Kate Lynch is three victories from joining the select group of Rhode Islanders who have won a collegiate national championship.

And even if she falls short in her quest for the NCAA Division II women’s basketball title, Lynch (Rumford/La Salle) will be able to remember the 2007 season as one of the finest ever by a Rhode Island player. The junior forward helped lead the Southern Connecticut Owls to a 31-2 record, the best in school history, a No. 4 national ranking, the Northeast-10 Conference regular-season and tournament championships, the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional championship and a berth in Division II Elite Eight this week at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Lynch was the Northeast-10 player of the year, a member of the Division II Northeast Regional all-tournament team and a first-team selection for the Daktonics Division II All-Northeast Region Team.

Lynch played her best when her team needed it the most. In the Northeast Regional she averaged 15 points and 7.7 rebounds in three games, shot 47.1 percent from the field and had seven steals, five assists and two blocked shots. She scored 10 points in the 59-49 triumph over Bentley for the regional championship.

Earlier this month she was the Northeast-10 Conference player of the week after being named MVP of the NE-10 Tournament. She averaged 17.1 points and shot 57 percent from the floor, made 46.1 percent of her three-point attempts and chipped in 10 rebounds and three steals. She scored 34 points in the NE-10 championship game, a 73-57 rout of Pace.

Lynch ranked among the NE-10 leaders in five categories, leading to her selection as first-team all-conference and player of the year. She was third in scoring (17.4), ninth in offensive rebounds (2.32), 10th in field-goal percentage (.485) and free-throw percentage (.812) and 12th in steals (1.82).

Southern Connecticut will play Drury University tomorrow in one of four quarterfinals. The other Elite Eight pairings are Texas A&M-Commerce and Clayton State, North Dakota and Florida Gulf Coast and Glenville State and University of California-San Diego. The semifinals are scheduled for Thursday and the final for Saturday.

League honors for O’Dell

Another Rhode Islander had a great season and led her team to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Bethany O’Dell (Lincoln) is the Patriot League rookie of the year, the most valuable player of the conference tournament and a member of the all-tournament team and the all-league second team. The Holy Cross freshman led the Crusaders to the Patriot League championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament against top-ranked Duke. The Blue Devils defeated the Crusaders in the first round Sunday, 81-44. O’Dell scored 19 points.

O’Dell led Patriot League freshmen in scoring (11.8), led the league in three-point field goals (72) and was fourth in three-point percentage (.407). She was the Patriot rookie of the week five times.

O’Dell was the heroine of Holy Cross’s 56-48 victory over American University in the Patriot League final. She scored 20 points, the game high, and buried six three-pointers. Her trey broke a 44-44 tie, another kept the Crusaders in front and her jump shot gave HC a six-point lead in the waning seconds.

O’Dell was promoted to the starting lineup early in the season after injuries to the HC backcourt. She had demonstrated her prowess as a scorer at Lincoln High School, where she set the school record of 2,433 points and won consecutive state championships.

The Patriot League championship was the 11th for the Crusaders and the NCAA appearance their 10th. Holy Cross has the only Patriot League victory in the NCAA Tournament, an upset of sixth-ranked Maryland in 1991.

Feeney named all-star

Add another honor to Colleen Feeney’s list of awards for the 2007 basketball season. The Bridgewater State junior (Providence/La Salle) made the D3hoops.com All-Northeast Region first team in a vote of sports information directors.

Feeney averaged 18.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots in the 16 games she played after transferring from Rhode Island College during the semester break. She broke several BSC records — points per game (17.4); field-goal percentage (.599) and free-throw percentage (.848) — and would have led the MASCAC in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage had she played the minimum number of games to qualify. She had six double-doubles in her 16 games.

Feeney was the MASCAC player of the week three times and first-team all-conference.

All-America performances

Several local track athletes turned in All-America performances at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Providence College’s Aine Hoban finished fifth (15:53.42) in the women’s 5,000 in the Division I Championships at the University of Arkansas. Martin Fagan ran sixth (7:58.88) in the men’s 3,000.

Bryant sprinter Hafiz Greigre (Attleboro) finished fourth in the 200 meters (21.58) at the Division II Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

Wheaton’s Jennifer Harlow defended her pole vault title, clearing 5-7 at the Division III Championships at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at Terre Haute, Ind. Chizoba Ezeigwe finished sixth in the 400 (57.76) and ran a leg on the third-place 4x400 relay with Natana Jules, Kamia Smith and Renee Thompson. In the men’s 400, Jonathan Cunha finished fifth (49.02) and Merzudin Ibric sixth (49.18).

Roundup

Rhode Island College All-America Mike Bonora is the Pilgrim League wrestler of the year, first-team all-star and scholar-athlete all-star. He was 48-6 at 141 pounds … Springfield senior Mark DeCiccio (Cranston/Bishop Hendricken) lost both matches at the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships recently … Brown senior Shawn Kitchner and junior Levon Mock lost their two matches at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Auburn Hills, Mich. … Salve Regina’s Megan Barry is a New England Women’s Basketball Association Senior All-Star and will play in the NEWBA All-Star Game April 15 at Worcester Polytech in Worcester … Brown freshman Lindsay Walls made the Ivy League all-rookie team … Brown freshman Alicia Sacramone won all five events and led the Bears gymnasts to a 1.5-point victory over Southern Connecticut. She swept every event again Sunday against Penn and Southern Connecticut and set Brown records in the vault, floor exercise and all-around. The Bears will compete at the ECAC Championships at Cornell March 31 … Brown hockey players Sean Hurley and Jeff Prough made first-team All-Ivy. Goalie Dan Rosen made the second team. Hurley and Prough also made second-team All-ECACHL … Providence College defenseman Cody Wild (North Providence) earned honorable mention in All-Hockey East voting. PC defenseman Mark Fayne made the all-rookie team … Salve Regina’s record-breaking wide receiver, Antonio Guzzo, tried out for the Manchester Wolves of arenafootball2 … Hofstra sophomore Kayleigh Lotti (South Attleboro/St. Raphael) is already a two-time Colonial Athletic Association pitcher of the week this season.

mszostak@projo.com