MARCH 1, 2012
 
KING'S SET TO HOST NCAA DIVISION III WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 1ST AND 2ND ROUND GAMES
 
EVENT WEB SITE

King's Media Notes

WILKES-BARRE - Four teams with the same dream of winning a national championship will be on hand Friday and Saturday when King's College's Scandlon Gymnasium will serve as the host site of the first two rounds of the NCAA Women's Basketball Division III National Tournament.

King's will serve as the host school and will face SUNY-Oneonta at 7:30 p.m. in the second of two games to be played Friday. The two-day affair will open Friday at 5:30 p.m. when William Paterson University squares off with Salve Regina University of Rhode Island in the other first-round pairing.  The winners will meet Saturday at 5:30 p.m. with the survivor advancing to the NCAA "Sweet 16" next weekend at a site to be determined.

Ticket prices have been set by the NCAA at $6 for adults, $3 for seniors, students, and children.  Tickets will be sold at the door and there will not be advance ticket sales.  Official NCAA tournament programs and merchandise will also be sold.

View LiveStats for all games at the following link:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/kings/wbball/scoreboard.aspx

King's student radio station WRKC will also broadcast King's and will voice stream over the Internet at:
http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html

King's is the lone team in the field to receive an at-large bid as the three remaining squads all earned automatic berths into the national tournament field by winning their respective conference championships.
 
The Lady Monarchs are making their fifth overall national tournament appearance and its first since a four-year run from 2000-through-2003. It will also mark the first home NCAA game for the Lady Monarchs since King's hosted the 2003 Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. The Lady Monarchs would lose in the Sweet 16 that year to eventual national runner-up Eastern Connecticut State.
 
King's finished the 2011-12 season with an overall record of 22-5 after falling to Misericordia 64-54 in the Freedom Conference championship game on Saturday.  King's was 22-4 in the regular-season and went 13-1 in Freedom Conference games. The Lady Monarchs also went 12-0 at home before falling to Misericordia in the title game.

King's and Oneonta have played just twice over the years, the last time the team played was played on December 12, 2004 with the Lady Monarchs winning 49-40 in the championship game of the Oneonta Classic.  The first meeting between the teams was January 29, 1973 with Oneonta posting a 37-31 victory.
 
Leading the King's attack is senior guard Paige Carlin who averages 12.2 points and 3.9 rebounds, with 50 steals. Carlin was named second-team all-Freedom Conference last week. Fellow senior forward Samantha Simcox, a second-team al-conference selection, follows with 10.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 75 steals with 33 three-pointers. Junior point-guard Katlin Michaels, a first-team all-Freedom Conference choice, adds 9.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists with 70 steals.

Freshman center Marissa Manning has tallied 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds with a team-high 34 blocks. Junior forward Lindsay Atchison has posted 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds and 16 three-pointers while senior guard Brittany Muscatell chips in with 4.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Junior guard Celia Rader, a 2011 second-team all-Freedom Conference selection who averages 9.0 points and 2.7 rebounds with a team-high 40 three-pointers, remains a question mark after missing the last three games with an injury.
 
The Lady Monarchs have been successful this season in large part due to a solid defensive effort. King's is allowing just 56.8 points per-game and has forced 589 turnovers, nearly 22 per-game.  Offensively, the Monarchs average 64.1 points each contest. King's has won 15 of its last 17 games but have lost two of their past four contests.
 
Oneonta State received an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament and is making its third overall appearance in the NCAA tournament and its first since 2001. The Red Dragons enters the NCAA tournament with a 19-8 record after winning the State University of New York Athletic Conference championship with a 54-41 victory over Buffalo State.
 
Senior 6-foot forward Samantha Szkotak leads the Red Dragons in scoring with 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per-game while connecting on 27 three-pointers.  Senior 5-foot-11 guard-forward Madison Slagle follows with 12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds,  and a team-high 40 treys.  Kristin Pappalardo, a 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, adds 6.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and a team-high 57 steals.  Alyshia Crawford, another 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, has come off the bench all season long to give a spark, contributing 6.5 points with 2.6 boards.  Sophomore 5-foot-8 guard Grace Schilling tallies 5.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while 6-foot-3 freshman center Sarah Longto chips in with 3.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and a team-high 34 blocked shots. 
 
Oneonta averages 58.9 points per-game while the team's defense has been outstanding in limiting opponents to just 52.8 points each contest.  The Red Dragons have won eight of their last 10 games, including three straight. Red Dragon head coach Daphne Thompson is in her 20th year as a collegiate head coach and is in her fifth season at Oneonta.
 
William Paterson is ranked eighth nationally by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and 11th by D3Hoops.com. The Pioneers stand at 25-2 and won the New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday with a 79-69 victory over 24th ranked Kean University.
 
The Pioneers are making their fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last six years and their 10th overall (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), all under the direction of 19-year head coach and 2012 NJAC Coach of the Year Erin Monahan.
 
New Jersey Athletic Conference "Player of the Year" April Smith, a 5-foot-9 senior forward, tops the squad with 21.4 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 48 blocked shots. Senior BriAnna Lucas, a 5-foot-4 guard, follows with 14.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.7 steals per-game while connecting on 27 three-pointers. Sophomore 5-foot-9 guard Floriana Borova adds 12.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.4 steals while draining 43 three-pointers. Sophomore Dana Jeter, a 5-foot-11 forward, contributes 8.2 points and 6.9 rebounds while 5-foot-6 junior guard Lindsay Callander tallies 6.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 25 three-pointers.  Tatiana Javis, a 5-foot-11 junior forward, chips in with 4.1 points and 4.4 rebounds.
 
The Pioneers feature a potent offensive attack ranked sixth nationally with a 76.4 points per-game average and a defense that forced 638 turnovers while allowing 59.0 points each contest. The Pioneers have won 10 of their last 11 games, including their last two.
 
Salve Regina, located in Newport, RI, enters the national tournament with a 19-9 record after winning the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament championship with a 77-61 triumph over Endicott College.  The Seahawks are making their third trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last four seasons under fifth-year coach Cori Hughes, as well as the program's seventh overall national tourney appearance.
 
The Seahawks are paced by 5-foot-10 sophomore forward Marissa Pendergast who leads the team with averages of 14.2 points and 8.6 rebounds while adding 2.5 steals. Six-foot senior center Lindsay Shorey follows closely with 14.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per-game. Kaitlyn Birrell, a 5-foot-7 junior guard, adds 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 5.8 assists with 15 three-pointers. Freshman Laura Anne Dinan, a 5-foot-6 guard, contributes with 4.5 points and 4.4 rebounds while 5-foot-7 senior Kira Murphy tallies 4.2 points and 2.7 boards. Sarah Averill, a 5-foot-10 junior forward, tallies 3.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 23 three-pointers while 5-foot-11 freshman forward Brianna DelValle chips in with 3.3 points and 5.1 rebounds each contest.

Salve Regina is averaging 58.7 points per-game while the team's defense is ranked 11th nationally in Division III in allowing a scant 49.2 points each contest. The Seahawks are also ranked ninth nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 30.8-percent shooting.