Cortland Women Earn NCAA Berth, Will Face DeSales in First Round Friday at Tufts
Cortland Sports Information Department
The Cortland women's basketball team has been selected to compete in the 64-team NCAA Division III tournament and will open play against DeSales University (Pa.) on Friday, March 4, as part of a four-team regional hosted by Tufts University in Medford, Mass.
Friday's other first-round game at Tufts features the host Jumbos (20-4) versus Clarks Summit University (Pa.) (23-4). Friday's winners will play Saturday at Tufts, with that winner advancing to the tournament's "sweet 16." Game time and ticket info will be announced later. Cortland-DeSales is tentatively scheduled to be the second game Friday.
The Red Dragons (21-5), led by fourth-year head coach Jacey Brooks, will be making their second straight NCAA tournament appearance and 12th overall. Cortland defeated host Western New England in the 2020 first round before losing to Tufts in the second round. There was no tournament in 2021, and the 2020 tournament was canceled after the second round.
Cortland earned one of 20 "Pool C" at-large berths into the tournament, which go to schools that did not earn their conference's NCAA automatic berths. Cortland won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) regular season title with a 16-2 league record and advanced to the league tournament championship game before losing at home to New Paltz, 66-63, last Saturday.
Cortland features a balanced scoring attack this season with six players averaging between seven and 12 points per game. Maggie Malone (Cornwall) is the team leader with 11.4 points per game. Casey Travers (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) averages 10 points per game, Corinne Miedreich (Pearl River) averages 9.7 points per contest and Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) is at 9.4 points per game. Shannon McGuire (West Babylon) averages 8.2 points per game and Sarah Tully (East Aurora) averages 7.5 points per game.
Tully is the team leader with 6.5 rebounds per game. McGuire averages 3.2 assists per contest and Travers averages 1.9 steals per game. Tully is shooting 48 percent from the field, Miedreich is at 45 percent (26-of-58) from 3-point range, and Malone has connected on 87 percent (34-of-39) of her free throws.
DeSales is 21-3 on the season and is currently on a 20-game winning streak. The Bulldogs won their fourth straight MAC Freedom title with a 68-54 win over Stevens Institute at home on Sunday, erasing an early 11-1 deficit in the process. DeSales is making its 15th NCAA tournament appearance overall and fourth in the last five opportunities. The Bulldogs lost to Smith, 81-72, in the 2020 NCAA first round in a pod hosted by New Paltz.
Tufts, ranked ninth nationally by D3hoops.com, is an at-large selection after losing to Amherst in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) semifinals last weekend. The Jumbos are making their ninth straight NCAA appearance and 13th overall. The Jumbos were national runner-up in 2016 and 2017, a semifinalist in 2014 and 2015, and a quarterfinalist in 2008, 2018 and 2019. Tufts won two NCAA playoff games, including one versus Cortland, in 2020 before the remainder of that tournament was canceled.
Clarks Summit earned an NCAA automatic berth after winning the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) title with an 82-71 home win over Keystone on Saturday. The Defenders are making their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Cortland has played DeSales once previously. The Red Dragons defeated the Bulldogs, 69-61, to open the 2005-06 season in the opening round of a tournament hosted by Susquehanna University. Cortland's only previous appearance versus Tufts was its loss to the Jumbos in the 2020 NCAA tournament. Cortland and Clarks Summit have never played. (Allentown College was renamed DeSales University in April 2000, and Baptist Bible College was renamed Summit University in 2015 and Clarks Summit University in 2016.)
