BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Bowdoin College women's basketball team will host an NCAA Division III Tournament regional in Morrell Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday, March 5-6.
Friday's first round doubleheader features the University of Southern Maine (25-2) and Johnson & Wales (23-4) at 5:15 p.m. followed by Bowdoin (24-2) and Emmanuel (22-6) at 7:45 p.m.
TICKETS
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors (65+) and students (all NCAA mandated pricing). They can still be
purchased online here and will also be available at the door beginning at 4:15 p.m. on Friday. A link for Saturday's tickets can be
found here.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
The games will be broadcast live on
NCAA Championships Pass. Bowdoin's games will also be available on local radio WCME (99-5 FM & 900 AM) with audio stream at
Radio Midcoast Maine.
ABOUT THE TEAMS
Bowdoin College Polar Bears
The Polar Bears are making their 23rd appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament overall and 22nd since 2000. Only Messiah (24) has more D-III Tournament appearances this century than Bowdoin...the Polar Bears, who were ranked in the top ten in Division III throughout the season, enter the NCAA Tournament as the number eight team in the final NPI rankings...head coach
Megan Phelps (a 2015 Bowdoin grad) is in her fourth season leading the Polar Bears after being an assistant coach at Bowdoin from 2017-20...since taking the helm in 2022, she has become the most successful coach through four seasons in program history, compiling a 96–16 record and an .857 winning percentage...junior
Abbie Quinn and sophomore
Grace Kinum were both named First Team All-NESCAC in conference awards handed out this week...Quinn led the team in scoring, reaching double digits in 20 of 26 contests...Kinum is the only player in the NESCAC to average more than 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists...Bowdoin led the NESCAC, and ranks in the top ten in Division III in scoring defense (49.1ppg)...the Polar Bears have not faced JWU in NCAA play, but own winning records against Emmanuel (2-0) and Southern Maine (3-1) in the tournament.
Emmanuel College Saints
Emmanuel returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2021-22 season, where they lost in the first round to Brooklyn College, 70-57... the Saints (22-6, 12-0 GNAC) went undefeated in conference play, winning by greater than a 10-point margin in all 12 regular season conference matchups... head coach Andy Yosinoff is the seventh all-time winningest head coach in NCAA women's basketball across all divisions with 951 career wins, and the second winningest active head coach behind UConn's Geno Auriemma... the Saints are one of the nation's best defenses, ranking inside the top 10 teams in turnovers forced, steals per game, and turnover margin... point guard Geanna Bryant was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, leading the league and ranking fifth nationally at 4.07 steals per game... Bryant and freshman Nylah Mitchell were named GNAC All-Conference First Team and Tyra Blye was named to the second team...Emmanuel finished the season ranked 101st in the nation in NPI.
University of Southern Maine Huskies
The University of Southern Maine returns to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time since 2013 after winning their 21st Little East Tournament last weekend…the Huskies are 44-24 all-time in NCAA Tournament play…USM (25-2) reached the 20-win plateau for the first time since 2013-14 under third-year head coach David Chadbourne, who owns a 56-25 mark as head coach of the Huskies…senior guard Jaycie Christopher was named the Little East Conference Player of the Year after posting 11 double-doubles and being named LEC Player of the Week on four occasions…she was joined on the LEC's First Team by Lucy Wiles, who scored in double figures in 23 games…Friday's game will be the first-ever meeting between USM and JWU...USM played Emmanuel earlier this season, which was the team's first meeting since the 2009 NCAA Tournament (won by Emmanuel)...the Huskies own a 32-24 edge in the all-time series against Bowdoin but have lost nine straight dating back to 2013...Southern Maine finished the year ranked 30th in the NPI rankings and enters NCAA play with a +21.3 scoring margin, the 12th best in the country.
JWU-Providence Wildcats
The Wildcats secured their first NCAA Tournament berth since the 2015-16 campaign with a 77-66 win over Western New England University Sunday afternoon in the Conference of New England (CNE) Championship...the win extended JWU's win streak to 14 and pushed their record to 23-4 – one win shy of the program record of 24 wins, set during the 2015-16 season...sophomore Grace Jaffray – who earlier this season became the seventh student-athlete in program history and the first sophomore to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career – was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. She was named the CNE Player of the Year and ranks third in the nation at 23.7 points per game... Jaffray and classmate Brianne Foley both garnered a spot on the CNE First Team while sophomore Isabella Suero was named to the Third Team...Dino Porcic was named the CNE Coach of the Year and owns a 56-22 record in his first three seasons at the helm of the Wildcats, leading the team to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in program history...JWU is making the third-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship (2015, '16) and are looking for their first tournament victory.
