| Hope knocked Ohio Northern
out of the tournament in a battle of top three teams just 24 hours
into the tournament. Ohio Northern athletics photo |
|
| Widener kept Catholic's
starting backcourt to 8-for-27 shooting. CUA athletics photo by Matt Barrick |
In a matchup that could've been played at the same place two weeks later, No. 2 Hope defeated No. 3 Ohio Northern 63-48 in the DeVos Fieldhouse.
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Hope used a 12-2 run in the first half to take a 10-point halftime lead and led by double digits throughout the second half. Courtney Kust had 21 points for the Flying Dutchmen who outrebounded the Polar Bears 46-27.
Host sites for next weekend's games will be announced Sunday afternoon.
Another Top 10 team was eliminated when Widener edged No. 9 Catholic 57-56. After Jenny McGann was called for an offensive foul with 28 seconds left, Vanessa Hejnas answered with a layup with two seconds left as Widener rallied from a seven-point deficit with 6:50 left to stun the Cardinals in the DuFour Center.
St. Thomas completed an impressive weekend by beating No. 12 Cornell 54-53. Just as they did on Friday night against Calvin, the Tommies shut out the Rams down the stretch, holding Cornell scoreless for the final two minutes. In fact, neither team scored in the final 1:57.
The NESCAC went 3-0 in the second round with two home blowouts and a road win. No. 6 Amherst held the University of New England to 19 percent shooting and blasted the Nor'easters 71-34. No. 7 Tufts defeated No. 16 Babson 53-35 and No. 15 Williams won at Rochester 68-60. Claire Beacher had 22 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Ephs.
Both undefeated teams rolled through the second round. No. 5 Montclair State dumped No. 20 Lebanon Valley 71-51 by turning 25 Flying Dutch turnovers into 25 points. No. 1 DePauw took care of Maryville 78-51 for its 30th win of the season.
Whitman knocked off No. 13 Lewis and Clark 66-57 to advance to the Sweet 16 behind Sarah Anderegg's 18 points. No. 21 Washington U. won another nailbiter in Tennessee, this time eliminating host Rhodes 78-75. Lauren Avant had 29 points for the Lynx and Melissa Gilkey had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Bears, who will play DePauw in the Sweet 16 next Friday.
No. 22 UW-Whitewater topped No. 23 Carthage 71-51 and will meet No. 10 Simpson on Friday. The Storm eliminated UW-Stevens Point 88-84 by making 32 of 34 free throw attempts.
Smith couldn't follow up its impressive first round performance as the Pioneers lost to Ithaca 73-50. The Bombers shot 42 percent and outrebounded Smith by 23. Devin Shea scored a game-high 20 points to lead three players in double figures.