Posted on Feb 21, 2005

It is Championship Weekend for both the women and men's
basketball teams. 

 

story

The 17-7 Dutchwomen open the defense of their Liberty
League tournament championship against St. Lawrence on Friday at 1 p.m.  The 14-11 Dutchmen, who missed last year's
event, battle Hobart Friday at 8 p.m. 
The women's championship game will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. with the
men's title game set for Saturday at 4 p.m. 

 

Both tournaments will be held at Hobart-William Smith as
the Statesmen won the Liberty League's regular-season championship with a
record of 10-4 while the Herons captured the women's title with their 11-3
record.

 

The
Dutchwomen and Saints split their two-game season series with
each team winning on the others court. 
The first game saw Union rally from a 13-point deficit in the final 6:49
to capture a 58-56 win.  Senior forward
Katlyn Cunningham scored 15 of the Garnet's 18 points in the closing minutes
with junior guard Erika Eisenhut accounting for the winning basket with one
second remaining.  Cunningham finished
with 26 points with Eisenhut contributing 14.

 

St. Lawrence
broke a 44-44 tie with 5:44 left in the second contest and went on to capture a
55-51 victory.  Brittano Gaetano,
Jessica Zuk and Andrea Muszynski scored 18, 13, and 10 points, respectively.

 

Cunningham leads
the Dutchwomen in both scoring (12.3) and rebounding (7.3) and recently became
just the seventh player to go over 1,000 career points.  Eisenhut, who has a 10.1 scoring average,
leads the Garnet in assists (69), blocks (10), steals (61) and three-point
field goals (34).  Sophomore forward
Krystal Hammond is second to Cunningham with her 5.3 rebounding average and is
fourth in team scoring at 7.3.  Senior
guard Melissa Marra is second in scoring (9.8), third in assists (44) and third
in steals (22).

 

Union and St.
Lawrence are the only two teams to have played in every league tournament since
the circuit went to that format in 1999-2000. 
The event's champion will receive the Liberty League's automatic NCAA
berth.

 

The game can be
seen on line at:   http://campus.hws.edu/athletics/herons/basketball/live/xlive.htm

 

 

 

The
Dutchmen, who captured the league crown in 2001-02, are hoping that
the “third time is the charm” after losing both regular-season games to the
Statesmen, 81-69 in Geneva and 66-65 at the Viniar Athletic Center. 

 

In the first meeting Hobart rallied from a nine-point
first-half deficit to go on a 10-0 midway through the second 20 minutes.  The second game again saw the Statesmen
rally in the second half, this time with a run of 11-3, to pull out the victory
by scoring the winning basket with 22 seconds left to play.  Joe Flacke, a 6'7 senior forward has been
the biggest nemesis for the Dutchmen as he has combined 45 points, 15 rebounds
and three blocked shots in the two games.

 

Junior guard John Cagianello leads the Dutchmen in scoring
(15.8) and in three-point field goals with 55. 
Senior forward Devon Bruce is second to Cagianello with his 14.2 scoring
average and also leads the team with his 6.0 rebounding average.  Both players have scored over 1,000 points
for their careers.

 

Junior forward Brian Scordato averages 10.5 points a game
and is second to Bruce with his 5.4 rebounding average while sophomore guard
Joe Mackey, who broke into the starting lineup mid-way through the year, is
averaging 9.2 points and is second to Cagianello with his 44 three-point
baskets.  Junior point guard Chris
Murphy, who became the sixth Dutchman in history to surpass 300 career assists,
has 81 helpers to go along with his 6.8 scoring average.  Murphy also leads the team with his 34
steals.

 

The game can be seen on line at: http://campus.hws.edu/athletics/hobart/basketball/live/xlive.htm.

GAME
TIMES

Friday,
February 25:

1 p.m. —
#3 Union (17-7 // 10-4) vs. #2 St. Lawrence (14-9 // 10-4) (women)

3 p.m. — #3
Hamilton (14-10 // 9-5) vs. #2 Skidmore (15-8 // 9-5) (men)

6 p.m. — #4
Hamilton (15-9 // 9-5) vs. #1 William Smith (16-7 // 11-3) (women)

8 p.m. —
#4 Union (14-11 // 8-6) vs. #1 Hobart (15-9 // 10-4) (men)

Saturday,
February 26:

2 p.m. —
Women's Championship

4 p.m. —
Men's Championship

All games
will feature live online statistics via the Hobart and William Smith Web site.
The women's online stats can be accessed at: http://campus.hws.edu/athletics/herons/basketball/live/xlive.htm

and the
men's online stats can be accessed at: http://campus.hws.edu/athletics/hobart/basketball/live/xlive.htm.