HOBOKEN, N.J. (February 26, 2015) – The Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team is looking to capture its third Empire 8 Conference Championship this weekend when it heads to Ithaca College for the conference tournament.
THE FIELD Second-seeded Stevens (22-3, 14-2) will battle third-seeded St. John Fisher College (19-6, 12-4) Friday at 8 p.m. for a chance to play the winner of top-seeded Ithaca (21-4, 15-1) and fourth-seeded Nazareth College (15-10, 10-6).
The Ducks are 4-2 combined against the field this season.
TOURNEY HISTORY Stevens is making its seventh straight appearance in the championship, and third overall as the second seed. The last time the Ducks were the second seed, they defeated Ithaca in the final in 2011.
CHASING HISTORY At 22 wins, the Ducks are just two victories shy of the all-time mark set during the 2007-08 campaign.
NATIONAL ATTENTION The final NCAA regional rankings of the regular season put the Ducks at No. 4 in the east region. Nationally, Stevens ranks 14
th in the country in field goal percentage defense.
TOP OF THE HEAP Junior
Kaitlyn Astel was named the E8's player of the year Wednesday after leading the conference in scoring at 16.6 points per game. The honor is the first for the program since
Dani Dudek took-home the award after the 2008-09 season.
Additionally, junior
Miranda Ripken and sophomore
Brittany Washington were named All- E8 honorable mentions.
RISING ROLE Freshmen
Anna Toke is averaging 12 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game in her last three games. Prior to that, Toke had played more than 10 minutes just four times and never recorded more than five boards.
FINISHING STRONG Junior
Dylan Krause recorded her first double-double of the season in Saturday's win against Fisher. The Georgia native is averaging more than 10 points and five rebounds in her last three games.
CONSISTENCY Astel, Ripken, Krause, sophomore
Erica Guketlov, and sophomore
Hannah Brophy have started all 25 games for the Ducks this season. No other team in the field has maintained the same starting lineup for the entire season.
WHERE TO WATCH Ithaca will be providing live stats, audio and video for every game of the championship. Links can be found on stevensducks.com.
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
