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| Elyce Knudsen surpassed 2,000 points and is just nine short of Millikin’s school record, held by two-time D3hoops.com first team All-American Lindsay Ippel. Millikin athletics photo |
Millikin’s star guard surpassed 2,000 career points, while UW-Whitewater picked up its first loss of the season, UW-Eau Claire knocked off UW-Oshkosh, Catholic survived at Susquehanna and Springfield upended Smith.
No. 16 Millikin used a strong second half to take down 11th ranked Illinois Wesleyan 94-77 to move into a first place tie with the Titans in the CCIW. And in that strong half, Elyce Knudsen scored 20 of her game-high 29 points, putting her past the 2,000-point milestone for her career. Knudsen shot 11-for-22 from the floor, 2-for-3 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the foul line, finishing the night with 2,008 points, 274 points ahead of the No. 2 active scorer in Division III women’s basketball, New Jersey City’s Damaris Rodriguez.
Millikin (16-3, 8-2 CCIW) shot 68 percent in the third quarter, while holding IWU (15-4, 8-2) to 19 percent from the floor, just 3-for-16. Those 10 minutes saw Millikin’s lead expand from 41-40 to 75-59.
Aleah Grundahl scored 27 and Kacie Carollo added 25, but the rest of the Warhawks scored just 14 points as No. 4 UW-Whitewater fell at UW-La Crosse 77-66 on Wednesday night. It is the Warhawks’ first loss of the season. UW-Whitewater was within one early in the fourth quarter after a Carollo 3-pointer, but Paige Schumann answered with a 3-pointer of her own with 5:26 left in the half, kicking off an 18-6 run that put the game out of reach. Lauryn Milne scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Eagles (10-8, 3-4 WIAC), while Kailee Meeker added 20. UW-La Crosse shot 6-for-10 from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
No. 8 Catholic improved to 18-0 as Keegan Douglas scored 24 points and Anna Scoblick added a double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds in a 69-63 win for the Cardinals at Susquehanna. Catholic (18-0, 10-0 Landmark) opened the second half on a 7-0 run. Julia Pinckert hit a 3 midway through the fourth quarter to cut Catholic’s lead to one and Susquehanna took the lead on a Carly George layup. But Sarah White found Kerry Flaherty for a 3-pointer, then picked up her sixth steal of the game the next time down the floor, forcing the River Hawks (11-7, 6-5) to foul. Catholic’s 18th win in a row is the longest winning streak in the program’s history.
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, 17th-ranked Smith rallied to take a fourth quarter lead, but Springfield came back to beat the Pioneers, 70-68. The Pride (14-4, 3-1 NEWMAC) shot 71% from the floor in the fourth quarter of the comeback win. Claire Finney put together the best game of her young career as a freshman, pouring in a team-best 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while Rachel Vinton turned in 15 points, including the game-winning bucket in the final seconds. With 5:47 to go, Jessie Ruffner scored in transition to put Smith (14-3, 3-1) on top 63-57, but over the next 2:42, Springfield scored seven unanswered points, including five from Jaelen Daubon. Trailing 65-64 with 61 seconds on the clock, Angela Czeremcha scored while being fouled, and Finney snagged the offensive board on a missed free throw to find Czeremcha for another bucket to give the Pride a three-point edge. Following a Smith timeout, Yamada came up with a huge triple to tie the game, but Vinton was not to be denied as she blew past her defender for an acrobatic finish with 17 seconds remaining for the game-winning bucket.
UW-Oshkosh will certainly be glad when UW-Eau Claire’s Zorn Arena closes after this season, as the No. 18 Titans shot just 15-for-59 from the floor (25%) and 6-for-35 from 3-point range in a 61-52 loss. The Blugolds (10-8, 4-3 WIAC) held Bridget Froehlke to 2-for-17 shooting, all of them from beyond the arc. Brianna Nelson and Kyla Overskei scored a game-high 18 points apiece for Eau Claire.
Juliana Park hit a clutch three-pointer with 13 seconds left to tie up the game at 60-60, then hit a driving layup at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, where Randolph-Macon went on to win 72-70 at Shenandoah . The Yellow Jackets (13-5, 10-2 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) started the overtime period on an 8-2 run to take a 70-64 lead with two minutes left. Terese Greene took matters into her own hands for the Hornets and scored the next six points, capped off by two free-throws with 34 seconds left with a 70-70 game. The third time was the charm for Park, as she drove to the bucket and made a contested lay-up with one second left on the clock to seal the win. Terese Greene led the Hornets (14-4, 9-2 ODAC) with 25 points.