Ithaca Women's Basketball Team Picked To Host NCAA Regional; Bombers Open Against Elms
ITHACA’S INVITATION: The Ithaca College women's basketball team (23-4) has been selected for the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Bombers, who won the Empire 8 Championship Tournament to claim the league's automatic bid, will host a four-team regional at Ben Light Gymnasium Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3. Ithaca will face Elms (20-8) in one semifinal with Southern Maine (21-6) taking on Bowdoin (19-7) in the other. Friday’s semifinal winners will meet Saturday at 7 p.m. in the regional final. Ticket prices, as set by the NCAA, are $6 general admission and $3 for senior citizens.
ITHACA SERIES RESULTS: The Bombers have never played Elms. Ithaca is 0-4 against Southern Maine four times, losing to the Huskies in tip-off tournaments in 1991-92 and 2002-03 and dropping a second-round NCAA playoff game in 2005. The Bombers are 0-2 against Bowdoin, including a regular-season loss in 2004-05; a year later Ithaca traveled to Maine and played at Southern Maine and Bowdoin on consecutive nights.
ITHACA vs. NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: The Bombers faced two other NCAA playoff teams this winter, compiling a 3-1 record. Ithaca went 2-1 against Hartwick and beat Baruch.
ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs and eighth in the past 12 years. In 1997, Ithaca tied for the Empire Athletic Association title and won a tiebreaker with Hartwick for the league's automatic bid. Seeded sixth in the eight-team East Regional, the Bombers upset third-seeded Binghamton (73-66), and then lost at second-seeded William Smith (81-57). In 2001 the Bombers won the Empire 8 championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs, beating the University of New England 79-61 before losing at College of New Jersey 68-58. A year later the Empire 8 champion Bombers received a first-round bye and lost 73-67 to Ohio Wesleyan in the second round. The 2003 season was Ithaca's first selection as an at-large team to the NCAA playoffs; the Bombers beat Brockport 81-68 and St. John Fisher 86-79 in overtime to advance to the program’s first “sweet 16” before losing 57-51 at Rochester. A year later the Bombers lost 64-60 to Cortland in a first-round game. In 2005 Ithaca beat visiting Colby-Sawyer 64-46 in a first-round game and lost 55-52 at Southern Maine in the second round. The 2007 team lost to Gwynedd-Mercy in a first-round game and in 2010 Ithaca lost to DeSales in the opening round. This marks the second time the Bombers have been chosen to host an NCAA regional (2010); the Bombers hosted single games in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
THE 2012 PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 64-team, single elimination playoff field. The 63 teams include 42 winners of conferences whose champions have been awarded automatic qualification (including
Empire 8 champion Ithaca and Elms, who won the New England Collegiate Conference), 21 teams from those 42 conferences who did not win their conference championship (including Little East runner-up Southern Maine and Bowdoin, who reached the New England Small College Athletic Conference semifinals) and one team that is either independent or a member of a conference whose champion does not receive automatic bids. A total of 16 schools are hosting regionals this weekend; four four-team sectionals will be held at four campus sites on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. The semifinals and final will be held at Hpe College's DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland, Mich., Friday and Saturday, March 16 and 17.