Cabrini Women's Hoops Hoping To Make Program History
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – For the 8th time in program history, the Cabrini College women's basketball team has earned a berth in the Division III NCAA Tournament. The champions of the Colonial States Athletic Conference will open play on Friday night in Montclair, New Jersey, taking on 20-7 Moravian College.
"Anybody that you face in the NCAA Tournament at this point, they are there for a reason, so it's going to be a tough match-up," Cabrini head coach Kate Pearson tells KYW Newsradio. "But I think it's going to be a really good game against Moravian and it is a Landmark (Conference) team, and we've gone against two teams this year from the Landmark Conference, so I think it's definitely going to be a nice competitive game."
Cabrini brings a 23-4 record into the tournament. They won the CSAC Championship game by 29 points over Immaculata on Saturday.
While getting into the tournament is nothing new for the Cavaliers, they have yet to win a game once they get there. Cabrini is 0-7 all-time in NCAA appearances. Last season they lost to Catholic University in the first round, 52-44. Pearson says her group is very determined to get that zero out of the program's NCAA Tournament win column.
"This was one of their goals, to get back to the NCAAs," Pearson says. "And actually on their goal sheet is to win the first NCAA Tournament game in Cabrini women's basketball history."
Pearson talks about what has keyed this team's success.
"One of the reasons is our experience," Pearson says. "We have four seniors and they are kind of carrying us right now. The team chemistry has been fantastic all year and I feel at this point, I hope we're clicking at the right time."
One of those seniors, guard Brittany Sandone, leads Cabrini in scoring. She averages 14.5 points a game.
Cabrini and Moravian will tip-off at 5:00pm. The winner of that game plays the winner of Regis College (MA) and Montclair State on Saturday night in the second round.
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