| Ella McKinney and Hope scored 242 points in opening weekend wins over Geneva and Illinois Wesleyan. File photo from d3photography.com |
One night after setting the Division III women’s basketball single game scoring record, No. 1 Hope poured in 99 points in an impressive win over Illinois Wesleyan. Elsewhere, the WIAC completed a dominant weekend with wins by No. 4 UW-Whitewater, No. 13 UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Oshkosh.
After scoring 143 points against Geneva on opening night, No. 1 Hope stayed hot early and took care of Illinois Wesleyan, 99-73. The Flying Dutch outscored the Titans 33-7 in the opening period and had five players score in double figures. Ella McKinney scored 19 points in 24 minutes and Savannah Feenstra tallied a double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds) in 23 minutes.
Hope (2-0) shot 52 percent from the field and 81 percent from the foul line.
First-team All-Americans Elyce Knudsen and Aleah Grundahl scored 25 points apiece for their teams, but No. 4 UW-Whitewater also got 19 points from Kacie Carollo and the Warhawks topped No. 14 Millikin, 79–69. The WIAC won all four games over their CCIW foes at that event. UW-Stevens Point followed up its upset win over Millikin on Friday night by beating Carroll, 61-56.
No. 13 UW-Eau Claire finished off a perfect opening weekend with a 55-52 victory over Bethel. Courtney Crouch’s three pointer gave the Blugolds (2-0) a 54-52 lead with 1:23 to play and UW-Eau Claire shut out the Royals the rest of the way.
UW-Oshkosh added two more wins for the WIAC this weekend, with the second coming on Saturday against Wartburg. Kayce Vaile scored 24 points and Sarah Hardwick finished one point shy of a double-double in the Titans’ 71-58 win over the Knights.
WIAC teams went 16-3 in the opening week.
Rochester improved to 2-0 by defeating No. 21 Messiah 57-44 in the women’s final of UR’s Chuck Rensler tournament. Katie Titus and Callie McCulley combined for 33 points and 21 rebounds for the Yellowjackets.
No. 11 Tufts defeated Bates 79-55 in a non-conference meeting between NESCAC title hopefuls. All-American forward Maggie Russell rolled up 31 points and 17 rebounds for the Jumbos (1-0). The teams will meet again in Medford, Mass. during conference play on January 21.
Wisconsin Lutheran bounced back from its opening night loss to Calvin with a 64-56 win over DePauw at its Paul F. Kneuppel Classic. Sam Leisemann scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Warriors (1-1) who led for all but the first three minutes.