How the Top 10 fared + Notes from the first week of the 2023-24 season
We are officially one week into the 2023-24 D-III women’s basketball season! The past seven days of games were full of upsets, near upsets, key victories, and notable results. While I think it’s a little too early to start moving things around in a Top 25 ballot, I did want to take a look at how the Top 10 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Top 25 Poll fared in their first week of games. Below that, I highlighted some of the more interesting results and takeaways I had from the first several days of action. Great slate of matchups on tap for tonight as well across the country!
How the Top 10 fared
Transylvania (W vs DePauw, Nov. 12) The Pioneers picked up where they left off in the NCAA title game, taking down a quality opponent in DePauw, 60-50. DePauw actually outscored Transy, 33-28, in the second half, but the Pioneers’ 16-4 run in the second quarter was huge. 40 of their 60 points came from Dasia Thornton, Kennedi Stacy, and Sadie Wurth. Good production from those upperclassmen.
NYU (W vs MIT, Nov. 10, W vs Johns Hopkins, Nov. 11): The Violets, who hosted the Scholar’s Classic inside their new state-of-the-art gym, looked every bit as strong as they were on paper entering the season. The starting five in the 88-55 win over MIT was: Morgan Morrison (24 min, 14 pts, 9 reb), Natalie Bruns (16 min, 8 pts, 10 reb), Belle Pellecchia (24 min, 15 pts, 6 reb), Erica Miller (17 min, 9 pts), and Megan Bauman (17 min, 2 pts, 2 reb). Morrison was outstanding, and added 22 points on Saturday in the 72-52 win over JHU, and could be in the running for back-to-back National Player of the Year awards. The depth on the roster is crazy, and the talent level is incredible. Bruns had 19 points against JHU, and like Morrison, was a D3hoops.com First Team Preseason All-American. Back-to-back 20+ point wins over very quality opponents to start the year may help NYU’s case to be #1 in the next poll.
Christopher Newport (W at Averett, Nov. 8, W vs Emory, Nov. 11, W vs Maryville, Nov. 12) : The big test for CNU this week was the matchup on Saturday against Emory, and was a game the Captains won 57-47. Emory didn’t have Preseason All-American Claire Brock, but CNU was without a few key contributors too. The Captains were solid on defense, and that was the key. Emory shot just 3-of-11 from 3-point range. CNU was 1-of-14. Not a ton of dominant offense from CNU, but they are 3-0 and took down Maryville and Averett convincingly as well.
Tufts (L at Rhode Island College, Nov. 10, W vs St. John Fisher, Nov. 12, W at Roger Williams, 72-54): Tufts is 2-1, and looked very different in the 80-59 win over St. John Fisher (who is receiving votes) on Sunday as compared to the 71-53 loss to #5 Rhode Island College on Friday. I have to say, I was somewhat surprised to see the RIC result. Maggie Russell with 19 points in the win over SJF. The win over RWU gives a little more confidence that Tufts is a Top 5 team, considering that was the same RWU team that took down #12 Babson over the weekend.
Rhode Island College (W vs Tufts, Nov. 10): I was skeptical of RIC, admittedly, entering Friday’s opener against Tufts. But they quieted those doubts quickly and outscored Tufts 23-9 in a big second quarter. Very balanced scoring effort with four players in double figures. You love to see that sort of balance across a rotation. The 71-53 win was their lone result of the week.
Scranton (W at Rowan, Nov. 8, W at Marywood, Nov. 13) : The Lady Royals fell behind Rowan 15-8 after the first quarter, but quickly took control in a 22-8 second quarter performance. They held on for the 66-52 road win in a game where Kaci Kranson had 17 points and 10 rebounds. D1 transfer Victoria Toomey had 10 points and seven boards in her Scranton debut. And on Monday, Scranton trounced Marywood (who is also located in Scranton) on the road, 76-35. At halftime, the Lady Royals led 47-16.
Trinity (CT) (W at Ithaca, Nov. 13): On Monday night, the Bantams made their season debut and it was a big win, as they took down Ithaca on the road, I was impressed by the second-half effort, though it wasn’t too convincing in the first quarter, when Ithaca led 19-12. But a 23-9 third quarter proved to be the difference. Reilly Campbell with 28 points off the bench?! Not sure if Campbell will be coming off the bench in a more permanent role, or if there was a specific reason for it last night, but either way, this is a team with lots of quality depth.
Wartburg (W vs North Park, Nov. 10, W vs North Central, Nov. 11) : Wartburg took home two big wins from the Wisconsin Lutheran Tournament, though North Park put them on a bit of an upset alert through the first half of Friday’s win. North Park led 33-31 at the half, but Wartburg dominated in the second half. Great turnaround from the Knights, who then rolled to a big 89-61 win over North Central on Saturday. Jaedon Murphy had an outstanding performance in the season-opener, scoring 26 points!
UW-Whitewater (W vs Concordia Moorhead, Nov. 10, W vs St. Norbert, Nov. 11) : Talk about an upset alert…North Park’s strong first half vs Wartburg was nothing compared to the performance Concordia Moorhead put up against Whitewater. At the UWSP tournament, Whitewater took a 60-55 lead with 2;32 left, only to have Moorhead respond and tie it on a free throw with 25 seconds left. The Warthawks then went up 64-62 with Moorhead having the ball and the last shot…until a turnover from Moorhead that pretty much sealed it. Concordia Moorhead is a strong team, but I didn’t expect Whitewater to be taken down to the wire like that. The Warhawks then easily beat St. Norbert on Saturday, 84-56 as Aleah Grundahl broke the program’s career scoring record in a 20-point performance. Congrats to her, as she now has 1,380 points in her career with the Warhawks.
Ohio Northern (L at Wittenberg, Nov. 10): ONU is still seeking its first win after Wittenberg handed the Polar Bears a pretty surprising upset, 68-65, on Friday. ONU held a three-point lead entering the fourth quarter but Wittenberg surged over the final 10 minutes. Really impressive performance from Wittenberg, especially defensively. ONU was just 1-of-14 from 3-point range. I know the Polar Bears will get back on track, but I’m not quite sure what to think right now. They will play Ohio Wesleyan and Trine before the next Top 25 poll, so we’ll see what those games have in store.
Notables and Takeaways
Marietta is under strong consideration for my Top 25 ballot, after beating St. Vincent and Case Western Reserve. And they didn’t just beat CWRU last night. They won 73-45. A 49-25 second half margin will do that, and I have been impressed by the guard play from the Pioneers through these first two games. This is going to be a team to watch out for in that OAC title race, especially with how disciplined they are this early in the season. Big matchup against Ohio Wesleyan on the road on Saturday.
The NCAC could actually be an under-the-radar league that turns out to be very competitive this season. I think Ohio Wesleyan could challenge for that title, as could DePauw, who competed well with Transylvania for the most part of Sunday’s game. Obviously Wittenberg sprung the upset on Ohio Northern, as well. Not sure if the SOS numbers will be there for this to be a two-bid league, but I definitely see a scenario where that could happen.
Trinity (TX) actually trailed at halftime in each of its first two games against Mary Hardin-Baylor and East Texas Baptist. But the Tigers responded in both instances, and rolled to key wins. On Sunday against ETBU, Trinity fell behind 24-9 after the first quarter, but won 80-71. We knew Trinity had graduated several key players from last year’s team, and I would guess that contributed to this weekend’s performances as far as the slow starts go. But with the way they played in the second half of both of those games, this is a team that will compete at a high-level if they can avoid the early struggles in games. The “second half team of the week” award definitely belongs to Trinity!
Stevens went out to the west coast and headed back with a 3-0 record. The 73-66 win over Pacific was the big one, as the Boxers seem to be a real challenger in the NWC. Senior guard Elissa Nsenkyire had 19 points in that win for Stevens. George Fox also gave Stevens a solid test, but the Ducks prevailed again, 57-52. Unsure if those results (or Wednesday’s win over Kean) will end up as an RRO win, but it was good to see Stevens winning out on the west coast in early season matchups. That Nov. 27 matchup against Scranton could easily be a battle of unbeatens.
#21 Hope was impressive in the win over UW-Platteville on Saturday, winning 75-59. UWP will be competitive in the WIAC this season, and Hope just pulled away in a 27-point third quarter. Lots of new faces out on the court for the Flying Dutch, but so far, all the pieces seem to be coming together in Holland.
Just last night, #14 DeSales was upset by Muhlenberg, who is off to a 3-0 start this season. 44-41 was the final, with DeSales missing a potential game-winner at the buzzer from the left corner. Outstanding defensive performance from Muhlenberg, especially in order to come back from a 10-point deficit at one point, and this may be a team to keep an eye on in the Centennial Conference moving forwards. Quality defense certainly does win championships! Through their first three games, the Mules are giving up just 43.0 points per game.
#12 Babson bounced back quite nicely from the season-opening loss to Roger Williams, and used a strong second half to overpower Bridgewater State on the road last night, 87-64. Babson has a few newer faces in key spots and that chemistry may take time to develop. But there is definitely talent on this team. A nice surprise has been seeing sophomore forward Chloe Perreault step up after appearing in 26 games last season, but averaging just 10.7 min/game. She had 17 points against RWU and tallied 13 at BSU last night.
Claire Brock was on the court for Emory against LaGrange last night. She didn’t play against CNU (as mentioned above), and her impact was noticeable for the Eagles in the win yesterday, as she had 18 points (4-of-7 from 3-point range) and grabbed three rebounds as well. Emory’s next chance at an RRO win probably comes on Nov. 25 at Washington & Lee.
Tonight’s Games To Watch
UW-Stout @ #15 Gustavus Adolphus, 8:00 p.m.
Baldwin Wallace at #17 Trine, 7:00 p.m.
#25 Messiah at Dickinson, 7:00 p.m.
Alma @ Elmhurst, 7:00 p.m.
Roanoke @ Guilford, 7:00 p.m.
Bridgewater @ #3 Christopher Newport, 5:30 p.m.