The men’s and women’s basketball playoffs in the Yankee Small College Conference has been narrowed down to four teams in each gender and are set to take place this upcoming weekend with the Final Four at Southern Maine Community College.
On the women’s side, the Southern Maine Community College Seawolves are the #3 seed and get to be host this weekend with semifinal games beginning Saturday in South Portland. SMCC (22-5) easily handled Unity College in a quarterfinal last Saturday, and will meet #2 UMaine-Machias (19-7) in the second semifinal at 4 p.m. The two teams just met in the final game of the regular season, with the Seawolves winning 76-67 to split the two season meetings. The Clippers defeated NHTI in their quarterfinal. The first semifinal pits #4 UMaine-Augusta (14-8) and #1 Central Maine Community College (23-3) at 2 p.m. The two teams also split in the regular season, as UMA ended the 56 game conference winning streak by CMCC with a 58-53 win in Augusta on November 5. The Mustangs won the rematch in Auburn on February 5 by a score of 70-48. CMCC and UMA come in after easy quarterfinal wins over Great Bay Community College and Vermont Tech respectively.
The winner of the weekend with the championship set for Sunday gets the automatic qualifier to the USCAA Div II National Tournament in Pennsylvania. All teams competing still hope for an at large bid without winning the tournament. In the latest USCAA Div II National Coaches poll CMCC is #2, UMM is #4, SMCC is #6, and UMA is at #9.
In the men’s Final Four, the #1 seed is the Lynx from New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI). They have a record of 22-3. They cruised over UMaine-Augusta last weekend in a quarterfinal. They will face #4 seed CMCC (17-9) in the first men’s contest and 6 p.m. semifinal Saturday. The second game at 8 p.m. has #2 Vermont Tech (22-7) playing #3 and host school SMCC (20-7). Those two teams split in the regular season, as did NHTI and CMCC.
In the last National Coaches poll NHTI was #4, Vermont Tech #7, SMCC #9, and CMCC was in at #12.
Schedule:
Semifinals Saturday 2/29 at Southern Maine Community College- South Portland, ME
2 p.m. #4 University of Maine-Augusta women (14-8) vs #1 CMCC (23-3)
4 p.m. #2 University of Maine-Machias women (19-7) vs #3 SMCC (22-5)
6 p.m. #1 NHTI men (22-3) vs #4 CMCC (17-9)
8 p.m. #2 Vermont Tech men (22-7) vs #3 SMCC (20-7)
Sunday, March 1 Finals
2 p.m. Women’s championship
4:30 p.m. Men’s championship
