February 11, 2023: Tufts takes top seed in NESCAC Tournament, Puget Sound and La Verne take rare losses on the West Coast
Back into it after a wild day of D3 women’s hoops! Actually, a fairly exciting two days, as Friday has some notable results as well. Mostly going to be taking a look at yesterday’s action alone, as there were so many teams in action, and such a high number of games that came down to the wire.
Looking through just the Top 25 results, there were quite a few that raised eyebrows across the nation…four Top 25 teams fell, three against unranked opponents, yesterday.
The first big result that sticks out is Tufts’ 57-56 win over #12 Trinity (CT), to win the NESCAC regular season title. The schedule couldn’t have worked out any better, with the top two teams in the league playing on the final day of the regular season, and the game delivered…in a big way. For Trinity this is a really tough loss. They went 0-2 on the weekend, losing at Bates Friday night, and in neither game did the Bantams look completely in rhythm. But part of that could’ve been the opponent. Tufts is a good squad who has really turned the corner in the second half of NESCAC play. Trinity ultimately closed the regular season 1-3 in its last four, but still has a great shot at the Pool A, and if not the Pool A, the Bantams will certainly be a Pool C. Sofia Gonzalez was impressive once again for Tufts, as the Jumbos’ leading scorer (18 points), shooting 5-of-10 on 3-pointers. Tufts outscored Trinity in each of the first three quarters before the Bantams came up with a big run in the fourth, and outscored Tufts by nine in that final quarter. It actually looked like Trinity would edge it out, leading 56-55 with under 10 seconds left. But with 1.7 seconds remaining, Maggie Russell was fouled, made both free throws and won the game for Tufts by intercepting a pass on the game’s final play, clinching the NESCAC regular season crown. I’ll try to put a video of that last play (when Russell was fouled) here for you to watch it (UPDATE: Couldn’t get video but will link the game video archive below…final 3 seconds are at 1:43.24 mark). Honestly didn’t think it was a foul. Campbell seemed to have her hands straight up, though there was some contact there.
As much as I had liked what I saw from Puget Sound in Texas before Christmas, the Loggers looked less than convincing in each of the last few NWC games. And Pacific upset Puget Sound (at Puget Sound!) on Saturday night, 73-62. I didn’t see that one coming, though I anticipated Pacific would keep it close. A 24-15 second quarter from Pacific seemed to be the difference maker, as PS just couldn’t overcome that deficit. Pacific also won the rebounding battle by 10, and shot 51% from the field. That’s a recipe for success.
Thought #5 Smith looked very sharp at home in a rather convincing 80-67 win over #14 Babson. The NEWMAC battle was likely a preview of the conference championship game to come, and Smith absolutely dominated in the final quarter, outscoring Babson 23-12. If there’s thing I took away from yesterday’s games, it is that a good fourth-quarter team can never be counted out.
Whenever 2 of the “Big 3 “ in the MIAA match up, you know it will be a battle. It certainly was in the duel between #21 Trine and #17 Calvin. And though Calvin had the benefit of home court advantage, it was Trine, who came away with a 59-54 win, outscoring Calvin 21-13 in the fourth quarter. Trine played just eight players, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Thunder continue to use a small rotation as we head into the postseason. I really liked the intensity from both teams, and it truly seems that any one of the top three teams in the league could win in the MIAA championship and claim the Pool A. For Calvin, this loss is a tough pill to swallow, not only because of the lead entering the fourth quarter, but also because they are “on the bubble” of the NCAA Tournament, as some bracketologists might say. The Knights aren’t exactly a lock for a Pool C bid despite playing at a high level throughout this season.
As I said last week in Colorado College’s upset of Trinity (TX), it is incredibly difficult for any team to progress through a season undefeated, and La Verne was another example of that yesterday, falling 88-84 at home against Pomona-Pitzer. La Verne had been undefeated against D-III opponents entering the matchup, but just struggled in the second and third quarters, and credit Pomona-Pitzer, who was terrific after the first quarter. Pomona-Pitzer’s Madison Quan had one of the best offensive performances you’ll see this season, with 41 points in 40 minutes, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals.
I thought #3 Scranton may end up falling as well, as Elizabethtown really challenged the Lady Royals, sending the game in overtime. It was one of the more entertaining games of the day, as neither team outscored the other by more than three points in a quarter during regulation. Then Scranton went on an 8-0 run to start OT, coming away with a 79-72 victory. Scranton had 40 points in the paint, shot 43 percent from the field, and still needed OT to win, which says a lot about the competitiveness of Elizabethtown. These are by far the Landmark Conference’s top two squads this season.
#9 Hardin-Simmons eclipsed the century mark in Saturday’s cross-town duel with McMurry, winning 120-66. I mean, 19-of-38 from 3-point range? If HSU keeps playing like that, it’s going to be extremely hard to beat the Cowgirls. They eclipsed 30+ points in the first and third quarters, dished out 31 assists, and had 20 second-chance points. And this was against a McMurry team that has been competitive with most of the ASC this season, having even beaten UT-Dallas on the road on Monday.
A battle for first place in the WIAC played out in Whitewater, where UW-Whitewater took on UW-Stout, and wow, was it an exciting contest to watch. You may remember that Stout had edged Whitewater a few weeks ago, and this time around, Whitewater was eager for revenge. The Warhawks led by 13 with 3:19 left in the game, but Stout fought back, getting within just three points, 76-73, with 32 seconds left. But the deficit was just too large for the amount of time left. Whitewater did a nice job of distributing the scoring which kept the Stout defense on its toes for most of the game, and on top of that, working the ball inside to Aleah Grundahl and Abby Belschner then back out to the guards was very effective. With the win, Whitewater claims at least a share of the league title.
I haven’t looked to see if injuries played a factor or not, but Albertus Magnus, who was ranked in Region 1 this past week, dropped a second straight game, losing 72-59 at Regis. The Falcons seemed so out of sorts, falling behind 17-6 after the opening quarter. They have two regular season games left before the GNAC Tournament, and will need to get back on track after starting GNAC play 14-0. Albertus Magnus hasn’t won a game since Feb. 2.
The Collegiate Conference of the South continues to be interesting, as second-place LaGrange took down first-place Berea on Friday in a very solid win, but turned around and dropped an 82-67 decision to Belhaven. Belhaven got into the paint on a regular basis, and didn’t miss often from short-range, ending up with 46 points in the paint as they shot 55%.
UW-Platteville came away with a solid 57-55 win over UW-River Falls on senior day. In a thrilling, back-and-forth WIAC duel, UWRF took a one-point lead with 1:23 left. Neither side scored again until just eight seconds remained on the clock, when Brynlee Nelson, who tallied 19 points for UWP, got a layup to go, giving UWP a 56-55 advantage. UWRF turned the ball over on its final possession, as UWP moved to 3-10 in league play. Looking at the WIAC standings and tiebreaker procedures for the tournament, there is a lot that would have to happen for UWP to make the conference tournament. Regardless, this was a great contest and I’m fully convinced that in at least half of the leagues across the nation, the bottom three in the WIAC would be winning leagues elsewhere.
#11 Ithaca defeated St. Lawrence, 72-53, clinching the Liberty League’s regular season title with the victory. Ithaca should rise at least a few spots on my ballot this week, as the Bombers continue to sweep through league play.
Scott Peterson put together a good thread on Twitter on how yesterday’s results impacted the Pool C likelihood for several teams. Check that out here: (click on the tweet and it’ll take you to the thread)
Heading into today’s action, the UAA headlines the slate. WashU visits NYU, and this could be a chance for NYU to get revenge on the Bears. In addition, an NYU win here would tie the Violets atop the UAA standings with WashU. With four games left in the regular season, it’s looking like it’ll be a race to the finish between these two. Excited for that one, which tips off in about two hours (2 pm EST). I’ll have a look at my Top 25 ballot coming tomorrow and maybe a short post on the games today as well. We’ll see. Either way, yesterday was a phenomenal slate of games, and with most teams entering the final week of the regular season this coming week, I’m looking forward to seeing how those conference races play out.
On a final note, Scott Peterson and I will be hosting a livestream via YouTube next Sunday (Feb. 19) discussing a number of aspects of the women’s NCAA Tournament selection process, including the differences between the men’s and women’s bracket (such as SOS valuation, road multiplier, etc.), “The Pool C Table”, and the way bracketing fits in with geography and other previously outlined factors. We’ll also run through a mock regional rankings process for one region and also do a mock Pool C projection for about 5 teams. Not saying it’ll be perfect, we want to get the info out there for those on the women’s side interested in this whole selection process and how their respective team may fit into the picture this season. You can hit the subscribe button on the link below (this channel will likely only be used for this video, but you’ll be notified when we go live at 4 pm EST next Sunday. You can also watch the archive.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb7lxERrfA4IDjj4NzUrQRw
Ok, I’ve got to stop there. Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Would love to understand why La Verne continually schedules a (relative to D3) huge number of non-D3 opponents to start the season. They were undefeated (with a good number of unimpressive wins in the streak) until losing on their home floor to a team that hadn't won even 1 of every 3 games yesterday. Playing non-D3s and getting blown out by D1s really doesn't help you figure out how to deal with the situation they found themselves in yesterday, and the lack of any kind of results versus RROs will hurt them if they end up winning the SCIAC tournament because they'll likely face a top ten (or top five) team in the first round as a result. And if they don't win the tournament, they won't get a pool C despite only losing twice all season.