Natasha Adair

NEWARK — Delaware has hired Georgetown head coach Natasha Adair as its new women’s basketball coach.

The 44-year-old Adair will be officially introduced at a Carpenter Center press conference today at 11:30 a.m.

She replaces Tina Martin, who stepped down two weeks ago after coaching the Blue Hens for the last 21 seasons.

“It became clear very quickly during this search that Natasha was the right person to lead this program,” said UD athaletic director Chrissi Rawak. “She brings a competitive spirit to all she does and is committed to helping young women grow on the court, in the classroom and in the community; embracing and supporting the complete student-athlete experience.”

At Georgetown, Adair turned a four-win Hoya program into a postseason contender in three seasons as head coach. Georgetown went a 17-13 last winter, the most wins for the Hoyas since 2011-12, and garnered the program’s second straight trip to the Postseason WNIT.

Adair was recently selected as a court coach for the USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Cup Team trials.

“Natasha Adair personifies the dream candidate to lead the new era of Blue Hens basketball,” said UD President Dennis Assanis. “She instantly brings the attributes that we seek in our new hires to drive our programs to success. With a deep commitment to both academics and athletics, she has mentored and guided student-athletes to achieve their career goals both on and off the court. Natasha is an outstanding leader who will actively engage our players, our campus and our UD community.”

Adair has coached ine the Colonial Athletic Association before, going 35-31 in three seasons at the College of Charleston. In the Cougars’ first season in the CAA in 2013-14, Charleston 19-15, marking the third-highest win total in the school’s Division I era. Additionally, the Cougars finished third in the league, defeated five postseason teams from the previous year and advanced to the semifinals of both the CAA Championship and the Women’s Basketball invitational.

Adair played collegiately at Pensacola Junior College (1990-92) before playing and graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in communications in 1994. She previously spent 13 seasons in the assistant coaching ranks, with seven years (2004-12) at Wake Forest and six seasons (1998-04) at Georgetown.

College baseball

Delaware 8, Towson 0: The Blue Hens completed the Colonial Athletic Association series sweep with the win.

The victory was Delaware’s 10th consecutive home win this season as the Blue Hens (28-20, 13-8 CAA) improved to 20-3 overall and 8-1 vs. CAA opponents in Newark.

Kevin Milley (4-3) pitched the first five innings while James Meeker pitched the last four to earn his second save. Milley allowed just two hits and struck out four while Meeker struck out six in his four innings of work and scattered a pair of hits.

Delaware posted its third shutout of the season and its first CAA shutout since 2014.

The Hens also got the job done offensively, banging out 14 hits.

The victory improves Delaware to a season-best eight-games over .500 overall and five games above .500 in the CAA. The Hens are currently just one game behind UNCW for the conference lead and a half-game behind Northeastern for the second spot.

College track & field

Hens tie for 6th in ECAC: Delaware athletes recorded seven All-East performances and set a school record in the 3,200-meter relay while posting a six-place finish at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

It was the Blue Hens’ first-ever top-10 showing in the event.

Liz McGroarty placed second overall in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 4:26.28 and later teamed up with Michaela Meyer, Angie Spadaccini, and Jeanette Bendolph (Caesar Rodney) for a runner-up finish in the 3,200-meter relay with a school record time of 8:55.47.

The Hens had five other All-East performances as Sarah Hillman (Polytech) placed third in the discus (160-1 on Saturday), Lauren Zodl finished fourth in the 3,000 meters (9:57.42), Ashley Bailey was fourth in the pole vault (12-7.50), the 1,600 meter relay team of Nadia Khoury, Carolyn Darr, Carly Pettipaw, and London Freeland was seventh (3:47.35), and Pettipaw was eighth in the 400 meter hurdles (1:01.14).

College softball

Wilm. falls in regional: Two swings of the bat were all No. 24 Adelphi needed to win the NCAA Division II East Region I Tournament, defeating the Wilmington University softball team, 5-0, in the first game of the championship on Sunday afternoon at Ficke Field.

The loss ends a record-breaking season for the Wildcats, as they finished 36-21 overall and reached the regaional finals for the first time. The 36 wins are a new single season program record for Wilmington, which is coached by former Caesar Rodney High coach Mike Shehorn.

The Panthers hit a two-run home run to left in the top of the first and widened their margin to 5-0 with a three-run home run in the top of the fifth.

Whitney DeMora (Polytech) doubled down the right field line in the first, but she was left stranded as the inning ended. Meghan Brown walked in the second but she was also left stranded at second base as the inning came to a close.