Gators Eye NCAC Tournament Title

Feb 19, 2007

NCAC Bracket

MEADVILLE, Pa. – It’s familiar territory once again for the Allegheny College women’s basketball team, finishing top four in the North Coast Athletic Conference regular season standings and hosting a first round game in the league tournament, but this group of players would like to enter some unfamiliar territory this season by capturing the school’s first tournament title in 17 years and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Gators were the cream of the crop of the NCAC in the early years of the league, winning each of the first five regular season and tournament crowns from 1985 to 1989 as well as participating in the NCAA Tournament from 1984 to 1987. Since 1990, Allegheny has finished among the top four in the league a dozen times, including each of the last seven seasons, the second longest streak in the nine-team conference (Wittenberg University – 18), but has reached the tournament championship on only one occasion in 2004 when it fell to Wittenberg 66-53.

The Gators have had their share of ups and downs this season, starting the year 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the NCAC before losing four of six conference games and nearly falling out of a favorable top four position in the standings. Timing is everything when it comes to tournament time, however, and Allegheny head coach Jennifer Reimer believes her team is peaking at the right time.

“I’m very proud of the fact we’re the three seed,” said Reimer, the program’s all-time winningest coach (118-66). “We did a lot of good things down the stretch to get that home game on Tuesday. It’s going to come down to whoever is playing well at the right time this week.”

The Gators have won five of their last six games, including three quality wins over sixth seed College of Wooster (64-55), top-seed Denison University (55-48), and Hiram College (91-50). The Fighting Scots are set to visit the David V. Wise Center in the quarterfinals, a site not so unfriendly this season. On January 24, Wooster came into the Wise Center and left with a 77-71 overtime decision against the Gators.

“Wooster has a win here and a win over Wittenberg this past Saturday,” said the Gator head coach. “They have a great group in terms of their talent and athleticism.”

“It’s going to be a great game,” she added. “Hopefully in the end it will be our defense and rebounding that gets us by.”

Allegheny is far from short on playoff experience, led by seniors Katie Kestler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), Jennifer Latronica (Gibsonia, Pa./Deer Lakes), and Meghan Vasilisin (Munhall, Pa./Oakland Catholic). Kestler is the team’s leading scorer at just under 13 points per game, while Latronica has contributed 9.9 points per game and a league-high 59 blocked shots. Since missing the first six games of the season because of off-season surgery, Vasilisin has started each of the last 18, averaging 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Additionally, all three players saw playing time in the NCAC Tournament Championship against Wittenberg three years ago.

Adding into the mix is sophomore Stephanie Wolf (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), the team’s second-leading scorer at 10.1 points per game and the squad’s leader in rebounding (6.6 rpg), assists (3.5 apg), and steals (1.9 spg). Freshman Brittany Bell (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) adds another deep ball threat along with Kestler as the duo has drained 100 three-pointers this season, while senior Becca Gasiewicz (Grove City, Pa./Kennedy Catholic) has arguably saved her best season for last, averaging 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

“This group has come close; they’ve experienced the NCAC semifinals and the championship game,” said Reimer. “But this team’s work ethic is above and beyond where a lot of other Allegheny teams have been and it certainly would go a long way to prove to ourselves that hard work does pay off in the end.”

Allegheny opens its quarterfinal match up with Wooster at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20, immediately preceding the men’s tournament showdown with Wabash College. The semifinals and final will be played at the site of the remaining highest seed on Friday and Saturday (February 23-24). The time for the semis is set for 5:30 and 7:45 p.m., with the host team occupying the later slot, while Saturday’s championship game will start at 7 p.m.

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