ECAC DIVISION III WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RELEASE
BEVERLY, Mass. - The Endicott women's basketball team has been tabbed as the No. 4 seed in tonight's 2016 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Women's Basketball first round game against No. 5 Elms College at 7:00 p.m. inside MacDonald Gymnasium.
Endicott (16-11) is coming off a 66-55 loss to the University of New England in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Semifinals, while Elms (15-12) fell, 60-40, at Regis in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Semifinals.
PREVIOUS MATCHUPS:This will be the first meeting between the squads since the 1999-00 season, when Endicott won, 79-46.
ENDICOTT: 16-11 |ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The Gulls, playing in their final home game of the 2015-16 season, are making their 11th overall appearance in the ECAC tournament in program history and first since the team celebrated its first ECAC Championship in 2014 with a 79-76 win over Smith College on March 9, 2014.
Endicott is led in scoring by All-CCC First Team senior guard Kelsey Cuddy (Madison, Conn.), All-CCC Second Team sophomore forward Hannah Shaw (Bar Harbor, Maine) and sophomore guard Hannah Kiernan (Wenham, Mass.). This season, Cuddy became the 11th student-athlete in program history to reach the 1,000 point milestone (01/09/16), and set a new career-high with 28 points in the team's 77-62 win at Curry on 01/05/16. Shaw, the CCC Rookie of the Year one season ago, has 10 games scoring in double digits this season, while Kiernan has 11 games in double figures, including a career-high 18 points in the team's 76-43 home win versus Nichols on 01/27/16.
ELMS: 15-12 | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The Blazers, making their first-ever ECAC postseason appearance, are led by All-NECC Second Team selections Emily Burr (East Hartford, Conn.) and JC Pickett (Chicopee, Mass.).
This year's bracket features a field of five teams, as the winner of the Endicott/Elms game will advance to play top seeded Keene State College (22-5) on Saturday, March 5 at 1:00 p.m. on the campus of Western New England University in Springfield, Mass.
The second semifinal matchup will see the No. 2 seed Western New England University (18-10) host Suffolk University (17-10) at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The winner of the Keene State/Endicott/Elms will take on the winner of Suffolk/Western New England for the title on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mass. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
ECAC DIVISION III NEW ENGLAND BRACKET
First Round – Wednesday, March 5 at Endicott College
#4 Endicott (16-11) vs. #5 Elms College (15-12) – 7:00 p.m.
Semifinals – Saturday, March 5 at Western New England University
Semifinal #1: No. 1 Keene State vs. No. 4 Endicott/No. 5 Elms winner – 1:00 p.m.
Semifinal #2: No. 3 Suffolk vs. No. 2 Western New England – 3:00 p.m.
Championship – Sunday, March 6 at Western New England
Winner Semifinal #1 vs. Winner Semifinal #2 – 1:00 p.m.