BRYANT LOOKS TO SALVAGE WEEKEND AT WAGNER

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Date: Monday, Jan. 16, 2012
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Wagner Basketball Arena, Staten Island, N.Y.
Watch/Listen: www.WagnerAthletics.com

SMITHFIELD, R.I. - After suffering a loss against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday (Jan. 14) that snapped a season-long three-game winning streak, Bryant rounds out a weekend road trip on Monday afternoon against Wagner - a team that it has never lost to in three previous tries.

THE SERIES 

Despite joining the Division I ranks just three seasons ago, the Bulldogs have had immense success against Wagner in each of the team's three previous meetings, winning all of them by at least 10 points.  The closest call came last year at the Chace Athletic Center, in which the Bulldogs prevailed, 61-51, on Jan. 31, 2011.

LAST TIME OUT: MOUNT TRIPS UP BRYANT

The Bryant University women's basketball team's three-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon, as the Bulldogs fell on the road against Mount St. Mary's, 66-61, at Knott Arena.

Three players reached double-digit scoring for the Bulldogs, but that would not be enough to overcome a 38-point output in the second half by the Mountaineers, as the home team erased a seven-point halftime deficit in no time at all and ultimately prevailed in the back-and-forth affair.

Junior Meredith Soper bested all players with an 18-point performance while recording eight boards, while sophomore Naana Ankoma-Mensa cruised to her fifth double-double of the season on 14 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Junior Katie Whittington posted 10 points and a team-high four assists.

Entering the game as the hottest three-point shooting team in the league, the Mount used the long ball to its advantage again, as the team that led the Northeast Conference in three-pointers made per game (6.40) dropped seven treys on 16 attempts (43.8 percent), slightly better than the Bulldogs' 5-of-14 clip (35.7 percent) from beyond the arc.  

SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS

Losers of nine straight games, the Seahawks enter Monday's affair with a 2-14 record on the season, including a 1-4 mark against Northeast Conference foes and a 2-3 record at home.

Most recently, Wagner welcomed Central Connecticut on Saturday (Jan. 14) and trailed by just six points with less than five minutes to play in regulation, but the Blue Devils eventually prevailed, 69-57, in that afternoon battle.  Senior center Kelly Clark poured in a game-high 20 points while freshman forward Stephanie Blais set a new personal best with 11 points.

Clark represents a formidable threat for the Bulldogs; the senior has scored 20 points or more in six games this year, and she is within 52 points of becoming the 22nd Wagner player in program history to hit the 1,000-point mark.

The Seahawks rank in the bottom third of the league in most stat categories, but one area that they have been dominant in is the block department, averaging 4.50 rejections per game - good for second in the conference.

LAST YEAR AGAINST THE SEAHAWKS Led by a pair of double-double performances from senior Siamone Bennett and freshman Naana Ankoma-Mensa, the Bryant University women's basketball team downed Wagner, 61-51, in Northeast Conference play on Jan. 31, 2011 at the Chace Athletic Center

Facing a five-point deficit at halftime, the Seahawks managed to trim the lead down to one point with 4:52 left to play, but Bryant answered with an 8-0 run, capped off with back-to-back treys from Meredith Soper to stave off the Wagner comeback.

Bennett recorded a game-high 17 points and added ten rebounds for her third-straight double-double while Ankoma-Mensa accomplished the feat for the first time in her career with 12 points and ten boards. Sophomores Soper and Danielle Douglas also scored in double-figures with 11 and 10, respectively.    

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 37.5 percent from the floor en route to their third-straight victory while the Seahawks shot at a 25 percent clip.  

BUILT TO BOUNCE BACK

The Bulldogs are undefeated (4-0) in games immediately following losses this season, and the team will be looking to keep that streak intact this afternoon.

CAN A BROTHER GET A BLOCK? 

For the first time this season, the Bulldogs were held without a rejection in a single game, as the Mountaineers were able to go the entire 40 minutes of regulation without seeing any of their shots stuffed.  

Bryant has struggled in the blocks department in recent games, falling into a tie for ninth in the league in average blocks per game (1.88).

HOME AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

After playing just one game within the friendly confines of the Chace Athletic Center in the month of December and after playing eight of its first 12 games this season on the road, Bryant will finally get to spend some time in Smithfield in the coming weeks.

Bryant opened up a span of seven home games in nine contests with three straight wins last week, knocking off Army, Saint Francis (PA) and Robert Morris all within a six-day span.  

The Bulldogs have posted a 5-1 record at the Chace this year, and are 26-16 in Smithfield since the start of the 2008-09 season.  Last year, Bryant went 7-6 with a 5-4 mark against NEC teams within the friendly confines of The Chace.

HAVE A WEEK, NAANA

While difficult to single out an individual effort as the key to Bryant's huge week, which included a three-game winning streak and monumental victories against preseason favorites Saint Francis (PA) and Robert Morris, sophomore Naana Ankoma-Mensa could have a go at that honor by virtue of her team-high 38 points and nine steals, not to mention her 16 boards which trailed only one player's total during that span.

Against Robert Morris, the Brampton, Ont., native set a new career high with 21 points while missing a double-double by one rebound.  She also garnered three steals and the team's lone block in that victory over the Colonials.

A SHORTAGE OF STEALS

While still ranking as the top team in the conference in takeaways, the Bulldogs mustered a season-low three steals against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday.  It was the fewest amount for Bryant since totaling just six steals against Columbia (Dec. 30) and Boston College (Nov. 27).

SOPER BARELY MISSES TRIPLE-DOUBLE

In one of her finest outings of the season, junior Meredith Soper was one assist shy of a triple-double against Robert Morris on Jan. 9. It would have been the program's first such accomplishment since current assistant coach Lynne-Ann Kokoski last did so against Bridgeport on Dec. 19, 2007.

CAN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAME?

Bryant University Athletics offers more ways than ever before to watch, listen or follow your Bulldogs during all the action even when you can't make it to the court!  Head to www.bryantbulldogs.tv for information about single-game and full- season broadcasting packages, where you can watch webcasts of the Bulldogs for most home games.  Live stats can be found at www.bryantbulldogs.com for every contest, and you can follow @BryantGameday on Twitter for score updates.