The University of Hartford will host the Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Women's Basketball Championship in 2006, the fifth-straight year the event has been held at the 3,977-seat Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. Binghamton University, which hosted the 2005 America East Men's Basketball Championship and will host that event in 2006, has been chosen to host the 2007 Women's Basketball Championship at the 5,142-seat Events Center on campus in Vestal, N.Y.
The nine-team championship in 2006 begins with a first-round game on Wednesday, March 8. Quarterfinal and semifinal games follow on Thursday, March 9 and Friday, March 10, respectively. The championship game will be played Saturday, March 11. The 2007 championship will be held March 7-10. All semifinal games as well as the championship games will be produced by America East Television.
"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to host the Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Women's Basketball Championship for the fifth-straight year at the University of Hartford," said Pat Meiser-McKnett, Director of Athletics and Special Assistant to the President at Hartford. "The state of Connecticut embraces the sport of women's basketball and we are honored to host such an exciting event in the Greater Hartford community."
Hartford has attracted more than 25,000 fans to Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion over the first four years of the Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Women's Basketball Championship. The Hawks drew nearly 20,000 fans to campus last season for 16 home games.
"We are pleased to host the America East Women's Basketball Championship in 2007," said Joel Thirer, Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics at Binghamton. "This event will be a great boost for our women's team and for local attention to women's basketball in general. We expect our program to continue to gain competitive momentum, and we hope to take advantage of having the tournament on our home court. We expect to receive great support from our fans in the community as well as our fans on campus."
The $33.1 million Events Center opened on January 31, 2004 when Binghamton hosted Hartford in a men's basketball game played before a then standing-room-only crowd of 4,660. The women's team averaged 1,557 fans in 13 home games last season, second in America East.
America East has enjoyed tremendous success in women's basketball in recent years. Hartford made its second NCAA Championship appearance since 2002 when it won the America East Championship last season. Regular-season champion University of Maine earned a bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), the third-straight season America East has been represented in that tournament. Six different institutions have represented the conference in postseason play since 1999.
Friendship Cottage Cheese will be the sole title sponsor for the America East Women's Basketball Championship for the fifth-straight year. Friendship Cottage Cheese will also receive television exposure throughout the 2005-06 season as part of the America East Conference package, as well as radio exposure, signage and in-game promotions at the women's basketball championship. Program and ticket advertising for the women's basketball championship is also included. Additionally, Friendship Cottage Cheese will be included in the women's basketball championship logo, created specifically for the championship, and will receive exposure via the conference's web site—americaeast.com.
The America East Championship has utilized a single-site format since 1998. Maine hosted the event the first season, followed by Vermont in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Hartford hosted each of the last four seasons.
America East will consist of nine teams for the 2005-06 season: University at Albany, Binghamton, Boston University, Hartford, Maine, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC); University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont.
Game times and ticket information for the Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Women's Basketball Championship will be announced at a later date.