SALISBURY, Md. – After an impressive regular season that has already featured the program's most wins in seven years, the third-seeded Salisbury University women's basketball team is ready to chase its fifth conference championship at the inaugural Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) Tournament in Santa Cruz, Calif. The Sea Gulls begin their stay out west against the sixth-seeded Pratt Institute Cannoneers on Thursday at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT) at West Field House on the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

THE RUNDOWN

SPECTATOR GUIDE

LIVE VIDEO

LIVE STATS

C2C TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE

HOW WE GOT HERE

• Salisbury went 19-5 in the regular season, its most wins since going 28-3 during the 2014-15 campaign. The Sea Gulls put together a pair of long winning streaks, capturing 10 wins in a row from Nov. 20-Jan. 8 and seven straight victories from Jan. 26-Feb. 16.
• The Sea Gulls went 2-2 against C2C foes in 2021-22. Salisbury swept its season series against Mary Washington, winning 48-43 on Feb. 5 in Fredericksburg and 81-76 on Feb. 16 at home. SU lost both of its matchups against Christopher Newport, falling 63-57 on Jan. 22 at home and 76-62 on Feb. 19 in Newport News.
• Salisbury earned a No. 8 ranking in the NCAA Region V poll that came out on Feb. 13. The Sea Gulls went 1-3 against regional opponents this season, beating Marymount (Va.) with losses to Scranton, Messiah and Catholic.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

• The Pratt Institute went 5-13 in 2021-22. The Cannoneers finished up their regular season on Tuesday with a 66-52 home loss to Yeshiva.
• The Cannoneers went 0-2 in the C2C Classic in Fredericksburg, Va., on Feb. 12-13, losing to Mary Washington 62-32 and CNU 90-30 in their only games against league foes this season. Pratt and CNU were scheduled to play a game in Brooklyn on Jan. 9 that got canceled.
• Salisbury and Pratt share one other common opponent this season in Brooklyn College. The Cannoneers lost their intra-borough battle against the Bulldogs, 89-46, on Jan. 25. The Sea Gulls took a road win from Brooklyn, 55-50, on Feb. 7.
• Pratt is led by Second-Team All-C2C graduate forward Katy O'Connor, who ran away with the league lead in both scoring and rebounding with 19.3 points and 18.7 boards per game. Freshman guard Kylie Grant cracked the top 10 in the C2C in scoring (13.4), rebounding (6.2) and assists (3.3) per game.

LAST TIME WE MET

• This is the first-ever meeting between the Sea Gulls and Cannoneers, who are based out of the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

THE 2021-22 SEA GULLS

• Salisbury placed multiple players on the all-conference teams for the first time since landing three All-Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) selections in 2014-15. Kaylee Otlowski made First-Team All-C2C, her second career first-team all-conference nod, and Lauren Fortescue was tabbed for the All-C2C Second Team.
• The Sea Gulls boast the 27th-best turnover margin in NCAA Division III, forcing six more turnovers than they give up.
• SU ranks 44th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.04) and slots in the top 70 in turnovers per game (14.9, 58th), field goal percentage (.412, 65th), turnovers forced per game (20.9, 65th), assists per game (15.5, 66th) and steals per game (11.0, 70th).
• Otlowski finds herself in the top 100 nationally in several categories, including field goal percentage (.500, 56th), double-doubles (nine, 67th), total rebounds (229, 70th), field goals made (147, 71st) and rebounds per game (9.5, 95th).
• Both of the Sea Gulls' starting guards rank top-100 nationally steals and steals per game. Jada Welbon leads the team with 63 steals (52nd) and 2.62 steals per game (78th), while Fortescue is right behind with 60 steals (74th) and 2.50 steals per game (97).

WHAT'S ON THE LINE

• The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal will face the tournament hosts, the second-seeded UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, in the second semifinal on Friday. Tipoff from Kaiser Permanente Arena will be approximately 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT).
• A quarterfinal victory over Pratt would give Salisbury a 20-win season for just the seventh time in program history. The Sea Gulls previously hit the 20-win plateau in 1987-88 (20-6), 1994-95 (21-7), 2000-01 (24-4), 2001-02 (24-5), 2003-03 (23-5) and 2014-15 (28-3).
• Salisbury is seeking its seventh NCAA Tournament berth after previously reaching the big dance in 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2015.

Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Conference for men's and women's swimming. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, and dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on-and-off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 22 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 186 conference championships and 41 Academic All-Americans.

To learn more about the tradition of excellence with Sea Gull Athletics, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or on social media @SUSeaGulls.