SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (March 5, 2025) – The Western New England women's basketball team earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament as revealed on the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Selection Show on Monday afternoon, which also revealed their opponent and destination for the opening two rounds of the tournament, seeing the Golden Bears draw Tufts University for the first round of the event while traveling to Gettysburg College as the hosting site. 

Western New England's 2024-2025 Season:

The most historic and successful season in Western New England women's basketball history, the Golden Bears did not lose a game until the new year turned. Western New England opened with two impressive wins to begin the season, coming up with a road win over Springfield College 70-63, a team who was receiving votes in the top 25 of the D3hoops.com poll. Western New England would go on to stun 20^th-ranked Rhode Island College on the road, picking up a 62-55 victory, improving to 2-0 and quickly garnering some national attention after their two big road victories. The wins kept coming for Western New England, who finished out their three-game road swing to begin the season with a nine-point victory over Eastern Connecticut State University, a 63-54 win. WNE would then host their annual Hampton Inn Holiday Classic tournament, inviting the University of Saint Joseph, Wesleyan University, and SUNY Geneseo this season. In their first home game of the season, WNE would handle USJ by a final score of 82-63, advancing to their own tournament's championship game.  Wesleyan would come up with the win over SUNY Geneseo in the tournament's other first round game and would meet Western New England in the final. Wesleyan, a tough opponent for any team throughout the years, would play WNE close but the Golden Bears would come up with a 74-67 victory over the Cardinals, improving to 5-0 to begin the season. 

Conference play would begin next for Western New England following the Thanksgiving break, playing four games, to close out the calendar year. WNE opened with a blowout win over Nichols College in their first Conference of New England game of the season, an 89-57 victory. The Golden Bears would scratch for points in their next game against the University of Hartford, but their defense would hold the Hawks to just 32 points in a 59-32 victory. The Golden Bears would then defeat Worcester State University in non-conference action 67-55 before closing out the 2024 portion of their schedule with a 73-37 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology. 

WNE would return to play following the new year break with a win in their final non-conference game of the season, a 61-50 victory over Westfield State University, improving to 10-0 on the year. Returning to CNE play for Western New England was not as favorable, dropping their first game of the season, 56-52 to the University of New England. In a big week ahead, Western New England would defeat the other top two teams in the conference, rebounding from their loss at UNE, taking down Roger Williams University 76-63 and then defeating Endicott College 71-63 on their home court. The Golden Bears would play two tightly contested games, both wins, however, against Gordon College and Curry College at home. WNE defeated Gordon 57-45 thanks to a run in the third quarter while Western New England edged by Curry 71-66 after late free throws would fall to come up with the win. The Golden Bears would start their new win streak to end the month of January, defeating Suffolk University 69-55, Wentworth Institute of Technology 78-46, and the University of Hartford 70-49 to close out January with seven straight wins, improving to 17-1 on the season.

In one of the biggest games of the season, Western New England would host UNE, looking to avenge their only defeat of the season, doing so on home court with a 63-56 victory over the Nor'easters. WNE would then come up with a come-from-behind victory at Roger Williams University to continue their win streak, which rose to nine straight, defeating the Hawks 71-69. The next four games would be all WNE, a 23-point win over Nichols College, a ten-point win over Suffolk University, a 30-point blowout at Curry College, and a 23-point win at Gordon College. The final regular season game of the season saw Endicott College avenge their loss on home court to Western New England as Endicott defeated WNE by a final score of 60-55, dropping WNE to 23-2 through the regular season. 

After securing the top seed in the CNE tournament with their 16-2 mark in conference play, WNE would again meet the University of New England in the semifinal round, with one team looking to gain ground on the other after splitting the season series. The Golden Bears would take care of the Nor'easters by a final score of 67-49, advancing to the conference championship game for the second straight season. Endicott would prevail in the other conference semifinal game, making for another matchup in which Western New England split the season series with. WNE would lead after three quarters of play but a 22-point performance in the fourth quarter from Endicott would be all the Gulls would need to come up with a 64-58 victory, capturing the Conference of New England title. Despite falling in the title game, Western New England's 24-3 record and 16-2 mark in CNE play would be good enough for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, where they would draw Tufts University at Gettysburg College for the first round on Friday afternoon.

Tufts University 2024-2025 Schedule:
Similarly to Western New England, Tufts opened their 2024-2025 schedule with three wins. The Jumbos defeated Brandeis University of the road, a 67-61 victory before hosting and defeating both Endicott College (71-60), and Babson College (61-50). Tufts would fall short to Roger Williams University in their next game of the season, a 57-54 loss. Western New England was 2-0 this season against Roger Williams. Tufts would take third-ranked University of Scranton down to the wire before falling short, a 60-57 loss on home court. Tufts left the month of November with a 3-2 record. The Jumbos played five games in December, starting with a home victory over Rhode Island College, a 15-point, 62-47 win. Tufts came up with two more wins, a 70-52 victory over Emmanuel College (Mass.), and a 66-60 win over Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tufts would then drop a 97-50 contest to first-ranked New York University prior to the Christmas break. 

The Jumbos opened their second half of the schedule with a 57-42 victory at the Hampton Inn Naismith Classic at Springfield College, moving into the championship game of the tournament where they would defeat Springfield College by a final score of 60-51 to win the tournament. With NESCAC play being just ten games compared to 18 for Western New England in the CNE, Tufts continued non-conference play with a loss to begin the month of January to SUNY Cobleskill, a 60-58 defeat. Tufts bounced back for a win over Skidmore College on the next afternoon, a 65-54 win.

NESCAC play would open on January 10 when the Jumbos travel north to Maine to take on Bowdoin College and Colby College, both coming up with losses, starting NESCAC play 0-2. Bowdoin came up with a 62-47 victory over Tufts while Colby dropped Tufts with ease, 83-59. The Jumbos bounced back in a big way, going on a five-game win streak from there. Tufts defeated Williams College 61-52 and then followed that up with a home win over Middlebury College 72-63. Continuing their winning ways, Tufts took down both Connecticut College and Wesleyan University to close out the month of January on a high note, winners of their last four, collecting a 13-6 overall record. 

Tufts celebrated senior day in style with a 68-59 victory over Trinity College on February 1 with just four games remaining, three in NESCAC play. The Jumbos would then fall in back-to-back games, a loss at Amherst College 66-59 and a loss at Hamilton College 72-54. The Jumbos would rebound with one of their biggest, if not the biggest, win of the season, a road victory over seventh-ranked Smith College, 60-50. Despite the high of defeating Smith, Tufts would fall in their final NESCAC game of the season to close out the regular season, a 62-46 loss to Bates College on the road. Tufts would get just one game in the NESCAC Tournament, a road game at Trinity College where the Jumbos would be outlasted in double overtime, falling 72-64, rounding out the season with a 15-10 overall record. Despite the 5-5 mark in NESCAC play, Tufts earned an at-large bid with their NPI ranking at 37^th in NCAA DIII. This will be the sixth time overall in which the two teams have met, with Tufts having the upper hand in all five previous matchups. 

Western New England's Top Performers:

WNE is led by Conference of New England Player of the Year Lilly Hedge, who leads the Golden Bears in nearly every statistical category. Hedge has averaged 11 points per game for the Golden Bears this season while also coming up with just under eight rebounds per game. Hedge has seven double-doubles this season for the Golden Bears and has scored in double figures 19 times over 27 games played. Hedge has dropped 98 field goals this season, shooting 43% from the field, has scored 91 points via free throws, shooting 78% from the free throw line and has grabbed 210 rebounds, a career high to go along with 75 assists on the season, also a career high. Hedge leads the Golden Bears in blocks with 30 and steals with 45. 

1,000-point scorer Shaina Cooney has averaged 10.6 points per game this season in blue and gold and recorded her 1,000^th career point on February 11, pouring in a career-high 25 points to become the 28^thmember of the WNE women's basketball team to hit 1,000 career points overall. Cooney is also a force on the glass for Western New England, collecting 155 rebounds, including 64 on the offensive glass this season. Cooney has 20 assists, five blocks, and 18 steals to go along with 286 season points this season. 

Sharpshooter Emma Kahn came alive for the Golden Bears in the conference tournament, picking up 22 points in the win over UNE and 16 more points in the conference title game. Kahn averaged just short of ten points per game on the year, draining 81 total field goals, 38 of which came from distance. Kahn also collected 65 rebounds, 21 assists, 15 blocks, and 14 steals during the season. Kahn has scored 746 points over her four years in blue and gold, including a career high 231 this season. 

The Golden Bears have also looked to seniors Emma Novajasky and Caitlyn Hunt as well as graduate student Nora Young to provide offense this season. The 24 wins for Western New England this season are the most in the program's history, beating out last year's historic 22-win campaign. 

Tufts Top Performers:

The Jumbos are led by senior Sofia Gonzalez, who has averaged over 13 points per game this season. Gonzalez put out one double-double this season, coming in a win over Skidmore College. The Glendale, California native averaged six rebounds per game, 39 total assists and 56 steals. Gonzalez is the lone member of the Tufts women's basketball team to play in and start in all 25 games this season. 

Freshman Monet Witherspoon has averaged 11.6 points per game this season for the Jumbos in her first season, playing in all 25 games, making 24 starts. Witherspoon dropped 106 field goals this year while collecting 101 rebounds, 28 assists, and 35 steals. The St. Louis, Missouri native scored 289 points on the year. 

Tufts has leaned on Caitlyn O'Boyle on the defensive side of the ball, averaging just over seven rebounds per game and picking up a team high 11 blocks this season. O'Boyle churned out two double-doubles to go along with 21 assists and 26 steals this season. 

The Game:
Western New England and Tufts will meet in the NCAA First Round game, which will be hosted at Gettysburg College on Friday, March 7 at 4:30 PM. The winner of the first round game will take on either Gettysburg College or Stevens Institute of Technology in the second round game on Saturday, March 8 at 7:00 PM. To watch the game, click here. To view the live stats, click here. To purchase tickets, click here.