Centerville, MA --- The Brooklyn College Women's Basketball team has earned an at-large bid to the 2012 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Metro Women's Basketball Championship. The Bulldogs received the #4 seed and will host the #5 seed Panthers of the SUNY College at Old Westbury this Wednesday, February 29th at 5:30 pm at the West Quad Center.

For Brooklyn, this marks the fourth straight season that the Bulldogs have earned a bid to the eight-team tournament consisting of teams from the New York/New Jersey area.

BC earned the bid following one of its most successful seasons in school history, which saw the team post a 21-7 overall record, the first 20-win season in women's basketball program history. The Bulldogs also won its third straight City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) South Division title, after going a perfect 11-0 in league play. Brooklyn would enter the 2012 CUNYAC/Con Edison Women's Basketball Championships as the #1 overall seed, but would fall short of the conference championship, losing to #2 seed Baruch College in the final.

The Bulldogs are led by a pair of 2012 CUNAYC All-Star First Team performers in seniors Justine O'Callahan and Lauren Plagainos. O'Callahan is averaging 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, while Plagainos is the team's leading scorer at 12.2 ppg. Plagainos is also shooting 37.1% (75-202) from three. Nationally, Plagainos ranks 26th in three-point field goals per game and 47th in three-point field goal percentage.

Along with O'Callahan and Plagainos, junior Charnelle Saint Laurent and freshman Nicole Francomano, who were both named to the 2012 CUNYAC All-Tournament team, will also look to play vital roles in helping to lead BC to a deep run in the ECAC Tournament. Saint Laurent is averaging 10.3 ppg, while Francomano is dishing out 5.0 assists per game, to go along with 2.5 steals per game. Francomano is ranked 22nd in all of Division III in assist turnover ratio and 29th in assists per game.

As a team, BC ranks fifth in field goal percentage defense (30.1%), eighth in scoring defense (48.3ppg) and 12th in three point field goal defense (23.1%).

Old Westbury, member of the Skyline Conference, enters the 2012 ECAC DIII Metro Tournament with an 18-8 overall record. The Panthers were the #3 seed in their conference tournament and lost to #2 seed Farmingdale State in the semifinals.

Brooklyn and Old Westbury met in the regular season, with the Bulldogs edging out the Panthers, 72-71, back on November 22nd at the West Quad Center.
No. 8 Lehman College (15-12) at No. 1 Rutgers-Newark (18-8)
No. 7 Stevens Institute of Technology (13-13) at No. 2 Ramapo College (15-10)
No. 3 Richard Stockton College (15-12) at No. 6 Fairleigh Dickinson University (13-12)
No. 5 SUNY College at Old Westbury (18-8) at No. 4 Brooklyn College (21-7)

Semifinals – Saturday, March 3 (at Rutgers-Newark or “highest remaining seed”)
No. 1/No. 8 winner vs. No. 4/No. 5 winner, TBD
No. 2/No. 7 winner vs. No. 3/No. 6 winner, TBD

Championship – Sunday, March 4 (at Rutgers-Newark or “highest remaining seed”)
Two Semifinal Winners, TBD