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| Kaci Kranson had a double-double as No. 13 Scranton defeated No. 8 Catholic on Saturday afternoon. File photo by Timmy Drewes |
Scranton stopped Catholic’s undefeated run through the regular season while Colby pulled CBB rival Bates back to the pack in the NESCAC and Ohio Wesleyan topped NCAC leader DePauw in Saturday’s NCAA Division III women’s basketball action.
No. 13 Scranton deal no. 8 Catholic’s first loss of the season as the Lady Royals topped the Cardinals, 56-51, at the John J. Long Center.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Scranton guard Hannah Angelini hit a three-pointer that pushed the Lady Royals’ lead to 53-45. Catholic pulled within three at 54-51 but Scranton’s Kaci Kranson rebounded her own miss on the Lady Royals’ next possession and then Maddy Ryan split a pair of free throws, pushing the lead to four. Catholic missed a layup on its next possession and Kaeli Romanowski split another pair of free throws to finish the scoring.
Scranton shot just 30 percent (18 for 60) but outrebounded the Cardinals 47-22 and outscored them 21-6 from three. Kranson (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Ryan (12 points, 14 rebounds) both posted double-doubles for Scranton (19-2, 12-2 Landmark).
Catholic’s loss leaves four undefeated teams in NCAA Division III women’s basketball. No. 2 Transylvania, No. 3 Rhode Island College, and Webster stayed perfect with lopsided wins and top-ranked New York University was idle.
Less than 24 hours after No. 24 Bates defeated No. 10 Bowdoin in a battle for first place in the NESCAC, the teams find themselves tied again atop that conference’s standings.
The Polar Bears rebounded and blew past Tufts, 77-63, for their 20th win of the season. Sydney Jones paced Bowdoin with 20 points and eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Colby stunned its CBB rival Bates, 63-61, behind a strong performance from Kate Olenik (19 points) and a near double-double from Amelia Hanscom (12 points, nine rebounds).
Bates and Bowdoin are each 7-1 in the NESCAC, although the Bobcats own the tiebreaker by virtue of Friday night’s win. Bowdoin defeated Bates earlier this season in the CBB rivalry game that does not count in the NESCAC standings. Trinity (Conn.) lurks one game behind the co-leaders after the Bantams defeated Middlebury, 46-44. All-American Reilly Campbell scored 21 points including the game-winning jumper with 14 seconds left. The Bantams will host Bates in Hartford next Friday.
All-American Kasey Schipfer started and ended a 16-0 second-quarter run that pushed Ohio Wesleyan past DePauw, 84-74, and kept the NCAC title up for grabs. Schipfer scored 28 points for the Battling Bishops (17-4, 8-2 NCAC) who are now tied with the Tigers in the loss column.
Playing without injured All-American Kacie Carollo, No. 4 UW-Whitewater lost at UW-Stout, 69-60, and fell out of first place in the WIAC.
The Warhawks led 35-27 early in the second half after Katie Hildebrandt hit a three-pointer for UW-Whitewater, but the Blue Devils scored the next 11 points and took a 38-35 lead on Sydney Brennan’s three-pointer. UW-Stout pushed its lead to eight late in the third quarter and held the Warhawks off the rest of the way.
Raegan Sorensen led four UW-Stout starters in double-figure scoring with 20 points and she also grabbed 12 rebounds. The Blue Devils shot 3 for 17 from three, but dominated the glass, outscoring the Warhawks, 48-31. UW-Whitewater (18-3, 7-3 WIAC) is now one game behind No. 23 UW-Oshkosh after the Titans took care of UW-Eau Claire, 67-45.
Occidental went on the road and dominated Whittier, 64-48, to maintain sole possession of first place in the SCIAC. The Tigers led by eight after one period and 16 at the halftime break. Toni Thompson posted a double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds) for Occidental, which also had a 14-0 bench scoring advantage.
Puget Sound stifled Pacific, 54-45, and kept the Boxers from moving into a first place tie in the NWC. The Loggers held the Boxers to 25 percent shooting and seven fewer field goals (16) than turnovers (23). Kennedy Brown scored 15 points with three 3-pointers for Puget Sound (14-6, 9-3). Both teams sit one game back of Willamette, which fell on the road to Linfield, 78-71.
A couple of ranked teams celebrated milestone victories with their coaches on Saturday afternoon. No. 21 Smith rolled over Clark, 104-64, earning Lynn Hersey each 300th career victory. Olivia Lett enjoyed her 100th career victory as No. 15 Millikin battled past Wheaton (Ill.), 61-56.