Women's Basketball 1/23/2015 11:53:00 AM

Wilkes Basketball Teams Travel to FDU-Florham Saturday

Wilkes Basketball Teams Travel to FDU-Florham Saturday

WILKES-BARRE, PA – The Wilkes University men's and women's basketball team look to get back to their winning ways as they travel to Madison, NJ to take on FDU-Florham in a Freedom Conference doubleheader on Saturday.

The Wilkes women open up at 1:00 p.m. against the defending NCAA Division III National Champions who will be looking to win their 50^th straight game after finishing last season 33-0 and having started this season at 16-0. The Colonel men will follow at 3:00 p.m. looking to snap a three-game slide in Freedom games.

Live Stats and live audio is available for both games at the following links.

Live Stats (women)

Live Stats (men)

Live Audio (ESPN Williamsport)

Live Video

The Lady Colonels are 7-7 this season and 2-3 in the Freedom Conference after losing to DeSales on Wednesday evening 56-41. The 41 points scored were the lowest of the season as the Lady Colonels are averaging 64.1 points a game. Wilkes has struggled at times to shoot the ball coming into this game making 37.8 percent of their shots from the floor and just 29.9 percent of their three-point attempts. Wilkes averages 41.2 boards per-game and dish out 12.6 assists, while committing 17.4 turnovers per-game.

Senior Elena Stambone (Jessup, PA/Valley View) continues to pace the Lady Colonels offensively averaging 16.6 points per-game. Chelsea Brown (Garnet Valley, PA/Garnet Valley) averages 11.3 points and team high 8.4 boards per-game. Cara Basile (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) is averaging 9.4 points and 5.3 boards while Chelsea Smelas (Jim Thorpe, PA/Jim Thorpe) is averaging 8.0 points and 5.6 boards per-game.
Wilkes was swept last year in both games however they were very competitive in their home game with the Devils as they only trailed by four at half and wound up losing 71-59. On the road in Madison the Lady Colonels fell 66-49, despite holding a two-point half time lead.

FDU-Florham the defending NCAA Division III National Champions and the No. 1 team in the country are a perfect 16-0 on the season with an average margin of victory of 23 points. The Devils are looking for their 50^th consecutive win. They have not lost since the first round of the NCAA Tournament back in March 2013 when they fell to Widener 56-52.

The Devils are averaging 83 points while shooting 40.4 percent from the field. They are making 34.9 percent of their three-point field goals and are shooting 66.2 percent from the charity stripe. Five players are averaging double figures. Shalette Brown is averaging a double-double with 12.8 points and 10.3 boards per-game. Brown also gets it done on the defensive side of the ball as she leads the team with 39 steals and 14 blocked shots. Kara Dayon is averaging 11.8 points, 4.8 caroms and 2.4 assists. Leigh-Ann Lively is third on the team with 11.3 points per-game and leads the Dvils with 43 made three-pointers. Alyssa McDonough 11.2 points and Kyra Dayon 10.3 points, round out the final double-digit scorers for FDU-Florham.

Wilkes men's team is looking to snap a three-game Freedom Conference losing skid after falling to DeSales 82-71 on Wednesday evening. The Colonels are averaging 72.3 points on offense and allowing opponents to score 71.8 points per-game. Offensively the Colonels are shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from deep. Opponents are shooting a respectable 47.2 percent from the field and 38.0 percent from long range. Wilkes has a +4.1 rebounding advantage on its opponents and dish out 13.6 assists per-game.

Steve Stravinski (Pittston, PA/Pittston) is the leading three-point shooter in the Freedom Conference having made 53 on the season. Stravinski leads all scorers for the Navy and Gold with 15.0 points per-game while also pulling down a team-best 6.7 rebounds. Alec Wizar (Lebanon, PA/Annville Cleona) is the second leading scorer at 14.9 points per-game having made 42 three's on the season. Freshman Zachary Brunner (Mechanicsburg, PA/Mechanicsburg) is having a fine rookie season averaging 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds a game.

The FDU-Florham men's team is 1-15 overall and 0-5 in the Freedom falling 74-65 at Freedom favorite Delaware Valley. The Devils struggle on offense averaging 59.6 points on 33.7 percent shooting. They shoot 30.3 percent from three-point range and 63.1 percent from the foul line. Defensively they are allowing teams to shoot 47.0 percent from the field averaging 75.4 points per-game.

Kevin Furlong does a little bit of everything for the Devils. Furlong leads the team in scoring with 14.9 points per-game while also picking up 6.4 rebounds and dishing out 3.9 assists per-game. Donte Ali is the second leading scorer with 9.1 points per-game while leading the team in rebounding with 8.4. Steve Herdman averages 8.8 points while Michael Barber connecting on a team high 33 three-pointers.

Last season the Devils swept the Colonels winning 65-54 on the road and 81-65 in Madison. Wilkes last defeated FDU-Florham 60-42 back on February 6, 2013.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Cara Basile: G; 5' 9"; Junior

#33 Chelsea Brown: G/F; 5' 10"; Senior

#15 Chelsea Smelas: G; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#10 Elena Stambone: G; 5' 8"; Senior

#20 Steve Stravinski: G/F; 6' 3"; Junior

#11 Alec Wizar: G; 6' 0"; Junior

#33 Zach Brunner: F; 6' 4"; First Year

Players Mentioned

#11 Cara Basile
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

#33 Chelsea Brown
: 5' 10"; Senior
: G/F

#15 Chelsea Smelas
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: G

#10 Elena Stambone
: 5' 8"; Senior
: G

#20 Steve Stravinski
: 6' 3"; Junior
: G/F

#11 Alec Wizar
: 6' 0"; Junior
: G

#33 Zach Brunner
: 6' 4"; First Year
: F