STANDISH, ME - The 2009-2010 GNAC Women's Basketball Playoff pairings are now available. The reigning 2009 GNAC Tournament and 2010 regular-season champion Emmanuel College Saints are seeded first.

The Saints clinched first place with an outstanding conference record of 10-2 and 19-5 overall record. The two Emmanuel were to Emerson College and Saint Joseph's College. Coming in second place is Norwich with a conference record of 10-2, with their only losses to the Saints and Rivier College, who is seeded 8th in the tourney. Albertus (8-4, 12-13) earned the third seed with a big win on the road against 6th placed Suffolk (7-5, 14-11) today. Emerson (8-4, 13-12) took fourth place today, closing out the top four home seeded teams in the tournament bracket.

When the dust settled after all the scores were in on Saturday, four teams vied for three playoff spots. Saint Joseph's (12-12, 7-5 GNAC), Suffolk, JWU and Rivier all completed the GNAC docket with a 7-5 record, but the conference tie-breaker rules left the Monks out of the tourney, which effectively ends the team's season. In a scenario such as this, where more than two teams are tied, the first tie-breaker is record against the other teams with the same record. Suffolk and JWU both had a 2-1 record against the other three 7-5 teams, while St. Joe's and Rivier were both 1-2. The second tie-breaker is head to head, and Rivier defeated Saint Joseph's earlier this season, meaning the Raiders were in and the Monks were left out.

Rounding out the final four spots in the GNAC tournament are #5 Simmons (8-4, 16-8), #6 Suffolk, #7 Johnson & Wales (7-5, 11-13) and #8 Rivier (7-5, 15-9).

2010 GNAC Women's Basketball Playoff Schedule

Tuesday, February 23, 2010-Quarterfinal Round

COURTESY OF GNAC SPORTS INFORMATION