NCAA NEWS SNIPPETS | NCAA.COM
Thursday, January 31, 2013
• JANUARY 31 2013 The No. 25 Delaware women’s basketball team will be looking to extend their winning streak to 12 games atGeorgia State on Thursday night. After a slow start to the season mostly due to All-American Elena Delle Donnemissing six of the Blue Hens’ first seven games while recovering from Lyme Disease, Delaware has reeled off 11 consecutive victories and has a perfect 7-0 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play.
The Hens are in the midst of playing four games in an eight-day stretch, but that has not slowed them down. Delle Donne has scored at least 17 points in all 13 games played this season, while senior Kayla Miller has dished out seven or more assists in three of the last four contests, including a career-high nine assists against Northeastern. The Blue Hens are coming off a 77-50 win against Northeastern in which they shot a season-high 56.6 percent on Tuesday, extending their CAA regular season winning streak to 26 games. Delaware went 18-0 in CAA regular season action last year.
• The last two unbeaten wrestling teams in the Big Ten will square off on Friday at 9 p.m. ET in a dual meet set to air live on the Big Ten Network. No. 1 Penn State (8-0, 5-0) travels to No. 3 Iowa (15-1, 5-0) in a clash of two of the top programs in the nation at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The two teams have split the last two meetings with the Nittany Lions winning in 2012 and Iowa earning the victory in 2011, but the Hawkeyes lead the all-time series 25-7-2.
“Yep, this is a big one,” Iowa head coach Tom Brands said. “We always talk about the next event on the calendar. This is the one you probably have highlighted and you point toward, but last week (a 16-15 win against Minnesota) was, too.”
Iowa senior Matt McDonough, the defending NCAA champion at 125 pounds, will be pitted in a rematch of last year’s national championship bout against Penn State sophomore Nico Meglaludis. McDonough has won 41 consecutive matches.
• The No. 2 Quinnipiac men’s hockey team enters the weekend riding a 17-game (15-0-2) unbeaten streak as the Bobcats head on the road to face ECAC Hockey foes Brown and No. 8 Yale. Quinnipiac boasts an unbeaten mark in ECAC Hockey action at 11-0-1, and is in first place with 23 points. The Bobcats are led by Hobey Baker Award candidate, Eric Hartzell (.934, 1.46, 18-2-3) is second in the nation in goals against average, and a scoring defense that ranks second in the nation. Brown enters Friday’s contest with a 7-9-4 mark, but the Bears have won five of their last eight games. Yale is 5-1 in its last six games, and sits in second place in the league standings. The Bulldogs hostPrinceton on Friday before welcoming Quinnipiac for a Saturday night contest.
• The No. 1 Minnesota women’s hockey team will be looking to clinch the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in a series against No. 10 Minnesota-Duluth at home this weekend. The Gophers (26-0-0, 20-0-0) need just two points to clinch the WCHA regular season title. If two points are earned on Friday, it would be the fastest any WCHA team has clinched the regular season title. The Gophers enter the weekend riding an NCAA-record 34-game winning streak. Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network at 3:30 p.m. ET.
• It is possible a pair of Division III women’s basketball unbeatens will meet on Saturday when No. 5 Tufts travels toNo. 4 Amherst for a New England Small College Athletic Conference match-up. The Jumbos (20-0, 7-0) first visitTrinity, while the Jeffs (19-0, 6-0) host Bates College on Friday. Only two other unbeaten teams remain in Division III women’s hoops. No. 10 Montclair State (20-0), which is ranked in the top 10 for the first time in program history, andNo. 1 DePauw (20-0), which is in the midst of a 45-game regular season winning streak.
• Two of the top collegiate gymnastics programs in NCAA history will meet when No. 5 Alabama visits No. 8 Georgiafor a Southeastern Conference match-up on Saturday. The GymDogs and Crimson Tide have combined for 16 NCAA titles with Alabama winning the last two trophies. Georgia holds a 79-49-2 advantage in the all-time series, but the Tide has won eight of the last nine meetings.
• The 2013 collegiate baseball season opens up on Friday as a plethora of Division II teams start competition on the diamond. No. 4 Central Missouri will begin play at the Astros in Action DII Invitational at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. The Mules are one of eight Division II teams competing in the tournament that will feature 15 games in four days. Jim Crane, the Astros owner and chairman, organized the event. Crane graduated from Central Missouri in 1976, and also was a standout pitcher for the Mules.
The teams participating in the inaugural Astros in Action DII Invitational are Central Missouri, which will serve as a co-host with the Astros, Abilene Christian, Arkansas Monticello, Arkansas Tech, Emporia State, Incarnate Word,Tarleton State and Texas A&M Kingsville.
“This will be an annual premium Division II invitational of nationally ranked baseball teams,” Crane said. “It will be a great experience for the schools and the student-athletes to compete in a Major League facility and be out of the weather. In addition to the Astros in Action College Classic and Major League Baseball’s Urban Invitational, we’re happy to give Astros fans the opportunity to see high caliber college baseball this spring.”
The Mules are the preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association title, which would be their fourth consecutive. UCM has posted 40 or more wins in 14 consecutive seasons.
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