#3 Mitchell and #4 Elms Advance to Final Four in Women's Basketball Semifinal Action

2009-‘10 NECC WOMEN's BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Click Here to Follow Up to Date Tournament Action: http://athletics.dwc.edu/landing/index

Quarterfinals -Tuesday, February 23
#6 Newbury (9-13, 7-9) at #3 Mitchell (12-11, 12-4), MC 73-65
#5 Becker (8-17, 8-8) at #4 Elms (10-15, 9-7), EC 65-40

Semifinals- Friday, February 26 (Hosted by Daniel Webster , Nashua, N.H.)
#4 Elms (11-15) at #1 Daniel Webster (20-5, 15-1), 6:00 p.m.
#3 Mitchell (13-11) vs. #2 Lesley (15-8, 14-2), 8:00 p.m.

Championship Game -Saturday, February 27 (Hosted by Daniel Webster, Nashua, N.H.)
Semifinal Winners, 2:00 p.m.

2010 NECC Women's Basketball Championship Packet

2010 NECC Women's Basketball Championship Program

NEW LONDON, Conn. & CHICOPEE, Mass.--#3 Mitchell College defeated #6 Newbury College 73-65, while #4 Elms College downed #5 Becker College 65-40 tonight in semifinal action of the 2010 New England Collegiate Conference Women's Basketball Championships.

 #3 Mitchell 73, #6 Newbury 65

Box score: http://www.mitchellathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2009-10/stats/mcw24.htm

Click here for the game program

NEW LONDON, Conn. - The Mitchell College women's basketball team withstood a second-half charge by Newbury College to pull out a 73-65 victory on Tuesday night in the first round of the NECC Championship at the Yarnall Athletic Center.

Mitchell (13-11 overall) advances to the semifinals and will face second-seeded Lesley University on Friday, February 26 at 8 p.m. The semifinals and championship game will be hosted by Daniel Webster College, the top seed in the tournament, in Nashua, N.H.

Four Mariners scored in double figures led by a game-high 19 points from sophomore Destiney Harris (Bristol, Conn.), who also added a team-high 12 rebounds and five assists. Junior Alix O'Neil (New London, Conn.) finished one board shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds while classmate Allison Peck (Colchester, Conn.) and senior Jennifer Iglesias (Waterbury, Conn.) chipped in with 13 and 12 points, respectively. The 13 points were a season high for Peck.

Newbury (9-14 overall) also finished with four players in double figures. Junior Ashley Monteiro (Cambridge, Mass.) and freshman Catherine O'Connell (Quincy, Mass.) each netted 12 points while senior Katelyn Mark (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore Morganna Machado (Attleboro, Mass.) added 10 apiece. O'Connell also pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with three blocks and three assists.

Newbury led in the early going but never by more than two points. Mitchell took its first lead at 9-6 on a three-pointer by Peck with 13:20 remaining in the first half. The Mariners never again trailed and pumped the margin to as many as 13 in the stanza before taking a 30-18 lead into the locker room at the break.

O'Neil and Harris each had six points in the half to pace the Mariners, who forced 11 turnovers and shot 38 percent from the floor. Mark and Machado each had five points by the intermission to lead the Nighthawks. Newbury shot just 19 percent for the half and went 1-for-12 from behind the arc.

Newbury regrouped during the break and came out strong to start the second half. The Nighthawks cut the deficit to five in the first three minutes behind back-to-back three-pointers from Monteiro. After calling a quick timeout to refocus, the Mariners ripped off a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to take control. O'Neil sparked the run with consecutive jumpers while Peck capped things off with a three-pointer to put Mitchell up 46-31 with 13:05 to play.

Mitchell led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but Newbury never gave in. The Nighthawks cut the deficit to single digits behind a 10-0 run that left them trailing 57-50 with 5:48 to go. Machado scored five points during the stretch to lead the charge.

After the Mariners quickly pushed the lead back to double digits, Newbury made one final run and got as close as 63-58 with 2:33 remaining. Another timeout settled Mitchell down, and O'Neil drained a jumper on the ensuing possession to steal back momentum. The Mariners then sealed the victory by going 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 1:05.

Newbury outscored Mitchell 47-43 in the second half and shot 52 percent from the floor and 7-of-16 from long range. However, the Mariners made up for it by forcing 23 turnovers for the game that resulted in a 21-9 edge in points off turnovers. Mitchell shot 40 percent for the contest.

Story courtesy of Mitchell Sports Information

#4 Elms 65, #5 Becker 40

Box Score:http://athletics.elms.edu/sports/wbkb/2009-10/stats/teamstat.htm

Click here for the game program

CHICOPEE, Mass. - Elms College senior guard Annie Dunnack (Mansfield Center, Conn.) poured in a game-best 20 points to help pace the fourth-seeded Blazers to a 65-40 victory over No. 5 Becker College in the Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament quarterfinal women's basketball contest at Picknelly Arena.

With the win, Elms improves to 11-15 overall and advances to the semifinal round where it will face top-seeded Daniel Webster College (20-5) on Friday, Feb. 26 in Nashua, N.H. With the loss, Becker concludes its season 8-18 overall.

Trailing 9-8 at the 12:46 mark of the opening period, Elms' freshman guard Jen Normandie (Westford, Mass.) found sophomore point guard Carolyn Talmadge (Wilbraham, Mass.) for a three-pointer that sparked a 16-5 run that gave the Blazers a 24-14 advantage with 4:03 remaining in the frame. The stretched was capped by a three-pointer from Dunnack.

Becker's Katelyn Cavanaugh (Belchertown, Mass.) nailed a jumper with 3:44 to go to stop the run, but Elms used a 6-0 run to close out the stanza, thanks to a jumper and two free throws by Dunnack, and a bucket underneath from senior forward Amanda Brogna (Oxford, Mass.) to give the Blazers a 30-16 cushion at intermission.

Dunnack was 4 of 8 from the floor and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc en route to 12 first half points, while senior forward Erin Hutchinson (Groton, Mass.) hauled in nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

The Hawks were led by Heidi Miller's (Sanbornton, N.H.) eight points and seven rebounds in the period.

Elms came out in the second half on a 9-4 run on the strength of a Talmadge layup, a trio of free throws from sophomore guard Katie Condon (Sandy Hook, Conn.), and a jumper each from Dunnack and senior forward Jessica Jurkowski (Belchertown, Mass.) to extend the Blazers' lead to 19 at 39-20 with 16:38 to play in the contest.

The Hawks responded with eight unanswered points thanks to a trey and a mid-range jumper from Courtney Fiske (Westfield, Mass.) and three points from Nicole Morse (Alton, N.H.) to pull Becker to within 11 at 39-28 at the 12:31 mark.

Trailing 45-30 with 8:58 to go, Cavanaugh converted a layup down low to cut the Hawks' gap to 13, but that's as close as Becker would come as Elms used a 13-2 run over the next 6:04 to stake a 24-point lead (58-34) at the 2:54 mark.

Blazers' sophomore forward Kelly Callahan (Monson, Mass.) netted the final bucket of the game to give Elms a 25-point 65-40 victory.

Dunnack was 7 of 14 from the field for the game and 4 of 6 from three-point range in addition to hauling in 11 boards.

Condon added 12 points, while Normandie chipped in nine off the bench for the Blazers.

Hutchinson finished with a game-high 12 rebounds, while Jurkowski and Talmadge pulled down 11 and 10 respectively.

Talmadge and Jurkowski each added seven points in the winning effort, while Talmadge dished out five assists.

Fiske paced the Becker offense with 10 points, while Cavanaugh added nine. Miller dropped in the eight points and secured a team-high 10 rebounds in the losing effort.

Elms held the Hawks to just 22.1-percent shooting from the floor for the game, and out-rebounded Becker 70-39. 

Story Courtesy of Elms Sports Information