(01-16-08)
INDIANAPOLIS -- The University of New Haven vs. University of Bridgeport women's basketball game on February 2 has been chosen as one of six games for the NCAA Division II Game of the Week national television broadcasting package, the NCAA and CSTV announced. CSTV will broadcast the game live from UNH's Charger Gymnasium at noon Eastern time, and the game can also be seen worldwide via the NCAA's broadband internet streaming service.
The game is also being re-aired on a tape-delayed basis by New England Sports Network (NESN) on Monday, February 4 at 1:00 p.m.
"This is a tremendous opportunity to expose a national audience to the University of New Haven and our student-athletes," said Deborah Chin, the Director of Athletics at UNH and current Chair of the NCAA Division II Management Council. "UNH takes great pride in the success of our student-athletes. We're looking forward to great crowd support and a positive game environment on February 2 to help us showcase the University of New Haven and our women's basketball program."
The game features the last three East Coast Conference champions, a pair of in-state rivals with a long history of competitive matchups. UNH has won back-to-back conference championships and are gunning for a third straight NCAA bid, while Bridgeport captured the conference title in 2004-05. The Chargers lead the all-time series, 32-28, including an 87-78 win at UB earlier this season. UNH has started 9-0 in the ECC as of January 16, while Bridgeport is 4-4 at this point in the conference schedule and hosted last season's ECC Championship tournament.
University of Bridgeport Director of Athletics Jay Moran stated, “We are excited as an institution and as a conference to be able to showcase the University of Bridgeport and the East Coast Conference to the nation as a whole. Bridgeport and New Haven have a long-standing, intense friendly rivalry, and it is an honor to showcase through CSTV and the NCAA the quality of women’s basketball played by these two Connecticut schools.”
This is the second year of the Division II/CSTV regular-season and broadband package. In addition to the six regular-season basketball games and national semifinals, the package includes four regular-season football games and several Division II championship finals in men’s and women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, softball, and baseball. Tim Pernetti, CSTV executive vice president, said the collaboration with Division II has exceeded expectations.
“It’s given Division II a solid national platform to take advantage of that they haven’t had in the past,” he said. For basketball — as with football — Pernetti said, the NCAA worked closely with CSTV to showcase some of the best matchups and atmospheres in Division II basketball.
Division II Vice President Mike Racy praised the partnership with CSTV because it provides the division with a national platform to help tell the story about Division II member institutions and conferences. “There are many positive initiatives in Division II right now, all centered on our division’s strategic-positioning platform,” Racy said. “The broadcasts with CSTV are the perfect stage to shine the light on Division II attributes and success stories.”
NCAA Division II Basketball Game of the Week
Univ. of Bridgeport at Univ. of New Haven (Charger Gymnasium / West Haven, Conn.)
Saturday, February 2, Noon (Live on CSTV)
Monday, February 4, 1:00 p.m. (Tape-Delayed on NESN)
