| Meghan Lamanna scored 25 points as No. 2 Scranton rolled over Elizabethtown at home on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Grace DiCarlo, University of Scranton |
Every active ranked team outside the WIAC won on Saturday, as No. 2 Scranton rolled over Elizabethtown and No. 6 Smith continued its NEWMAC dominance. Meanwhile, it was opposite day in the ASC, and Whitman tightened the race atop the NWC with an overtime win over Linfield in Division III women’s basketball action.
Elizabethtown held No. 2 Scranton to its smallest margin of victory earlier this season, but the rematch was far more lopsided, as the Royals rolled over the Blue Jays in Northeast Pennsylvania, 88-48. Scranton led from start to finish, including a 42-19 halftime advantage. The Royals held Elizabethtown to 15 field goals against 20 turnovers and got 48 points combined from Meghan Lamanna and Kaci Kranson.
Scranton (21-0, 14-0 Landmark) maintains its one-game lead on Catholic, whom the Royals will play in Washington, D.C. in the regular season finale.
No. 6 Smith defeated Clark in a battle for first place in the NEWMAC, 76-64, securing the Bears’ eighth consecutive season with at least 20 wins. Smith pulled away from the Cougars in the fourth quarter by shooting 50 percent from the field and 91 percent (10-for-11) from the foul line. All-American guard Hannah Martin had a strong performance with 19 points, six rebounds, and six assists for Smith (20-1, 7-1 NEWMAC).
No. 8 Bowdoin is one win away from securing home court through the NESCAC tournament because the Polar Bears downed Williams, 64-51. The Ephs hung tough with Bowdoin and briefly led in the third period before the Polar Bears closed that period with an 11-4 run capped by Jamie Yue’s three-pointer. Bowdoin pushed its lead to double digits early in the fourth and led comfortably the rest of the way. Grace Kinum equaled her career-high with 26 points for Bowdoin (20-1, 8-0 NESCAC), which will be the top seed in the NESCAC tournament if it beats Wesleyan or Trinity at home next weekend.
No. 14 Baldwin Wallace is on the doorstep of another regular season crown after beating Capital, 63-49. The Yellow Jackets held Capital to 30 percent shooting (19 for 64) and maintained their comfortable lead in the OAC standings. Baldwin Wallace (20-2, 13-0 OAC) leads Otterbein by two games with three remaining, and BW also holds the tiebreaker via its season sweep over the Cardinals.
No. 19 Ripon is even closer to wrapping up the MWC as the Red Hawks secured a share of the regular season conference title by trouncing Monmouth, 88-53. Laney Havlovitz led three Red Hawks in double figures with 19 points.
Perhaps predictably, the WIAC provided the most surprising result, with UW-Stout winning at No. 10 UW-Whitewater, 66-53. After falling behind by nine at the half, the Blue Devils held the Warhawks to two field goals in the third quarter and one in the fourth. Stout outscored Whitewater 39-17 in the second half as first-year guard Addy Verhagen scored 18 points in 38 minutes for the Blue Devils (11-10, 2-8 WIAC). The loss effectively eliminates UW-Whitewater (16-5, 6-4 WIAC) from the conference title chase.
Meanwhile, No. 21 UW-Platteville capped an impressive week with a 67-65 home win over No. 22 UW-La Crosse, sweeping the Eagles and seizing sole possession of second place. Ella Mackiewicz celebrated Senior Day with 17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for the Pioneers (17-4, 7-3 WIAC), which has its most wins since the 1988-89 season. Platteville remains two games behind No. 3 UW-Oshkosh, which rebounded from Wednesday’s loss to the Pioneers with a 22-point win over UW-River Falls.
Not everything went according to form on Saturday.
After losing to Hardin-Simmons by 32 on Wednesday, Howard Payne knocked off the Cowgirls in overtime, 65-63, thanks to Caitlyn Parson’s buzzer-beating layup. Savannah Bennett gave Hardin-Simmons a two-point lead with a minute left in overtime, but HPU pulled even on two Hope Hermesmeyer free throws. Then, Taylor McAfee stole the ball from HSU with just enough time for the Yellow Jackets to call time out, advance the ball, and set up the game-winning play.
Mary Hardin-Baylor, which lost at East Texas Baptist by 33 in mid-January, toppled the Tigers in Belton, 56-49. The Crusaders scored 16 points off 19 ETBU turnovers, and Karlee Cronk posted a double-double for UMHB (11 points, 13 rebounds).
In other key conference clashes…
- Whitman dealt Linfield its first conference loss of the season, as the Blues beat the Wildcasts, 58-53, in overtime. Whitman held Linfield to 24 percent shooting (13 for 55) and overcame 24 Wildcat points from the foul line. Whitman (15-6, 10-2 NWC) has won six straight and sits just a half-game back of Linfield (17-3, 10-1 NWC). Puget Sound won over Willamette, 68-57, and is also half-game back of Linfield with games remaining against the Wildcasts and Whitman.
- William Paterson captured its NJAC regular season title since 2011-12 with an 83-65 win over New Jersey City. Renee Wells scored 22 points for the Pioneers (21-1, 15-0 NJAC) who will be the top seed and receive a bye to the conference semifinals.
- Nazareth extended its winning streak to 10 games with a 68-56 victory over SUNY Geneseo. Molly Benetti scored 14 points, including the 1,000th of her career, for the Golden Flyers (18-4, 12-1 E8).
- Messiah beat Widener, 62-52, and secured the season sweep over the second-place Pride. Liv Monturo scored 25 points on 10-for-12 shooting and grabbed nine boards for the Falcons (17-4, 9-1 MACC) who lead Widener by two games and now hold the tiebreaker with four to play.
- Brianne Foley led four Johnson and Wales players in double figures with 15 points, and the Wildcats mantained their lead in the GNAC by beating Endicott, 69-59. The result keeps J&W one game in front of University of New England and two up on Endicott and Western New England.
- Laila Battle scored 35 points for LaGrange, and the Panthers held off Asbury, 76-74, in a showdown between the CCS’ top two teams. Battle went 11-for-19 from the floor with five 3-pointers for LaGrange (14-7, 10-2 CCS).
- Penn State-Altoona injected some intrigue in the AMCC race by defeating first-place La Roche, 61-54. Lanie Wilt led the Nittany Lions with 30 points and Avana Sayles added a double-double for Penn State-Altoona (14-6, 9-2 AMCC) which trails the Redhawks by 1.5 games.