Tournament Bracket

ITHACA'S INVITATION: The Ithaca College women's basketball team (22-5) has been selected for the NCAA Division III Championship. The Bombers, who earned an at-large bid, will travel to Bowdoin in Brunswick, Maine for a four-team regional Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7. Ithaca will face Mount Saint Vincent (22-5) in the first round at 5 p.m. Bowdoin (23-4) will host Babson (20-6) in the other contest. The winners of the two games will meet on Saturday evening at 7p.m.

ITHACA vs. REGIONAL FIELD: The Bombers won their only matchup against the Dolphins back in 2006-07 by a 67-50 outcome. Ithaca is 0-3 against Bowdoin, and the Bombers have never played Babson.

ITHACA vs. 2015 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: Ithaca went 3-4 against the tournament field this season, with two wins coming against Stevens in conference play, 75-68 and 61-42. The Bombers were 1-2 against St. John Fisher, with the final setback coming in the Empire 8 Tournament. Finally, Ithaca dropped an early contest at John Carroll in November and to Cabrini in Puerto Rico during the winter break.

ITHACA IN THE NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Bombers are making their 12th appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs and 11th in the past 15 seasons. In 1997, Ithaca tied for the Empire Athletic Association title and won a tiebreaker with Hartwick for the league's automatic bid. Seeded sixth in the eight-team East Regional, the Bombers upset third-seeded Binghamton 73-66, and then lost at second-seeded William Smith 81-57. In 2001, the Bombers won the Empire 8 championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs, beating the University of New England 79-61, before losing at College of New Jersey 68-58. A year later, the Empire 8 champion Bombers received a first-round bye and lost 73-67 to Ohio Wesleyan in the second round. The 2003 season was Ithaca's first selection as an at-large team to the NCAA playoffs. The Bombers beat Brockport 81-68, and St. John Fisher 86-79 in overtime, to advance to the program's first "sweet 16" before losing 57-51 at Rochester. A year later the Bombers lost 64-60 to Cortland in a first-round game. In 2005 Ithaca beat visiting Colby-Sawyer 64-46 in a first-round game and lost 55-52 at Southern Maine in the second round. The 2007 team lost to Gwynedd-Mercy in a first-round game and in 2010 Ithaca lost to DeSales in the opening round. Host Ithaca defeated Elms, 84-37, in the first round of the 2012 tournament, before falling to Bowdoin, 55-51. The Bombers were back in the "sweet 16" in 2013. After defeating Colby-Sawyer and Smith in the regional bracket, Ithaca was edged in overtime, 64-60, at Williams. Last season, the Bombers made it all the way to the "elite 8", where they fell to Tufts, 61-59, after taking down Sage (67-30), Haverford (54-43) and Amherst (74-71 OT).

THE 2015 PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 64-team, single elimination playoff field. The 64 teams include 44 winners of conferences whose champions have been awarded automatic bids and 20 teams who received at-large bids. A total of 16 schools are hosting regionals this weekend. Four-team sectionals will be held at four campus sites on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14. Winners of the four sectional sites will advance to the national semifinals on March 20. The final will take place Saturday, March 21. All games, except the semifinals and final, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals will be held in Van Noord Arena on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

ITHACA LEADERS: The Ithaca Bombers won their seventh straight regular-season Empire 8 Championship title, but were down by St. John Fisher in the conference tournament final in overtime, 86-84. Ithaca had won nine consecutive games heading into last Saturday's championship contest, with its previous loss coming to Fisher on Jan. 24. The Bombers will be led into this season's NCAA Tournament by first-team all-conference selection, sophomore Ali Ricchiuti, who paces the team with 11.1 points per game. Senior Ally Mnich, an Empire 8 honorable mention choice, adds 9.0 points per contest, while classmate and second-team honoree Francesca Cotrupe contributes 7.6 points and 8.1 rebounds a game. Senior Samantha Klie, an honorable mention performer, hands out 3.5 assists per game to go along with 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds. Ithaca can also count on five other players to chip in at least 4.4 points per game – junior Keri Steele (Empire 8 All-Tournament), freshman Jordan Beers, sophomore Alex Gilligan, sophomore Erin Ferguson and senior Geena Brady.

The Bombers React To The NCAA Selection Show