Worcester State Seeded Seventh In 2010 ECAC New England Women's Basketball Championships
Worcester State is seeded seventh in the 2010 ECAC Division III New England Women's Basketball Championships and will take on second-seeded Regis in quarterfinal round play on Wednesday, March 3rd in Weston, Mass. beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST
Courtesy Worcester State Sports Information
For the fifth time in program history, the Worcester State College women's basketball team has been selected to play in the New England Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament as a seventh seed and will travel to #2 Regis on Wednesday for a 7 PM quarterfinal matchup.
The winner will take on #3 Endicott or sixth seeded Plymouth State in the semifinals on Saturday. In the other bracket, top-seeded Keene State entertains #8 Suffolk while #4 WPI hosts fifth seeded Norwich. All quarterfinal games are scheduled for Wednesday evening.
This past Saturday, both teams lost heartbreakers in their respective conference championship games. The Lancers (15-13) were defeated by MCLA 68-65 in the MASCAC final while the University of New England dropped the Pride (19-9), 75-62, for The Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament crown.
The Blue and Gold are in search of its first win in the ECAC New England Tournament. Their first appearance came in 1984, two years after they had reached the 1981 AIAW Final Four, and they lost to Colby College, 72-48. WSC then made back-to-back appearances in 1990 and 1991 where they were handed setbacks by Amherst (47-46) and Emmanuel (81-60), respectively.
16th year head coach Karen Tessmer guided the Lancers to their last ECAC Tournament appearance where they were defeated by Norwich 64-55 in 2005.
Worcester State is paced by sophomore second-team All-MASCAC selection Kaleigh Charette (Fairhaven, MA) who leads the team in scoring (10.4 PPG) while she's second in rebounding (5.5 RPG). Senior Reilly O'Keefe (Warren, MA) is second on the squad in scoring (9.3) while classmate Bri Flanders (Southampton, MA) tops the rebounding category with 7.7 boards per game.
The Pride are propelled by senior Jessica Page (Quincy, MA) who is first on the team in points (15.3 PPG) while junior Sarah McNult (Hampstead, NH) leads in rebounding (9.5 RPG). Sophomore Stephanie Crawford (Rockland, MA) is their primary ball handler as she averages 11.6 points per game, 4.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
The matchup is the first between Worcester State and Regis, who have never faced each other before.