The #4 ranked Stanford women ended defending national champion Baylor's 42-game winning streak tonight.

Andy,

Thanks Stanford. UConn's win streak record remains intact.

Justin
.

I believe Stanford halted that streak as well.

Andy,

Speaking of college basketball, the mighty Pioneers of Smith opened their season with a 30 point win at Roger Williams last night.

Justin
.

So this would be where I would usually pipe in and say, "How 'bout them (U.K.) cats?". Given the results vs. Duke, Notre Dame, and Baylor, will keep it zipped for now. Mebbe Cal will bring 'em around.

I watched UConn return the favor theother night; Stanford's 82 game home win streak is over ...

And the Pioneers of Smith are 8-1.

Justin
.

Glad that's out of the way. TIme to start another streak.

Andy,

The Pioneers of Smith were told last year that in order to get an at-large bid to the NCAAs, they would need to play a tougher non-conference schedule. On Monday they defeated Williams, who were ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Jsutin
.

Are we looking at a possible bid?

That would be very cool.

Andy,

If they keep playing they way they are, it is very possible. They are 18-2 with five games left. Last year they were runners up in the conference and won the ECAC tournament. This year, I think runner-up would get them an NCAA bid given the win over Williams and their stronger schedule. Of course, they could also just win the conference and remove all doubt

Justin
.

That's the way to do it!

Andy,

The Pioneers of Smith College stumbled a bit as the #2 seed in the conference tournament, and lost in the quarterfinals to the #3 seed. However, their win over top 25 ranked Williams was enough to secure an at-large bid to the DIII NCAA tournament, the first in school history. On Friday they play the University of Southern Maine (against one of her good friends and AAU teammates).

Justin
.

Excellent!

Will you be there? It's always special when a team accomplishes a first.

I'll be rooting for Smith!

Andy,

Southern Maine was ranked #8 nationally by D3 Hoops and #11 nationally by USA Today. Smith led the entire game, winning by 22 points (80-58) and adding another yet another Smith "first" to the list - an NCAA tournament win.

Tomorrow they play Ithaca, who are ranked #22 and #25 in the polls.

They were featured on the front page of the Boston Globe sports section this morning, and Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli of ESPN announced at the end of their podcast this week that for the first time ever they were "adopting" a DIII program and chose the Smith Pioneers. ( http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=8998397 )

Justin
.

Wow, huge win for Smith!

Always love tourney time - good luck against Ithaca. I'm off to check out the Boston Globe story.