From Danbury News-Times

Rizzotti has Hawks flying high so far

By Doris Yon

During coach Jen Rizzotti’s seventh season at Hartford, the Hawks set program records in wins (26-3), best start (21-2) and winning streak (15 games). A banner season is starting off a banner postseason for the Hartford women's basketball team.

During coach Jen Rizzotti's seventh season, the Hawks set program records in wins (26-3), best start (21-2) and winning streak (15 games). Hartford set another program record Monday when it was awarded the No. 11 seed in the Bridgeport Regional in the NCAA tournament.

"Certainly we felt like it was a reward for a great season we've had," said Rizzotti, a former New Fairfield High and UConn star. "And our goal this year was to have a great season so we could get a higher seed because last year we felt completely overwhelmed with a 3-14 match-up. We wanted to have a better chance to get a (win) in the first round of the tournament, so we were certainly happy with our placement."

The Hawks, who face sixth-seeded Temple in the first round Sunday in Trenton, N.J., showed throughout the season they were deserving of a better seed than they received last year. They had a final RPI of 29 in the NCAA's official ranking and their 26 wins entering the NCAA tournament are tied for 11th-best among the 64 teams in the field.

The main aspect working against Hartford's seeding was its strength of schedule, ranked 113th according to CollegeRPI.com, which resulted in a first-round game against Temple, ranked 19th in this week's AP Top 25.

Facing a Top 25 team in the first round is nothing new for the Hawks. Their first trip to the NCAA tournament in 2002, they were a No. 16 seed and lost to top-seeded Oklahoma 84-52 in the first round. Last year, they dropped a 62-37 decision to third-seeded Rutgers as the No. 14 seed.

Even though Hartford again is the underdog in Sunday's game, Rizzotti said she likes the team's chances of getting past the first round more so than in previous years.

"We felt like if we continued to win and we win our conference tournament we would probably put ourselves in a much better position than we were the first two times we made trips to the NCAA tournament," said Rizzotti, the America East Coach of the Year. "This is the direction we wanted our program to head in and we wanted to build upon last year's tournament appearance. We felt like we did that with a great season this year with four more wins so far than we had last year and sitting in a much better position this year in the postseason."

If the Hawks pull off the upset Sunday, they likely will face third-seeded Georgia in the second round on Tuesday. Another upset in the second round means they return to their home state and have a potential match up against second-seeded UConn in the Bridgeport Regional semifinal.

Before worrying about playing the Huskies again this season, Rizzotti is just concerned about trying to win the first NCAA tournament game in Hartford history.

"Now for us to win a game against a Top 25 program, it would change the program," Rizzotti said. "It would bring it to the next level and it would bring us some notoriety like we've never seen. Certainly it means a lot to us. I know what Temple's playing for and I know they're going to be a tough team to beat, but I do think on our end we could gain a lot from this game."

Rizzotti has turned the Hartford program completely around since she took over the team in 1999, and the Hawks enjoyed their most success this season.

One of the highlights of the season was a record-setting 15-game winning streak, surpassing the previous best mark of 12 games. The Hawks upheld their preseason pick to win the America East and won the regular-season title with a 15-1 league record. They almost swept the postseason awards, as guard Erika Messam was named the America East Player of the Year and forward Erica Beverly was the league's rookie of the year. They were the first players in program history to win their respective awards.

Hartford then had an impressive showing in the America East tournament.

The Hawks swept through the tournament and won all three rounds by an average of 17.7 points. They won all three games by double digits and defended their tournament title with a 76-56 win against Boston University.

"I feel like we're playing our best basketball of the year," Rizzotti said. "Last year we won the (America East) tournament, but I wouldn't say we played better than we had during other stretches. Right now, I feel like they're playing the best that they've played all year."