For the third time in Centennial Conference history, a trio of women's basketball teams are headed to the NCAA Tournament. Haverford, Gettysburg, and Johns Hopkins will represent the conference in the national postseason beginning this weekend.
Haverford earned the Centennial's automatic bid to NCAA's with a 62-40 over Gettysburg on Saturday, while Gettysburg and Johns Hopkins earned at-large bids.
HAVERFORD, Pa. - Fresh off a thrilling Centennial Conference championship run, the Haverford College women's basketball team (21-6) will head to Medford, Mass. and the campus of Tufts University for an NCAA First Round matchup with Rosemont (24-3) on Friday at 5 p.m.
The meeting will be the first for the two squads since the 2003-04 campaign. In total, the Fords have matched up with the Ravens on seven occasions, with Haverford winning four of those meetings. The showdown will be a rematch of the first game in Haverford women's basketball history, as the two Main Line neighbors met in Haverford's inaugural contest on January 26, 1981 at Rosemont.
The Fords will be making their second straight trip to the NCAA tournament and third overall in program history. Last season, Haverford traveled to Ashland, Va. and the campus of Randolph-Macon, falling to No. 18 Christopher Newport in a first-round matchup. In 2013-14, Haverford traveled to Ithaca College for the first and second round contests, besting Rhode Island College in the first round before falling to the host Bombers in the second round pairing.
Rosemont enters the contest as the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Champions after a convincing victory over Keystone on Saturday night. The tournament bid is the first in program history for the Ravens.
Host No. 4 Tufts (25-2) will do battle with Western New England (20-8) in the other game in the regional grouping, slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Tufts is one of 16 schools hosting a regional this upcoming weekend. The winner of each regional will advance to sectional play on March 8-9.
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - For the second consecutive year, the Gettysburg College women's basketball team will head to the NCAA Division III Championship and this time, the Bullets will bring the playoffs home to Bream Gym.
Gettysburg (22-5) received at-large bid to the national tournament after finishing as the regular season champion in the Centennial Conference and runner-up in the league tournament. The Bullets will host the first two rounds of NCAAs on Friday and Saturday.
In the opening round, Gettysburg will square off with Capital Athletic Conference champion Christopher Newport University (23-5). The Bullets will also host the first-round meeting between Mount Saint Mary (N.Y.) College (22-5) and Westfield State University (18-9) Friday night. Mount Saint Mary also received an at-large bid, while Westfield State picked up the automatic qualifier out of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The two winning teams Friday will meet in the second round Saturday inside Bream Gym. Official game times will be released on Tuesday, Feb. 26.
All games Friday and Saturday will feature live stats and video at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/gettysburg/.
Gettysburg is making its seventh trip to the big dance and it is the first time in 34 years the team has made back-to-back appearances. The Bullets travelled to Montclair State University last season and opened with a win over Albright College before falling to the host Red Hawks. This weekend's event will also be the first time Bream Gym has served as host of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The last time the national playoffs were held in Gettysburg was in 2008 when the men hosted the first and second rounds.
The teams coming out of this weekend's festivities will compete at one of four sectional sites on March 8-9. The final four teams remaining will head to Roanoke College in Salem, Va., for the semifinals and championship on March 15-16.
BALTIMORE, MD – For the first time since 2012 the Johns Hopkins women's basketball team will be heading to the NCAA Tournament as the Blue Jays earned an at-large bid into this year's tournament. JHU will head to Scranton, PA where Hopkins will take on Eastern Connecticut St. in the first round game, which will be hosted by the University of Scranton. This will be the 11th NCAA Appearance for the Blue Jays as Hopkins is 9-1 in opening round games.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for students & children (ages 2 & up) and seniors over the age of 61. Children under the age of two will be admitted at no charge. Tickets will only be sold at the gate on both Friday and Saturday as there will be no advanced ticket sales.
JHU earned a Pool C at-large bid after falling to Haverford in the Centennial Conference semifinals. The Fords went onto defeat Gettysburg in the finals and earn the conference's automatic bid to the tournament. The Blue Jay went 18-2 during the CC regular season, and the 18 victories set the program record for conference wins in a year. Johns Hopkins is currently 22-4 overall and the 22 wins are the most since the 2011-12 season when JHU won 24 games.
Hopkins has never faced ECSU as the Warriors earned an automatic bid by winning the Little East Conference Tournament and currently sport a 19-8 record. JHU has faced Scranton twice in the tournament with the Lady Royals holding a 2-0 advantage. Overall, the Blue Jays are 1-3 all-time against Scranton, as the Lady Royals notched an automatic bid by winning the Landmark Conference and are currently 25-2 overall. Scranton will face New England College, which earned an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the NECC Tournament. The Pilgrims enter the tournament with a 19-9 record and the Blue Jays have never faced New England College.
The Blue Jays will open play on Friday, March 1 against the Warriors. Tip time is scheduled for 5 pm.