2012-13 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SEASON IN REVIEW

BOSTON, Mass. – For the seventh consecutive season, the Emmanuel College women's basketball team captured the Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament championship en route to an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament. Propelled by All-American senior forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.), the Saints posted a 23-6 overall record including a perfect 12-0 mark in GNAC play. Along the way, Emmanuel head coach Andy Yosinoff captured his 700^th career coaching victory, making him just the third coach in New England to reach the milestone.

The Saints opened the year strong, jumping out to a 6-0 mark after they captured the EC Saints Invitational with a victory over RPI. EC handled a tough out of conference schedule early on with ease, rolling past Eastern Connecticut State, Brandeis University, Rhode Island College and Middlebury to stand undefeated heading into a rematch of last year's Elite 8 meeting vs. Amherst on Dec. 4. The Lord Jeffs, who were ranked No. 9 in the nation, jumped out to an 8-1 lead early on and never looked back, leading the entire game on the way to a 74-61 final.

EC closed out the semester with a pair on wins over Salem State and Endicott before travelling to Thousand Oaks, Calif. over the winter break for the Posada Royal Winter Classic at California Lutheran University.  Unfortunately, the Saints fell in both tournament games, dropping a 72-55 decision to UC Santa Cruz before falling to University of Scranton, 50-46, the following day.

Emmanuel looked to get back to their winning ways on Jan. 7 vs. perennial powerhouse, Bowdoin, but the Polar Bears were able to post a 65-63 win. It marked the first time since 2010 that the Saints had dropped three consecutive contests but EC responded with four straight GNAC victories, winning by an average margin of 38.5 points.

After falling to the No. 4 Tufts University Jumbos on Jan. 23, Emmanuel would rattle off 10 consecutive wins to punch its ticket to the NCAA tournament for the 18^th time in program history. The first victory to start the streak was an extra special win for Head Coach Andy Yosinoff who became just the third NCAA Division III women's basketball coach to hit 700 wins. Yosinoff is the first DIII coach from a New England college or university to accomplish the feat. He joins Division I UConn's Geno Auriemma and Division II Bentley's Barbara Stevens in a trio of New England women's coaches with 700 or more wins.

The milestone win helped propel the Saints to a perfect February in which they would post a 9-0 record including three GNAC tournament victories to earn the program's 15^th GNAC title. Emmanuel downed University of Saint Joseph (CT) in the Quarterfinals, 74-60, behind 21 points from O'Dwyer and 12 points apiece from senior guard Laura Benvenuto (Wyckoff, N.J.) and freshman forward Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.). The squad cruised past Albertus Magnus College, 72-48, in the Semifinals before O'Dwyer and Benvenuto dropped 15 points each in the GNAC Championship game vs. Suffolk en route to the 68-45 win. Junior forward Liz Daley (Sharon, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points.

The Saints drew the University of Rochester in the opening round of the NCAA tournament and travelled to Rochester, N.Y. for the game. In a fight to the finish that saw both teams hold leads throughout, Rochester was able to prevail with a 70-66 final ending the Emmanuel season with an overall record of 23-6.

O'Dwyer was named a GNAC First Team selection, GNAC Player of the Year, D3hoops First Team All-Northeast, WBCA All-American Honorable Mention and a D3hoops Third Team All-American.

Benvenuto was named to the GNAC Third Team as was her teammate, sophomore center Jennifer Bujnowski (Salem, N.H.).

O'Dwyer, Benvenuto and senior guard Chenae Earle (South Orange, N.J.) graduate from the program after four years in which they compiled 91 wins and a 59-2 overall record against GNAC opponents. O'Dwyer also graduates ranking third all-time in points with 1,557.