Holy Family Women Get Assumption To Open D2 Tournament
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – There are few things in life you can consistently count on. But right near the top of that short list is the Holy Family women's basketball team making the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers are dancing for the tenth straight season after winning the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference tournament and on Friday they will open things up against Assumption out of the Northeast 10. The game will be played at Bentley University in Waltham, MA.
"I'm really proud of my team and how we've come together and really played hard and gotten after it," Holy Family head coach Mark Miller tells KYW Newsradio. "Really had three great games in the CACC Tournament. Just happy to be able to continue to play with this group."
Mark Miller Interview
Holy Family brings a 27-2 record into the tournament and that has come thanks to a very successful formula that Miller says they have to continue in the tournament.
"For us, and it's been that way since I've been here, we've got to guard you and we've got to defend," Miller says. "We've done it all year, we've done a real good job and we've gotten better at it. So we've got to defend, we've got to rebound, we can't give up second and third shots. And probably one of the most important things offensively is that we can't turn it over, we've just got to make sure we get a good shot every possession."
Holy Family is led by senior center Erin Mann, a West Chester native who scores 18.4 points a game and pulls down 8.5 rebounds a contest.
Assumption is 22-7 and they earned an at-large bid to the tournament after losing in the NE-10 title game.
"Very solid," Miller says. "They had a great year in that conference. They have really good guards, their post players are solid and they're well-coached. We're going to have our hands full and I think it's going to be a game (of) two different styles. Both teams play really good 'D' and I think it could be one of those ugly basketball games with whoever finds a way to win it at the end."
The winner of this game on Friday will turn around and face the winner of Bentley and LIU Post on Saturday in the second round.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
