Link to opening round website
The Oneonta State women's basketball team is off to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. for its opening round game of the 2012 NCAA Div. III basketball tournament. The Red Dragons will face host King's College (22-5) on Friday evening in the second of two games beginning at 7:30pm. The other game will feature NJAC champion, William Paterson (25-2) versus Commonwealth Coast Conference champion, Salve Regina University (19-9) beginning at 5:30pm.
Ticket prices for all games are $6 for adults, $3 for all students, senior citizens and all children.
Oneonta (19-8) qualified for the tournament as the automatic berth from the SUNYAC. The Red Dragons defeated Buffalo State this past Saturday 50-41 to claim its third conference title and first since 2001. The Red Dragons are making its third NCAA appearance all-time and also its first since 2001. In Oneonta's previous two trips to the NCAA tournament including its first in 1998, the Red Dragons have not advanced past the second round.
“It is not easy to win a championship and I am proud, thankful, blessed and thrilled to share this with these women,” said head coach
Daphne Thompson. “The three seniors have supported and made huge strides in changing the culture of our program and I owe them a great deal. Their leadership, commitment and desire to achieve the goal of being SUNYAC champions and earning an NCAA tournament bid is a reward that is well deserved.”
“Finally bringing home the SUNYAC title was an incredible feeling,” said senior
Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic). “Since our freshmen year we've been working hard and doing everything we can to improve our game and our leadership so we could achieve the goal of every student athlete in the SUNYAC Conference, to be a SUNYAC champion.”
As a team, Oneonta is holding opponents to just below 53 points per game, which is currently No. 45 in Div. III. They are No. 15 nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to below 32 percent shooting. The Red Dragons are hoping to continue this trend that helped them capture the SUNYAC title.
Oneonta is led by the senior duo of three-time All-SUNYAC selection
Samantha Szkotak (New York Mills/New York Mills) and two-time All-SUNYAC selection
Madison Slagle (Rome/Rome Catholic). The Red Dragons have also had tremendous balance and contribution from every player that has participated in 20 or more games to this point. Szkotak, the SUNYAC Tournament MVP, is averaging 13.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She currently has 1,252 career points and 609 career rebounds, which makes her only the second player in the history of the women's program to surpass 1,200 career points and 600 career rebounds. She is currently fourth all-time in scoring and fifth all-time in rebounding.
Slagle is one of the best long-range shooters in program history. She currently is averaging 12 points and 5.4 boards per contest. She leads the team with 40 three-point baskets and now has 128 from behind the arc, which is fifth all-time.
The sophomore guard quartet of
Kristin Pappalardo (Mahopac/Lakeland),
Grace Schilling (Northport/Northport),
Kelly Mulligan (Pearl River/Pearl River) and
Alyshia Crawford (Oxford/Oxford) has performed solidly for Oneonta all season. The four have combined for 591 points, 183 assists and 158 steals. Pappalardo, who was selected to the All-Tournament Team, emerged as the third scorer in the conference championships registering 15 points in the semifinals and 10 points in the championship game.
“As a young coach, having the opportunity to make the NCAA tournament I learned a valuable lesson that the best teams don't always have the best players,” stated Thompson. “Successful teams have players that believe and trust in each other. The most important ingredient in team success is CHEMISTRY! This group of women has that ingredient.”
Entering this year's tournament, Oneonta is one win shy of tying the program record for wins during a four-year period in the program's history. From 1994-98 and 2007-11, the program collected 78 wins. To date, this year's seniors have won 77 games, which includes two, 20-win seasons. If Oneonta gets by the first round, they will have its third 20-win season, which would match last year's senior class for eclipsing this milestone three times in a four-year stretch.
Oneonta has faced three NCAA tournament teams this season, going 1-2. The Red Dragons defeated Gwynedd-Mercy (62-59) in Florida on Jan. 2. Oneonta's losses came to Hartwick, 52-47 in December and Lewis & Clark, 59-58 at the Kean (NJ) tournament in November.
The Red Dragons have never faced William Paterson (NJAC champion) or Salve Regina (Commonwealth Coast champion). King's (At-large berth) and Oneonta have split their only two meetings all-time with the last coming in 2004 where the Monarchs won 49-40.
On Friday's game with King's Thompson said “I feel good about our match up. We will have to manage the tempo of the game and look to get into offense and not play fast because they will press and look to dribble drive and shoot quickly. We have faced this with several teams in the conference and been successful. Our game plan remains constant of defending, rebounding and executing our offense.”
