|
| Scranton celebrates the Landmark Conference championship after holding off Catholic on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Timothy R. Dougherty, doubleeaglephotography.com |
The shortened seasons in the OAC, MIAA, Landmark and Little East Conference came to an end on Saturday as John Carroll, Hope, Scranton and Rhode Island College wrapped up championships and, potentially, their seasons.
- Saturday's scoreboard: Men | Women
- Saturday's men's recap
- More men's news releases | Women's news releases
The third time was not the charm for No. 3 Trine, as No. 1 Hope defeated the Thunder 64-54 in the MIAA tournament championship game. This third battle between the highly ranked teams finished somewhere between Hope's comfortable win on February 3 and its narrow victory on February 24.
Trine led for much of the first quarter until Hope closed the period with an 10-1 run sparked by Meg Morehouse's 3-pointer. Courtney Barnes followed that shot with four straight points and Kasey Desmit capped the run and the first quarter with a 3-pointer. Another Desmit 3-pointer pushed the Flying Dutch's lead to 32-15 midway through the second quarter. Hope maintained its double-digit lead until Trine opened the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run that cut the deficit to 51-46. After Claire Baguley split a pair of free throws for Hope, Ella McKinney added a three-point play, pushing Hope's lead back to nine. The Flying Dutch led by at least two possessions the rest of the way and had a chance to put all nine of their seniors in the game in the closing minute.
Kenedy Schoonveld scored 11 points and entered top-10 career scoring list for Hope (16-0). Tara Bieniewicz led Trine (14-3) with 19 points.
The victory caps an undefeated season for Hope's stellar senior class. The NCAA Division III basketball tournament was cancelled and so far no firm plans have been announced for a postseason alternative.
No. 13 John Carroll also completed a three-game sweep of Baldwin Wallace with the last one coming in Saturday's OAC title game by a count of 83-71. The Blue Streaks jumped out to a 23-9 lead after one period, but Baldwin Wallace pulled within three, 39-36, on Sydney Snyder's three in the opening minute of the second half. John Carroll hit four 3-pointers in the period and regained a double digit lead, 65-51. Olivia Nagy closed out the game with 11 points, three rebounds and three blocks in the fourth quarter alone. She finished with a triple-double -- 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocks.
John Carroll completes its season with a 13-2 mark. Lilly Edwards and Megan Scheibelhut scored 16 apiece for Baldwin Wallace (10-5).
Scranton entered the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead and still led by double digits with under four minutes to play. But Maddie Hartnett's three with 3:52 left was the Lady Royals' last field goal and that opened the door for Catholic's rally. The Cardinals got three free throws, a three-pointer from Erin Doherty and a layup from Rachel Bussanich to pull within 55-52. After an empty Scranton possession, Doherty was fouled and missed both free throws. The Cardinals fouled Scranton twice to put the Lady Royals in the bonus and Emily Shurina split a pair of free throws. Amanda Johnson hit a three for Catholic with two seconds left but Scranton ran out the final two seconds for the win.
Hartnett led Scranton (7-1) with 16 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc. Catholic (7-3) got 39 points combined from Doherty and Johnson.
Rhode Island College finished a perfect season with a 50-38 win over Keene State. Sophia Guerrier notched a double-double (19 points, 12 rebounds) for the Anchorwomen who went 10-0 against Little East foes. Rhode Island College, which also reached the LEC title game last season, won its two tournament games by a combined score of 122-58 against two teams that went a combined 6-26 in conference last season.
There is no tournament in the MIAC, so St. Thomas' regular season finale against Bethel doubled as the Tommies' final game as a Division III women's basketball program. The Tommies went out in style, beating Bethel 67-54. Kaia Porter who missed most of last season with an injury led St. Thomas with 20 points. St. Thomas will begin its transition to Division I next season.
The CCIW tournament played down to its final two teams and it will be Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan that play in the title game. First year phenom Elyce Knudsen scored 24 points on 9 for 18 shooting and Millikin rolled over Carroll, 90-68. Kendall Sosa had more than half of Illinois Wesleyan's points, scoring 28 in the Titans' 53-42 victory over North Park. Jayla Johnson had a double-double (20 points, 14 rebounds) but North Park shot below 30 percent from the field and went 3 for 18 from three.
Benedictine scored 11 of the game's first 12 points against Aurora and defeated the Spartans, 72-64, to punch its ticket to the NACC championship game. The Eagles (6-0) outscored Aurora 46-18 in the paint.
No. 9 Texas-Dallas finished the regular season with a flourish, besting No. 7 Hardin-Simmons, 88-80. Kelly Skinner flirted with a triple double for the Comets, tallying 19 points, 11 rebounds and two assists. Parris Parmer posted 24 points and 12 rebounds for Hardin-Simons. No. 2 East Texas Baptist mashed Louisiana College 77-45 to complete a 23-0 romp through the regular season. The Tigers held Louisiana College to more turnovers (20) than field goals (15).