A Royal Day in the Steel City: Scranton upsets Pitt, 69-63
No. 2-ranked Scranton got the basketball world talking on Sunday afternoon
For you and I—and all those of us who have spent many a night inside a D3 gym watching a pair of highly-competitive teams in action—it is abundantly clear that Division III basketball has plenty of talent to offer, from its innovative coaches to the countless stories of players who found the right fit at a D3 program and turn out to become All-Americans.
We know this fact well. But sometimes it takes a moment like what happened Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh to get the rest of the basketball world to recognize it too.
On the road at Pitt, a Power 4 conference program out of the ACC, No. 2-ranked Scranton sent shockwaves across the country in a Steel City stunner, toppling the Panthers in a 69-63 win.
Yes, you read that right. One of Division III’s best went into the arena of an ACC opponent—one that, mind you, was playing this as a countable game even while it was an exhibition for Scranton—and walked out victorious. They did it by closing on a 25-13 run, leading by as many as 14 in the first half, and finishing +9 in turnover margin. How many saw that coming?
ESPN’s win probability metrics certainly didn’t. The model gave Pitt a 99.9% chance to win heading into the tilt, which according to SB Nation’s Mitchell Northam, was only scheduled after one of Pitt’s prior non-conference opponents backed out of a game with the Panthers. But instead, it was the 0.1% that played out inside the Petersen Events Center, Scranton’s will to win superseding any of the other dynamics that come when a D3 battles a D1, especially a D1 out of a conference of the ACC’s caliber.
Pitt wasn’t a pushover. The Panthers came into Sunday riding a two-game win streak, having beaten Mount St. Mary’s and Cornell, within the previous eight days. They were picked towards the bottom of the ACC Preseason Poll (16th out of 18) but entered the matchup were in Massey Ratings’ Top 150 in D1. And against the Lady Royals, started four players in at least their third year of Power 4 conference basketball.
But Scranton’s cohesion won out. The Lady Royals were sharper, better disciplined offensively, and had an evident chemistry that Pitt—who returned just four players from last season’s roster—couldn’t match. With a starting five that featured three seniors—Kaeli Romanowski, Kaci Kranson, and Jenna Sloan—and two juniors—Meghan Lamanna, and Katie Gorski—along with junior Elizabeth Bennett and stellar freshman Sophia Talutto, Scranton held its poise even as the chances of actually pulling off the upset grew closer. They didn’t let the moment get too big.
From the get-go, that was evident. It took Scranton over three minutes to get on the board with a jumper from Sloan, and by the four-minute mark of the first quarter, the Lady Royals trailed, 6-4. But they stayed patient, and with 3:03 to go, gained their first lead on a 3 from Talutto. With 37 seconds left in the first, another Talutto 3 broke a 12-12 tie, sending Scranton into the 10-minute stretch leading into halftime with a three-point advantage.
But I’m not sure anybody was prepared for what came next. Scranton opened the second quarter with a 6-2 run, then found another gear with a separate 8-2 run that put the Lady Royals up 29-20. Pitt called a timeout, but it didn’t stop the bleeding; Kranson’s jumper with 2:10 until the intermission stretched the Scranton lead even further, to 36-22. They were in control, and pulling away fast.
As anyone who has seen these D1 vs. D3 matchups knows, it’s always the third quarter that seems to spoil an upset bid. Once the D1 has a chance to regroup for longer than a timeout, there is usually a difference in the quality of play, and that’s when the height and athleticism of the D1 roster starts to reveal itself more. And Pitt found some of that in the 10-minutes coming out of halftime, whittling Scranton’s 10-point lead to 37-36 in just over four minutes. By the end of the third, the hosts led, 50-44.
Even if Pitt had pulled away from that point, it would’ve been a great story. But Scranton didn’t let that turn into the outcome. The usual script of these cross-division matchups wasn’t going to apply here. The Lady Royals chipped away, and by the 6:58 mark of the fourth, had the deficit down to one on a Bennett 3. Then came a block from Bennett, and a steal from Gorski, as Scranton’s defensive prowess kept Pitt from earning any easy buckets on the offensive end. The shooting was still there too, as Talutto and Lamanna hit back-to-back 3s with the clock ticking down to four minutes. Just like that, Scranton had a 61-55 lead.
But Pitt answered back, and with 22 seconds left, cut the Lady Royal lead to 65-63. And it was at that point that Scranton’s maturity came into full view. Ben O’Brien took a timeout, and the Lady Royals came back on the floor, ready to seal the upset. They did that just nine seconds later, when Romanowski dished a perfect pass to Bennett, who laid the ball in for a two-possession lead. Pitt had no counter for that late score.
Along with the final buzzer came a barrage of social media posts and widespread attention for the D3 team that took down an ACC foe. Talia Goodman, On3’s national women’s basketball reporter, wrote on X, “UPSET ALERT, D3 powerhouse Scranton takes down Pittsburgh on the road. Heck of a win for the Royals.” When I last checked, that post had over 840,000 views. The post about Scranton’s win from “overtimewbb” on Instagram? 18,000+ likes. And those are just two examples.
I bring up that national attention because it circles back to what makes Sunday’s result so impactful on a larger scale than just an incredible impressive data point in Scranton’s early season trajectory.
The Lady Royals didn’t win only for the University of Scranton. Or Northeast Pennsylvania. They won for everyone in Division III.
Few teams are on Scranton’s level this season; the roster Ben O’Brien assembled is truly elite. But it’s akin to the upsets we love in March Madness each spring. The mid-majors who pull off stunning wins give a feeling of relatability, underdogs that gain popularity because those watching from afar connect with them in some way.
For the D3 players and coaches at programs dotted across the country that saw the final score on Sunday, it would seem that there is a similar effect: they see some of themselves in Scranton too, if for no other reason than the fact that Scranton is a fellow D3, with no athletic scholarships and hard-nosed, underrated players with a belief in themselves and the program they represent.
I have to think that a smile naturally crossed the faces of plenty across D3 when they saw the final score throughout yesterday afternoon. For years, the argument has been made that plenty of D3 gyms have D1-caliber players running up and down the court in them. That the prestige and tradition at many programs in D3 provides just as much of a high-level college hoops experience as many D1s would. That there is good basketball found everywhere and that in this new age of college athletics, D3 has something special. But it’s oh so different when there’s tangible evidence to point to, adding weight to the claims that can sometimes tend to fall on deaf ears outside of those with connections to D3.
It’s a score from a non-conference game in November. It’s not going to improve Scranton’s NCAA Tournament resume one bit. But in their performance yesterday in Pittsburgh, the Lady Royals showed everyone what top-tier D3 basketball truly looks like.
And what a valuable thing that is.
What else stood out on Sunday?
Scranton had a pretty good afternoon pulling off an impressive upset, and similar could be said for Bethany (WV), who took down No. 21 Randolph-Macon on a neutral court at the Emory Tip-Off Classic, 65-62. It marked Bethany’s first ranked win since 2013. Lindsey Garrison led the Bison’s upset bid, playing all 40 minutes with 23 points and a 4-of-7 mark from 3-point range (after starting the season 3-of-18).
Chicago defended its home court in a 66-57 win over Tufts, as the Maroons went 2-0 in their first weekend at home. Chicago’s defense may end up being one of the UAA’s best.
No. 10 Illinois Wesleyan was upended at home, 60-51, by UW-Whitewater, who I’m pretty confident will be ranked by the time the next Top 25 poll rolls around on Nov. 24. The Warhawks are now 3-0, and closed on a 17-8 run against the Titans, shooting 7/15 in the fourth quarter.
In a matchup between nationally-ranked teams at the Bridgewater Invitational, No. 8 Johns Hopkins left no doubt, beating No. 20 Christopher Newport in a solid defensive effort. JHU led by as many as 21 points and stayed perfect on the season, at 5-0.
Concordia Moorhead is on track to be a contender in the MIAC, as the Cobbers took down a UW-Stout team that just beat MIAC preseason favorite Bethel on Wednesday night. Concordia’s 81-66 win saw them close on a 12-0 run over the final 2:40, while holding Stout scoreless for the game’s final three minutes. Molly Musland had a big day for the Cobbers, with 24 points on 9/15 shooting.
What I’m Watching Today
Colorado College (1-1) at Aurora (3-0), 4:30 p.m. ET
Clark (4-0) at University of New England (0-1), 6:00 p.m. ET
Brevard (2-0) at Guilford (2-0), 6:00 p.m. ET
Texas Lutheran (3-1) at Occidental (0-0), 8:00 p.m. ET
Great stuff Riley!