Women's Basketball to Face UNE in NCAA First Round

2013 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament Bracket (PDF)

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BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The NCAA Division III Tournament pairings have been announced and the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team will travel to Amherst, Massachusetts on Friday night to take on the Nor'Easters of the University of New England in an opening round contest.

The first round game will take place at Amherst College (5:00 PM) with the winner advancing to the second round on Saturday night (6:00) against either host Amherst or Farmingdale State College.

Bridgewater State will be making the programs third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, fourth in the last six years and eighth overall.  The previous seven appearances came in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2008, 2011 and 2012.

The Bears enter the tournament with an overall mark of 23-3.  The 23 victories is the second highest win total in program history trailing only the '84-'85 Bears who went 26-2.  The Bears have won 11 straight games and 17 of their last 18.

Bridgewater earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAAs by winning the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament championship on Saturday with an 85-72 victory over number three seed Westfield State University.  The Bears were the top seed at the MASCAC Tournament after posting an 11-2 conference mark during the regular season.

Bridgewater is currently ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III Northeast rankings.  The Bears also received votes in both the D3hoops.com (21 pts.) and USA Today Sports Division III (14 pts.) Top 25 polls.

Last season, Bridgewater dropped a neutral site contest to Babson College, 68-59, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament also at Amherst.

The BSU women's basketball team is under the watchful eye of 16-year head coach, Bridgett Casey.  The four-time (2008, 2010, 2012, 2013) MASCAC Coach of the Year sports a career mark of 243-170 (.588) including a conference regular season record of 124-68 (.646).  Casey's 243 wins are by far the most in program history as she is the only Bridgewater coach to reach the 200-win milestone.

Bridgewater currently ranks sixth in all of Division III with 15.9 steals per game.  The Bears are also 11th in the nation in assists (17.3 apg), 15th in turnover margin (+7.62), 14th in field goal percentage (.438), 16th in three-point shooting percentage (.350) and 17th in scoring offense (74.1 ppg).

On the court, Bridgewater State is led by First Team All-MASCAC senior guards Michaela Cosby (Sr., Walpole, Mass.) and Elisha Homich (Ludlow, Mass.), All-MASCAC Second Team forward Megan Boutilette (Charlton, Mass.) and MASCAC Tournament MVP Jenna Williamson (Jr., Guard, Ludlow, Mass.). Junior guard Colleen Hanscom (Melrose, Mass.) rounds out the Bears' starting five.

Cosby is averaging 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.7 steals while shooting 51% (143-280) from the floor and 72% (69-96) at the charity stripe.  She currently ranks third in the MASCAC in field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio (1.4), sixth in both scoring and assists, ninth in free throw shooting, and tenth in rebounding and steals.  Cosby is tied for eighth all-time at BSU in scoring with 1,072 points.

Homich has notched 13.1 points, 3.0 rebounds 5.2 assists and 2.7 steals per game, while shooting 35.9% (51-142) from the field and 82.6% (90-109) at the free throw line.  She leads the conference in free throw shooting and ranks second in assists, third in three-point percentage, fifth in assist to turnover ratio (1.3), seventh in steals and tenth in scoring.  Homich, who also ranks 17th in all of Division III in assists, has amassed 772 points over three plus seasons with the team.

Boutilette enters the tournament with per game averages of 12.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.4 block shots and 3.8 steals to go along with a .590 (138-234) shooting percentage.  Her 98 steals is second only to Melissa Murphy's single-season mark of 106 set in 2005-2006.  Boutilette leads the MASCAC in field goal percentage and ranks second in steals, third in both rebounding and blocks, and 12th in scoring.  She is also third in all of Division III in field goal percentage and 18th in steals.  Boutilette has scored 771 points in three seasons with the Bears and is fifth all-time in rebounds with 618.

Williamson is averaging 12.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.1 steals while shooting 38.5% (55-143) from behind the arc and 79.7% (55-69) at the charity stripe.  Her 55 trifectas is second only to Corey Cuddihy's single-season mark of 58 set in 2008-2009.  Williamson leads the MASCAC in three-point shooting and ranks second in free throw percentage, tenth in field goal percentage and 11th in scoring.  She is also 25th in all of Division III in three-point shooting.  Williamson already has 938 points in just three seasons with the Bears and she is second all-time in made trifectas with 151.

Hanscom is averaging 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.3 steals in her first season with the Bears after transferring from Division II Post University.  She is also shooting 73.8% (45-61) at the free throw line.  Hanscom ranks 12th in the MASCAC in steals.

UNE, champions of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), won the CCC Tournament title with a 69-63 decision over Salve Regina University.  The Nor'Easters (24-4) are making their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last four seasons.  

Last season, the Nor'easters dropped a neutral-site contest to Johns Hopkins University, 53-51, in the opening round.

UNE is riding a 19-game winning streak into the game with BSU, with its last loss dating back to January 2 at nationally-ranked Southern Maine. The Nor'Easters ran the table in CCC action (18-0), and are in the midst of a fifth-consecutive 20-win season under sixth-year head coach Anthony Ewing. Ewing was voted as the league's Coach of the Year.

The Nor'Easters are led by CCC Player of the Year, senior forward Beth Suggs (14.4 PPG, 11.4 RPG), fellow all-conference selection, sophomore forward Kelly Coleman (12.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and freshman guards Meghan Gribbin (7.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.9 apg) and Lauren Hayden (8.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 spg).