Women's Basketball to Face Smith College in the Opening Round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament
Updated 3/1/22 1pm
Framingham, Mass. – After receiving the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference's (MASCAC) automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament, the 2021-22 MASCAC Regular Season and Tournament Champion Framingham State Rams will be facing Smith College in Northampton, Mass. in a first round game on Friday, March 4th.
The Rams and the Pioneers will meet on Friday, March 4th at 7pm. Smith College's spectator policies can be found here.
Video -https://newmacsportsnetwork.com/smithcollege/
Livestats - https://smithpioneers.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary
The Rams will be making their second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament after repeating as MASCAC Tournament Champions and earning their third overall Regular Season Title.
Framingham State finished the 2021-22 regular season 22-3 overall and a perfect 12-0 in MASCAC action. After earning the top seed in the 2022 MASCAC Women's Basketball Tournament, the Rams led by Tournament MVP Gwendolyn Carpenter dispatched of fourth seed Worcester State in the semifinals before defeating second seed Bridgewater State in the finals this past Saturday.
The 2021-22 Rams were led by the duo of sophomores Flannery O'Connor and Katty Haidul who each averaged a double double on the year. O'Connor earned MASCAC Player of the Week honors five times as she led the Rams in scoring and ranked second in the MASCAC averaging 18.9 point per game. O'Connor ranked second in the league in rebounding (11.2 rpg) behind Haidul who led the league at 11.4 rebounds per game. In addition to leading the league in rebounding, Haidul, who ranked sixth in the league in scoring (15.0 ppg), led the MASCAC in field goal percentage (54.6%).
Senior Krysta Padellaro averaged 14.1 points, five rebounds and two steals per game, while Carpenter finished her sophomore season establishing a new FSU single season assist mark with 177. She averaged 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game, while senior Camille Desrochers, who made 52 threes during the season, finished the year ranked second in the MASCAC in three point percentage (36.1).
The Pioneers earned an automatic bid to the tournament after defeating Babson College on Sunday in the championship game of the NEWMAC Tournament. The Pioneers were 23-2 on the season and went a perfect 9-0 in NEWMAC play as they claimed back-to-back NEWMAC titles.
This will be just the second meeting all-time between Framingham State and Smith College.
Smith will be hosting the four team regional on Friday and Saturday with Emmanuel and Brooklyn meeting in the other first round matchup with the winners of the two opening round contests meeting on Saturday to advance.
More details on Friday's game will be release throughout the week. To view the entire NCAA Tournament bracket, click here.