MARCH 8, 2012
 
KING'S WOMEN SET FOR SWEET 16 AGAINST EMMANUEL, WINNER FACES AMHERT OR YORK IN ELITE EIGHT

NCAA Division III Bracket
 
King's Media Notes

AMHERST, MA - The King's College women's basketball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III National Tournament Sectionals when the Lady Monarchs face Emmanuel College in a "Sweet 16" matchup at 5:00 p.m. in LaFrak Gymnasium on the campus of Amherst College, Amherst MA.

The King's-Emmanuel matchup is the first of two games scheduled at sectionals as host Amherst will meet York College of Pennsylvania in the other game at 7:00 p.m.  The winners of Friday's contests will square off Saturday at 6:00 p.m. with the survivor advancing to the NCAA Division III "Final Four" slated for March 16-17 in Holland, MI.
 
Ticket prices have been set by the NCAA at $7 for adult, $4 for seniors and students, while children under two years of age will be admitted free. Tickets for Friday's games will begin to be sold when doors at LaFrak open at 3:30 p.m. For Saturday, tickets will go on sale when doors open at 4:30 p.m.

Fans can follow the game in two ways at the links below:
 
LiveStats:  http://www3.amherst.edu/~sports/tas/xlive.htm
 
Live Video:  https://www.amherst.edu/athletics/jeffcast/jeffcast2
 
WRKC Voice Stream:  http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html  

King's enters the event with a 24-5 record after registering a stunning 64-63 comeback victory over eighth-ranked William Paterson on Saturday as the Lady Monarchs rallied with an 11-0 run over the final 2:28 of the game.  The Lady Monarchs come into the contest having won 16 of its last 18 games.  Emmanuel (24-6), meanwhile, pulled off an upset of its own when the Saints earned a 57-52 victory over host Rhode Island College in its second-round game on Saturday.  Emmanuel enters the matchup riding a 12-game winning streak.

Under the direction of seventh-year head coach Brian Donoghue (112-77), King's received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament field after the top-seeded Lady Monarchs fell to Misericordia in the Freedom Conference finals.

King's is making its first appearance in the Sweet 16 since hosting the sectionals during the 2002-03 season when the Lady Monarchs fell to eventual national runner-up Eastern Connecticut 67-57. A year earlier, King's reached the "Elite Eight" where it lost to Marymount University 67-64 at Salisbury University (Md.).
 
Emmanuel has its own rich history of success as the Saints are making their 17th NCAA Division III Tournament appearance under 35-year head coach Andy Yosinoff (685-224), including a trip to the 2001 Final Four.  Emmanuel reached the 2012 NCAA tournament by winning the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament title for the sixth straight season. The Saints are making their 17th appearance in the NCAA national tournament.

King's will continue to rely on a defense that has allowed just 56.5 points per-game all season while forcing opponents into 624 turnovers, an average of 21.5 per-game.
 
In its first -round NCAA game against Oneonta State, the Lady Monarchs held the Red Dragons to 42 points in the game, nearly 17 below its 58.9 points per-game average entering the contest.  Against William Paterson, King's held the nation's sixth highest scoring offense to 63 points, over 13 points below its 76.4 season average. In fact, the Lady Monarchs held the Pioneers scoreless over the last 4:09 of the game that helped key King's late-game comeback.

King's NCAA run has been keyed by the Lady Monarch backcourt duo of junior guards Katlin Michaels and Celia Rader. 
 
Michaels, a first-team All-Freedom Conference selection, averages 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 2.6 steals per-game.  In King's two NCAA wins, Michaels posted averages of 15.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 2.5 steals.
 
Rader, meanwhile, missed the team's regular-season finale and both Freedom Conference Tournament games with an injury but returned to the lineup against Oneonta. The team's top perimeter shooter, Rader scored 13 points with four three-pointers against Oneonta before registering an epic performance against William Paterson. In the game Rader scored a career-high 27 points and set a school-record with nine (9-13) three pointers, equaling the NCAA all-time tournament record.
 
Senior forward Samantha Simcox, a second-team all-Freedom selection, averages 10.8 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds while also topping the squad with 2.8 steals. Adding to King's balanced attack are the team's other two starters in freshman center Marissa Manning and junior forward Lindsay Atchison.  The 6-foot Manning averages 7.1 and 4.4 rebounds with 36 blocked shots while Atchison, another six-footer, contributes 5.4 points and 3.9 boards.
 
King's is also hopeful for the return of senior guard Brittany Muscatell, a four-year starter who missed both the Oneonta and William Paterson games with an injury. Muscatell, a primary ball-handler who starts alongside Michaels in King's double point-guard attack, averages 4.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while committing only 38 turnovers the entire season.

The Lady Monarchs have found success in the many close games the team has played. King's is 13-3 in games decided by 10 points or less while also going 9-0 in games decided by five points or less.
 
Emmanuel enters the game averaging 69.5 points per-game and has also played outstanding defense in limiting its opponents to 59.2 points each contest. The Saints defense has forced opponents into 715 turnovers this season, an average of 23.8 per-game. The Saints arealso an outstanding rebounding team and average nearly nine more boards than their opponents.

Leading the Emmanuel attack is 5-foot-11 junior forward Fiona O'Dwyer who tops the squad with averages of 14.4 points and 8.3 rebounds.  Meghan Kirwan, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, follows with 13.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 3.0 steals.  Freshman Lena Negri, a 5-foot-11 forward, follows with 9.1 points and 7.1 boards while 5-foot-7 guard Breanna Ockimeycontributes 8.2 points and 3.0 rebounds.
 
Amherst earned the right to host an NCAA four-team pod for the second consecutive weekend when the Lord Jeffs posted a 61-48 victory over Babson in the second round. The Lord Jeffs have enjoyed a stellar run the past three years. Amherst finished 32-1 and placed third in the 2010 Division III national tournament before again going 32-1 in its national title season a year ago, Currently 29-0, Amherst has gone 93-2 the past three seasons heading into this week's Sweet 16. Head coach G.P. Gromacki is in his fifth season at Amherst where he is an astounding 149-9 record and is 312-47 in 13 years as a collegiate head coach.
 
The Lord Jeffs' offense scores an average of 74.4 points per-game. Amherst has been led by 5-foot-10 senior guard Caroline Stedman who averages 13.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. Six-foot-two freshman forward Megan Robertson follows with 11.3 points and 7.7 boards. Lem Atanga McCormick, a 6-foot senior forward, adds 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds. Senior Kim Fiorentino, a 5-foot-9 guard, has tallied 9.4 points 6.1 boards.  Amherst has overwhelmed teams defensively and ranked second nationally in Division III in limiting opponents to just 45.1points per-game. The Lord Jeffs have forced 560 turnovers while blocking 212 shots. Four different players have at least 33 blocks while two others contribute 27 and 22 rejections.
 
York (24-5), meanwhile, reached the Sweet 16 with a 90-81 win over 15th ranked host Juniata College in a game the Spartans shot a spectacular 66.6 (35-53) percent from the floor, including 62.5 (10-16) percent from three-point range against the top-ranked team in the Mid-Atlantic Region. All five of York's losses have come against teams who have been
 
The Spartans of 15th year head coach Betsy Witman received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament after losing to seventh-ranked ranked Mary Washington (29-0) or the third time this season by a 50-46 margin in the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament title game.
 
York is led by 5-foot-11 senior guard April Sparkman who averages 16.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per-game.  Six-foot sophomore forward Kristen Haley follows with 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 46 blocked shots. Brittany Hicks, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard adds 13.4 points and 8.7 rebounds while 5-foot-10 sophomore guard Kelsey Murphy contributes with 8.0 points and 53 three-pointers.  Sophomore Aja Wallpher, a 5-foot-8 guard, chips in with 6.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 7.3 assists. The Spartans average 67.3 points per-game but allow only 53.1 points each contest. York has forced 489 turnovers and blocked 160 shots.