Hawks Looking for Third Straight AE Championship

The University of Hartford women’s basketball team will begin its quest for a third consecutive America East title – and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament – on Friday evening at Binghamton University.

You can follow the team’s progress at the 2007 America East Women’s Basketball Championship by visiting the Hawks Hoop-Blog, at hawksncaa.blogspot.com. Jonathan Easterbrook, director of marketing services at the University and the play-by-play voice of Hartford women’s basketball, will provide updates and personal observations throughout the tournament.

In addition, be sure to tune in for a bonus edition of the Jen Rizzotti Radio Show TONIGHT (Thursday, March 8), from 6 to 7 p.m., on ESPN Radio 1410 (AM). The live show will be broadcast courtside from the America East tournament. Fans are encouraged to call in with their questions and comments at 860.247.ESPN (3776).

Tournament Schedule

The America East tournament will begin this evening with a first round game between eighth-seeded Albany and ninth-seeded New Hampshire.

Hartford, the top seed in the tournament, will play the winner of the Albany/New Hampshire game in a quarterfinal match on Friday (March 9) at 6 p.m. You can listen to Friday’s game – and all games in which the Hartford women play – on WWUH radio (91.3 FM or www.wwuh.org).

If the Hawks win Friday’s game, they will go on to play either No. 4 Binghamton or No. 5 Boston University in the semifinal round on Saturday (March 10) at 7 p.m. The semifinals will be televised live on New England Sports Network (NESN).

The winners of Saturday’s two semifinal games will face off in the title game on Sunday (March 11) at 5 p.m. That game also will be televised live on NESN and on MSG.

In addition to following the action on television and radio, you can get live statistics for all of the tournament games on the America East website, at www.americaeast.com.

Looking for a Three-peat

The Hartford women will be trying to win their third straight America East championship and their third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. Last year, the Hawks made history by upsetting Temple University in the first round of the NCAA tournament, marking Hartford’s first-ever win at an NCAA tournament game. The Hawks’ season ended last year with a second-round loss to Georgia.

Like last year, Hartford is entering the America East tournament as the regular season conference champion, with a record of 15-1 in conference play (22-7 overall).