The New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(3/3/08)--The Coast Guard women's basketball team which set a school-record with 22 wins this season has been awarded the No. 1 seed in the ECAC New England Division III Tournament and the Bears will host No. 8 Maine Maritime in the first round on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Coast Guard (22-5), which finished second in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC), lost to Springfield 58-57 in the NEWMAC tournament semifinals on Saturday.

The Bears are making just their second postseason appearance in school history. Coast Guard lost to Plymouth State in the 2001-'02 ECAC Tournament, the school's first ever postseason game.

The teams last met on November 20, 2004 when Coast Guard beat Maine Maritime 69-54 in the championship game of the Maine Maritime tournament.

Sophomore Melissa Martinelli leads the team in scoring (17.1) rebounding (8.4) and field goal percentage (.562) while senior Natalie Moyer, the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,588 career points, is second on the team with 16.9 points while leading the team with 74 three-pointers (74-287) and 88 steals, just three shy of tying the single-season school record of 91 held by Jen Cook during the 1997-'98 season. Moyer is also the Bears all-time leader with 227 steals and 249 three-pointers.

Maine Maritime is 19-9 overall, the second-seeded Mariners lost to fourth-seeded Becker 60-41 in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) tournament championship game on Saturday. Maine Maritime has won 13 of its last 15 games.

The winner will take on the winner of the #4 Endicott/#5 Suffolk in the semifinals on Saturday at the highest remaining seed in the tournament. Coast Guard will be on Spring Break and will not host the weekend games, so #2 Western Connecticut could host the semifinals and championship with a win over #7 Nichols on Wednesday.

2008 ECAC New England Division III Tournament

FIRST ROUND -- Wednesday, March 5th

#8 Maine Maritime at #1 Coast Guard, 7 p.m.

#7 Nichols at #2 Western Connecticut, 7 p.m.

#6 WNEC at #3 Fitchburg State, 7 p.m.

#5 Suffolk at #4 Endicott, 7 p.m.

SEMIFINALS -- Saturday, March 8th @ highest remaining seed

#8/#1 winner vs. #5/#4 winner

#7/#2 winner vs. #6/#3 winner

CHAMPIONSHIP -- Saturday, March 9th @ same site as the semifinals

Championship Game

Coast Guard Named Top Seed in ECAC Women's Basketball Tournament