Women's wrap: On second thought

More news about: Baldwin Wallace | Christopher Newport | Simpson
Jan 29, 2022
 
Cassie Nash scored four of her game-high 16 points in overtime to keep the Storm rolling through the A-R-C.
File photo by Loras College athletics
 

No. 5 Simpson and No. 14 Baldwin Wallace beat No. 12 Wartburg and No. 19 Marietta for the second time this season, while second-ranked Christopher Newport made its case to be the top-ranked team in the country in Saturday's Division III women's basketball.

Simpson’s Regan Freeland hit a game-tying three pointer at the buzzer to force overtime at No. 12 Wartburg, and the fifth-ranked Storm pulled out a 78-73 victory that basically ended the A-R-C title chase.

It looked like Wartburg would close out Simpson in regulation when Jaedon Murphy found Brea Dillavou for three, giving the Knights a 66-62 lead in the final minute of regulation. The Knights led 68-63 with nine seconds left when the Storm got a quick layup from Anna Wanek and Wartburg missed its next two free throws. That allowed the Storm to call timeout, advance the ball and find Regan Freeland who hit the shot to force overtime.

In overtime, Simpson took a four-point lead on back-to-back layups by Cassie Nash with 26 seconds left. Murphy scored with 15 seconds left to cut the Storm’s lead in half and Simpson split its free throws, giving Wartburg a chance to tie the game. The Knights had a three-point look to the game, but missed the shot and Simpson iced the game at the foul line.

Simpson (17-1, 9-0 A-R-C) extended its winning streak to 14 games and finished the regular-season sweep of Wartburg. The Storm effectively have a four-game lead in the loss column on Wartburg (14-4, 7-3 A-R-C) and Loras with six games to play since Simpson swept both.

No. 14 Baldwin Wallace posted another convincing win over No. 19 Marietta, this time going into Ban Johnson Arena and beating the Pioneers, 74-48. The Yellow Jackets scored 28 points off 24 Marietta turnovers and held the Pioneers to 1-for-12 shooting from three. Lilly Edwards had 20 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for Baldwin Wallace (13-3, 10-1 OAC), which beat Marietta by 25 points earlier this season.

No. 2 Christopher Newport made its case for the top spot in the national rankings by rolling past Mary Washington, 72-50. The Captains broke the game open with a 20-4 second quarter that gave them a 20-point halftime lead. Anaya Simmons had another strong game, tallying 15 points in 14 minutes for Christopher Newport. The Captains (17-0) held the Eagles to 18 field goals against 17 turnovers.

A few days after having its long winning streak snapped, No. 1 Hope rallied past Albion, 51-38, and started another. The Britons held a six-point lead early in the third quarter, but Hope pulled even at 33 and then Kate Majerus hit a three to give the Flying Dutch the lead entering the final period.  The Flying Dutch (17-1, 9-1 MIAA) outscored Albion 15-4 in that quarter for the win.

No. 3 Transylvania took care of Bluffton, 63-36, and moved one big step closer to an undefeated regular season. The Pioneers held Bluffton to two field goals in the second half and four Transy starters scored double figures, led by Madison Kellione with 15 points. Transylvania (16-0, 8-0 HCAC) has already swept the second and third place teams in its conference.

The other two undefeated teams stayed that way with lopsided wins. No. 17 Wisconsin Lutheran held Rockford to 15 first-half points and rolled over the Regents, 70-39. The Warriors (15-0, 11-0 NACC) held Rockford's starters to 11 points on 5-for-26 shooting. Wisconsin Lutheran used 19 players and 12 of the scored. Webster continued its romp through the SLIAC with a 108-72 home win over Fontbonne. Naomi Johnson scored 25 points with seven 3-pointers for the Gorlocks (15-0, 6-0 SLIAC).

No. 23 St. John Fisher improved to 9-1 in the Empire 8 with a 78-73 win at home over Rochester-region rival Nazareth. First-year guard Sidney Tomasso scored 21 points in 38 minutes for St. John Fisher, and the Cardinals outscored the Golden Flyers 40-22 in the paint.

No. 24 Messiah won its 10th game in a row and avenged its last loss in a big way by dominating York (Pa.), 74-49. The Falcons outrebounded the Spartans by 11 and outscored them 24-6 from three. Leah Springer rolled up 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for Messiah (16-2, 9-1 MACC), which now has a half-game lead on the Spartans in the MAC Commonwealth standings.

No. 18 East Texas Baptist beat Texas-Dallas 61-47 and leap-frogged the Comets for second place in the ASC. The Tigers (14-3, 10-2 ASC) held Texas-Dallas to five points in the first quarter and 21 points in the first half. Bridget Upton led ETBU with 13 points.

Another set of Texas-based Tigers also posted a big win on Saturday. Trinity (Texas) went to Texas Lutheran and beat the Bulldogs, 69-56, for its 15th win in a row. The Tigers' front court of Ashlyn Milton and Hailey Coleman combined for 35 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks. Trinity (16-2, 9-0 SCAC) leads TLU by 1.5 games and will host the Bulldogs on February 9th.

The Battle of the Red Dragons went to Cortland as the hosts beat the visitors from SUNY-Oneonta, 77-65. Cortland (14-2, 10-0 SUNYAC) hit 12 three-pointers, led by Nyia Longwood who had four of them.

Maybe 13 is unlucky after all. Augsburg saw its 13-game winning streak come to an end as the Auggies stumbled at Carleton, 59-49. Jasmine Choi notched a double-double for the Pipers (19 points, 14 rebounds) who improved to 6-12, 5-10 in the MIAC.

The longest game of the day came in Western New York where NVU-Johnson outlasted Cazenovia 88-84 in triple-overtime. The teams combined for 185 field goal attempts and 129 rebounds. Paris Atuahene just missed a triple-double for NVU-Johnson, finishing with 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 37 minutes. Cazenovia basically used six players and Riley Miner and Mackenzie Bennett played all 55 minutes for the Wildcats.