February 1, 2023: Kicking off the final month of the regular season...

Albion upset Trine, Oshkosh upset Eau Claire, and Webster made a statement in last night's contests

Welcome back! What a Wednesday it was…can’t even try to begin to mention it all. This time of year always produces some interesting results, and upsets as well…here are a few of my takeaways from last night’s action!

• I always like to start these posts out by mentioning what, in my opinion, was the most impressive win from the previous night. Last night, it’s hard to say. There were quite a few. But I’ll just go with Albion’s upset of #12 Trine. Once again, Albion found a way to get the job done on its home court! The Britons upset Hope back in early January, and for that reason, are an interesting team to me. They are just 8-4 in the MIAA, 13-7 overall, but have looked like a championship-level team each of the last two times they’ve hosted a Top 15 opponent on their home court. Last night’s 63-62 win for Albion was huge, creating a three-way tie atop the MIAA standings between Hope, Trine, and Calvin. Wild. Trine actually played decently well, shooting 40% from 3-point range, making six more free-throws and converted on 37.7% of its FG attempts. But Albion was unstoppable in the paint, with 42 points in the paint. Riley Davis came up with the game-winner for Albion, hitting a jumper (in the paint, where else?) with four seconds left. If not for that, Trine would have successfully overcome a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit.

• The other really impressive victory last night came in the WIAC, when UW-Oshkosh went to #17 UW-Eau Claire and took down the No. 1 team in the WIAC standings, 65-57. Winning on the road in the league isn’t easy, especially against a team that shoots it as well as UWEC does. But it seemed like the Blugolds never really got comfortable offensively, shooting just 30% from the field. They turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 15 UWO points. Sarah Hardwick, Ava Douglas, and Kayce Vaile each played 30+ minutes for the Titans, and the most important aspect of the win was that UWO saw contributions from everyone who played any kind of significant number of minutes. Even Allison Forney, who played just nine minutes, came off the bench with seven points. UWO defended the perimeter very well too, which forced the Blugolds into some contested shots. UWO has now won 6 straight.

• One of the more underrated, yet critical games that played out last night came between Webster and Greenville in SLIAC play. The two were tied atop the league standings entering that matchup, at 7-1, and in a one-bid league, securing the top seed in the conference tournament is huge. Webster hasn’t gone undefeated this year, but the Gorloks looked to be far and away the best team in the league last night, going on the road to Greenville, jumping on the Panthers early, and never taking its foot off the gas pedal. Now 18-2, Webster won 98-59, in a game that was supposed to be decided by a much closer margin, especially since Greenville had won the first meeting back on Jan. 11. Julie Baudendistel had 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead Webster, as the Gorloks shot 52% as a team.

• #22 Gustavus Adolphus also won big in a game against St. Benedict that I had expected would be much closer. The Gusties looked really sharp, winning 83-57. Kylie Baranick had 21 points for Gusty on an 8-of-10 shooting day, and when you convert on 58.6% of your shots as a team, it’s usually a pretty good day. They also ended up 9-of-16 from 3-point range and dished out 21 assists. You can’t ask for a much better performance, and the more I watch Gusty, the more I think they’ll make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Though it's going to depend somewhat on what pod they are sent to. It will not be easy to make it out of that part of the country, no matter how solid you are.

• I thought Alma looked solid against #21 Calvin, despite ending up with a 77-68 loss. Alma couldn’t stop Gabby Timmer, who had 18 points and 13 boards in a solid effort, but overall, Alma hung in the game and never let the Calvin lead get out of reach. It was a five-point game with a minute left. But credit to Calvin for picking up the tough win on the road. Sydney Cleary had 25 points in a career shooting day.

• Lynchburg was #244 by Massey and Randolph College was #126 entering last night’s ODAC matchup. But Lynchburg pulled off the upset in an exceptional 55-51 road victory, likely knocking Randolph College out of the Top 7 in Region 6. Whether they end up regionally ranked or not, we’ll see, but on any account, that was a major win for a Lynchburg squad that has been up and down this year. An 8-2 run with about four minutes left put Lynchburg up seven, and Randolph, despite closing the gap a bit, never regained the lead.

• La Verne stayed perfect in the SCIAC with a key 77-67 home win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on the west coast. La Verne very well could end up as the surprise of this season, having gone 12-14 last season, and yet, are 19-1 this year. Marissa Howell played all 40 minutes for La Verne, connecting on six of her team’s nine 3-pointers. La Verne also won the battle on the boards by 17, 48-31.

I’ll be going on the Hoopsville Marathon sometime this afternoon (probably around 5 pm EST) to talk D3 WBB. Looking forward to that. Dave always puts on a great show with so many incredible interviews. Definitely recommend watching! Here’s the link: https://www.d3hoops.com/hoopsville/index

Anyway, I’ll stop there for today. Not a super-stacked slate with zero Top 25 opponents in action, but I’d take a few minutes to watch Mary Hardin-Baylor play Sul Ross State if I were you. These are two teams who rebound very well, and SRSU has really emerged as a contender, even under new head coach E.J. Lee Smith. UMHB is also under new leadership, as Kendra Foreman is currently serving as interim head coach. Should be a great battle (Watch here). Have a great day!