WBB: Landmark Conference

[ronk]

 Gordon, just a Marylander trying to lobby after the fact to be in the Lebanon Valley pod instead of Rochester. Happy to get the at-large berth, more importantly.

[mailsy]

I posted this on the CSAC board:

Lady Cavs traveling to DC to take on Catholic. Only common opponent was Scranton. Catholic beat Scranton 3 times by an average of almost 18 pts a game. Lady Cavs lost at Scranton early in season by 4.

Catholic:   26-1          Opponents:
67.2          pts/gm        52.5
38.5%          fg            31.2%
25.7%         3fg           24.7%
3.2           3fg/gm         4.3     
65.2%          FT           69.9%
13.4          FT/gm        10.2
47.3    rebounds/gm    39.3
15.9      assists/gm      12.3
16.6         TO/gm         20.1
11.4       steals/gm       6.9
5.2         blocks/gm      3.6

Leading Scorers:   Jill Woerner  16.9   Katarina Owunna 11.3
Leading Rebounders:  Katarina Owunna  8.9     Kelli Josephsen  7.0

Cabrini:     24-3         Opponents:
65.5          pts/gm        46.2
39.1%          fg            31.7%
30.8%         3fg           21.4%
4.0           3fg/gm         2.9     
62.6%          FT           65.3%
12.1          FT/gm        10.7
46.9    rebounds/gm    33.7
14.7      assists/gm       8.0
16.2         TO/gm         21.0
11.5       steals/gm       6.9
3.6         blocks/gm      2.8

Leading Scorers:   Brittany Sandone 14.8 Annie Rivituso 9.9
Leading Rebounders: Colleen Stewart 6.8 Amber Keys 6.7

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Gordon, just a Marylander trying to lobby after the fact to be in the Lebanon Valley pod instead of Rochester. Happy to get the at-large berth, more importantly.

You really want to be in the pod that should be at Montclair State (undefeated) but is only at Lebanon Valley because of the gambling issue? Honestly... better chance at Rochester than against Montclair State - though I know you want to get to the game... which I totally understand .

[ronk]

Cards fans,
ICYMI, there's nice coverage of their trip back to the NCAA tourney on the front page of D3hoops.

[gordonmann]

We've released our list of All-Americans. Congratulations to Jill Woerner.

http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2013/03/womens-all-americans

[TheGrove]

Elizabethtown moves to the Landmark: http://gosusqu.com/sports/bsb/2012-13/releases/0402_etown

[ronk]

 Lady Royals come up with a tough opener - Final 4 team Montclair St in the Gwynedd-Mercy tipoff tourney; don't know who the 4th team in the tourney is, at this time. Could be at least 3 frosh from same AAU team in this game that I tried to interest in becoming Lady Royals, but until the rosters r officially released later, this is speculation on my part.

[kate]

Susquehanna gets one of the MAC's BEST, Taylor Greene, a stand-out graduate player for Coach Richter at DeSales, has been named an assistant Women's basketball coach.   Good luck Coach!

[ronk]

  Catholic will be playing Maryland in an exhibition the end of October; Messiah, with a veteran team, was competitive with Maryland in its game last year. Catholic, with last year's team, might have done the same, but they've graduated a lot this spring.

[ronk]

  According to DIIINews' preseason rankings, the Lady Royals will play 6 games against Top 25 teams including the opener with #1 Montclair State, for a total of 4 of the 11 optional nonconference opponents. It could raise a historicallly high SOS even higher, if results validate projections. 

[ronk]

  According to DIIINews' preseason rankings, the Lady Royals will play 6 games against Top 25 teams including the opener with #1 Montclair State, for a total of 4 of the 11 optional nonconference opponents. It could raise a historicallly high SOS even higher, if results validate projections.

   Only 1 of the optional nonconference games is at home; there are 4 away, 4 neutral, and 2 either away or neutral, depending on 1st round tourney results. That should increase the SOS even more.

[ronk]

 Catholic Cards open season with an exhibition loss @ #5 U of Md; The game was supposed to be played last year when Catholic would have been significantly more competitive but was cancelled by Hurricane Sandy. Having to replace 4 graduated starters and 8 seniors overall with 12 freshmen is a tough task for any program, especially visiting such a strong D1 power. And, the Cards' potentially best player was missing from the box score. However, there should be positives from experiencing how the other 1% lives, basketball-wise. Such was my experience in a very brief collegiate 'career', the hilite of which was playing in the mecca of college basketball(at the time) at the U. of Pennsylvania Palestra in a Big 5 tripleheader.   

[cugrad]

Catholic plays Maryland tough, particularly the Phanoid twins, as Maryland wins 84 - 39. Terps had to come back from a 10 - 8 deficit.

[ronk]

Scranton Athletics
November 6, 2013

Once again, The University of Scranton women's basketball team is expected to contend for a Landmark Conference championship.

The Lady Royals, who are coming off a second-place finish last season and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, were chosen second in a preseason poll of the conference coaches, which was released by the conference office on Wednesday afternoon.

Moravian College was the top choice, picking up six first-place votes and 57 points, with Scranton receiving one first-place vote and 52 points. Juniata College was third with one first-place vote and 37 points, followed by Catholic (36 points), Drew (19), Susquehanna (16), Goucher (15) and Merchant Marine Academy (14).

Scranton is coming off a season in which it went 19-9, including 10-4 in the Landmark Conference. The Lady Royals were the third seed in the playoffs, where they knocked off Moravian in a thrilling semifinal, 72-71, a victory that almost certainly assured them of an NCAA bid.

The Lady Royals lost to Catholic in the title game, but picked up that at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking their 26th appearance in the Tournament. They fell to eventual Final Four participant Williams College in the first round.

Scranton welcomes back a trio of starters among their nine returning letter-winners, who are joined by a six-player freshman class. The Lady Royals open their season on Friday, Nov. 15, when they face Montclair State at 6 p.m. in the Gwynedd-Mercy Tip-Off Tournament in Gwynedd Valley, Pa.

2013 Landmark Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

Institution (first-place votes)    Points
1. Moravian (6)   67
2. Scranton (1)   52
3. Juniata (1)   37
4. Catholic   36
5. Drew   19
6. Susquehanna   16
7. Goucher   15
8. Merchant Marine Academy   14

[ronk]

 After digesting the personnel changes from last season and the nonconference results this season, I project a form conference finish with Scranton, Juniata, and Moravian 12-2, Catholic beating everyone else @ 8-6, and everyone else splitting with each other @ 4-10.