The fourth-seeded Hartwick College women’s basketball team meets top-seeded Ithaca College at 2 p.m. Saturday in an Empire 8 Tournament semifinal.

Ithaca (18-7, 13-1 Empire 8) plays host to the two-day tournament.

Second-seeded St. John Fisher (21-4, 10-4) plays No. 3 Utica College (17-8, 10-4) at 4 p.m. Semifinal winners advance to the championship at 1 p.m. Sunday. The champ will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Hartwick (12-13, 9-5) lost twice to Ithaca during the regular season. The Bombers won, 69-56, on Jan. 8 and earned a 96-49 victory Feb. 4.

The Hawks have been paced by the all-around play of sophomore guard Lindsay Wilson and sophomore forward Mara Tichy.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]In the conference, Wilson ranks fifth in scoring (12.9 ppg), seventh in assists (3.36 apg) and eighth in free throw percentage (.700).

Tichy ranks second in field goal percentage (.508), sixth in free-throw percentage (.761), sixth in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and seventh in scoring (12.3 ppg).

Sophomore forwards Jenny Knight (8.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg) and Alanna Adams (5.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg) are also key contributors. Knight has a double-double in her last four games, and Adams leads the team with 26 blocked shots.

Senior guard Laura Shockro (8.5 ppg) and junior guard Shelly Miles (6.8 ppg) are the top perimeter players for Hartwick. Shockro leads the squad with 29 three-point field goals and Miles is second with 27.

Defensively, the Hawks will face the challenge of stopping Ithaca senior guard Stephanie Cleary, who leads the Empire 8 in scoring (22.2 ppg) and steals (4.4 spg).

Junior forward Jill Post (8.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and sophomore guard Sue Kelly (8.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg) are the other top players for Ithaca.

Hartwick sophomore goalie Olivia Colebourne was named CWPA Northern Division Player of the Week on Friday.

Colebourne led the 17th-ranked Hawks (5-4) to a 2-1 record last weekend at the Bucknell University Invitational. In three games, she had 14 saves, three steals, three assists and two goals.

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE WOMEN’S TOP 20

1. UCLA

2. USC

3. Stanford

4. Long Beach State

5. Loyola Marymount

6. Indiana

7. California-Berkeley

8. California-Santa Barbara

9. Hawaii

10. San Diego State

11. Michigan

T-12. San Jose State

T-12. California, Davis

14. California State University, Northridge

15. California-San Diego

16. California-Irvine

17. Hartwick

18. Arizona State

19. Princeton

20. Bucknell

Hartwick opens the season at the St. Lawrence University Icebreaker Invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Andrea Pontius, the 2004 Empire 8 Coach of the Year, guided the Hawks to a 5-2 record in conference play last spring and a third-place finish in the Empire 8 Tournament. She enters the 2005 season with her top four singles players and top two doubles teams returning.

Returnees included Empire 8 Conference Player of the Year Vladimir Vecher and all-conference selection Julien Klein.

Senior Vecher has a 29-8 record in two seasons at No. 1 singles. He went 14-5 (5-1 Empire 8) and had a 3-0 record in the conference tournament last season.

Senior Klein will compete at No. 3 singles after finishing with a 12-7 record last season. Klein and Vecher went 15-3 in doubles competition and earned first-team all-conference honors.

Sophomore Vanja Ljubibratic and senior Dave Plossl will compete in singles and doubles. Ljubibratic went 8-9 at No. 2 singles, and Plossl finished 5-12 at No. 4 singles.

In doubles, Ljubibratic and Plossl finished 9-7 at No. 2 doubles.

The No. 5 and No. 6 singles spots will be filled by sophomore Ian Sears (Unatego) and senior Jason Stouffer. Sears and Stouffer will also open the season at No. 3 doubles. The duo will compete for the first time this weekend.