January 22, 2023: Recapping the weekend in D3 Women's Hoops
Coming to you with an evening edition of the blog, as the weekend’s games have just wrapped up. There was plenty to note from this weekend, and before we head into Monday, here are a few of my thoughts on some of the more impressive performances from around the nation.
Starting with today’s games, I got the chance to watch a few minutes of the Carnegie Mellon-WashU duel, as well as a bit of the Top 10 matchup between NYU and Rochester. NYU, though ranked one spot below Rochester, had a very impressive showing on its home court, winning 80-67. Rochester never really got within striking distance to take back the lead. The Violets did a great job guarding Katie Titus, holding her to just 13 points, and Belle Pellecchia was fantastic for NYU, with 20 points and 13 rebounds. I really liked what I saw from NYU in tough wins over both Rochester and Emory this week. Rochester went 0-2 on the week and is likely going to drop out of the Top 10, though I see them staying in the Top 15. CMU and WashU battled down to the wire in probably the best game of the day. CMU actually held the lead until WashU rallied about halfway through the fourth quarter, and took back the advantage. It literally came down to the final shot, as CMU had the game’s final possession, down three. But WashU did a solid job defensively, not allowing a good shot, and escaped to go 1-1 in UAA play this week. I liked what I saw from CMU. They are tough and battle well in the paint with solid cutting action to the basket on offense. The UAA continues to be a very fun conference to watch.
Getting to Saturday’s action, the highest ranked team to fall was #14 Ohio Northern, who dropped a road contest in OAC play to a underrated, yet talented Marietta squad, 68-61. Marietta was one of those teams ranked early in the year who sort of fell off within the first few weeks and hasn’t gotten back into the Top 25 conversation. But maybe voters need to put Marietta back on their radar. Marietta is deep, with Adi Hill and Paige Tolson each coming off the bench to score in double figures, and nine players played at least 12 minutes in the win for the Pioneers. ONU was outscored 36-20 between the second and third quarters, which put Marietta in the driver’s seat.
WIAC play never fails to disappoint, and in an overtime classic, #16 UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse went down to the wire, with UWEC pulling out a 64-60 win on the road. Three Blugold starters played 40+ minutes, which speaks to the stamina and small rotation that UWEC has done so well with this season. Leading 41-38 heading into the fourth, UWL seemed in position for an upset. But with 3:05 left, Courtney Crouch’s free throw put UWEC up 54-52, and after UWL tied it moments later, neither team scored for the remainder of regulation. UWL’s defense was so critical in keeping the Eagles in the fight. But credit to UWEC, they were very strong on both ends of the floor down the stretch, and picked up two key WIAC wins on the week, the first coming against Stout.
UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout played in another tight one, but UWO came away with the series sweep, taking down the Blue Devils of Stout, 65-63. In a fairly physical contest, neither team did much pulling away. Frankly, that’s what most had anticipated, in one of the more evenly-matched WIAC matchups you’ll see this season. Both teams are somewhat young, but have matured well over the course of this year. Kate Huml led UWO’s scoring attack with 23 points, and nearly put the game away with a layup at the 1:26 mark of the fourth that made it a six-point game. Credit to Stout; they cut it back to 71-70 with under 30 seconds, but ended up stuck in the repetitive “foul-send to free throw line-get ball back-score-foul again” cycle, and Oshkosh did not miss at the FT line.
Thought NJCU’s 65-64 win over TCNJ was a game that won’t grab headlines, but may pave a better path for NJCU coming out of Region 4. In the final 17 seconds, TCNJ went on a 5-0 run, but simply ran out of time to complete the comeback. Damaris Rodriguez had 27 points for NJCU in another superb scoring effort.
Going back to the WIAC, UW-Stevens Point came up with a key road win at UW-Platteville, winning 51-49. It was a very back-and-forth contest, but UWSP was clearly better when it came to taking advantage of second-chance opportunities. They had 10 offensive boards, which led to 18 second-chance points. By comparison, UWP had seven offensive boards, but scored just five points from those. UWSP has three solid forwards in Jamie Pfeifer, Gabby Gawlitta, and Alexa Thomson. All three were key in UWSP’s third WIAC win of the year.
The MIAC is turning out to be a pretty interesting league as well, with Gustavus Adolphus alone atop the standings, but Concordia-Moorhead and Bethel fast in pursuit. Even with the absence of head coach Jon Herbrechtsmeyer, Bethel continues to play well, though I think the MIAC title will come down to Concordia or Gusty. They two meet on Feb. 8, with Gustavus at home. But St. Benedict pulled off a nice win at Augsburg on Saturday, and could easily upset either of those top three teams in the league.
Out on the west coast, UC Santa Cruz won on consecutive days against Cal Lutheran and Pomona-Pitzer. It has been good to see UCSC back on track and while I don’t think the Banana Slugs have much of a shot at a Pool C berth, wins like the most recent two only add to the confidence as they gear up for the C2C Tournament in February. Ashley Kowack had 42 points over the two games, and should be the C2C’s Player of the Week. I’ll be shocked if she isn’t. Really played well on the offensive end.
And to round it out, let me note Ryan Scott’s factoid from Twitter yesterday: for the first time in the GP Gromacki era, Amherst has lost three times in NESCAC play. And we’re only in mid-January. Hamilton came up with a massive road win on Saturday. taking down the Mammoths, 50-47. Hamilton is one of the nation’s most overlooked, yet dangerous teams, considering they played a killer schedule, and as a result, do not have a super impressive record. But they are battle-tested, and even on a day when they shot for a lower percentage, lost the rebounding battle by 3, and had just 2 assists, found a way to win. Amherst turned the ball over 14 times leading to 12 Hamilton points. The Continentals also had 10 more points in the paint. Shout-out to Taylor Lambo who (and I’m calling it now) will be a First Team All-NESCAC player in the seasons to come. I honestly do not know of a freshman doing what she is doing against the top-level competition found in the NESCAC. Had 21 points against Amherst, and is now averaging 13.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, having started all 16 games she has played in.
That’ll wrap it up for today. I am working on putting together my Top 25 ballot…wow, will there be some movement this week…stay tuned…and have a great start to your week!