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| TCNJ athletics photo |
If former players of The College of New Jersey women’s basketball program strolled into a recent practice, they would think they were in the wrong place even though all of the surroundings look the same.
You see, veteran coach Dawn Henderson has introduced a unique way to break the tension for her team following a hectic day of classes and long night of studying. She has required that every player have some type of music with them when they are working out at the beginning of practice.
“My alumni may think I’ve gone a little soft,” Henderson said with a laugh. “Yes, I require my players bring music to practice. They do well in the classroom and we were 17th in the nation in Division III in GPA and I am proud of that. Sometimes the athletes are too serious and the music helps break the tension.”
Not sure of the individual musical choices of the players, but the Lions have been roaring lately, so Katy Perry’s hit, “Roar” is probably a strong theme song for a team that has found its groove with seven consecutive wins following a tough 65-61 win over Ramapo on Saturday. TCNJ will go for an eighth win in a row and its longest win streak since the 2008-09 team advanced to the Final Four on Wednesday when it visits Rowan.
The Lions opened the season by dropping two of their first three games by a combined six points to Haverford and Moravian, two teams with a combined record of 17-2 right now. Of course, Henderson wasn’t worried and nobody pulled an alarm within the TCNJ program. The Lions knew they had the ingredients handy to do some special things this season.
“You never want to start out that way,” Henderson said of the 1-2 start. “But it wasn’t anything that we were concerned about. I always try to schedule strong opponents and challenge our team. We have high expectations here and after losing those two games, we didn’t change anything or do anything differently. We just went back to practice and kept working at it.”
The Lions won a pair of games at the Cruzin Classic in Fort Lauderdale at the end of December, including an 84-73 conquest of 24th-ranked Randolph-Macon. Henderson had to be happy with her team’s defense against the Yellow Jackets, who entered the game leading Division III in scoring (93.6 points per game). The Lions limited them to 20 points below their season average.
Everybody has had a hand in the Lions success so far. Running the Princeton-style offense, the Lions drive teams crazy with their offensive efficiency and patience. The Lions have assisted on 68 percent of their baskets (172 assists for 251 baskets). Ten players average at least 10 minutes per game.
The Lions’ leading scorers are Kelly Roddy and Kelly Coughlin, both averaging 12 points per game. Also contributing double digits for TCNJ are Tiffany DiTulio (11.6 points per game) and Kylie O’Donnell (10.1).
The Lions lead the NJAC in scoring offense (75.6), 3-point field goal percentage (32 percent), and 3-pointers made (87).
“Overall, the team enjoys each other and we have fun,” Henderson said. “We want to go undefeated in January because if that happens then that carries over to February.”
Remaining unbeatens
Now that the ball has dropped in Times Square and temperatures have turned frightfully frigid, it’s time to take stock of the remaining few teams who are still perfect as conference play heats up. On the men’s side in the Atlantic Region, the only unbeaten teams are Messiah (10-0), Cabrini (9-0), and SUNY-Purchase (8-0). ... On the women’s side, the remaining unbeaten teams are Elizabethtown (8-0), Haverford (7-0), FDU-Florham (9-0) and York, Pa. (11-0). ... Haverford and Elizabethtown have major challenges this week as the Fords host Delaware Valley Monday night and visit nemesis Johns Hopkins on Wednesday night, a game yours truly will attend. The Blue Jays off to their best start in over 25 years host Muhlenberg on Monday and Lebanon Valley Wednesday.
Streak-busters
The Staten Island and the York (Pa.) women’s basketball teams ended lengthy losing streaks against conference opponents on the road last weekend.
Staten Island upended Baruch, 79-64, in a key CUNYAC contest. With the win, the Dolphins snapped Baruch’s 22-game home winning streak and ended a 15-game losing streak to Baruch. Staten Island’s last victory over Baruch was a 71-62 decision on Feb. 25, 2004 in the semifinal round of the CUNYAC tournament at York (N.Y.). Leading the Dolphins to victory was Katelyn Hepworth with 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Meanwhile, York (Pa.) broke a 10-game losing streak to Mary Washington by winning 53-35 in a Capital Athletic Conference contest Fredericksburg, Va. The win extends the Spartans' season-opening win streak to 11. The victory over UMW was the first for York since Feb. 2, 2009 when the Spartans picked up a 59-56 win.
Capital battle royale
Everybody correctly suspected that the Capital Athletic Conference would be stronger with the addition of Christopher Newport. On the men’s side, the conference boasts a pair of 10-1 squads in Christopher Newport and Mary Washington. The two heavyweights collide on Wednesday, Jan. 15 in Fredericksburg. Mary Washington has won eight straight games and Christopher Newport has won seven in a row. Both squads are three points away from joining the list of unbeaten. CNU lost to Emory by two points and MWU dropped a one-point decision to Hampden-Sydney. Mary Washington visits Wesley Saturday in what should be another great contest. Wesley (8-1) and St. Mary’s (8-3) also had strong non-conference performances.
F&M on fire
Glenn Robinson has been the coach of Franklin and Marshall since the Ice Age so he knows a thing or two about building championship teams. After all, the Diplomats have advanced to the Elite Eight in three of the past five seasons. He also understands that the basketball season is a marathon and not a sprint, so there wasn’t much panic when the Diplomats stumbled out of the gate losing four of their first six games.
Of course, right on schedule, Franklin and Marshall extended its winning streak to five games after beating Delaware Valley, 84-69, in the 2014 Sponaugle New Year’s Tournament. It was the third straight Sponaugle title for F&M and 26th overall. Heading into the meat of conference play, the Diplomats are in a nice groove.
Matt Porter took home MVP honors after scoring 20 points against Delaware Valley and averaging 14 points in the two-game tournament. Porter has been one reason for the Diplomats’ turnaround. He has averaged 19.9 points per game during the Diplomats winning streak by scoring 20 or more points four times. In F&M’s first six games, Porter averaged 12.6 points.
The signature win of the season and the winning streak so far was an amazing 95-92 double overtime road victory over Albright on Dec. 17. That was win No. 3 during this run. Porter scored a career-high 26 points. However, he was one of three F&M players to score at least 20 points in the win, Terrel Phelps finished with a career-best 25 points, none bigger than his 3-pointer with four seconds left in regulation that sent that game into the first overtime. Jon Salandra added 20 points for F&M.
Amazingly, the Diplomats are 4-4 at home and 3-0 on the road. The Mayser Center used to be a place where nobody escaped with a victory. One of the neatest scenes and most intimidating sights for a visiting team in Division III when I worked at Lincoln and our teams played at F&M was watching the Dips run out onto the floor to the sounds of Guns-n-Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.” Hopefully that tradition still exists since my last visit to F&M in 2007.
Cook heating up Hood
Another team riding a five-game winning streak is the Hood Blazers after its 85-64 victory over Elizabethtown. It’s the Blazers (8-3 overall) longest winning streak since the 2011-12 season. Hood hit 14-of-29 3-point attempts (48 percent) in the contest. The 14 made threes set a new arena record at BB&T Arena and was the most in a game for the Blazers since making the same number in a win over Penn State-York almost exactly six years ago (Jan. 7, 2008). Matt Galloway and Cameron Cook combined to score 48 points against Elizabethtown.
Cook helped Hood enjoy a memorable trip to Miami as he helped the Blazers beat Geneva and Eastern in the Adidas D3 Holiday Slam. Cook scored on a putback with 3.3 seconds remaining to help Hood edge Geneva, 78-76. During the game against Geneva, Cook became the third player in Hood history to top 1,300 career points. Cook finished with a team-high 18 points against Eastern. He enters Wednesday’s road game at Alvernia with 1,342 points. Overall, the Blazers went 6-1 against its non-conference schedule.
The Cooks lead the Blazers in scoring. Cameron Cook is averaging 15.2 points per game and Chris Cook is second on the team with a 13.4 point per game average.
PSU-Abington putting up the points
After losing its first two games of the season, Penn State-Abington has won four of its last five, including two in a row after beating Bryn Athyn, 81-73. In that win, the Nittany Lions were led by Avery Barnes, who scored 24 points, snatched 11 rebounds and had three monster blocks. Also, Mike Marvin recorded his sixth double-doubles of the season with 19 points and 17 rebounds. The Nittany Lions have scored at least 80 points in all but one of their games.
Mid-Atlantic crossovers
Keystone’s Duncan Lunsford poured in 32 points, including the 1,000th of his marvelous career in a loss to Scranton. ... Lunsford is the 15th male player in school history to join the1,000-point club. ... Stevenson and Widener combined to score 205 points in a wild conference game over the weekend, won by Stevenson, 105-100. ... The Mustangs (9-2) posted 100 points for the second time in three games and seventh in the program's 20-year history. ... The 105 points scored by Stevenson are second most in school history, eight shy of the record set on Feb. 18, 2006, a 113-68 victory over Purchase. ... Widener’s Rob McPherson matched his career-high with 31 points in the loss to Stevenson. ... He also scored 31 points on Dec. 4 against Elizabethtown. ... McDaniel’s Cody McMaster made her only basket of the game count as she scored in the final seconds to help the Green Terror defeat Division II Washington Adventist, 58-56. ... The non-conference showdown between Cabrini and Wesley men, which was postponed on Jan. 2 has been rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 3 at Cabrini.
Atlantic Rim-Rockers
The College of Saint Elizabeth’s has been idle since Dec. 14 when it beat SUNY Old-Westbury, 81-72, behind 30 points from Cheyenne Grant. ... It was the Screaming Eagles’ third straight win and they host Cazenovia Saturday afternoon. ... Tiara White’s 19 points helped Wesley beat Southern Virginia, 52-40, for its first victory of the season. ... Emily Grabiak earned MVP honors after leading Catholic to the CUA Fairfield Holiday Tournament championship and extending its winning streak to five games by 21.5 points per game in wins over King’s and Regis. ... The Lehman men have won five of its last six games. ... Richard Stockton is 10-1 overall and have produced a pair of five-game winning streaks this season. ... Josh Blamon scored 27 points as the Ospreys beat Rutgers-Newark, 77-68, in their first game in two weeks.
