Chance to dance: UML can make history
River Hawks will make NCAA field by beating Vermont
It’s the biggest men’s basketball game in Umass Lowell’s Division 1 history.
It will be held at an unusual time (11 a.m.) at a 60-year-old venue that figures to be bursting at the seams with fans.
For those not lucky enough to be at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vt., Saturday’s America East championship game between second-seeded Umass Lowell and top-seeded Vermont, fear not. ESPN2 will televise the showdown.
It’s the 18th time in league America East history that the top two seeds will decide the conference playoff champion. The winner, of course, will land an NCAA Tournament berth. Umass Lowell has never landed a berth in the tournament.
The game will also be broadcast on Westwood One radio nationally and on Sirius XM.
To advance to the title game, the Catamounts routed NJIT in the quarterfinals and Binghamton in the semifinals while Umass Lowell defeated Maine and New Hampshire.
Umass Lowell is 26-7 and in the midst of the program’s best Division 1 season. This marks the River Hawks’ sixth season eligible for the postseason at the Division
I level. The team has qualified for the America East Playoffs in each of its eligible seasons. This will be the first time the River Hawks have faced Vermont in the playoffs. UML advanced to the championship game once previously (2021).
The program is now 50-40 all time in post-season games.
If the River Hawks win at Vermont and quiet what is expected to be a rowdy crowd, they will be the league’s automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS.
Four River Hawks are averaging double-digits, as Ever
chance, we had to cut down on our turnovers, which we did somewhat, but getting to the backboards and sort of keep pace on the free throw attempts. The first three times we played them, they nearly tripled us in free throw attempts, so tonight it was much more even in the sense of our aggressiveness and going to the basket. They are very good defensively and they make it hard on you, but our kids just didn’t want to be done and I’m proud of them that we’re still playing.”
In the first three meetings, Tyngsboro came away with wins by scores of 4740, 59-38 and 45-28. In all three games, Carly Dimento was a big factor in
the Tyngsboro offense, and this time Littleton’s defense held her to 14 points.
“We tried to do a few things differently. Dimento is very good at playing off the middle ball screen up high so we tried to trap her a little bit tonight to give her a different look which we hadn’t done previously. We tried to make a couple of small adjustments, but in the end it always comes down to the kids and they stepped up,” said Hastings.
The game was tied at 18 at the halftime break and then it was tied at 21 two minutes into the third. That’s when Littleton started to get hot, going on a 11-2 run behind treys from Kaylin O’meara (14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) and Allen. From there Littleton never looked back.
“The girls had this on their radar as we started to
get into the tournament. It shows that the hard work that they put in all season long pays off. I’m very happy for them and very proud of them,” said Hastings.
Tyngsboro head coach Zach Richall said his team (17-6) had a fantastic season and that his seniors were dedicated and hard working. But he tipped his cap to Littleton.
“It was a fun high school basketball game. A lot of times in a game like this you need something to go your way, especially when both teams are so evenly matched and you know each other so well. But they played their butts off, they outplayed us, they got the rebounds, they shot the ball better than us and those are the things that will win you basketball games,” said Richall.