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| Abby Cavallaro scored 25 points and the University of New England turned the CCC into a two-bid conference on Thursday night. File photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
Loras, John Carroll and the University of New England broke through against teams that beat them twice during the regular season in Thursday night's conference tournament games. On the men's side, both ranked WIAC teams fell and John Carroll ousted No. 21 Marietta from the OAC tournament.
- Conference tournament trackers: Men | Women
- Thursday men's scoreboard
- Thursday women's scoreboard
- Hoopsville: Listen to interviews with men's and women's committee chairs
- More men's headlines
- More women's headlines
No. 11 Loras rode Macenzie Kraemer's hot hand to a 74-61 win over Luther in the American Rivers Conference tournament semifinal. Kraemer scored 30 points and hit more threes on her own (five) than Luther did as a team (four). The Duhawks (23-3) jumped in front of the Norse with a 10-0 run late in the first period and led the rest of the way. Loras will face No. 8 Wartburg in the ARC tournament title game since the Knights handled Coe, 72-57.
No. 25 John Carroll held Ohio Northern to 33 percent shooting and just two free throw attempts, and the Blue Streaks defeated the Polar Bears, 64-49. John Carroll (23-4) got a double-double from Olivia Nagy (17 points, 13 rebounds) and shot 7 for 12 from three. The Blue Streaks will face No. 10 Baldwin Wallace for the OAC title on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets led wire-to-wire in a 72-41 win over Marietta.
The University of New England broke through against Western New England and busted someone else's bubble, as the Nor'easters upset the CCC's top seed, 62-53. Abby Cavallaro scored a career-high 25 points for UNE, which will head to Endicott for the conference title game. Western New England was ranked third in the most recent Northeast regional rankings, so the Golden Bears are in good position to get an at-large bid, turning the CCC into a two-bid conference.
The WIAC and Skyline conferences also lost their top two seeds in Thursday's semifinal action.
UW-Oshkosh built a 13-point halftime lead at No. 4 UW-Whitewater and cruised from there to an 81-65 win over the Warhawks. Leah Porath scored 22 points and Katie Ludwig added 15 more off the bench for the Titans (17-10). UW-La Crosse was also eliminated from the WIAC tournament, falling 59-56 to UW-Eau Claire on Hallee Hoeppner's three with five seconds left. Hoeppner made two free throws and extended the Blugolds lead to 56-53 with 25 seconds left. La Crosse called time out and got the ball to Dani Craig who hit a game-tying three with 19 seconds left. Eau Claire called a time out and set up the game-winning shot for Hoeppner.
No. 16 Augsburg got 26 points from Tamira McLemore and a double-double from Camryn Speese, and the Augies ousted No. 20 St. Thomas from the MIAC tournament, 73-61. Kaezha Wubben scored 11 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter for Augsburg (22-4). The Augies will get a third crack at No. 9 Bethel in the MIAC title game. The Royals (25-1) topped Gustavus Adolphus 70-62.
Thursday men's action
Marietta's time in the Ohio Athletic Conference ended at the hands of John Carroll for the second consecutive year.
The Pioneers (21-6) trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half before using a 17-4 run to get back within striking distance. But they went 0-for-4 from 3-point range in the final two minutes and John Carroll advanced with an 86-79 win. Marietta lost for the fourth time in the past eight games after a 17-2 start. Ryan Berger led the Blue Streaks (19-8) with 21 points.
"We have been a little inconsistent this year showing flashes of greatness," said Marietta coach Jon VanderWal. "I know this group can be really good. If we're fortunate enough to get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, I think we have a great chance of making a run."
Marietta is likely to make the NCAA Tournament even despite the loss, but its chances will be aided by Mount Union winning the conference tournament. The Purple Raiders (24-3) cruised past Heidelberg 97-66 behind 20 points from D'Vontay Friga.
DeAndre Bruton outdueled Eric Demers, and his Nichols team defeated Gordon by an 88-76 score to advance to the Commonwealth Coast Conference final. Burton scored 25 of his 40 in the first half as the Bison (19-8) mounted a 17-point lead. Nichols will face Endicott in the final for the third time in four years. Bruton 76 points in two conference tournament games brings his career point total to 2,245 points.
No. 6 UW-Platteville got 31 points from Quentin Shields, but that wasn't enough, as UW-Eau Claire defeated the Pioneers, 78-74. Platteville led 74-69 with 4:21 to play but couldn't score again. Cole Rabedeaux led the Blugolds with 22 points.
Defending national champions UW-Oshkosh kept its season going with a 76-68 win in overtime at home over No. 20 UW-La Crosse. Jack Flynn and Adam Fravert combined for 47 points and 25 rebounds for the Titans (18-8).
Only one of the two Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinal games got played on Thursday night, but it was a classic, as Albertus Magnus held on to defeat Lasell 95-94.
With the game delayed two hours because of a deadly accident that snarled I-84 coming into Connecticut, the homestanding Falcons rallied from an eight-point deficit with under three minutes left. Andrew Rice scored 12 of his 24 points off the bench in that span, including back-to-back three-point plays. Terry Dawkins followed by making two of four free throws, including one with 20 seconds left to give the Falcons (22-4) a 95-93 lead, but Lasell (10-17) had one final possession, in which Demerrick Warren was fouled shooting a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds left. Warren made the first, to cut the lead to one, but missed both of the next two and AMC got through to the final.
The Falcons will face the winner of Anna Maria and St. Joseph (Conn.) on Sunday.
Greenville will be thankful for a day between the SLIAC semifinals and final, as the Panthers outran Fontbonne en route to a 164-148 win. Austyn Contreras scored a team-high 21 points off the bench, including shooting an incredible 11-for-15 from 3-point range in the win. Marvin Bateman added in 8-for-14 shooting from beyond the arc on his way to 33 points as Greenville (14-12) placed six scorers in double figures. Dustin Bankowski added 13 assists. Greenville will face Webster, which defeated Blackburn 85-77 in the other conference semifinal, which were both played at Webster. In contrast, Fontbonne and Greenville scored as many points by the first 90 seconds of the second half.