Women’s basketball to play Bridgewater in NCAAs; men’s team denied
Click here to view the women’s bracket.
LEWISTON, Maine — The pairings for the men’s and women’s NCAA Division III basketball tournaments were released on Monday, and the news is half good for Bates College: the women’s team is in, but the men’s team was left out.
The Bates women (19-8) received an at-large bid to be among the 63 teams in the tournament, in their second consecutive NCAA appearance.
They’ll travel to Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., to play Bridgewater (Va.) College (22-6), league runner-up of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, on Friday, March 3, at 5:30 p.m.
The winner of that game will play the winner between Mount Saint Mary (25-3) and Baruch College (22-6) on Saturday at 5 p.m. (Mount Saint Mary and Baruch face off Friday at 7:30 p.m.)
Tickets will be available at the door at Mount Saint Mary; they cost $3 for students and senior citizens, and are $6 general admission.
The Bates men’s team ends its season with a 20-6 overall record and a 6-3 mark in one of the toughest conferences in Division III, as well as a second straight trip to the NESCAC Semifinals.
The Bobcats became the first team in school history to reach the 20-victory plateau, and surpassed the previous school record for winning streak by claiming 16 consecutive games, spanning Dec. 2 to Feb. 2. They defeated two teams that made the NCAA pool in William Paterson (N.J.) University and Trinity (Texas) University. They also have been the unanimous selection as the top Division III team in the state of Maine in each week of the Maine Men’s Basketball Coaches Association poll this season.