Trinity Women's Basketball Makes First Appearance In NESCAC Semis Saturday
Trinity's Royals Selected As NESCAC Women's Basketball Player Of The Week
Hartford, Conn., Feb. 27, 2009 -- The Trinity College women's basketball team, which won on the road against the Bates College Bobcats, 76-71, in the quarterfinal round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament on Saturday, will face the host Bowdoin College Polar Bears in the NESCAC Semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. Amherst and Tufts face off in the other semifinal at Bowdoin at 4 p.m. The semifinal winners will play in the NESCAC Championship Finals on Sun., Mar. 1 at 1 p.m. at Bowdoin. Tickets for the weekend's games are $5 for adults and $2 for students.
The winner of the NESCAC Championship Tournament will determine the league's automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The Bantams, coached by Wendy Davis (4th season, 47-47), are 17-7 and are enjoying their best season since winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship title in 1999-00. Trinity finished tied with Colby and Wesleyan for fifth place in the NESCAC at 4-5 and earned the No. 5 seed in the Championship Tournament due to the league's tiebreaking rules. Trinity, which is making its first-ever appearance in the NESCAC Semifinals, lost at home to Bowdoin, 62-44, during the regular season. The teams have played each other three times in the league tourney and Bowdoin has won all three of those, as well as the last 12 overall meetings between the schools.
At Bates, Trinity first-year guard Michelle Royals (Torrington, Conn.) led four Bantams in double figures with 23 points from off the bench and added five rebounds. Junior forward Christine Card (Waterbury, Conn.) contributed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, while sophomore guard Kristen Fahey (Cumberland, R.I.) and junior co-captain guard Claire Arnstein (Hicksville, N.Y.) added 13 and 11 points, respectively, and four assists apiece. Royals was honored as the NESCAC Player of the Week for her outstanding performance.
Trinity got off to its best start since 1996-97 at 11-0 and boasted a 15-2 mark before dropping five straight heading into the final game of the regular season at Williams. Trinity won that game, 75-70, and at Bates by nearly the same score to up its road record to 10-2. The Bantams rank third in the NESCAC defensively with 55.1 points allowed per game. Arnstein leads the Bantams in scoring at 12.0 ppg (12th in NESCAC) and adds 4.5 rebounds, 3.29 assists (79, 9th in NESCAC) and 2.17 steals (52, 5th in NESCAC) per contest. Card has been a force in the paint all year, averaging 9.5 ppg and a team-high 7.6 rebounds (3rd in NESCAC), and collecting 1.17 blocks (28, 5th in NESCAC) per game. Royals has made an immediate impact as a rookie, scoring 11.7 ppg (13th in NESCAC) with 3.2 rebounds per game and 32 steals. Junior guard Tess Donie (Worcester, Mass.) adds 7.3 ppg and ranks ninth in NESCAC at the foul line with a .772 percentage (61-79), while sophomore F/C Molly McGlynn (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) averages 6.2 points and 5.5 boards per game.
Bowdoin, coached by Adrienne Shibles (1st season), is 21-4 and owns a seven-game winning streak, after downing Williams, 85-52, in its quarterfinal game on Saturday. Bowdoin, which won the first seven conference crowns before falling to Amherst in the semifinals last season, ranks third among conference squads in scoring offense with 70.4 ppg and second defensively at 53.8 points allowed per game. Polar Bear sophomore guard Katie Bergeron (Bradley, Maine) averages a team-high 10.7 ppg, while junior forward Leah Rubega (Norwich Conn.) leads Bowdoin on the glass with 9.5 boards per contest. Bowdoin is 10-1 at home this season and 28-0 all-time in the post-season at Morrell Gymnasium.
