GETTYSBURG, Pa. Gettysburg College will host the semifinals and finals of the 2022 Centennial Conference Women’s Basketball Championship in Bream Gym on Feb. 25-26.
2022 CC Women’s Basketball Championship
-
Schedule
- First Round: Feb. 22, 8 p.m. – Washington at Dickinson
- Semifinal: Feb. 25, 6 p.m. – First Round Winner at Gettysburg
- Semifinal: Feb. 25, 8 p.m. Johns Hopkins vs. Haverford (at Gettysburg)
- Championship: Feb. 26, 6 p.m. Semifinal Winners (at Gettysburg)
- Location: Bream Gym | Campus Map
-
Tickets:
- $5 for adults
- $3 youth (13-18)
- No charge for children 12 and under
- FREE students from participating schools with ID
- Game Program
- Live Video: Centennial Conference Digital Network
- Live Stats
- Indoor Spectator Masking Policy
Welcome to Gettysburg
Gettysburg is serving as host of the CC Championship for the third time in the last four seasons and for the fourth time overall. That ties Muhlenberg College for the most hosted tournaments since the final four format was created in 2004.
“It’s always such an honor to be able to host the Centennial Conference Women’s Basketball Championship,” said Head Coach Nate Davis, who led the Bullets to the title in 2018. “Not only is it amazing to try and win a conference championship in Bream Gymnasium in front of our home fans, it also is great recognition of a job well done by our players who put in the work during the regular season to earn this opportunity.”
How We Got Here
Gettysburg clinched the top seed by posting a 19-1 record in conference play this season. Gettysburg has been in and out of the national rankings all season long and was perched in the No. 2 position in the latest regional rankings released by the NCAA. The Bullets have won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons and are 22-3 overall this year.
Johns Hopkins University clinched the No. 2 seed with an 18-2 mark in conference play. The Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 18 games with only an overtime setback to Dickinson College keeping them from tying Gettysburg for the top spot. Johns Hopkins is 21-3 overall with eight of those wins coming by 10 points or less. Johns Hopkins is ranked fourth in the region.
Haverford College claimed the third seed with an 18-7 overall mark and a 14-6 record in conference play. The Fords have not lost to a conference foe other than Gettysburg and Johns Hopkins since late November. Among Haverford’s 14 wins in Centennial play, all but one came by double-figures.
Dickinson College secured the fourth seed and will host Washington College in the opening round game on Tuesday. The Red Devils enter the tournament with the longest winning streak in the conference at six games and are 14-10 overall, including 13-7 in the conference. Dickinson was 7-7 in conference play before running off wins over its last six foes, including a 62-54 overtime win against Johns Hopkins on Feb. 12.
Washington slid into the fifth and final playoff spot with a 16-9 overall record and a 12-8 mark in conference play. The Shorewomen posted four wins in a row late in the season before dropping their finale to Muhlenberg. Washington is making its first appearance in the postseason since 1999 and it will be its third showing overall.
Championship History
Haverford enters the week as the two-time defending champ with titles coming at Gettysburg in 2019 and on its home court in 2020. The Fords have won three titles overall, one more than the host Bullets. Gettysburg won the Centennial crown when it hosted in 2013 and 2018 before falling in the finale to Haverford in both 2019 and 2020. The Bullets are making their 18th showing in the playoffs and have reached the final six times overall. Johns Hopkins owns four conference championships with the last coming in 2003. The Blue Jays are making their 24th appearance overall in the event. Dickinson is making its 12th appearance and is in search of its first title since winning the inaugural CC Championship event in 1994. Washington has never won the conference crown and has advanced to the semifinals twice.
Breaking Down the Bullets
Gettysburg opened the year with a loss to Christopher Newport, but that has been the unbeaten and top-ranked Captains’ closest decision of the season to date. The Bullets were off and running after that, knocking off then No. 5 Messiah University 65-55 before putting down Johns Hopkins in the Centennial opener 67-58. After a semester-opening loss to Mary Washington, Gettysburg won its next 12 outings, including putting up 100 points against Bryn Mawr College. The Blue Jays ended the streak with a close decision inside Bream Gym on Feb. 10, but Gettysburg bounced back with three wins to end the regular season, including a 51-44 decision over Haverford.
The Bullets pace the conference in points per game (63.0), field goal percentage (.409), three-point percentage (.315), defensive rebounds per game (31.8), assists per game (14.2), and opponents’ field goal percentage (28.4). Gettysburg has held 14 opponents below 30 percent shooting from the field, including four that managed less than 20 percent.
Those team stats are indicative of the mentality instilled in Davis and his coaching staff and carried out by the student-athletes. Each game sees a different player seems to step into the spotlight in big moments and it’s propelled Gettysburg to the top of the conference.
“I think the thing that has separated us at times this year offensively has been our balance,” noted Davis, who is 131-32 in seven years at the helm. “We have been able to have different people step up each game for us both inside and out. Defensively, we have been able to hold our opponents to a low shooting percentage. If we can continue to do that and we are able to win the rebounding battle, I like our chances. Overall, I expect there to be some great games and exciting finishes.”
Seniors Carly Rice (Pennington, N.J./The Pennington School), Christina Richson (Summit, N.J./Summit), Mackenzie Tinner (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock North), and Avery Bennett (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) look for their first Centennial title after finishing runner-up in each of their first two seasons at Gettysburg. Rice and Richson have combined for 84 of the team’s 109 three-pointers this season. Rice is averaging a team-best 13.1 points per game and is on a hot streak heading into the postseason. Over her last six games, she is averaging 19.7 points per game and has knocked down 15 three-pointers. Richson has hit 36.4 percent of her shots from beyond the arc and is averaging 7.7 points per game.
Freshman guard Mackenzie Szlosek (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) has filled the stat sheet this season and leads the team in assists (76) and steals (45), while ranking second in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and third in scoring (9.6 ppg).
Tinner has climbed to a double-figure scoring average with a late season surge which included a career-high 21 points against McDaniel in the final week of the season. She leads the conference in field goal percentage at 53.9 and she leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.
Sophomore Hannah Sauve (Enola, Pa./Cumberland Valley) has put up 5.5 points and 38 rebounds per game in her first year as a starter, while juniors Meghan Barbera (Fort Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin) and Olivia Matto (Lancaster, Pa./Hill School), freshmen Delaney Donohoe (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge), and sophomore Caitlyn Priore (Holland, Pa./Germantown Academy) have contributed valuable minutes off the bench.
“We are looking forward to an exciting conference championship,” said Davis. “There was so much parity this season and some really strong teams earned the opportunity to compete this week. For our team, we will need to continue to be consistent and play good team basketball as we have done all season.”
This story was originally posted on the Gettysburg College Website.