Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports Information

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The NCAA Division III Tournament pairings have been announced and the Bridgewater State University women's basketball team will travel to Annville, Pennsylvania on Friday night to take on the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College in an opening round contest.

The first round game will take place at Lebanon Valley College with the winner advancing to the second round on Saturday night against either Lebanon Valley or Neumann University.

Bridgewater State (19-7) will be making the programs second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last four years and sixth overall.  The previous five appearances came in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 2008. 

The Bears earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAAs by winning the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Tournament championship on Saturday with a 47-42 road victory over top-seeded Westfield State University.  Bridgewater entered the tournament as the number two seed as they posted an 8-4 MASCAC mark during the regular season.

The BSU women's basketball team is under the watchful eye of 14-year head coach, Bridgett Casey.  The two-time (2008, 2010) MASCAC Coach of the Year sports a career mark of 201-158 (.560) including a conference regular season record of 103-65 (.613).  Casey's 201 wins are by far the most in BSU women's basketball history as she is the only Bridgewater coach to reach the 200-win milestone.  

On the court, Bridgewater State is led by All-MASCAC senior guards Brittney Chappron (Braintree, Mass.) and Corey Cuddihy (Scituate, Mass.) and All-MASCAC junior forward Shelly DePina (New Bedford, Mass.).

Chappron, the MASCAC Tournament MVP, is averaging 12.2 points a game while also shooting 81% (42-52) at the charity stripe and 34% (52-155) from behind the arc.  She is tied for third in the MASCAC, along with Cuddihy, in made three-pointers (52), and is also fourth in the conference in scoring and seventh in three-point shooting percentage.  Chappron, who set the school single-game record with nine three-pointers against MCLA on February 19th, has accumulated 914 points in just three seasons at BSU.

One of only two Bears on the roster who played on the 2007-2008 NCAA team, Cuddihy is averaging 10.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists this season while also shooting 36% (52-143) from three-point range and 82% (42-51) at the free throw line.  She is tied for third in the conference in made trifectas and ranks third in assists, fourth in three-point shooting and tenth in scoring.  Cuddihy has amassed 947 points in her four seasons with the team and is the Bears' all-time leader in the three-pointers with 178.

DePina enters the tournament with per game averages of 8.7 points and 5.7 rebounds to go along with a .459 shooting percentage.  She ranks fifth in the MASCAC in shooting, sixth in blocked shots (15) and tenth in rebounding.

Randolph-Macon heads into the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 22-6.  The Yellow Jackets posted a conference mark of 17-3 competing in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and captured the ODAC tournament title with a 77-68 championship game win over Roanoke College.

Under the guidance of Head Coach Carroll LaHaye (29th Year), the Randolph-Macon women's basketball team is making the program's ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including four trips to the Sweet Sixteen (1998, 2005, 2006, 2007), two Elite Eight appearances (2005, 2006) and a spot in the National Championship Game in 2005.

The Yellow Jackets are led by junior guard Maggie Roy (Richmond, Va.) and junior center Taylor Wieczorek (Grasonville, Md.).  Roy leads the team with 14.0 points per game to go along with 4.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.9 steals.  Wieczorek averages 11.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.