeback win at Cedar Crest and another 19 points at Manhattanville.

She's 2nd on the team with 11.4 ppg while averaging 31.4 mpg with 40 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 nine times this year, reaching double-figures three times and 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 48 so far this season. Her 2.2 spg is 5th in the conference, getting 2+ swipes 15 times this year, and has 18 over the last five games.

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 11 times this year, including each of the past four games. Against DeSales, she set a new career-high with 18 points, going an incredible 12-12 at the line.

Over the past eight games, Connolly is averaging 12.3 ppg and 6.0 rpg while hitting 37-43 FTs and dishing out 16 assists. She's scored at least 13 points in each of her last four games, averaging 6.5 rpg over that span.

She's been excellent from the free throw line, as she's 2nd on the team and in the Freedom Conference with an 84.3 FT% and recently ended a streak where she had hit 25 straight. Through 21 games, Connolly is 2nd on the team with 41 assists, 3rd with 10.0 ppg and 3rd with 5.3 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 46 assists. She's dished at least one out in all 20 games she's played, getting 3 on six occasions and posting a season-high 4 against Albright.

Over a recent four game stretch, 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 32.2 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 4.8 ppg and grabbing 2.4 rpg. She has a team-leading 44.0 FG% (33-75), 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 18.4 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 37 assists, 4th on the Lady Colonels. Her 20 made 3s are 3rd on the team, as she's hit at least one in 12 of 21 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 18 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 Lynam's 85.2 FT% is 1st and Connolly's 84.3 FT% is 2nd. They also rank fairly high in the nation, as Lynam is 32nd in DIII
and Connolly is 47th.

As a team, the Lady Colonels are shooting 71.2 pct from the line, 2nd in the conference, and have been hot over the last eight games, connecting on 79.1 pct of their shots (125-158), including going 15-16 in the comeback win over FDU and 21-24 against rival King's.