March Madness lived up to the name Friday for the Medaille College men's and women's

basketball teams.

The Lady Mavs overcame an 11-point deficit in the opening round of the NCAA Division III

tournament to defeat Lebanon Valley College, 64-63, at Marymount University in Arlington, Va.

The men similarly trailed for most of their game with Nazareth College before prevailing,

78-72, in overtime at Plattsburgh State.

Medaille's women (26-2) pulled in front when Kacie Mills (Kenmore East) hit a three-pointer

to make it 60-59 with 54 seconds remaining. Medaille connected on 9 of 17 three-pointers in

the game.

After the teams exchanged the lead three times in the final minute, Mills (game-high 17

points, six assists) sealed the Mavs' win with a layup with three seconds left. Meghan

Dougherty (Nichols) and Tiffany Sullivan added 12 points each.

With the win — the 150th of coach Pete Lonergan's career at the school —

Medaille advanced to the second round of the tournament for the third time in school history

and also matched a program record for wins in a season. Medaille advances to play Marymount

University at 7 p.m. today.

Keith Hack hit a leaner at the buzzer to force overtime for the Mavs men's team. Hack's toe

was on the three-point line on the shot, preventing Medaille from winning in regulation.

It turned out not to matter, however, as the Mavs rode the momentum of that shot in

overtime.

Ron Malicki (Pioneer) scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting off the bench for

the Mavs (24-4). Malicki's contributions helped Medaille's bench players outscore Nazareth's,

32-9. Hack finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.

The win was Medaille's first in its two trips to the NCAA Tournament and set a program

record for wins in a season. The Mavs play the winner of the Plattsburgh/SUNY-IT game today at

7 p.m. in Memorial Gym.

NU women bounced

The second-seeded Niagara's women's season came to an end Friday night with a 5-3 loss to

Syracuse in the semifinals of the College Hockey America Tournament at the City Sports Center

in Detroit.

The Purple Eagles (12-14-5) allowed three straight goals in the second period after

leading, 2-1. Senior forwards Jennifer MacLean and Mary McKinnon each gave Niagara one-goal

leads, while Jenna Hendrikx cut the Purple Eagles' deficit to 4-3 in third period. Syracuse

(18-16-1), however, iced the game on an empty-net goal by Isabel Menard with 14 seconds left.

The NU men (10-19-4, 5-10-2) defeated Robert Morris (10-17-5), 6-8-3), 3-1, at the RMU

Island Sports Center. Egor Mironov tipped in defenseman Jim Burichin's point shot with 1:43

left for the game-winning goal for NU.