The top-seeded men (21-5, 10-2 CC) will host No. 3 seed Elizabethtown at 3:00 pm in Schwartz Center. The women (17-9, 7-5) as the No. 4 seed visit second-seeded Lebanon Valley at 2:00 pm in Annville, PA.
Tickets for each game are $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, $2 for students and free for those under age six. At the men's game, Widener students will be admitted free with a valid ID.
The men punched its fourth straight ticket to the final with Wednesday's 76-61 triumph over Messiah. Senior guard Charles Jones (Philadelphia, PA) and senior center Matt Sosna (Stratford, NJ) scored 19 points apiece with freshman Perry Wright (Severn, MD) netting a season-best 13 off the bench.
Widener once again gets great scoring production from Jones. A first team all-conference and second team All-Middle Atlantic District pick last year, Jones this season leads the league with 17.4 points per game, is fourth with 2.12 steals per contest, 10th with a 1.04 assist-to-turnover ratio and 12th with 1.27 three-pointers per game.
Sosna also has been a force, sitting sixth in the league with 14.2 points per game, first with a .611 shooting percentage, fifth with 6.8 rebounds per contest, fourth with an .808 free throw percentage and second with a .453 three-point percentage. Sosna earlier this week was tabbed second team CoSIDA Academic All-America, the 44th honoree in school history, and he sports a 3.938 GPA in Civil Engineering.
Senior guard Nyere Miller (Washington, DC) consistently has been getting the job done with his leadership and determination. Last year's MVP of the conference tournament, Miller leads the league with 3.39 steals per game, is 18th with 9.3 points per contest, eighth with a .397 three-point percentage, fifth with 2.09 three-pointers per game and fourth with 30.39 minutes played per contest.
Junior forward Jamarr Johnson (Pittsgrove, NJ) has played solidly of late, scoring in double figures four of his last five contests. He is 10th in the league with 5.1 rebounds per game, second with a .569 field goal percentage and fourth with 22 blocks.
Junior guard Bobby Edmunds (Linwood, NJ), picked second team all-conference last year, is fifth in the league with 3.29 assists per game, eighth with 1.62 steals per contest, fifth with a 1.41 assist-to-turnover ratio and 10th at 28.95 minutes played per game.
Widener, which enters Saturday on a seven-game winning streak, is the two-time defending conference champion and has appeared in the NCAA Tournament three straight years. It has not won three straight conference titles since 1976-78 and has not played in four successive NCAA Tournaments since 1975-78.
The Pride's 14th 20-win season also comes during a year which they claimed their first regular-season league title since 2006. They are third in the latest NCAA Division III Middle Atlantic Region Rankings.
Widener, which has 14 Middle Atlantic/Commonwealth Conference titles and 16 NCAA Tournament trips to its name, also is in the conference final for the fifth time in six seasons.
The women are in the conference final for the first time since 2004 thanks to Wednesday's stunning 60-57 triumph at 13th-ranked Messiah. Senior Beth Dessart Mager (Newtown Square, PA) poured in 19 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 1:20 left, as the Pride snapped a 10-game skid against the Falcons.
Dessart Mageragain is a presence on both sides of the ball. She is tied for 17th in the league with 10.3 points per game, 15th with 4.8 rebounds per contest, ninth with 1.38 three-pointers per game and 10th with 30.88 minutes played per contest.
Senior Barbara Fleming (Philadelphia, PA) has been a scoring machine all season with 18 games tallying in double figures. She is seventh in the conference with 13.0 points per contest, tied for seventh with 1.81 steals per game, sixth with 1.77 three-pointers per contest, sixth with 3.19 assists per game and sixth with a 1.02 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Freshman center Casey Pritz (Abington, PA) has made a name for herself in the post with nine double-doubles. She is 13th in the league with 11.4 points per game, second with a .547 shooting percentage, third with 8.1 rebounds per contest and second with 47 blocks.
Junior forward Becky Tyler (Wynnewood, PA), a second team all-conference pick last season, is sixth in the league with 7.0 rebounds per game and fourth with 2.85 offensive rebounds per contest.
Junior point guard Lindsey Isler (New Hope, PA), one of three on the team to start at least 25 games, is seventh in the league with 2.81 assists per contest.
Widener captured Middle Atlantic Conference titles in 1981 and 1982 in addition to its Commonwealth Conference crown in 2004. The squad is looking for its third trip to the NCAA tournament.
Victories by both teams would mark just the second time in school history and first since 1982 that each won conference titles and played in the NCAA Tournament in the same year.
