Wednesday: How the west was won

More news about: Babson | Bethel | Hanover | Wartburg
Feb 19, 2020
How close have Wartburg and Loras been this season? The combined score after two games is 157-156 with each team winning on the other's floor.
Wartburg athletics file photo


Two exciting conference races in the west region effectively ended tonight with big wins by No. 8 Wartburg and No. 11 Bethel. Meanwhile Transylvania tripped, Babson clinched and the USA South Athletic Conference tipped off its tournament.

No. 8 Wartburg secured a share of the ARC regular season title and home court in the conference tournament with a 79-76 overtime win at No. 10 Loras. The Duhawks had a chance to win the game in regulation when Mackenzie Kramer hit a jumper to put Loras ahead, 68-66, in the closing seconds of regulation. But Wartburg's Payton Draper took the ball on a fast break and got fouled with no tie remaining. She made both free throws and sent the game to overtime.

Draper struck again in the extra period, scoring four straight points to give the Knights a two possession lead at 74-70. The Duhawks pulled within two a couple of times but couldn't pull even before Wartburg put the game away at the foul line.

Wartburg's win gives the Knights (21-3, 13-2 ARC) a one-game lead on the Duhawks (21-3, 12-3) with only one game left. Wartburg can secure the regular season title outright with a win at Dubuque on Saturday and appears to own the tie-breaker over Loras by virtue of its 2-0 record against third place Luther.

No. 11 Bethel clinched the MIAC regular season title for the first time since 1994 by defeating No. 14 Augsburg, 71-55. Taite Anderson once again paced the Royals with 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting and 12 rebounds. Makenna Pearson added 23 points and eight rebounds for Bethel (23-1, 18-1 MIAC), which completed an impressive run of consecutive wins over the teams that will finish second, third and fourth in the conference standings. 

Hanover and All-American Alexis Nall denied No. 9 Transylvania an undefeated run through the HCAC as the Panthers picked off the Pioneers, 64-57. Nall tallied 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Hanover (17-6, 16-1 HCAC), which has 12 straight at home dating back to last season. Transylvania (22-2, 16-1 HCAC) lost its first game since Nov. 29. In other HCAC action, wins by Anderson over Manchester and Rose-Hulman over Earlham created a five-way tie for fifth place in a conference with only six playoff spots. Those teams sit one game back of fourth-place Bluffton and one game ahead of last-place Manchester in the HCAC standings.

The rest of the Top 25 teams in action won on Wednesday night. No. 2 Hope and No. 23 Trine tuned up for their Saturday showdown by trouncing Olivet (99-51) and Kalamazoo (94-44) respectively. No. 4 UW-Whitewater claimed the WIAC title for itself with a 75-71 win over UW-Oshkosh. The Warhawks' front court of Aleah Grundahl and Johanna Taylor combined for 35 points and 11 rebounds.

Outside the Top 25, Babson topped Springfield 60-56 on the strength of a 21-point night by Katherine Tamulionis. The Beavers, who are ranked seventh in the just-released Northeast regional rankings, improved to 17-7, 9-0 in the NEWMAC. Springfield (17-7, 8-1) sits one game back with one game to play.

The first conference tournament of the season tipped off on Wednesday night with the opening round of the USA South Athletic Conference's playoffs. Greensboro battled past Mary Baldwin, 90-78 in overtime while Huntingdon, Averett and Maryville advanced to the quarterfinals with home wins.

For more from Wednesday's Division III men's basketball action, check out the list of headlines from game stories posted to D3hoops.com by Division III schools.