Mitchell women reach NECC final

New London — Top-seeded Mitchell College routed No. 4 Lesley 86-43 in the semifinals of the New England Collegiate Conference women’s basketball tournament on Thursday night.

The Mariners (17-9) will host No. 2 Eastern Nazarene on Saturday as part of an NECC championship doubleheader with the Mitchell men. The women’s final will begin at 1 p.m., followed by a matchup between the top-seeded Mitchell men and No. 3 New England College at 4 p.m.

Sam McKenna scored 21 points to led the Mariners while Dede Stevenson added 16 points, eight steals and five assists, Kyrsten Lucas had 11 points and Amina Wiley had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

H.S. wrestling

• Montville’s James Linder Jr. and Lyman Memorial/Windham Tech’s Cameron Sammarco, the regions to state champions at least week’s CIAC class meets, are the top local seeds for the two-day State Open tournament, which begins on Friday at 3:15 p.m. at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.

Linder, the Class S champion at 138 pounds, is the No. 3 seed in his bracket while Sammarco, won captured the 170-pound title in the Class M meet, is seeded No. 4 in his weight division.

The are among 34 local wrestlers who have qualified for the tournament, which will send the top five finishers in eight weight class after Saturday’s wrestling is completed (finals are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.) to the New England Championships on March 3-4 at the Providence Career and Technical Academy.

One wrestler, Old Lyme’s Hoshena Gemme (113) has opted out of the boy’s tournament to compete in the girls’ Open (she was the Class S runnerup last week) while Ledyard’s Tatianna Irizarry (106) remains in the boy’s field. She is the No. 10 seed after placing third in last week’s Class M tournament.

Men’s swimming

• Four Connecticut College swimmers have qualified for the NCAA Championships from March 15-18 in Greensboro, N.C. Sophomore Justin Finkel will compete in three individual events — the 200-yard freestyle, 500 free and 200 butterfly — and will be joined by seniors Marc Stern, Mitchell Lockwood and Tadeusz Trzewik-Quinn in the 800 freestyle relay.

Finkel, who was named Swimmer of the Year in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, owns the fastest time in the nation in the 200 fly (1:45.31), ranks No. 2 in the 200 free (1:36.49) and fifth in the 500 free (4:25.90). All three are school records.