With the suspension of Tiffany Jones, Southern Maine may have a difficult time with Ithaca. The Bombers got off to a slow start, missing Jennie Swatling and Kelly Gawronski who graduated last spring. The team jelled nicely, however, over Christmas Break when coach Dan Raymond instituted "two-a-day" practices, the first of which started at 6am. Since then, Ithaca has only lost to UR(in OT, a game the Bombers should have won), Bowdoin(who was #1 at the time), and conference rival St.John Fisher...who they've beaten twice since.
Ithaca boasts a sure-fire first team all-american in Stephanie Cleary. Cleary is 2nd in the nation in both scoring and steals, after leading the entire NCAA, all divisions for men and women, in steals last year. She averaged over 30 ppg in the E8 tournament and opened with 27 in the first round vs Colby-Sawyer.
Other players to watch for Ithaca include junio Jill Post and sophomore Sue Kelly. Kelly, a sweet-shooting lefty, has come on of late. She has a very nice outside jumper. Post is an interior player who can also step out and hit the outside J. Her improved play coincided with the reawakening of the Bombers. I think this will be a very close game.
(Message edited by gobombers15 on March 4, 2005)
