YSCC Elite 8 Women's Basketball Final Four Preview 

(YSCC) – As expected, we weren't shorted any excitement from the women's basketball quarterfinal matchups over the weekend. With the stakes increasing, let's look back at those quarterfinal game-winners and see what teams are focusing on heading into their semi-final matchups this week. 

The 5th seed Paul Smith's College Bobcats are coming off a hot win against NHTI on Sunday and are now up against the top-seeded Central Maine Community College Mustangs. Jayla Gray led the Bobcats with 19 PTS and 16 REBS, and the team held the Lynx to an 8-point 3rd quarter. Coach Josh Clemens of the Bobcats said the team did well focusing on their offense and needs to "keep pushing." Heading into their matchup with the Mustangs, Coach Clemens says they need to focus on "ball security, " confidence, and constantly battle to stay alive.

Given that the Mustangs were the top seed in the conference, they had a bye week and had no game this weekend, to which Coach Andrew Morong said, "is not an advantage at all." Coach Morong noted that going two weeks without a competitive game is extremely challenging. Fortunately, the Mustangs had the opportunity to scrimmage against the University of Maine's club team, and the coaching staff had to get creative with their practice schedule. Coming off their big win, Coach Morong says his team can't take Paul Smith's lightly. Morong credits the Bobcats' improvement and the excitement they'll have heading into the semi-finals to "snatch the win." The Mustangs plan to take the tournament "day by day."

This week's second semi-final matchup is between the 3rd seeded University of Maine Augusta Moose against the 2nd seeded Southern Maine Community College Seawolves. Sydney Farrar led the Moose in their quarterfinal win with 14 PTS, followed by reserve Kaeti Butterfield with 13PTS, and Sydney LeBlanc and Madeline Suhr each with 10 PTS. Coach Heath Cowan of the Moose said his team "played pretty well defensively." He notes that many members stepped up and got "significant minutes" against the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Panthers, but that "going forward, we will need everyone to step up." Coach Cowan commends the Seawolves, emphasizing that defensively his team "will need to be the best we've been all year." Offensively, the Moose "will need to push the pace and try to create some tempo." Coach Cowan also notes that "having fans in the HUB will make for an exciting game" as they look to upset the Seawolves.

Coach Katie Stannard's Seawolves dominated in their quarterfinal game, with every one of her players getting minutes. Coach Stannard shared this sentiment saying, "we did a great job contributing as an entire team," adding, "we had several [players] in double figures for points." Stannard also added it was the first time during her coaching career with the Seawolves that the team had zero turnovers. Coach Stannard notes that the team needs to bring this momentum into the semi-finals. From Stannard, "we need to know their personnel and be ready to play lockdown defense," translating defensive success "to fuel our offense." 

Wednesday, 2/23

Paul Smith's College @ Central Maine CC 7 PM

The University of Maine Augusta @ Southern Maine CC 7 PM

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Jordyn Kamis, YSCC Intern