Postseason Fever: Tigers to Play Panthers in Round 1

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (March 2, 2009) – At the beginning of the winter there were 419 women’s basketball teams playing in Division III. Now there are 63. For the first time in school history Occidental College is one of those teams after winning the 2009 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post Season Tournament with a 51-37 victory over the University of La Verne. The Tigers will play in the NCAA Division III Playoffs, but will meet a familiar foe to get things started.

Wednesday evening Occidental (22-5) will travel to Orange, Calif. where they will face off with Chapman University at 7:00 p.m. in the Hutton Sports Center for the first-round game.

The Panthers (19-8) earned one of three Pool ‘B’ at-large berths into the playoffs marking their ninth consecutive playoff appearance. Chapman has never missed the playoffs under head coach Carol Jue, advancing to the second round in three of the past five years. Chapman is familiar to the post season and holds a 5-0 all-time record against SCIAC schools in the postseason, while the Tigers make their first appearance under first-year head coach Heidi VanDerveer.

The round one winner will travel to Newberg, Ore. to play the undefeated and No.3-ranked George Fox University Bruins in the second round on Saturday night.

After Oxy played a re-match game against La Verne last Saturday night to get into the postseason, they will do it again Wednesday in the first round. Earlier this season the Panthers pounded the Tigers 78-58 using a high-pressure defense, which helped them become ranked No. 33 in the nation in turnover margin.

While Chapman hosts their first NCAA tournament game since defeating La Verne in overtime in 2007, the Tigers are on their way to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since women's intercollegiate play began at Occidental in 1961.

Chapman is led by senior point guard Lauren Kamiyama, who is averaging 9.4 points per game and 4.5 assists per game. Junior guard Linda Ly was named the Most Valuable Player of the Division III Independents Postseason Tournament last weekend and currently leads the team with 11 points per game.

The Tigers are led by Brianne Brown, who is a nominee to repeat as the SCIAC Player of the Year, leads the team with 12.7 points per game, 18 blocks and is second with 5.9 rebounds per game and 2.6 steals per game (70 total). Dior Williams is an all-around player who averaged 11.0 points per game while recording 3.9 steals per game (104 total) and 2.4 assists per game (64 total). Stephanie Babij has been a strong presence all season, grabbing a team high 7.6 rebounds per game while pouring in 10.6 points per game and blocking 15 shots. Britinee Yasukochi has dished out 3.4 assists per game (91 total).  

Tickets for the game will be $6 for adults and $3 for students and children (12 and under). If you can’t make it out to the game listen live at http://oxybroadcast.com/.

NCAA Division III Tournament Bracket available online:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ncaa/sports/w-baskbl/auto_pdf/WBK-D3-2009Bracket.pdf