(Editor's Note: Matt Farrand is Sports Information Director for SUNY Old Westbury.) Junior G Aikesha Cumberbatch and freshman F Ashley Embry both scored in double figures, however Old Westbury (4-3, 0-1 Skyline) dropped the conference season women's basketball opener on Dec. 13 to Kings Point. Cumberbatch and Embry scored 17 and 13 points respectively. Embry also pulled down 12 rebounds in the 56-46 loss.

NCAA Division II or III college athletic teams rarely play scheduled games against Division I universities. However, SUNY College at Old Westbury men's basketball will break this unwritten tradition in January and make history when the Panthers play Yale University. It will be the first time Division III Old Westbury has played a Division I college in a regular season game in any sport.

Old Westbury Head Coach Bernard Tomlin (Hofstra 1976) is looking forward to the match up noting, "It is an outstanding opportunity and a great challenge to play a Division I school." College at Old Westbury Athletic Director John Lonardo added, "[Playing Yale] is a gigantic step in the right direction. A contest against a Division I or Division II school in any sport is a good indicator that our team schedules are now more competitive than ever."

The non conference game is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater on the Yale campus in New Haven, CT. The Bulldogs are coached by Long Island's James Jones (Albany 1986) and were 4-4 through Dec. 17. The Panthers are currently 4-1, 2-0 in the Skyline.

Old Westbury men's basketball has already played a team in a higher division in 2003, dropping a Nov. 29 contest (61-82) to neighborhood rival Division II NY Tech.

The new snack bar/dining outlet in the Old Westbury Student Union won't be officially open until January, but the outlet now has an official name thanks in part to a member of the Old Westbury swim team. Sophomore Jason Richberg of West Babylon suggested the name "Panthers Den" for the facility and it received 46 percent of the votes cast. The same name was also nominated by Danny Tessitore, criminology major from Manhattan, who was named co-winner.