Owls to Play in Semester-Break Hoop Tournaments

KEENE, N.H. 12/20/06 - Following a brief respite for the holidays, Keene State College basketball teams will return to the court for semester break tournaments. The KSC men will head west to play in the Surf City Classic (Dec. 29-30) at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California, while the Owl women will host a holiday tournament (Dec. 30-31) at Spaulding Gym.

“It’s a great way to play two games and give the players an opportunity to visit a different part of the country,” said KSC men’s basketball coach Rob Colbert. “Hopefully, we can go 2-0 and along the way do some sightseeing.”

Going into the break with a 6-1 record, the Keene State men will play Sewanee (Tenn.) - The University of the South (1-6) and Bridgewater (Mass.) State (5-1) in the Classic. Colbert said the team is especially excited about their rematch with Bridgewater State. “We didn’t play well against them in the championship game of the Montclair (N.J.) tournament last year,” he said. “It’s also a regional game, so we need to take care of business.”

The Owl women (6-1) will be hosting a holiday tournament for the second time in three years. KSC defeated Manhantanville (N.Y.) College in the 2004 title game. Opening round play has KSC playing the College of St. Joseph (Vt.) at 1 p.m. and Worcester State facing Maine Maritime Academy at 3 p.m.. Consolation and championship games are scheduled for the following day. St. Joseph’s, 1-11, is a NAIA Division II member of the Sunrise Conference. Maine Maritime (8-0) has won back-to-back North Atlantic Conference tournaments and NCAA berths while Worcester State (6-2) claimed last year’s regular season MASCAC title.

“The tournament gives us an opportunity to make some adjustments before we get back into our conference schedule,” said KSC women’s coach Keith Boucher. “Hopefully everyone will come back refocused.”

Both Owl teams enter the second semester with question marks. “I like where we are at the break. I can’t complain,” Colbert said. “I think we have a sense of how good we can be, but we have a lot of room to improve.”

Among his surprises so far this season, Colbert lists the guard play of Anthony Licitra and Shiwon Davis and the development of forward Nick Drouin. “Anthony has blossomed in his role and won some games for us,” he said. “We knew Shiwon could play, but he’s really been a spark off the bench, especially guarding quicker perimeter players. I’m also happy to see Nick take a step forward.”

A pair of sophomores, Nate Anderson (16.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Tyler Kathan (15.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg), lead the team in scoring and rebounding.

The first semester was full with highs and lows for the KSC women’s team. On the up side, Sarah Begnoche (16.7 ppg, 9.4 rpg) established herself as a dominant force in the LEC. She enters the tournament 12 points shy of the 1,000-point milestone. On the other side of the ledger, the team lost the services of junior sparkplug Danielle Graveley for the rest of the season with an ACL injury. “There are few guards in our league that can do what she can do,” said Boucher, who is still making adjustments to his line-up.

“We have a lot of people that can play minutes and we’re trying to find out where they fit together,” he said.

Several freshmen, including Kristin Degou and Nicole Simmler have already shown glimpses of their promise. “We have some young people who are going to have to score points for us,” Boucher said. “We’re far from the finished product.”