HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 8, 2015) – Armed with an eight game win streak, the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team will look to stay unbeaten in the Empire 8 Conference this weekend with a pair of road matchups.
The Ducks (8-1) will kick off the road trip Friday with a 6 p.m. match against St. John Fisher College (9-3) followed by a 2 p.m. battle with Nazareth College (6-4) on Saturday.
SCOUTING REPORT Coming off a loss to Ithaca College on Tuesday, Fisher enters Friday's matchup having won five of its last six. Senior Portia Velasco and junior Mark Kate Cusack each average 16 points a game while senior Sydney Bloomstein has paced the team with seven rebounds per game.
Nazareth is riding its own three game win streak entering play on Friday, and is led in scoring by junior Lindsey Kelly (15.9 ppg.), junior Sam Sorge (12.7 ppg.), and junior Veronica Peck (10.3 ppg.).
CHASING HISTORY Stevens' eight game win streak marks the longest since the team won nine straight during the 2010-11 season. The Ducks are just four wins away from tying the all-time mark set by the 2007-2008 squad, and the 3-0 start in conference play ties the mark set in 2011-12.
INSIDE THE STREAK The Ducks have outscored opponents by more than 100 points during the win streak and have won five games by double digits. The 8-1 start to the season is the best since Stevens went 12-1 to start the 2010-11 campaign.
DEFENSIVE DUCKS Stevens has allowed 60 points just twice this season and is holding opponents to 31 percent shooting from the field. The Ducks are currently first in the conference in scoring defense.
ASTEL AWARENESS Junior
Kaitlyn Astel has scored in double figures in seven of the Ducks nine games this season, and leads the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game. Additionally, the Stevens guard leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and is third with 19 assists.
WINDOW WASHING Astel, sophomore
Brittany Washington, and junior
Dylan Krause comprise the Ducks trio averaging at least six rebounds per game. As a team, the Ducks lead the conference in defensive rebounding average (30.8) and rebounding margin (4.3).
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Freshmen
Megan Brown and
Sydney Darby combined have averaged over 10 points per game this season. Brown is currently fourth on the team in rebounding while Darby has hit double figures in scoring twice this season, including a career high 12 points in last weekend's win against Houghton.
WHERE TO WATCH Live stats and video are available for each game on stevensducks.com.
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
