WASHINGTON, D.C. - The SUNY Geneseo women's basketball team faces Catholic in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, Friday night at 7 p.m. in Washington, D.C. The Knights enter the tournament with a record of 22-6 and ranked 58th in the NCAA NPI, while Catholic earned the right to host after finishing the season 24-4 and 15th in NPI. This will mark the first meeting between the two women's basketball programs, and Geneseo's 12th bid to the NCAA tournament, the first since the 2018-19 season where they fell in the round of the 32.

Friday night's winner will turn around in less than 24 hours to face the winner of Christopher Newport and Montclair St. on Saturday at 7 p.m.

IMPORTANT LINKS
Catholic University requires all tickets to be purchased online, purchase your tickets HERE
Can't make the trip to D.C.? Follow along from home with these links - WATCH | LIVE STATS

YEAR IN REVIEW
Geneseo opened the year on a high note, with a dominant offensive showing at RIT where they earned an 83-68 victory. The Knights then turned around and hosted Whitman College out of Washington, where they fell to the No. 5 ranked team in the country, 74-51. Geneseo continued non-conference action throughout the first semester, and finished December with an overall record of 4-4.

The Knights really started to heat up in 2025, opening  with a nine-game win streak, including eight in-conference games. Geneseo's win streak included seven games won by 20 points or more. Their impressive start to 2025 came to a halt when they hosted Brockport on January 28, where the Golden Eagles were able to complete a fourth quarter comeback and escape Schrader Gymnasium with a 73-72 victory. Geneseo responded with six consecutive wins following the loss, but were unable to avenge their earlier loss to Brockport in the regular season finale and entered the Empire 8 Tournament as the two seed.

Geneseo opened up the Empire 8 tournament with a bang, hosting #7 Alfred in the quarterfinals and earning a 68-43 victory, where Kristin Suydam dropped 16 points on 70 percent shooting from the field, and Mackenzie Reigle recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. The Knights followed it up with a home semifinal win against #3 St. John Fisher, 72-54. Geneseo put up a rare and impressive box score, where three Knights recorded a double-double. Grace Galgano tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds, Audrey Hintz chipped in 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Mackenzie Reigle posted 11 points and 12 assists.

The Knights hopes to keep their goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament came down to a third matchup against Brockport. In front of a large Geneseo crowd that made the trip over to Brockport, the Knights came out on top with a thrilling 66-63 win. Reigle, the Tournament MVP, came up clutch for the Knights with multiple big buckets down the stretch, and a game-high 21 points. Grace Galgano joined Reigle on the All-Tournament for her efforts over the three games. Geneseo's defense was dominant during the Empire 8 postseason run, holding Brockport to 29 percent from the field, St. John Fisher to 25.4 percent, and Alfred to 20.8 percent.

A NEW ERA
After 54 years of competition in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), the Knights made the switch to the Empire 8 for all sports beginning in the fall of 2024. The women's basketball program became the ninth program for Geneseo to capture an Empire 8 championship in their first season of competition, joining Men's and Women's Cross Country, Field Hockey, Women's Soccer, Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving, and Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field. On the switch to the Empire 8, Director of Athletics Dani Drews said, "This is an exciting new chapter in the storied history of Geneseo Athletics. We are grateful for the opportunity to join such a respected conference as the Empire 8, providing our student-athletes with an outstanding NCAA Division III experience that supports their academic and athletic excellence."

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Geneseo brought home four All-Conference honors from the Empire 8 this season. Mackenzie Reigle and Kiley Snow were named First-Team All-Empire 8, Kristin Suydam brought home Second-Team honors, and Grace Galgano rounded out the recognition on Third-Team. Additionally, Eva Elliot was named to the Sportswoman of the Year Team.

GENESEO IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Geneseo has earned its way back to the NCAA Tournament, following an impressive run from the 2014-15 season to 2018-19, where they earned a bid five-straight seasons and reached the Sweet 16 twice. In the 1992-93 and 1994-95 seasons, the Knights reached the Elite Eight, highlighting another stretch of five-straight seasons where they made the NCAA Tournament. Geneseo enters Friday's game against Catholic with an all-time record of 14-11.

DROPPIN' DIMES
Senior guard Mackenzie Reigle enters the NCAA Tournament as the NCAA Division III leader in assists, averaging 8.0 per game. Earlier this season, Reigle set a new program record for assists in a season, surpassing the 186 mark set by P.J. McTigue in the 1998-99 season. Reigle has recorded 223 this season, and is two assists away from second all-time in program history with 522 in her career.

OWNING THE PAINT
Sophomore forward Kristin Suydam led Geneseo in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 12.1 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. Suydam is shooting a team best 54.8 percent from the field. Fellow sophomore forward Audrey Hintz splits minutes with Suydam, and averages 8.3 points points per game and 5.4 rebounds.

LET IT SNOW
Graduate guard Kiley Snow earned First-Team All-Conference honors for Geneseo after leading the team from three all season long. The Whitesboro, N.Y. native dropped in 49 three's this season and averages 11.3 ponts per game. Earlier this season, Snow became the 17th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 career points milestone.

SAVING GRACE
Junior transfer Grace Galgano was a huge addition to the Knights roster this season, earning Third-Team All-Conference honors while posting 10 points per game and 7.2 rebounds. Galgano is top-three on the team in points, rebounds, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and blocks.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Geneseo's impressive defensive performances powered their postseason run, holding all three opponents under 30 percent shooting from the field. Additionally, Geneseo ranks seventh in Division III in field goal percentage defense, limiting opponents to just 31.1 percent on the season.

TALE OF THE TAPE (NCAA DIII RANKS)
CATEGORY                                    GENESEO        CATEGORY                                    CATHOLIC
FG PERCENTAGE DEFENSE        7TH (31.1 %)     FG PERCENTAGE                         62ND (41.30)
POINTS ALLOWED                        68TH (1457)      POINTS                                          6TH (2152)
3-POINT FG % DEFENSE              28TH (24.1 %)    3 PM PER GAME                          16TH (8.3)
ASSIST/TO RATIO                          8TH (1.22)         ASSIST/TO RATIO                        32ND (1.10)
SCORING MARGIN                        35TH (17.0)       SCORING MARGIN                       9TH (21.2)
DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS /GAME 4TH (32.6)         DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS /GAME 27TH (29.9)
FOULS PER GAME                        5TH (11.1)          FOULS PER GAME                       306TH (17.3)