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| Super sophomore Caely Ressler rescued No. 7 Baldwin Wallace from defeat in the fourth quarter at Mount Union. Baldwin Wallace athletics photo by Jackie Kasai |
Both ranked OAC teams narrowly avoided upsets but newly-ranked Loras could not in Wednesday night’s Division III women’s basketball action. Plus, Bethel pushed past Gustavus Adolphus in the MIAC and UW-Stout found its footing in conference play.
No. 7 Baldwin Wallace erased a six-point deficit in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and then the Yellow Jackets beat Mount Union in overtime, 75-73, behind a big game from sophomore forward Caely Ressler.
Mount Union held a 63-57 lead late in the second half when Ressler cut the deficit in half with her third three-pointer of the fourth quarter. Then, after Baldwin Wallace guard Alyssa Miller stole the ball from the Purple Raiders, the Yellow Jackets found Ressler who hit another three to force overtime. The Yellow Jackets scored eight of the first nine points in overtime and hung on from there.
Ressler led Baldwin Wallace (12-0, 5-0 OAC) with 23 points and eight rebounds. The Purple Raiders dropped to 4-8, 1-4 in conference despite shooting 47 percent from the field and 53 percent from three.
Otterbein pushed No. 20 Ohio Northern to double overtime before the Polar Bears topped the Cardinals, 75-70. The game had 14 ties and 14 lead changes, the last coming with 3:59 to play in double overtime when Kristen Luersman’s layup put Ohio Northern in front to stay.
Luersman posted a double-double for Ohio Northern (11-1, 5-0 OAC) with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Kathleen Carlo had 18 points, 16 rebounds and six assists for Otterbein (6-6, 2-3 OAC).
After ripping through their holiday non-conference schedule, No. 19 Loras had tougher sledding back in conference where Luther defeated the Duhawks, 68-62. Luther got a double-double from Kailey Jones in the first half and her layup late in the fourth quarter put the game away. She finished with 14 points and 15 boards for Luther (9-5, 4-1 ARC).
UW-Stout had the opposite experience on Wednesday night. After dropping its last two non-conference games, the Blue Devils returned to their conference and handled UW-River Falls on the road, 74-59. Four UW-Stout starters reached double figures, and Raegan Sorenson racked up 13 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for the Blue Devils (10-3, 2-0 WIAC). No. 9 UW-Eau Claire remained a half-game in front of the Blue Devils by beating UW-Oshkosh, 62-53.
Bethel grabbed a share of first place in the MIAC by defeating Gustavus Adolphus, 70-66. The Royals erased a seven-point deficit with a 7-0 run midway through the fourth quarter, and then grabbed the lead on two Courtney Nuest free throws with 51 seconds left. Nuest led all players with 20 points and also grabbed seven rebounds for Bethel (6-4, 6-1 MIAC). Hamline is also 6-1 in the MIAC after topping St. Mary’s (Minn.), 69-60.
No. 18 Springfield got bit by the NESCAC bug again, this time falling at home to No. 25 Bowdoin, 71-58. The Polar Bears led 58-34 after three periods and converted 22 Springfield turnovers into 25 points. Annie Boasberg paced Bowdoin (9-2) with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. The Pride are 10-3 with all three losses coming against NESCAC teams.
New Jersey City showed it can still be a factor in the NJAC race thanks to a career-night for Damarais Rodriguez. She scored 34 points and dished out 12 assists in the Gothic Knights’ 87-82 win at Rowan. Both teams sit two games back of Ramapo as the Roadrunners continue their surprising run atop the NJAC with a 63-53 road win at Montclair State.
Rhode Island College claimed first place in the Little East for itself with a 51-37 win at home over Eastern Connecticut. Anna Barry had 16 points and 17 rebounds for Eastern Connecticut, but the rest of the Warriors shot 7 for 39. Meanwhile, Rhode Island College (11-2, 5-0 LEC) got a double-double from Jeniyah Jones (15 points, 10 rebounds) and a well-rounded performance from Izabelle Booth (seven points, 12 rebounds, four steals).