Marshall University Athletics
Herd Women in Florida for UCF Christmas Classic
12/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Herd Women in Florida for UCF Christmas Classic
12/17/2004
ORLANDO ? The 3-3 Marshall women?s basketball team will try to get back on the winning track when it takes on Florida International and Colgate this weekend at the UCF Christmas Classic. Tip-off for Saturday?s game with FIU is at 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday versus Colgate.
The Thundering Herd lost three of its last four games and is coming off an 18-point loss to Kentucky on Dec. 12 (73-55). Junior Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (Houston, Texas) leads MU in scoring (11.8 points per game) while sophomore Modupe Ishola (Washington, D.C.) paces the Herd and is second in the MAC in rebounding (9.0 rpg).
Marshall has never faced the Golden Panthers or Raiders in school history. Since the UCF Christmas Classic is a pre-determined invitational, Marshall will not get the chance to play its soon-to-be conference foe Golden Knights. Both UCF and Marshall will join Conference USA next season.
Florida International, out of the Sun Belt Conference, has jumped out to a 6-2 record and has won four straight games coming into the UCF Christmas Classic. Saturday?s game versus Marshall will serve as the Golden Panthers? first game away from Pharmed Arena and Sunday?s matchup with UCF will be FIU?s first official road game of the season. Last season, FIU played six of its first eight games on the road.
Senior Milena Tomova is the Sun Belt?s leading scorer with a 20.4 points per game average. The forward scored a season-high 31 points in FIU?s last game, a 68-55 win over Northwestern on Thursday. Tomova hit a career-high five 3-pointers (5-for-9) and went 11-of-22 from the floor. FIU?s force in the paint is sophomore Lasma Jekabsone. The center pulls down 9.4 rebounds per game to go along with 7.4 points per game.
FIU head coach Cindy Russo is in her 26th season at the Miami, Fla.-based school. She owns a record of 522-208 at FIU.
Colgate is coming off its best season in program history, a year that saw the Raiders claim their first regular season and Patriot League Tournament titles ever. This after the Raiders had not posted a winning season since 1986-87 with just six winning seasons total in their 30-year history. A school-record 21 wins and a league tournament championship guided CU to its first berth in the NCAA Tournament, where it would fall to eventual national finalist and No. 1-seeded Tennessee.
Colgate returns four starters from its 21-10 team a year ago - an improvement from 9-18 in 2002-03 - including the Patriot League co-Preseason Player of the Year Emily Braseth. The senior forward is averaging 13.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season. Senior guard Allison Lipinski is the Raiders? leading scorer, averaging 15.1 points per game. In its last game entering the UCF Christmas Classic, Colgate got a double-double from Braseth (12 points, 10 rebounds) while junior guard Megan Ballard netted 21 points, five rebounds, five steals and two assists in 31 minutes.
The Raiders brought in first-year Colgate coach Kristin Hughes this season. Hughes comes to the Hamilton, N.Y.-based school from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She spent 11 seasons at CWRU and became the all-time winningest coach in program history after compiling 120 wins to 156 losses.
Both games can be heard live on WMUL 88.1-FM or on the web at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
