RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Felician University women's basketball team has qualified for the 2022 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship tournament as the No. 2 seed from the North Division.
Guided by 14th-year head coach Steve Fagan, Felician (12-14, 10-7) reaches the CACC playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years. Tonight, the Golden Falcons will host the South Division's No. 3 seed, Thomas Jefferson University, in first-round postseason action at Job Gymnasium on Felician's Rutherford campus. Felician is hosting a women's basketball postseason game for the first time since 2012. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
Directions to Job Gymnasium are available at https://felicianathletics.com/information/directions (first listing). Ticket prices for Tuesday's match (CASH ONLY) are $10 for adults and $5 for children, students (with ID) and senior citizens. Children aged three years and under will be admitted free.
Additionally, a high-definition live webstream will be available for $4.99 per viewer at https://caccnetwork.com/felician/?bfplayvid=366840. The webcast is made possible through the CACC Network in partnership with Blue Frame Technology. Veteran broadcaster Jerry Milani will be on hand to call the play-by-play, with Felician's own J.R. DiNallo providing color commentary. Viewers that purchased a 2021-22 Felician Women's Basketball Season Pass through Blue Frame will have Tuesday's game included for no extra charge. A free online statistics feed will also be provided at http://www.felicianathletics.com/sports/wbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20220301_820c.xml.
More information about the 2022 CACC Women's Basketball Championship tournament is available at https://caccathletics.org/sports/wbkb/2021-22/releases/226Tourn.
Felician is making its 13th trip to the CACC Tournament, including its seventh under Fagan, and is seeking its first championship. The Golden Falcons have not won a postseason game since 2000. This season, they are fifth in the 13-team CACC in scoring offense and 13th in scoring defense, and are 5-6 at home.
Felician features the CACC's top scorer and rebounder in the person of swing player Briana Lee (Jersey City, N.J./Irvington). The redshirt sophomore averages 18.3 points and 2.6 steals, and is sixth nationally in Division II with 12.7 rebounds per game. Graduate guard Katelyn Andres (North Bergen, N.J./North Bergen) scores 11.7 points per game, while freshman guard Courtney Logan (Riverview, Fla./East Bay) averages 10.8 points.
"We are excited not only to be in this tournament but to play at home,"said Felician guard Niaimani Marshall (Jersey City, N.J./Suffield Academy [Conn.]), one of three Golden Falcon seniors. "We've spent the last few days coming up with a game plan that, with the help of home court advantage, I hope we can execute and get the job done."
Jefferson (21-7, 13-5) won the last two CACC Championship tournaments in which it competed, and seeks its fifth overall CACC title. The Rams enter tonight ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II East Region. They are fourth in the conference in scoring offense and third in scoring defense, and are 13-2 in true road games. Freshman post player Cassie Murphy (Bethlehem, Pa./Notre Dame-Green Pond) averages 14.7 points and 5.4 rebounds, and sophomore forward Haley Meinel (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) scores 14.2 points per game. Sophomore guard Morgan Robinson (Swedesboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional) averages 8.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and a CACC-best 6.3 assists.
Jefferson won the regular-season meeting between the schools, 76-43, on February 12 in Rutherford. The Rams lead the all-time series, 15-2. The Rams and Golden Falcons are meeting in the CACC playoffs for the first time.
"Communication is the key for tonight's game," Marshall said. "We need to work together to take away their back-door cuts and their screens. Jefferson is a good team but if we do those things we can be successful tonight."
Caldwell University will host the semifinals and finals of the CACC Championship tournament at its George R. Newman Center in Caldwell, N.J. Tonight's winner will take on the Caldwell-Chestnut Hill College first-round winner on Saturday at either 5 or 7 p.m.
The 2022 CACC Championship Game is slated for Sunday, March 6, at 2:30 p.m. on the Caldwell campus. The CACC champion automatically qualifies for the 2022 NCAA Division II East Regional Championship, to be held on the campus of a regional participant.
