Philly U Women Get No. 3 Seed In NCAA Tourney

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a 77-58 home loss to West Chester on December 13th, the Philadelphia University women's basketball team sat at 6-5 and they were reeling a bit. It was one of those key points in a team's season, a crossroads if you will, when you see what a team is made of and what direction the rest of the season will take.

Needless to say, Philadelphia University chose the right direction.

Since then, the Lady Rams have gone 19-1, won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference's South Division and the CACC Tournament. Now they are headed to the Division II NCAA Tournament. The #3 seed in the East, Philadelphia University will take on the New York Institute of Technology in the first round on Friday afternoon in Waltham, Massachusetts.

"It's terrific," Philadelphia University head coach Tom Shirley tells KYW Newsradio. "We're so happy. The kids are excited."

Listen to the entire interview with Philadelphia University's Tom Shirley:

Shirley talks about what's changed since that 6-5 start.

"The maturity level has risen," Shirley says. "The expectations have risen, the accomplishments have risen. But (redshirt freshman guard) Jess Kaminski is playing like a junior. I think when you add her to the mix of the other four (starters) that are kind of solid and polished, we become a pretty tough team to defend."

Kaminski has emerged as a bit of an "x-factor" down the stretch. She averages just over seven points a game for the season, but she has really ramped up her play as of late. She averaged 15.3 points and pulled down a total of 29 rebounds in the three games of the conference tourney.

However, the MVP of that tournament was senior forward Mary Newell. She averaged 18.3 points, including a 25-point performance in the semifinals against Caldwell.

"I definitely know for myself, I'm very excited," Newell tells KYW Newsradio. "And I know for the rest of the team, we're very excited. It's a wonderful opportunity to be able to have and the fact that we're not ending our season just yet is nice and winning the (CACC) championship."

Listen to the entire interview with Philadelphia University's Mary Newell:

This will be the second straight NCAA appearance for Philadelphia University. Last year, they lost in the first round to New Haven. Shirley thinks that experience gained last year will really help the team this time around.

"It's not just to go to play the games," Shirley says. "It's the prep. It's the travel. It's the back and forth when we're at the site and then it's the game. I think having all that out of the way with an experienced group makes life a lot easier. Then you can just show up and focus on playing the games."

New York Tech is the #6 seed and they hail from the East Coast Conference. They bring a 24-8 record into the tournament.

"I expect them to come out and play their best game, just like I would expect any other team," Newell says. "For us, it's just playing our game and playing the team game that we have been playing and not trying to play a different game. Just doing the same thing that we've been doing all season."

Friday's game will tip-off at noon.