The St. Lawrence University women’s basketball program has been an east-region, perennial powerhouse in the past decade after taking five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1998-2003 and returning once again in each of the last three seasons. The Scarlet and Brown will continue to be one of the most competitive teams in the Liberty League as well as the region in the upcoming 2009-10 season.

 

Katie Palmer '09 (left) helped guide the Saints throughout the 2008-09 year, reaching the 1,000-point career milestone in early January while amassing 500+ rebounds in her four years with the team. She went on to break the program record for most points scored in a single game, recording 38 in the Liberty League title game to pace St. Lawrence with the win over Union. The Scarlet and Brown finished the season with a 19-8 record and a second place finish in the conference behind a 10-4 Liberty League regular season record.

 

In 2008, St. Lawrence was the conference's runner-up in the regular season but went on to upset nationally-ranked William Smith in the Liberty League tournament to win the conference crown and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, where the Saints made it to the second round. The season before, the program enjoyed its first regular season title in four years to earn the honor of hosting the conference tournament. Despite falling in the championship game, the Saints' impressive overall record helped them earn an at-large bid to NCAAs, the first trip under former Head Coach Jennifer Kroll.

 

Within the last decade, the St. Lawrence University women's basketball program won their first ever New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association Championship in 1999 and continued on with their winning ways as they won the inaugural Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) tournament the following year and battled through to the NCAA “Elite Eight.” In 2002, for the first time in program history, the Saints played for the national championship title against Steven's Point and lost by a mere two points in a season where St. Lawrence equaled the best winning percentage in Saint history.

 

The team and its players have received several accolades throughout the years. Meredith Eisenhut ‘02 was the first player in the program's tenure to be named Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division III Player of the Year in 2002 following her performance in the NCAA Tournament. Eisenhut was no stranger to such honors, though, as she was also named UCAA Player of the Year, a two-time regional All-America selection, a first-team All East selection and a candidate for the Robbins-ECAC Scholar-Athlete Award.

 

Most recently, Palmer was named a WBCA Regional All-American both in 2007 and 2009, earning All-America Honorable Mention status in her senior season. Palmer and Jamie Wolff '08 were both regulars on the Liberty League First Team the past few seasons, while Wolff also collected a number of accolades her senior year after surpassing the 1,000-milestone early on in conference action.

 

St. Lawrence is a member of the Liberty League, a highly competitive conference that is known for it's representation in the NCAA Tournament in recent seasons as a number of the squads have gone deep in tournament action. The Saints are no stranger to success in the league, as they have amassed several regular season and tournament crowns in the last ten years. Other teams competing in the conference include Clarkson, Hamilton, Skidmore, Vassar, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, William Smith, and Union.