Men's Championship Site /
Women's Championship Site
TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer men’s and women’s basketball teams will both be participating in their respective Liberty League Tournaments, this weekend, beginning Friday with the semi-finals. Both squads enter as third-seeds as the men will play second-seeded Hamilton, while the women will take on second-seeded St. Lawrence.
The men’s team (13-12; 7-7 Liberty League) is led 25th-year head Coach
Mike Griffin. The Red Hawks boast the league’s leading scorer and rebounder in senior forward
Sam Simmons (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy). Simmons is averaging 18.3 points and 8.2 boards per contest, with seven double-doubles. His six Forward of the Week awards is most in the league.
Simmons is followed by junior
Tim Rupp (Staten Island, NY/Curtis), who averages 10.5 points and 5.4 rebounds, while shooting 35.8% (38 for 106) from beyond the arc. He is the only player who has started all 25 games. Classmate
Ricky Philatre (Randolph MA/Randolph) is the club’s leading rebounder at 7.3 boards per game. He also averages 5.6 points per contest and is tied with Simmons for the team lead in blocks with 29.
The Rensselaer women’s team (18-6; 10-4 Liberty League), under the guidance of eighth-year head coach John Greene, are led offensively by senior guard
Whitney Coleman (Rancho Cucamonga, CA/Etiwanda), who averages 16.9 points per game. Freshman
Sarah Wetmore (Sudbury MA/Lincoln Sudbury Regional) is second on the squad at 13.6 points per contest. Senior
Elizabeth Barker (Suffield, CT/Cathedral), the team’s third leading scorer at 10.7 points per game, is tops on the squad in rebounding at 11.0 per contest.
With a victory on Friday, the men would face either first-seeded St. Lawrence or fourth-seeded Clarkson in Saturday’s championship game (3pm), also being held in Canton. The women would take on first seeded-Union or fourth-seeded Skidmore in the championship game (3pm), at Union, with an opening round win. Live stats for the men’s tournament will be available at
http://www.stlawu.edu/sports/m_hoop/live/xlive.htm. Women’s tournament live stats will be available at
http://www.sidearmstats.com/union/wbball/.
2009 MEN’S LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS
6pm - #3 RENSSELAER (13-12; 7-7 LL) vs. #2 Hamilton (18-6; 12-2 LL)
8pm - #4 Clarkson (15-10; 6-8 LL) vs. #1 St. Lawrence (19-5; 12-2 LL)
2009 WOMEN’S LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS
6pm - #3 RENSSELAER (18-6; 10-4 LL) vs. #2 St. Lawrence (17-7; 10-4 LL)
8pm - #4 Skidmore (11-14; 8-6 LL) vs. #1 Union (18-6; 12-2 LL)