Castleton St. women, Midd men prepare for hoop tourneys
Toolbox
By Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: March 3, 2009
Castleton State College has a big hurdle in its first-round game of the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament and coach Tim Barrett knows it.
The Spartans must play the host Bowdoin team, the New England Small College Athletic Conference champion, on Friday night. That game will be preceded by one between 24-3 Muhlenberg and 22-4 Westfield State. The winners will clash Saturday.
Bowdoin is 24-4 and has steeled itself against opponents in the highly-regarded NESCAC, a conference that landed three teams in the NCAA event. Amherst and Tufts also received berths.
"Bowdoin has to be very good to win the NESCAC title," Barrett said. "We know they are going to be a very tough opponent."
Castleton takes a 17-11 record to Brunswick, but Barrett feels the team is playing its best basketball of the season after going to Bangor, Maine, and beating Maine-Farmington 61-59 in overtime, and then host Husson University 63-57 in the North Atlantic Conference Final Four over the weekend.
"That gave our players some confidence," Barrett said. "Our seniors really stepped up and made some big shots at key times."
Making the biggest shots in the championship game was Mary Nienow, whose 27-point explosion included going 8 of 10 beyond the 3-point line.
Nienow and Castleton point guard Jessica Banks were named to the NAC All-Tournament Team, with Nienow collecting the MVP honor. Banks was also named to the All-NAC first team for the second straight season and teammate LeeAnne Ketchen was an honorable mention selection.
Banks leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.4 points a game. She also has run the offense with aplomb, dishing out 105 assists and committing just 65 turnovers. Nienow follows with 9.4 points per game. Banks and Nienow became 1,000-point scorers this season.
Bowdoin has played teams from the North Atlantic Conference this season and the Polar Bears handled them with ease, whipping Maine Maritime 95-56 and Husson 77-59. Leah Rubega and Katie Bergeron lead Bowdoin in scoring, averaging 10.4 and 10.2 points, respectively.
The Middlebury College men's team, the NESCAC champion, must wait to play its first round NCAA tournament game. The Panthers are one of four teams in the country to receive a bye in the men's field.
The 24-3 Panthers will host a game Saturday at 7 p.m. between the winner of 21-7 St. Joseph's of Maine and 20-6 Bridgewater State.
Whether it is St. Joseph's or Bridgewater, the visitors will be entering a frenzied atmosphere at Pepin Gym. "It was like a Duke game. Everyone was standing and screaming the whole game," Middlebury Athletics Communications Director Brad Nadeau said in describing Middlebury's NESCAC championship game at home Sunday against Amherst.
The Panthers are undefeated at home this season at 13-0.
They are led in scoring by Ben Rudin (16.7), who was named NESCAC Player of the Week on Monday, and boast 6-foot-10 Andrew Locke, who has blocked 92 shots.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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