March 3, 2008

BULLDOG WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE: March Madness Is Here as Basketball Teams Advance To Quarterfinals

March 3, 2008

BULLDOG WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE

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The Bryant men's and women's basketball teams picked up first round wins of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference tournament over the weekend.  The men will face Saint Rose Monday in Albany, NY with the winner to play the winner of UMass Lowell/Assumption Thursday ... Women's basketball will travel to Assumption Tuesday night with the winner to advance to the semis Friday.  The NCAA selection show will take place on Sunday evening with the top eight teams from the Northeast advancing to the regionals. 

BULLDOG WEEKLY ROUNDUP ...

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (18-10, 12-9 NE-10)
The Bryant women's basketball team got 23 points and seven rebounds from sophomore Kelsey O'Keefe (Warren, MA) and 22 points and eight boards from junior Cara Johnson (Endicott, NY) as the Bulldogs knocked off Saint Michael's 73-60 in a Northeast-10 Conference semifinal match Sunday.  The Bulldogs will advance to face Assumption in the quarterfinals Tuesday night in Worcester, MA. 

MEN'S BASKETBALL (17-11, 12-10 NE-10)
The seventh-seeded Bryant University men's basketball team travels to Albany NY Monday night to face second-seed Saint Rose in a Northeast-10 Conference quarterfinal round game at Nolan Gym. The Bulldogs knocked off tenth-seed Southern New Hampshire 65-57 Saturday afternoon in Smithfield,R.I. behind 17 points from Chris Birrell (Scituate, RI) and Jon Ezeokoli (South Orange, NJ). The Bulldogs led 38-32 at the half and had to rally back from a five-point deficit in the second half to advance. This will be the second meeting this season between the Bulldogs and Golden Knights. Saint Rose handed Bryant an 85-72 loss at Nolan Gym on Jan. 5 despite 26 points from Bulldog sophomore Cecil Gresham (Bloomfield, CT). Bryant and Saint Rose last met in the postseason last season with Bryant earning a 65-62 win in the second round of the NCAA Northeast Regionals in Waltham, MA.  The winner of Monday's game will advance to the Northeast-10 Conference tournament semifinals Thursday, facing the winner of Monday's quarterfinal round game between UMass Lowell and Assumption.
 
INDOOR TRACK
The Bryant University men's and women's indoor track teams concluded the 2008 New England Championships at Boston University with a pair of 23rd-place finishes. The women placed 23rd out of 30 teams scored with the men earning a 23rd-place finish out of 31 scored. Senior Nicole Radzik (Sutton, MA) brought home a fourth-place finish in the women's 5,000 meters finishing in 17 minutes, 31.10 seconds Friday night.    On the men's side, freshman Thomas O'Connor (Spencer, MA) ran well in the sprints, finishing 30th in the 55 meter dash in 6.83 seconds and later taking 18th in the 200 meters in 22.52.  Alex Engel (Westwood, MA) earned a top-10 finish in the 400 meters, placing fifth in 48.78 seconds, qualifying for Saturday's 400m finals.  In the finals, Engel placed fifth in a personal-best time of 48.64 seconds.

MEN'S LACROSSE (1-1, 0-0 NE-10)
The Bryant men's lacrosse team fell for the first time this season Saturday as C.W. Post knocked off the fifth-ranked Bulldogs 11-5.  Brad Burton (Hauppauge, NY) had two goals for the Bulldogs who will return to action Saturday against St. Andrew's in Annapolis, MD.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE (0-1, 0-0 NE-10)
The Bryant women's lacrosse team returns to action this Sunday when the Bulldogs take on Lees-McRae (Mar. 9) and Rollins College (Mar. 12) in Florida.  The Bulldogs open Northeast-10 play at AIC on Mar. 19.  The home opener is set for Mar. 22 against national power C.W. Post.

MEN'S TENNIS (4-2, 2-0 NE-10)
The Bryant men's tennis team was idle this past weekend and will return to action Saturday hosting Merrimack (6 pm) at Rally Point in East Providence, RI.

WOMEN'S TENNIS (6-1, 4-0 NE-10)
The Bryant University women's tennis team was idle this weekend and will return to action Mar. 11 when the Bulldogs travel to South Carolina for a spring break match with Charleston.  The Bulldogs have three Rhode Islander's on the 2008 roster:  Katharine Francazio (Cranston / La Salle), Michelle Burke (Barrington) and Hayden Shaw (Warren / Providence Country Day).

BASEBALL (6-3, 0-0 NE-10)
The Bryant baseball team is off to a great start to the season.  The Bulldogs won three more games this past weekend at the Papa John's Palm Beach Challenge.  Bryant defeated Mercyhurst (6-2) and Saint Rose (12-3) Saturday and pulled out a 3-2 win over Bloomfield in 15 innings Sunday.  Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI) singled in the game-winning run in the 15th and finished with two hits in the game. With last week's cancellation of the Wilmington, DE trip, the Bulldogs added Brown University to the 2008 schedule.  The Bulldogs will travel to Brown April 21 and will host Brown on April 30.

SOFTBALL (0-0, 0-0 NE-10)
The Bryant softball team, picked to finish second in the Northeast-10 in 2008, will open its season Mar. 11 at the Florida Southern University tournament. 

MEN'S GOLF
The Bryant men's golf team resumes its schedule Mar. 10 when the Bulldogs take part in the Long Island University tournament.

BULLDOG NOTES ...

SPRING FOOTBALL GAME APRIL 12
The Bryant football team will hold its annual Black & Gold Spring Football game on Saturday, April 12 at the Bryant Turf Complex. The game is scheduled to kick off roughly around 1:30 p.m. and will conclude the team's spring practice that will commence the week of March 19.

BULLDOG BLACK & GOLD GOLF TOURNAMENT
This year's annual Black & Gold Golf Outing will be held July 30, 2008 at the Crystal Lake Golf Club in Burrillville, RI. Last year's successful outing was also held at Crystal Lake. The Black & Gold Club Golf outing is held to raises money for the school's Black & Gold Club.  The cost is $150 per golfer or $600 per foursome. Please contact Ruth Nicastro at (401) 232-6071 or rnicastr@bryant.edu to register.

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