This article is reprinted with permission of the Nashua Telegraph. It ran on December 13, 2010. Learn more about the Telegraph and see the original article by clicking here.

By Tom King
December 13, 2010

NASHUA - There was mayhem at the Muldoon on Saturday afternoon.

Make that the brand spanking new Muldoon Fitness Center. You see, two women's college basketball teams on separate missions were colliding. And boy, did they collide. Bodies hit the floor everywhere for 40 minutes of play.

Rivier College, you see, was desperate for a win going into the holiday break after losing seven in a row. They didn't get it.

Daniel Webster College was intent on snapping a four-game losing streak to its cross-town rivals. They came away with a hard fought 74-62 win, but the rivalry wasn't just what this game was all about.

It was about the Eagles hoping to make up for the sins of a year ago. The Women of Webster not only lost at home to Rivier in 2009, they also lost in the New England Collegiate Conference tourney semifinals – a tourney they entered as the top seed and were heavily favored to win. A storm-related power outage cost the Eagles valuable home court and they were upset at Elms College.

Eight of the fledgling third-year conference's coaches put the pressure right back on the Eagles for this year, picking them as the favorites to win it. They knew what they were doing. It was a dare. And the Eagles hope to give it right back because if they do win an NECC crown, they'll get an NCAA berth for the first time ever.

But first thing's first: Win the conference to erase last year's bitter memory.

"That just fuels the fire for us for the future," said first year head coach Kristin Kunzman, who was an assistant last year. "We have a strong returning class. They know that feeling, and they don't want it again."

And the NCAA bid?

"We win the championship we're going to the NCAA tournament," she said. "That's something the girls are excited about and it gets them pumped up. I don't think we think about it game by game. I think it's an overall concern. We take each game one at a time."

The 5-2 Eagles (all non-conference games) have some key ingredients. They have a good post-up game in 5-foot-10 senior center Tonisha Tate out of Lynn, Mass. and Salem's own Alyssa Regan, a 6-foot junior. Those two helped the Eagles dominate the boards versus Rivier to the tune of 58-30.

Then they have these two major keys: First, a will-to-win scorer in 5-7 junior Vanessa Bosques – she had 22 points and seven rebounds Saturday, was the NECC Player of the Year last year, and set school records with 42 points and 10 3-pointers in a game earlier this season. And second, a transfer point guard from UConn-Avery Point in junior Sarah Paternostro. She had 11 assists in a recent win over New England College – second all-time in school history. She could sense the team's resolve after last year's loss when she arrived.

"They don't want to have an upset like they had last year," she said. "You can see it."

Just ask Bosques. Losing last year "is in my mind all the time…We beat that team (Elms) by 20 (during the regular season). It's in my mind all the time and it comes out when I come to play hard every game. We want to win the conference championship this year. We want it very bad."

If they did anything on Saturday, the Eagles showed they may be ready for prime time. The NECC is still in its infancy, and the reason DWC became a charter member, leaving Riv's conference, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, was to be in a more competitive situation. Thus to beat a respected GNAC team like Riv, despite its 1-8 mark, is a big step forward.

"This game, no matter what our records are, it's a good game every single year," Kunzman said. "For the past four years, Riv had ended up on top. That was something we wanted to shut down. Every loose ball was going to be ours, every rebound was going to be ours."

Let's not underestimate Riv. Hudson's Amanda Purcell is an A-plus effort player (28 points the other day) and first-year coach Paul Sullivan is trying to make up for some offensive-minded graduation losses, using the non-conference first semester to get his team ready.

"One thing I don't think a lot of girls in the area realize is how good the level of college basketball is in Nashua between the two schools," Sullivan said. "(Kunzman) has done a nice job over there. … One of the things you realize is you look at the GNAC website and everyone is 0-0. That's going to be where we need to bring the same type of effort."

There's talent to go along with that effort now at both schools. But the Eagles are hoping this year it carries them a big step further.

Tom King can be reached at 594-6468 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com.