The 5 biggest storylines from the weekend
Looking at NESCAC Tournament chaos, Goucher's incredible turnaround, and a key UAA Sunday result
We’ve got a light slate of games today. That’s good, because the next six days are going to be anything but slow. We’ve reached conference tournament time, where the games jump 10 levels in intensity, it’s win-or-go-home more often than not, and of the over 250 teams playing this week, only 64 will still be prepping for games seven days from now. This is the time of year everyone works for. It’s why you play the tough games in November, and have so much dedication and focus when practice really gets going in October. For an opportunity to win your league, and to play in the national tournament. To be one of those 64 teams still standing when the dust settles on this week of intense competition.
For several programs, that quest through the conference tournament already began this past week, as you’ll see in one of the storylines I featured below. Others punched their tickets to top seeds, or just to their conference tournament in general, both of which were treated as the massive accomplishments they are. Different programs are at different stages in this point in the year, and there are way more than 5 storylines to dive into. But I settled on five for the sake of keeping this to a reasonable length and highlighting a few points of interest from the weekend that you should know about as the focus shifts to the madness that is conference tournament time!
No. 3 Scranton’s bid for a perfect record spoiled at No. 22 Elizabethtown
Scranton nearly made it through the entirety of its regular season schedule without a blemish on its record, aiming to remain as one of just three undefeated teams still standing with the NCAA Tournament only a week away. But Elizabethtown put its name right back into the national conversation by taking down the Lady Royals, winning 70-64 at home in what I can only assume is ETown’s highest-ranked home win in program history.
It was a monumental win for Veronica Nolt’s squad, who has been perhaps a bit underrated throughout this season. The Blue Jays stepped up against the nation’s third-ranked team, and the list of things they did right on both ends of the floor is fairly lengthy. Most notably, they took care of the ball far better than they had in the 25-point loss to Scranton earlier in the year, turning it over just 11 times and winning the turnover battle by +4. How impressive was that? Consider that in the Lady Royals’ first 24 games, they lost the turnover battle just three times. And the last time they had ended up with more turnovers than their opponent was Dec. 17, in a 22-point win over DeSales.
Not only did ETown challenge Scranton’s defense by not turning it over, but the Blue Jays simply found a rhythm against one of the nation’s premier defensive teams. Scranton came into the game holding opponents to just 44.3 points per game. ETown ended up with 70. Interestingly, the Blue Jays shot for the exact same percentage as they did in the first meeting at Scranton (22-of-53 FGs, 41.5%). The difference came down to turning it over nine fewer times, which gave Scranton nine fewer chances to push the ball and transition and get an easy layup on the other end. It wasn’t so much that ETown was stronger on the offensive end, they just played way more efficiently. Senior guard Summer McNulty added to her All-America caliber resume as well, stepping up with 24 points for ETown with a perfect 8-of-8 mark at the free throw line.
History made by Goucher as the result of Saturday’s win over Wilkes
Goucher has been a member of the Landmark Conference since the 2007-08 season. For 16 straight seasons—the entirety of their time in the league— the Gophers’ season ended with their final regular season contest.
But not this year. Under the direction of Mike Ricks, who formerly led Birmingham-Southern for eight seasons, Goucher qualified for the Landmark Tournament for the first time ever on Saturday, taking down Wilkes, 103-82. The Gophers, who were just 1-24 a season ago, finished in a tie with Juniata for the sixth—and final—spot in the tournament. As it turned out, having split the season series against each other, Goucher’s 58-56 win over Drew on Jan. 25 was the difference in the tiebreaker, putting them into the postseason and adding to what has been a memorable year.
At 14-11 overall, they will finish above .500 for the first time since 2003-04, and only the second time since 2000. When you consider that, and the fact that Goucher went seven seasons without multiple conference wins, putting up a 7-11 record against Landmark competition might as well be winning it all. Using “The System”, just as Ricks did at BSC, has led to a nation-leading 91.1 points per game for the Gophers, who will get Catholic in a quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday night.
WashU kept its at-large bid hopes alive, dashing Emory’s tournament hopes at the same time
Sunday’s UAA duel in St. Louis was, for all intents and purposes, a playoff game between WashU and Emory. Neither came into the day with exceedingly high chances of an at-large bid, but both were certainly in the mix, and amongst the list of bubble teams. Emory had won 5 of its previous 7 entering the day, with the Eagles playing their way closer and closer to a legitimate chance at an at-large, while WashU, who had dropped 4 of 5 before Friday’s win over Rochester, needed a win to stay afloat as a “bubble-in” team. For the first three quarters, Emory and WashU were deadlocked in a back-and-forth contest, with the score tied at 57 apiece entering the fourth. But WashU made a game-sealing run that left no doubt, scoring 26 of the final 35 points, and clinching an 83-66 victory. Lexy Harris exploded with a 33-point, 10-rebound double-double in 28 minutes on the floor, beating Emory in the post on a number of key possessions down the stretch.
What caught my attention was how much it shifted both teams’ at-large outlooks with just one game left on their schedules. WashU made a slight rise to earning an at-large 38.7% of the time. Emory, meanwhile, will almost certainly be left out of the tournament, with the Eagles’ at-large chances taking a significant 12.6% dip to 1.2%. I know there’s serious debate about the UAA not having a league tournament, but the one aspect I appreciate is that is makes games like WashU/Emory yesterday carry that much more weight, with no conference tournament at the end to make up for a difficult loss in the regular season.
Win streaks from No. 17 Randolph-Macon, No. 9 Baldwin Wallace lead to program milestones
For only the fifth time in the 43-year history of ODAC women’s basketball, the regular season conference champ will enter the postseason without a single ODAC loss on its record. That’s right, Randolph-Macon achieved a perfect 16-0 record in the ODAC with Saturday’s 66-50 win over Averett, accomplishing something that has become increasingly difficult to do in a league that has only gotten better in recent years. The last undefeated ODAC WBB team came in 2004-05, when Carroll LaHaye’s squad from RMC completed its ODAC schedule at 20-0. That season didn’t end until the final day of the season, with the Yellow Jackets reaching the 2005 national title game. Needless to say, this year’s version of RMC is walking in rarefied air, gaining increased expectations with a 23-game win streak heading into this week’s ODAC Tournament. With a win tomorrow over Randolph, RMC’s active win streak would become the longest in the program’s extensive tradition of success.
Baldwin Wallace is on a similar path, with 24 wins in a row, and the third-longest win streak in the country. That includes a perfect 18-0 mark in the OAC after Saturday’s 73-60 win at Marietta, the most conference wins ever in a season in BW history, and only the second time the Yellowjackets have finished their OAC schedule without a loss. Speaking of streaks, BW is in the OAC Tournament for the 12th season in a row, and has now reached the tournament in 34 of Cheri Harrer’s 35 seasons as head coach. BW is the obvious frontrunner to take home the OAC title later this week, which would be the ninth under Harrer.
Double OT in the NESCAC Tournament…twice!
It’s not every day you see a double overtime contest…but to have it happen twice on the same day, in the same conference? The opening weekend of the NESCAC Tournament more than lived up to the hype, particularly in the duels between Trinity/Tufts and Colby/Middlebury. It was the perfect example of the strength in the NESCAC this year, as seventh-seeded Middlebury kept pace with Colby, pushing the game into a second OT period on Kale Tornwini’s tying layup. The high-scoring nature of Colby’s 100-97 win produced several impressive stat lines, such as Middlebury’s Augusta Dixon (17 pts, 25 reb, 5 assists) and Colby’s Kate Olenik (29 pts, 8 assists), as both sides traded scores down the stretch.
The national relevance of Colby’s win meant that the Mules remain in the hunt for a NESCAC title as a Pool A or bust team. In other words, the only way Colby, with its 15-10 overall record, gets into the NCAA Tournament is by winning the NESCAC Tournament. If that were to happen, the chances of the NESCAC putting six teams in the tournament (and thus taking 5 at-large bids) increases by a significant amount, which would affect the teams currently sitting on the bubble. So bubble teams, be keeping an eye on Colby this coming weekend!
They’ll face Trinity, who also found itself in a double OT thriller at home against Tufts. A more defensive-centric matchup, Trinity prevailed 72-64, aided by a 26-of-30 mark at the free throw line. In a contest where both sides made exactly 2 3s and didn’t shoot it at a high clip, opportunities at the line proved crucial. Trinity took advantage. Tufts did not. The Jumbos of Tufts had 31 attempts at the charity stripe and converted on just 20, including going 3-of-6 in the first OT. Trinity was a perfect 6-of-6 through both overtimes, and 15-of-18 over the final two quarters. Tufts is very much in line to receive an at-large bid, so that is almost certainly not the last time we’ll see Tufts this season.
Coverage schedule for this week!
Tuesday: Top 25 Ballot Breakdown + A look at 5 key conference tournament games to watch
Wednesday - Sunday morning: 3-2-1 format (3 big takeaways from the previous day’s slate of games, 2 storylines for the day ahead, 1 notable stat) + Bubble Watch/NPI analysis
Saturday evening: Scott Peterson and I will be live on YouTube (link to our channel is here) and joined by a special guest, as we breakdown the day’s results, AQ winners, and how the at-large bid picture is shaping up heading into Sunday’s final conference championship games. Start time is TBD, but I will post an update later in the week.
Sunday afternoon: Once the NEWMAC and SCAC championship games go final, we will again be live on YouTube (same link), breaking down the tournament field. By that point, we will have a very clear picture of the 21 at-large bid teams according to up-to-the-minute NPI rankings from Scott, along with at least 40 of the automatic qualifiers (it is likely we’ll be live as a few leagues are still closing out their championship games). This will be information and NPI analysis you cannot find anywhere else, so be sure to stay tuned for that. We’ll break everything down, answer questions from the viewers, and be joined by at least one, if not two, special guests.
And as if you don’t have enough D3 WBB coverage coming your way, be sure to follow both myself (@ZayasRiley) and Scott Peterson (@scott_peterson4) on X/Twitter. We’ll both have more frequent updates there, especially as we hit the second half of the week.