| Hunter defeated CUNYAC favorite Brooklyn for the conference’s title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Friday night. |
Birds of a feather clinch together. The Hunter Hawks seized the CUNYAC title while the UW-La Crosse Eagles topped UW-Oshkosh for the WIAC’s automatic bid. Elsewhere, high seeds in the Centennial, NACC, SUNYAC and SCAC survived nailbiters, but not in the NWC.
No. 25 UW-La Crosse went to No. 5 UW-Oshkosh and toppled the Titans, 52-49, for the Eagles’ first ever WIAC tournament title.
UW-Oshkosh alternated hot and cold quarters, shooting 50 percent in the first and third periods, which led to a 44-36 Titan lead entering the fourth. The Eagles took over from there, holding UWO to 1-for-10 shooting in the final quarter and gaining the lead on Grace Knupp’s layup with 1:47 to play.
Malia Nelson followed with a three that extended UW-La Crosse’s lead to 51-47 before Paige Seckar got Oshkosh’s first and only field goal of the quarter with 33 seconds remaining. Knupp split a pair of free throws, giving UW-La Crosse a three-point lead that held up when Oshkosh missed its final shot.
Molly Janke finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for UW-La Crosse (18-9), which had just five turnovers against nine assists.
Hunter ended Brooklyn’s five-year reign atop the CUNYAC as the Hawks topped the Bulldogs, 77-69, for the conference crown.
After a low-scoring first half, Hunter heated up in the third quarter, shooting 64 percent from the floor and making three 3-pointers. The Hawks took a 50-49 lead on two Makkedah Murray free throws, and then Alexa Charles added to it with a three pointer. Hunter led throughout the fourth quarter, and Charles scored 14 of her game-high 31 points in the final period. Charles passed Gallaudet great Ronda Jo Miller for fourth-place all-time in NCAA Division III women’s basketball scoring.
No. 3 Johns Hopkins kept its perfect season intact with a late rally to force overtime where the Blue Jays edged McDaniel, 62-60.
McDaniel took a 56-50 lead on Lauren Cavolli’s free throws with 31 seconds to play, putting the Green Daniel in position to score the upset and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Lauren Knudsen hit a three on the next Hopkins possession, cutting the Green Terror’s lead in half. After a quick McDaniel turnover, Kendall Dunham hit a three to tie the game at 56 with 22 seconds left, and both teams came up empty on their last possession of regulation.
After Elaina Beckett scored the first basket of overtime for McDaniel, Knudsen hit another three and then sank to free throws, putting Johns Hopkins again by three with 29 seconds left. McDaniel got within two with two seconds left, thanks to two Beckett free throws, and the Green Terror forced a Blue Jay turnover, but could not pull off the miracle.
Grace Soltes led four players in double figures with 13 points for Johns Hopkins (25-0), while Becket finished a great season with 30 points in 41 minutes for McDaniel (20-7). Johns Hopkins will face Gettysburg for the Centennial Conference title on Sunday.
It was crazy down the stretch at @HopkinsSports as the JHU women’s basketball team was down by 6 with 32 seconds to play against McDaniel in the @CentennialConf semifinals. Here’s how JHU pulled off the win. #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/8A9yx1s5wo
— D3hoops/Patrick Coleman (@d3hoops) February 28, 2026
The best finish of the night came on the West Coast where a would-be buzzer beater was waived off and George Fox defeated NWC top-seed Linfield, 59-57.
The cross-county rivals battled back and forth through four quarters, and George Fox held a 57-54 lead in the final minute. The Bruins had a chance to extend that lead, but Linfield guard Allie Mead blocked the Bruins’ shot and Skylar Willey grabbed the rebound for the Wildcats. Linfield called time out, drew up a play, and found Mead, who stepped into a game-tying three-pointer with six seconds left.
George Fox then called timeout, advanced the ball, and got it to Hanne Hopkins whose layup put the Bruins back in front, 59-57, with two seconds remaining. Linfield called timeout, advanced the ball and attempted a three-pointer that fell short. The scramble for the rebound resulted in a jump ball called in favor of Linfield with 0.3 seconds remaining. Linfield appeared to tie the game with a short baseline jumper, but the officials determined that there was not enough time for the player to catch the pass, rise up and shoot before the clock expired.
George Fox will face Whitman in the NWC final.
Taylor Thiry lifted St. Norbert into the NACC championship game, as the Green Knights edged Aurora in overtime, 71-70. Thiry scored a game-tying layup with six seconds left in regulation and then she sank the go-ahead free throw with 20 seconds left in overtime. Thiry finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds for St. Norbert (18-7), while Krystyna Manzanarez poured in 29 points in 42 minutes for Aurora (21-6). The Green Knights will battle top-seed Wisconsin Lutheran for the NACC title.
It was a similar story in the SCAC semifinals where Texas Lutheran outlasted the University of Ozarks in overtime, 84-78. Sarahi Jones rescued the Bulldogs at the end of regulation when she hit the game-tying three with 23 seconds remaining. TLU scored the first five points in overtime, and Lauren Sansano put the game out of reach with six free throws in the final minutes. She racked up 23 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for Texas Lutheran (19-7).
SUNY New Paltz grinded out a 39-38 win over Plattsburgh State in a decidedly defensive-minded SUNYAC semifinal. The teams combined for 41 turnovers against 29 field goals, but the Hawks got two free throws in the final seconds from Karly Wittenbauer to advance to Saturday’s title game. Cortland awaits since the Red Dragons dispatched SUNY Oneonta, 66-49. Four starters reached double figures for Cortland, led by 13 points apiece from Jackie Funk and Brooke Tillotson.