Wednesday, March 3, 2004
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Red-shirt freshman Sandy Mosley (GOSHEN) led five double-figure scorers with 15 points as the No. 2-seeded Warriors advanced to the semifnal round of the 2004 ECAC New England Division III Tournament with a 78-47 win over No. 7 WPI Wednesday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Ranked No. 22 nationally, Eastern (24-5) will face No. 3 Norwich University (23-6) in Saturday's semifinals at 3 p.m. at Brandeis University. The host Judges -- the tournament's No. 1 seed -- will meet No. 5 Colby-Sawyer College (21-7) Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first semifinal-round game.
In other first-round games Wednesday, Brandeis eliminated No. 8 seed Albertus Magnus College 72-52, Norwich defeated No. 6 Springfield College 60-44 and No. 5 Colby-Sawyer upset No. 4 Mount Holyoke College 60-49.
Brandeis will host the tournament final at 2 p.m.
Making its first ECAC tournament appearance after three straight trips to the NCAA tournament, Eastern also got 14 points from seniors Deanne Prior (SCITUTAE, RI) and Allison Coleman (JEWETT CITY). Junior Sarah McDonald (WEYMOUTH, MA) and sophomore Lindsey Karsmarski (MERIDEN) came off the bench to add 11 and ten points, respectively. Eastern's double-figure scorers combined to convert 29 of 51 tries (56.9 per cent) of their field goals.
Eastern scored nine straight points early in the game to move out to an eight-point, 19-11 lead nine minutes into action and after WPI (16-12) cut the gap to one, went on a 12-2 burst to open up a 13-point, 31-18 lead with three minutes left in the first half. The Warriors shot 53.1 per cent in the second half to maintain a double-digit lead. Five different players scored points in the decisive 12-2 run while WPI was missing three of four shots and turning the ball over three times on seven possessions in that stretch.
Junior center Lee Helberg led WPI with ten points, five blocked shots and three steals while senior guard Allison Wing had nine points, eight assists and five steals.
Six-foot-one inch sophomore Katie Kline (NORTH BROOKFIELD, MA) of Eastern came off the bench to share game-high scoring honors with Coleman and freshman Meghan Pajonas of WPI, all grabbing seven rebounds. Eastern outrebounded WPI, 38-25.
It was the program's 100th win in the four-year careers of seniors Prior, Coleman and Kathleen Burdelski (NEWINGTON), who have led the program to post-season berths each year while losing only 17 games.
The win improved Eastern's record in seven ECAC tournaments to 6-5 and was its first ECAC win after first-round losses in 1993 and 1999. The Warriors won three home games by a total of 13 points to win the 1989 ECAC championship.
For Eastern, the win was the 14th at home this year in 15 outings and 57th in its last 61 games at Geissler Gymnasium. WPI, which returned to the ECAC tournament after losing 18 of 22 games a year ago, had beaten Eastern 55-54 in this tournament championship game in 1987.
Eastern has beaten Norwich three times in four previous meetings, most recently 70-64 in the ECSU tip-off tournament in 1998.
Eastern Conn. 78, WPI 47
WPI (16-12): Ashley Zalucky 0-2 0-0 0; Sarah Doyon 3-8 1-2 9; Meghan Pajonas 1-8 0-0 2; Allison Wing 3-12 2-2 9; Lee Helberg 5-9 0-1 10; Kate Herchenroder 3-4 0-1 6; Becky Duhaime 2-3 1-3 5; Tiffany Madsen 1-1 0-0 2; Karissa Barnes 1-3 2-2 4; Samantha Dakin 0-0 0-0 0; Kris Nigro 0-0 0-0 0; Meghan Horsley 0-0 0-0 0; TOTAL: 19-50 6-11 47.
EASTERN CONN. (24-5): Kathleen Burdelski 0-1 0-0 0; Deanne Prior 7-11 0-0 14; Jen Bergeron 3-4 2-2 8; Allison Coleman 6-13 1-1 14; Sandy Mosley 7-13 1-2 15; Sarah McDonald 5-7 1-2 11; Katie Kline 2-9 0-1 4; Lindsey Karsmarski 4-7 0-1 10; Erin Calkins 0-2 0-0 0; Ashley Gomes 0-0 0-0 0; Lindsey McDonald 1-1 0-0 2; TOTAL: 35-68 5-8 78.
Score at halftime: E, 37-22.
Three-point goals: W 3-13 (Doyon 2-5, Wing 1-5, Zalucky 0-2, Helberg 0-1), E 3-12 (Karsmarksi 2-2, Coleman 1-4, Mosley 0-4, Calkins 0-2); Rebounds: W 25 (Pajonas 7), E 38 (Coleman 7, Kline 7, Prior 6); Assists: W 10 (Wing 8), E 9 (Burdelski 2, Coleman 2, Mosley 2).
2004 ECAC Division III New England
Women's Basketball Tournament
1. Brandeis U. (19-5); 2. EASTERN CONN. (23-5); 3. Norwich U. (22-6); 4. Mt. Holyoke College (20-7); 5. Colby-Sawyer College (20-7); 6. Springfield College (18-10); 7. WPI (16-11); 8. Albertus Magnus College (16-9).
Wednesday, March 3
Quarterfinals at higher seeds
Eastern Conn. 78, WPI 47; Brandeis U. 72, Albertus Magnus 52; Norwich U. 60, Springfield College 44; Colby-Sawyer 60, Mount Holyoke College 49.
Saturday, March 6 -- Semifinals
at Waltham, MA
Eastern Conn. vs. Norwich U. 1 p.m.; Brandeis U. vs. Colby-Sawyer College, 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 7
Final -- 2 p.m.
at Waltham, MA
Semifinal round winners
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