GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- Gwynedd Mercy makes its ninth appearance in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament as the Griffins will play Fairleigh Dickinson-Florham in a first-round matchup Friday night at 7 p.m. The Devils were selected to host the first and second round games this weekend. Friday's other matchup features Messiah taking on Babson.
GMercyU (18-10) captured their seventh Colonial States Athletic Conference Championship and the conference's automatic bid with their 67-49 win over Cabrini last Saturday posting their ninth-straight victory. This is the first title and NCAA Tournament showing since the 2011-12 season. The Griffins, who were seeded third in the CSAC Tournament, took down #6 Immaculata in the first round before scoring a 88-69 decision at #2 Neumann in the semifinal. With top seeded Marywood falling to #5 Cabrini in the other semifinal, it would set the stage for the Cavaliers, the four-time defending champion, to visit the Griffins for the title. Senior
Nicole Dombrowski was named the MVP after notching 13 points and 13 rebounds along with five blocks. On the season, she and fellow senior
Charlotte Kucowski were both selected to the CSAC All-Conference Teams. Dombrowski earned her first career honor, a spot on the second team, while Kucowski repeated on the first team.
Kucowski is among the conference leaders in scoring (16 ppg), rebounding (9 rpg), steals (67), blocks (48), and three-pointers made (61). Dombrowski compliments with strong numbers as well, (10 ppg/7 rpg/45 blocks/53 steals).
Bianca Adams lead the CSAC in assists (121) and is ranked third in all of Division III in assist-to-turnover ratio (112/37=3.03). Along with Adams (7 ppg), the Griffins also get a nice balance of scoring from
Julianna Hoisington (8 ppg),
Chyanne Fine (5 ppg), and
Monet McGorda (4 ppg), who has averaged 13.5 points in the last two games.
Head Coach
Keith Mondillo is in his 22nd season, owning a career record of 430-176 and an amazing 300-58 conference mark. He has guided the Griffins to seven conference championships, 16 conference championship game appearances, while collecting five coach of the year honors. Under his tutelage, the Griffins are 4-8 in the NCAA Tournament with their last win coming in 2006-07 (Ithaca, 83-74 at NYU).
The Devils (24-3) are making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and have won eight-straight games. FDU-Florham won their fifth consecutive MAC Freedom Conference Championship by defeating DeSales in the title game, 68-62. In the 2013-14 season, they were the NCAA National Champions and had a perfect 33-0 season. There are two remaining members from that team on this year's squad. Numbers wise, the Devils have four players who average double-figures. Kendrea Williams, who was the MAC Freedom Rookie of the Year, leads the team in scoring (20 ppg). Senior Alyssa McDonough (15.9 ppg) leads her team in assists (4.6 apg) and is second rebounding (8.5 rpg) and steals (2.3 spg). Rachel Groom and Taiah Thornton each average 13.4 points per game and Groom, who stands six-feet tall, leads the team in rebounding (9.3 rpg).
Marc Mitchell is in his seventh season at the helm of the Devils and has a 143-52 career coaching record. His teams have won five-straight MAC Freedom Championships and captured the school's first-ever NCAA National Championship in 2013-14.
Friday's first game pits Messiah (25-2), winners of the MAC Commonwealth battling Babson (22-5), the NEWMAC Champions. The winners will meet tomorrow at 5 p.m.
