',
Women’s Hoops Hosting 1st Round Game
February 19, 2012
Sophomore Taylor Szwec and Keuka College's women's basketball team will host SUNY Cobleskill at 7 p.m. Tuesday night in a first-round NEAC playoff game (photo by Hung Do Le, Keuka College Sports Information Department)
The quest for a return trip to the NCAA Division III basketball tournament begins at home for the Keuka College women’s basketball team.
Winners of eight of the last nine North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) contests, the Storm (16-5, 14-3 NEAC) finished as the second seed in the North Division, trailing only first-place SUNYIT (21-4, 15-2).
Keuka will host SUNY Cobleskill (14-11, 10-7), the North’s No. 3 seed, in a first-round contest at 7 p.m. Tuesday night inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.
In the South, Penn State-Harrisburg (19-6, 17-1) earned the No. 1 seed, followed by St. Elizabeth (16-9, 13-5) as the No. 2 seed and Lancaster Bible College (14-11, 11-7) as the No. 3 seed.
SUNYIT earned the overall No. 1 seed on the strength of a 73-68 win over the Nittany Lions on Jan. 7.
St. Elizabeth hosts Lancaster Bible College Tuesday night in the other first-round game.
If the Storm prevails against Cobleskill it would then face the South’s No. 1 seed, Penn State-Harrisburg, in a 2 p.m. semifinal game Saturday afternoon in Utica, NY.
The two semifinal winners then square off at 2 p.m. Sunday in the championship game at SUNYIT, with the winner earning the NEAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
Keuka, the defending NEAC postseason champions, had to wait until the regular season concluded Sunday afternoon to learn its postseason fate, which was cemented once SUNYIT defeated Wilson College 70-33.
Keuka and Cobleskill split the two regular-season matchups, with the home time winning each time. The Storm routed Cobleskill 62-37 on Dec. 10, 2011 while the Fighting Tigers held off the Storm 55-42 on Jan. 29.
The Storm is hoping for a third trip to the NCAA tournament in the last five years. Keuka suffered first-round NCAA losses during the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons.
Sophomore Danielle Gravel (Sidney, NY/Sidney) leads the Storm in scoring average (13.8 points per game) and was 10th overall in the NEAC. She reached double-figures in 14 of 19 games, including 11 times with 15-plus points. Gravel was also Keuka’s leading three-point threat, converting on 44 of 129 attempts (34.1 percent).
Sophomore guard Jessica Bandrowski (Center Moriches, NY/Center Moriches) is second on the Storm in scoring average (11.5 ppg.) and was 17th overall in the NEAC. Bandrowski started strong, scoring in double-figures in seven of Keuka’s first eight games, and 12 of 19 games overall. She leads the Storm with 2.8 steals per game (59 steals) and 3.2 assists per game (68).
Junior forward Mariah Mouzon (Elmira, NY/Elmira Free Academy) is third on the team in scoring average (9.6 ppg.) and leads the Storm with 7.3 rebounds per game. She posted double-doubles in three of four games from Jan. 18-28, compiling 64 points with 45 rebounds during the stretch including scoring 23 points (second-highest in her career) with a career-best 17 rebounds during Keuka’s 68-60 win over SUNYIT on Jan. 28. In two games against the first-place Wildcats, Mouzon scored 43 points and grabbed 25 rebounds to help Keuka sweep the regular-season series against SUNYIT.
As a team, Keuka is averaging 64.4 points per game while limiting the opposition to only 55 points per game. The Storm is making 37.3 percent of its shots from the floor while holding opponents to 33.4 percent shooting.
Senior Chelcy Moore leads the Tigers in scoring (12.1 ppg.) and rebounding (11 rpg.) while Heidi Anderson is averaging 11.3 ppg. for Cobleskill, which outscored the opposition by an average of 54-52.
Cobleskill was streaky during the regular season, winning five games in a row from Jan. 7-15 before losing back-to-back games to Morrisville State and Harrisburg. After a three-game winning streak, Cobleskill suffered four straight losses before closing out the regular season on a three-game winning streak.
To follow the first-round game live, check out Keuka College’s Live Stats feature by clicking here on game day.
