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Women's Basketball to Face Messiah in the “Sweet 16” on Friday

Widener's first trip to the “Sweet 16” in the NCAA Tournament takes place Friday against Commonwealth Conference-rival and 16th-ranked Messiah in Amherst, MA.
 
Game time for the sectional semifinals on the campus of Amherst College is 6:00 pm.  Tickets are $7 for adults, $4 for seniors, students and children, and free to those under age two.
 
The winner faces either No. 4 Amherst or No. 9 Tufts in the sectional final on Saturday at 7:30 pm with the champion advancing to the “Final Four.”
  
This Pride are in their fourth NCAA Tournament in school history and sixth postseason tournament.  The squad went to the NCAA Tournament in 1982, 2004 and 2009 as well as the ECAC South Tournament in 2005 and 2010.
 
Widener (23-5, 16-2 CC) broke the school record for most overall and conference victories, hosted a league tournament game for the first time since 1983 and finished atop a league standing for the first time since winning the Middle Atlantic Conference Southern Division in 1983.  It was listed as high as second in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings.
 
The Pride advanced thanks to Saturday's 57-56 second-round triumph at No. 9 Catholic as Vanessa Hejnas (Delran, NJ) hit a layup with 2.9 seconds left off a great pass from fellow senior Lil Carney (Narberth, PA).  Senior Kate Dellinger (Wrightsville, PA) ended with 15 points and 16 rebounds, junior Joanna Persiano (Absecon, NJ) netted 15 points and Hejnas had 12 on 6-of-9 shooting.
 
One day earlier, Widener scored a 56-52 first-round win over Freedom Conference champion FDU-Florham for the first NCAA Tournament victory by any women's team in school history.
 
Among the all-league honors, Dellinger and Carney each were named first team all-conference a third time and junior guard Jennifer Egee (Ridley Park, PA) was picked second team all-league.
 
Dellinger, last year's conference Player of the Year, added to her first-team selections from the last two seasons.  One of the school's top all-around student-athletes, Dellinger was picked second team Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America to become the 46th honoree in school history and the ninth to earn the award at least twice.
 
A fourth team Preseason All-America by D3Hoops.com this season, Dellinger is 10th in the conference with 11.9 points per game, fourth with 9.1 rebounds per contest, tied for seventh with 2.0 steals per game and fifth with 32.2 minutes per contest.  She also has been named to two all-tournament teams and leads the squad with 11 double-doubles.
 
She is seventh in school history with 1,234 points and fourth with 739 rebounds.
 
Carney got her name back on the slate after being picked first team all-conference in 2010 and 2011.  The 2010 conference and D3Hoops.com Mid-Atlantic Rookie of the Year is 16th with 10.1 points per game, 19th with 4.9 rebounds per contest, fourth with 4.1 assists per contest, 13th with a .637 free throw percentage, 11th with 1.8 steals per contest and seventh with a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
 
Carney holds the school record with 469 career assists.
 
Egee took a major step forward this season as one of the nation's top shooters.  This season, she is second in the conference with 2.4 three-pointers per game, 10th with 11.9 points per contest, 19th with 4.9 rebounds per game, 20th with a .401 shooting percentage and ninth with a .347 three-point percentage.
 
Egee is Widener's career leader with 158 three-pointers and single-season leader with 66.
 
This will be the third time these teams face each other this season.  Messiah notched a 67-58 win January 16 in Grantham despite 18 points from Egee, 15 from Dellinger and 10 from Carney.  Widener returned the favor February 12 in Chester with a 75-69 overtime triumph thanks to 26 points from Carney, including the tying layup with 4.2 seconds left in regulation.
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