WBB: GNAC Women's Hoops

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Due to inclement weather, this weekend's round of GNAC women's basketball will not start this evening.

Tonight's Elms at Emmanuel women's basketball game, which was scheduled to be played today rather than Saturday, has been postponed to Monday, Feb. 10, and will tip off on Monday at 5:30 PM ET.

It will be the last game of this upcoming round of GNAC play, with the remaining 6 games of the round to be played this upcoming Saturday, Feb. 8.

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Matchday 11 concluded yesterday with the Emmanuel women defeating Elms 71-44.

Only 4 games of the GNAC round-robin remain to be played with Lasell, Anna Maria, Albertus Magnus, and Rivier yet to take their conference byes.

1.)  Lasell takes their conference bye this Wednesday, February 12.
2.)  Anna Maria takes their final GNAC conference bye this upcoming Saturday, Feb. 15

Anna Maria will become a full MASCAC member in the 2025-26 academic year-- Anna Maria will become the first private institution to join the MASCAC, which was founded exclusively by Massachusetts state colleges.  (MASCAC is the abbreviation for MAssachusetts State College Athletic Conference).

3.)  Albertus Magnus takes their conference bye on Tuesday, February 18.
4.)  Rivier plays out their final 3 GNAC games before they take the bye on the last day of GNAC conference play before the GNAC tournament-- The Raiders take their bye on Saturday, Feb. 22.

WBB-- 1,000 season simulations run by Scott Peterson's computer of the GNAC women's basketball race.  The GNAC is a 1 bid league-- only the AQ will make it to the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament.

As of Monday, Feb. 10, 2025 at 12;25 PM ET

Season simulations posted on http://d3data.weebly.com/season-simulations.html

1.)  JWU-Providence wins the AQ in 327 of the 1,000 simulations run.
2.)  St. Joe's Maine wins the AQ in 365 of the 1,000 simulations run.
3.)  Albertus Magnus wins the AQ in 111 of the 1,000 simulations run.
4.)  USJ (Connecticut) wins the AQ in 117 of the 1,000 simulations run.
5.)  Rivier wins the AQ in 46 of the 1,000 simulations run.
6.)  Emmanuel wins the AQ in 34 of the 1,000 simulations run.

GNAC games to watch this Wednesday, February 12--

1.)  JWU-Providence at Univ. of St. Joseph-- 5 PM ET (Co-Match of the Day)

A win by JWU-Providence gives the Wildcats a clear path to the #1 seed and home court advantage in the  GNAC tournmament. JWU will be favored to win their final 3 games against the bottom of the GNAC.  (New England College, Dean, Regis (MA)).

2.)  Colby-Sawyer at Rivier-- 5 PM ET.-- Rivier favored to win this one and get to 9-3 in GNAC play.  Colby-Sawyer currently in 12th place in the GNAC at 3-7 and would not qualify for the GNAC tournament if the season were to end today.

3.)  Albertus Magnus (2nd place) at Anna Maria (currently 6th place)-- 7 PM.

Emmanuel Saints fans rooting for an Albertus Magnus win in this one.

4.)  The big one in Boston-- St. Joe's Maine Monks at Emmanuel Saints-- 7:30 PM ET. (Match of the Day)

An Emmanuel win in this one means that the Saints would most likely be able to avoid the Monday Feb. 24th play-in round.  A win by the Monks would mean that Emmanuel would probably have to defeat Anna Maria on the final day of GNAC play on Saturday, February 22, to get the #6 seed and avoid the Monday Feb. 24th play-in round.

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Championship dates of the GNAC Women's Basketball Tournament--

10 teams qualify

Monday, Feb. 24, 2025-- GNAC Play-in Round (#10 at #7),(#9 at #8)

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025-- GNAC quarterfinal round.

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025-- GNAC semifinal round.

Saturday, March 1, 2025-- GNAC Championship

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GNAC AQ season simulations update according to Scott Peterson as of today's simulation run conducted on February 11, 2025 at 9:25 AM ET.

Includes results from last night's game between Emmanuel and Elms.

1.)  St. Joe's Maine wins the AQ in 373 of the 1,000 season simulations.
2.)  JWU-Providence wins the AQ in 313 of the 1,000 season simulations.
3.)  USJ wins the AQ in 137 of the 1,000 season simulations.
4.)  Albertus Magnus wins the AQ in 94 of the 1,000 season simulations.
5.)  Rivier wins the AQ in 54 of the 1,000 season simulations.
6.)  Emmanuel wins the AQ in 29 of the 1,000 season simulations.

[deiscanton]

Final scores today so far--

JWU-Providence 69, USJ 64

JWU-Providence now at 10-1 in the GNAC, 19-2 overall, and now currently has a 1 game lead and  the tiebreaker over Albertus Magnus for first place in the GNAC. Albertus Magnus currently at 9-2 in the GNAC and playing at Anna Maria right now.

JWU-Providence has a home game vs New England College on Saturday, a road game at Dean next Tuesday, and a home game vs Regis (MA) to conclude GNAC regular season play.   JWU Wildcats have a clear path to the #1 seed in the GNAC, and it looks extremely likely now, although not official yet, that the road to the GNAC women's basketball AQ will go through Providence, RI. 

USJ has a clear path to conclude GNAC regular season play at 11-3 in the conference, as the BlueJays have a home game vs Elms on Saturday, followed by 2 road games at Lasell and Colby-Sawyer to conclude GNAC regular season play.

USJ has the tiebreaker over Rivier to host a GNAC quarterfinal game on Tuesday Feb. 25 if needed.

Final in Nashua, NH today-- Rivier 84, Colby-Sawyer 61.

Rivier improves to 9-3 in the GNAC, 13-10 overall.

Rivier also has a clear path to finish GNAC play at 11-3 in the conference as the Raiders have a home game vs Dean on Saturday and an away game at Mitchell on Tuesday to conclude GNAC regular season play.  Rivier then takes their conference bye on Saturday, Feb. 22, as the only team to play 14 GNAC regular season conference games this season without a bye intervening.

Playing right now-- Albertus Magnus at Anna Maria and St. Joe's Maine at Emmanuel. 


 

[deiscanton]

More final scores this evening in GNAC play--

Norwich 66, New England College 45

Norwich improves to 3-8 in GNAC play, while New England College drops to 4-7 in GNAC play.

Elms 65, Regis (MA) 64.

Elms improves to 5-6 in GNAC play and is now in an 8th place tie with Lasell.  Elms hosts Lasell on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, and the winner will probably be guaranteed a spot in the Monday play-in round on Feb. 24. 

Regis drops to 4-7 in GNAC play and is out of the GNAC tournament right now if the season were to end today, as they lost to New England College in GNAC play earlier this season-- losing the tiebreaker for 10th place on the head to head. 

Dean 69, Mitchell 57

Dean wins the battle of winless GNAC teams and gets their first GNAC win of the season.

Currently out of the GNAC women's tournament if the season were to end today--

Regis (MA), Colby-Sawyer, Norwich, Dean, Mitchell.

At 0-11 in GNAC play with 3 games remaining, Mitchell has been officially eliminated from GNAC tournament contention.

At 1-10 in GNAC play with 3 games remaining, Dean has been officially eliminated from GNAC tournament contention.

The following teams have now clinched spots in the GNAC women's tournament--

JWU-Providence, Albertus Magnus, St. Joe's Maine, Rivier, Univ. of St. Joseph (CT)

5 spots yet to clinch in the 10 team field, but Anna Maria is about to clinch a 6th spot, as the Amcats look poised to defeat Albertus Magnus tonight and finish with no worse than 6 GNAC losses.  The 10th place GNAC team has 7 losses in GNAC play this season and can finish no better than 7-7 in GNAC play.  With the win over Albertus Magnus tonight, Anna Maria would have 8 GNAC league wins so far this season.

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All remaining GNAC games for today have gone final--

Anna Maria 93, Albertus Magnus 76

With the win, the Anna Maria Amcats have clinched a spot in the GNAC women's tournament, and are the 6th of 10 teams to qualify. Anna Maria improves to 8-4 in GNAC play and have the bye this upcoming Saturday.

Albertus Magnus drops to 9-3 in GNAC play.

With the Emmanuel loss to St. Joe's Maine tonight, Anna Maria has a 1 1/2 game lead over Emmanuel for 6th place, and can avoid the Monday play-in round if they win out their final two games.  Anna Maria next plays at Elms on Tuesday, Feb. 18, followed by the big one at Emmanuel on the final day of the GNAC regular season to potentially see who finishes in 6th place and automatically gets a quarterfinal spot.

St. Joe's Maine 76, Emmanuel 52.

St. Joe's Maine improves to 9-2 in GNAC play and has the tiebreaker over Albertus Magnus for the #2 seed.  The Monks need to win out and hope that JWU-Providence gets upset of one of their final 3 remaining games to get the #1 seed on the tiebreaker with the Wildcats.

Emmanuel now is at 6-5 in GNAC play and needs to win out to avoid the Monday play-in round.  Saints can clinch a GNAC tournament spot by winning 2 out of the next 3 contests.  Emmanuel plays at Colby-Sawyer this Saturday, and at New England College next Tuesday before hosting Anna Maria on Saturday, Feb. 22 to conclude GNAC regular season play.

The following teams have clinched spots in the GNAC tournament--

JWU-Providence, St. Joe's Maine, Albertus Magnus, University of St. Joseph, Rivier, Anna Maria.

The following teams have been eliminated from GNAC tournament contention--

Dean, Mitchell.

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For the first time in program history, Emmanuel will have to play in the GNAC play-in round due to the Saints losing on Senior Day to Anna Maria today. 

Emmanuel will have the #7 seed in the GNAC women's tournament and will host #10 seed Regis on Monday at 6 PM ET.   Should the Saints win on Monday, they would immmediately have to go to Standish, Maine, for a GNAC quarterfinal the next day against the St. Joe's Maine Monks, who clinched the #2 seed today.

While the GNAC tournament schedule should be published later today, here are the seedings of the tournament according to the GNAC standings and head to head tiebreakers:

1.)  #1 seed is JWU-Providence
2.)  #2 seed is St. Joe's Maine
3.)  #3 seed is Albertus Magnus
4.)  #4 seed is University of St. Joseph (USJ)-- W. Hartford, CT.
5.)  #5 seed is Rivier
6.)  #6 seed is Anna Maria

GNAC play-in round
7.)  #7 seed is Emmanuel
8.)  #8 seed is Elms
9.)  #9 seed is Lasell
10.)  #10 seed is Regis

The following teams did not make the GNAC women's basketball tournament-- New England College, Norwich, Colby-Sawyer, Dean, Mitchell.

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The 2024-2025 official GNAC press release announcing the pairings for the GNAC women's basketball tournament can be found here--

http://thegnac.com/sports/wbkb/2024-25/releases/2025PlayoffSeedings

The 2024-25 official GNAC Tournament Central page for women's basketball provided by the GNAC can be found at:

http://thegnac.com/tournaments/wbkb/2024-25/index

GNAC play-in round schedule for Monday, February 24, 2025

1.)  #9 Lasell at #8 Elms-- Chicopee, MA-- 5 PM ET.
2.)  #10 Regis (MA) at #7 Emmanuel-- Boston, MA-- 6 PM ET

GNAC quarterfinal schedule for Tuesday, February 25, 2025

1.)  #8/#9 winner at #1 JWU-Providence-- Providence, RI-- 6 PM ET
2.)  #7/#10 winner at #2 St. Joe's Maine-- Standish, ME-- 5:30 PM ET
3.)  #6 Anna Maria at #3 Albertus Magnus-- New Haven, CT-- 5:30 PM ET
4.)  #5 Rivier at #4 USJ-- West Hartford, CT-- 5 PM ET

GNAC semifinals-- Thursday, February 27, 2025
GNAC Championship-- Saturday, March 1, 2025