No. 10/13 Women's Basketball vs. Maine Maritime
NCAA Tournament First Round | Babson Park Regional
Friday, March 3 | 7:30 p.m.
Staake Gymnasium | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson was selected as one of 16 regional hosts for the opening weekend of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, which begins on Friday.
• The Beavers will host Maine Maritime while Gettysburg (21-6) takes on SUNY New Paltz (23-4) in the first round.
• Friday's winners will meet in the second round on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. inside Staake Gymnasium.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson and Maine Maritime will meet for the first time on Friday night.

BABSON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Beavers are back in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and are making their 12th appearance in program history.
• Babson advanced to the national quarterfinals in both 2010 and 2011 and has reached the Sweet 16 on three other occasions (1993, 1994, 2017) under legendary head coach Judy Blinstrub.
• The Beavers are 6-1 in first round games since 2010 and have advanced to at least the second in eight of their previous 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, which includes last year when it beat SUNY New Paltz in the opening round before falling to Scranton in the Round of 32.

MAINE MARITIME IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Mariners are making their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and the program's first since 20017.
• Maine Maritime is 0-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament after suffering first round losses to Southern Maine (2005, 2006) and Keene State (2007).

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 10 WBCA/No. 13 D3hoops.com Babson (23-5) advanced to its second consecutive NEWMAC Tournament final where it suffered a 67-52 loss to No. 4/5 Smith on Sunday afternoon.
• Junior Kelly Walsh scored a season-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and senior Samantha Smith added 12 points for the Beavers, who trailed by just three early in the fourth quarter.
• Senior Megan Bauman (13.9 pts, 5.6 ast, 3.7 reb) ranks fifth in Division III in assists, Smith (12.6 pts, 7.5 reb, 2.1 blocks) is shooting 58.9 percent over the last six games, and Walsh (11.5 pts, 4.6 reb, 2.3 steals) has averaged 17.8 points on 56.5 percent shooting over her last five outings.
• The Green and White ranks 15th in Division III shooting 44.4 percent and is 53rd nationally with a +6.8 rebounding margin.

SCOUTING THE MARINERS
• Maine Maritime (22-6) defeated SUNY Poly, 71-55, to capture its first North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship since 2005 last Saturday.
• Erianna Moore finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists and the duo of Maria Barela and Evelyn Dagan both scored 15 points and combined to make eight three-pointers for the Mariners, who grabbed 14 rebounds and went 15-of-29 (51.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
• Barela (13.6 pts, 5.6 reb, 3.3 ast, 2.4 steals) has scored in double figures in 13 of the last 15 games, Moore (11.5 pts, 6.1 reb, 4.9 ast) has made a team-high 59 three-pointers this winter, and graduate student Lauren Plissey (11.4 pts, 7.0 reb, 1.8 blocks) is shooting 55.2 percent from the floor.
• Maine Maritime ranks fifth in Division III in three-point field goal percentage (37.1), ninth in rebounding margin (12.0) and 14th in field goal percentage defense (32.0).

VETERAN TRIO EARNS ALL-NEWMAC RECOGNITION
• Bauman, Smith and Walsh were all named to the all-conference squads when the NEWMAC released its postseason awards on Tuesday.
• A second-team selection last winter, Smith was tabbed as the NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the first time after averaging 13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and a league-high 2.3 blocks while shooting 56.2 percent in league play.
• A three-time all-conference selection, Bauman collected first-team honors for the second year in a row after averaging 14.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and a NEWMAC-best 7.1 assists while shooting 53 percent in 10 games.
• Walsh garnered all-conference second-team honors for the first time in her career after contributing 9.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals in nine outings against league foes.

SENSATIONAL SENIORS
• Two-year captains Bauman and Smith have helped lead the Beavers to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths and a record of 72-21 since arriving in Babson Park back in 2019.
• Bauman is the program's all-time (433) and single-season assist leader with 158 dimes this winter, and also ranks fourth all-time in three-point field goals (88) and 10th on the school's career scoring list with 1,187 points. She is also the only player in Babson history to amass more than 1,100 points, 300 rebounds, 400 assists and 100 steals.
• Smith ranks fifth in program history in both blocked shots (114) and field goal percentage (50.3) and is just one rebound shy of 500 for her career.

ASSAULT ON THE RECORD BOOKS
• Bauman ranks first in Division III shooting 92.7 percent at the free throw line this winter and enters the NCAA Tournament in fifth place in Division III history with a 88.8 percent career mark at the charity stripe.
• Junior Katelyn Mollica's 49 three-pointers rank fourth on Babson's single-season list behind only Joanna Maher '03 (56, 2001-02) and Erin Young '15 (54, 2012-13 and 51, 2011-12). She enters the NCAA Tournament shooting 41.5 percent from distance, which also ranks second on the program's single-season list.
• Smith's 59 blocked shots this winter rank sixth on the Beavers' single-season list and are the most since 2012-13 when Sarah Collins '13 swatted away 99 shots.

LONG TIME COMING
• Despite winning more than 26 in four consecutive seasons between 2009-13, Babson will host its first NCAA Tournament action since losing to Capital (Ohio) in a sectional semifinal back in 1993.

HOME, SWEET HOME
• The Beavers are 13-1 inside Staake Gymnasium this season with their lone loss coming against Trinity (Conn.) on January 23.
• Nine of Babson's 13 wins this winter have come by at least 10 points and it is outscoring opponents by 0.27 points per possession at home.
• Going back to December 2013, the Green and White owns a winning percentage of .807 (96-23) inside Staake Gymnasium.

TOURNAMENT TESTED
• Smith (17.5 points), Walsh (14.0), Bauman (12.5) and junior Rachel McMenemy (10.0) all averaged double figures in NCAA Tournament games against SUNY New Paltz and Scranton last season.
• Smith and McMenemy combined to shoot 63.4 percent while Bauman dished out 17 assists against just four turnovers in the two games.
• In eight postseason games over the last two seasons, Smith is averaging 14.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, Bauman is averaging 13.5 points and 5.3 assists and Walsh has contributed 13.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

EXPERIENCE ON THE SIDELINES
• Babson head coach Judy Blinstrub is fourth among active coaches with 716 wins and ranks 11th all-time among Division III coaches in victories.
• Only one coach in this year's NCAA Tournament – Michael Miller of Messiah (735 wins) – has more victories than Blinstrub.
• Now in her 39th season, she boasts a .685 winning percentage (716-329) and has led her teams to 20 or more wins 16 times.
• Blinstrub also owns a 13-11 record in the NCAA Tournament.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 19-1 this season and have won 82 of their last 83 games going back to the start of the 2018-19 campaign when carrying a lead into the fourth quarter.
• Babson is 20-0 this winter when holding its opponents below 40 percent shooting.
• The Beavers are 16-1 on the year when outrebounding their foes.
• The Green and White is 9-1 this season and 20-1 going back to the start of last year when forcing 18 or more turnovers.
• Babson is 19-2 since the start of last season when making at least six three-pointers.
• The Beavers are 19-0 on the year when giving up less than 65 points.