AIC Women's Basketball Reaches 2005-06 NCAA Championship Game

Posted: Jan 08, 2021

The American International College women’s basketball team has a tradition of success, reaching the NCAA Tournament 11 times in its history. Yet one season stands out among the rest: a magical run to the NCAA Championship Game in 2006.

By the fall of 2005, AIC women’s basketball had established itself as a power in the region. The program had reached the NCAA Tournament in five of the previous six years under the coaching talents of Pete Cinella, including an NE10 and Northeast Regional title in 2002 led by a group that included Kristen Patterson, his lead assistant coach in 2005. That unit had gone 28-4, still a College record, but after knocking off Pace and Adelphi, they fell to Glenville State in double overtime in the Elite Eight.

AIC made the NCAA Regional Semifinals in 2004 and 2005, but lost to Merrimack in both years. It made the thirst for success deeper for the staff and the players heading into 2005-06.

The Yellow Jackets swarmed out of the gate, winning their first 11 games of the season, often in dominating fashion behind the skill of Sharmion Selman and Krystal Pressley offensively and a highly skilled defense that held opponents to just 33.3 percent shooting, sixth-best in the nation. However, they were far from the only strong team in the conference – Stonehill and Southern Connecticut were also nationally ranked, and the Owls were the top team heading into the conference’s tournament. AIC was the third seed, and faced Saint Rose.

AIC dominated for three quarters of the game, and held a 53-43 edge before a run by the Golden Knights evaporated the lead. Saint Rose jumped ahead 57-56 with just over a minute to play, and after both teams failed on their next possessions, a steal by Pressley allowed her to lay in an uncontested fast break to give her squad the lead back. For a few glorious moments, it seemed like AIC would escape, but the visiting Golden Knights had other ideas, landing a buzzer beater to stun the hosts.

Despite the loss, AIC was still a lock for the NCAA Tournament, and the committee gave the Yellow Jackets a shot at quick redemption, as the team’s first round opponent was those same Golden Knights. Saint Rose scored 59 points once again, but this time AIC notched 71, delivering a scathing rebuke behind double-doubles by Selman and Stacy Boisvert.

That brought AIC into the Regional Semifinals and into a third bout with Stonehill. The Skyhawks had been the team to end AIC’s unbeaten streak at 11, and the Yellow Jackets had already exacted payback later in the regular season. The third meeting proved to be no close contest; AIC outscored Stonehill 39-18 in the second half and won 70-46, as Tiffany Wooten led the team with 12 points and 13 boards in the win.

Top seeded Southern Connecticut, the hosts reached the Regional Final by handling both the University of the Sciences and Holy Family. The only team that the Owls had struggled with all season was AIC, who had handed them two of their three losses. Still, as hosts, they were favored.

It was a defensive struggle in which neither team shot well; both teams were below 30 percent in the second half. Even as the Owls had built to a 36-30 lead with 9:50 to play, AIC was confident, and they had reason to be. The Owls hit just two field goals the rest of the way and Selman notched 10 of her game-best 17 down the stretch as the Yellow Jackets claimed back the regional crown 48-40.

If the game with Southern Connecticut was a defensive struggle, the matchup with Emporia State in the NCAA Quarterfinal was anything but. Michelle Stueve had an incredible day for the Hornets, racking up as many points on her own as the Owls had against AIC as a team, hitting seven threes on her way to 40 points. The Yellow Jackets may not have had their usual defensive success, but the offense made up for it; Selman landed 27, and Pressley, Wooten, and Alyssa Rubino were also in double digits, with Rubino coming through with an impressive line of 11 points, six assists, and four steals. The Yellow Jackets won 86-79 to advance to the first Final Four in program history.

That semifinal game was another showdown with an unfamiliar opponent: St. Cloud State University. AIC held St. Cloud to just 29 percent shooting and ran off with the game in the second half thanks to 26 points each by Selman and Pressley as part of a 70-58 win. It was enough to lift the team to its first National Championship game in program and College history.

Grand Valley State University was AIC’s opposition in the title bout. Like AIC, they relied on defense; the Yellow Jackets had taken down the nation’s number four and three offenses, and now had to contend with the seventh-best scoring defense in the nation. Selman and Pressley put up points, and the game was always close, but Grand Valley’s defense finally found a formula, holding AIC without a field goal for the final six minutes to defeat the Yellow Jackets 58-52 and win the national championship.

Despite falling just short of the ultimate prize, the 2006 team finished 26-8 overall and is regarded as the best singular team in the College’s history. Selman’s 1,987 career points ranked second all-time in program history and stood in that spot until 2019 when Dana Watts surpassed her. Cinella had already set the program’s wins record behind the bench with 270 following that season and his 291 total wins at AIC are still the high-water mark. The program reached the NCAAs again the following season, and Patterson (now Hutchison) took over shortly thereafter to lead her alma mater. Even now, that group of players is still the standard against which all others are measured.

AIC Women's Basketball Links of Note:

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