Women's Basketball | 2/29/2024 2:33:00 PM
PITTSFORD, NY – The St. John Fisher University women's basketball team begins its 2024 Division III Women's Basketball Championship tournament on Friday, facing Gettysburg on the campus of Rhode Island College. The first round faceoff starts at 5:30 P.M.
This is the third straight season that the Cardinals have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, and the fourth straight tournament they've qualified for (the 2020-21 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
GAME INFORMATION
FIRST ROUND: Friday, March 1
St. John Fisher vs. Gettysburg (5:30 p.m.)
Watch Live
Live Stats
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students.
• Tickets can be purchased in the main Athletic Department office located in The Murray Center or by phone at (401) 456-8007 during regular business hours (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.)
• Tickets will be available at the door (
CASH ONLY) prior to the games.
PARKING
Spectators can park in any of the lots surrounding The Murray Center (J, H, & I).
Road to the Dance
The Cardinals finished the regular season 23-4, including a 14-2 record in the Empire 8 that tied them with arch-rival Nazareth University. The Cardinals held the tiebreaker, however, giving them the top seed in the Empire 8 tournament. Once in the tournament, Fisher took care of business, beating Hartwick 62-50 before defeating Houghton 65-55 in the conference championship game for the program's eighth E8 title.
With an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, the only questions were where and who the Cardinals would face to start the tournament. Those answers came during the selection special on Monday: in Providence, Rhode Island against Gettysburg College.
Know Your Foe
Gettysburg College enters the dance after a 24-3 regular season. Like Fisher, they enter the tourney as conference champions, upsetting No. 13 Johns Hopkins in the Centennial Conference title game on Sunday, 64-55. This is their sixth straight appearance in the Division III tournament, and their 11th overall.
The Bullets are led offensively by sophomore Alayna Arnolie, who averaged 15.1 points per game this season. The Virginia native led Gettysburg this season in three-pointers (72) and steals (44). Defensively, Fisher will have to look out for the Rochester-born junior Shinya Lee, who led Gettysburg this season in rebounds per game (8) and overall blocked shots (55) before winning the Centennial Conference tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
Fisher and Gettysburg have played only once in history: the Cardinals lost a 67-45 contest on Jan. 3, 2017.
Fun fact: Some students at Gettysburg served as militiamen for the Union Army during the famous 1863 battle.
Fisher's Tournament History
The Cardinals have made the NCAA tournament 17 times in the program's history, and have twice finished as the national runner-up (1988 and 1990). Four of the school's tournament appearances have come under the program's current head coach, Melissa Kuberka.
Fisher reached the second round of the NCAA tournament the last two years. Last season, the Cardinals won an opening round game against Marymount University before falling just short to host Smith College, 65-64.
The M in Tomasso Means MVP
In recent weeks, junior guard Sydney Tomasso has won the Empire 8 Player of the Year Award, the Empire 8 tournament Most Valuable Player, an Empire 8 Player of the Week award, and was named to the All-conference first team and conference All-Tournament. During the E8 tournament, the Waverly native scored 34 points (17.0 per game), including a team-high 21 points in the finals victory over Houghton, while also tallying an average of six rebounds and two assists and while going 10-for-11 from the free throw line.
Player to Watch
Freshman guard Madeline Ramsgard has become an ever-increasing part of the Cardinals' game this season. Although an important player throughout the season, she only broke into the starting lineup on Feb. 3. She's been a starter every game since, and was an important part of the team during the Empire 8 tournament, averaging 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals, while shooting 60 percent from the floor in two games to take home not just the Empire 8 championship but also the conference's Rookie of the Week award.
What Comes Next
Should the Cardinals beat Gettysburg, they'll advance to the Round of 32 on Saturday, where they'll play the winner of Friday's game between host Rhode Island College and St. Joseph's (Maine).
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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