Hartford vs. LSU in NCAA First Round Action at Duke - Noon Saturday on ESPN2

FULL NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET

West Hartford, CT – The University of Hartford women’s basketball has punched a ticket to the 2010 NCAA Tournament after a successful 2009-10 season with its 27-4 overall record. Hartford, who earns its first ever at-large bid into the NCAA Touranment, will take on the LSU Tigers (20-9 overall) in the opening round as a 10 seed in the Memphis regional bracket at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC on Saturday at 12:06 pm on ESPN2.

As member’s of the team, coaching staff and fans gathered at the Hawks Nest in the University Commons on campus, the Hawks learned their postseason fate advancing to play in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time in program history. The at-large selection is the third in the history of the America East since the NCAA Tournament took its current 64 team format. The most recent at-large bids for the America East were awarded to Maine in the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

This is also the third time the America East has had two teams in the NCAA Tournament and the fourth time three conference teams will play in the postseason as Boston University will accept the America East’s automatic bid into the postseason WNIT.

Hartford Advances to AE Championship Saturday at 8:00 PM on Comcast Sports Net (CSN)

HARTFORD, CT- The Hartford Hawks knocked off the Stony Brook Seawolves, 65-43, in the America East Championship Semi-Final game. The Hawks, 18-0, 27-3 overall meet Vermont for the championship next Saturday, March 13th at Hartford. The game will be televised in New England on Comcast Sports Net (CSN) at 8:00 p.m. Saturday night.

The Seawolves got Hartford star Diana Delva in early foul trouble, causing her to miss most of the first half. With Delva out, Stony Brook focused their defensive attention on Erica Beverly, who was held to eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Fortunately for Hartford, Mary Silvia was able to pick up the offensive slack, scoring 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting (4-of-5 from deep.)

"What gives their post players such good looks is that their guards can really knock down shots," Stony Brook Head Coach Michele Cherry said. "With Hartford you have to pick your poison. We chose to guard the post and Silvia and the other guards made us pay."

Hartford's defense was also key down the stretch when they pulled away for good. Stony Brook was held to 34.6 percent from the field on 18-of-52 shooting.

Kirsten Jeter and Misha Horsey led the way offensively for the Seawolves, but they had little help putting up points. Hartford's bench outscored Stony Brook's 44-0.

Hartford is currently ranked #19 nationally in the ESPN coaches poll and #21 in the AP Writers Poll.

Women's Basketball All-Academic Team Announced At Awards Reception

West Hartford, Conn.-- Five women's basketball players were named to the 2010 Women's Basketball All-Academic Team Thursday afternoon at the annual awards banquet on the University of Hartford campus. These student athletes, who excel both academically as well as athletically, represent the best of the America East Conference.

Highlighting the academic squad was three all-conference performers, led by first-team selection and two-time Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, May Kotsopoulos of University of Vermont. UMBC's Carlee Cassidy and University of Hartford's Jackie Smith were both also honored on an all-conference team as well as the all-academic team. Rounding out the five-member all-academic team was University of Maine's Kristin Baker and Hartford's Mary Silvia.

Silvia recorded the highest cumulative grade point average (GPA) with a 3.90 in entrepreneurial studies. Kotsopoulos, a business adminstration major with a 3.66 GPA was named an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American last month.

The All-Academic squads are a product of the June 2005 Athletics Directors meeting where faculty representatives and athletics directors from each of the conference’s nine member institutions decided to honor the league’s top student-athletes, who excel equally in the classroom as they do on the playing field.

For the second straight year, America East will select the All-Academic teams using CoSIDA’s Academic All-America program as a model. Student-athletes worthy of consideration are nominated by member sports information directors and voted on by a committee of SIDs, academic advisors and faculty representatives from all nine member institutions.

All-Academic squads for team sports are based on the maximum number of athletes that participate in a contest at one time (e.g., 5 on the court in basketball) but can be more if there is a tie in voting. To be nominated for the distinction, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve for their team and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games or competitions. In the classroom, student-athletes must have a 3.30 GPA and have completed at least one calendar year at their institution. Freshmen are not eligible for consideration.

2010 Women's Basketball All-Academic Team
Player School Class GPA Major Hometown/High School
Kristin Baker Maine Sr. 3.61 Kinesiology & physical education Bingham, Maine/Bingham
Carlee Cassidy UMBC Sr. 3.35 Sociology/New media & comm. Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill
May Kotsopoulos Vermont Sr. 3.66 Business admin. (Marketing) Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Coll.
Mary Silvia Hartford Jr. 3.90 Entrepreneurial studies Reading, Mass./Reading Memorial
Jackie Smith Hartford Jr. 3.61 Elementary & special education Westfield, Mass./Holyoke

Hartford Finishes 16-0 in Conference - Ranked at #21

Hartford finished their regular season at 25-3 overall, 16-0 in conference and with an 18 game winning streak going into the America East tournament this weekend. Hartford clinched the conference championship at Albany last week, then followed that with a start-to-finish win over #2 seed Vermont to end the season.

The Hawks have moved up to #21 in ESPN coaches poll and #24 in the AP poll.
Tournament action starts Friday (March 5) with the Hawks hosting the winner of the play-in game Thursday night (UNH or Maine). Game time is 6:00 p.m. The winner plays the winner of the 4/5 seed game on Sunday (March 7) at 1:30, again at Hartford.