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| Shayley Vesel helped stem the tide for St. Mary's (Minn.), knocking down back-to-back buckets early in the fourth quarter to keep Bethel at bay. d3photography.com file photo by Caleb Williams |
St. Mary's (Minn.) pulled off one of the most unexpected upsets of the season in Division III women's basketball, as the Cardinals led wire-to-wire in defeating previously unbeaten Bethel, the No. 5 team in the country. Elsewhere, No. 14 Trinity (Texas) seized complete control of the SCAC while No. 17 Scranton and Haverford pulled into first place ties in their conferences.
St. Mary's (Minn.) pulled off the upset of the season so far, as the Cardinals led the entire game and defeated No. 5 Bethel 77-69 on Saturday. The Cardinals, who entered the game just 2-18 on the season, started off the contest on a 15-1 run. Bethel, which was undefeated and 20-0 at the start of the day, managed just four shots from the floor and turned the ball over three times as the Cardinals built their big lead.
Taite Anderson hit a jumper to cut the Royals' deficit to 10 with 7:55 left, but both teams went on a long scoring drought, with Bethel missing on multiple chances to cut the lead to single digits, including missing four free throws. Isabel Bettag hit a 3-pointer to push the Cardinals' lead back to 13 with 3:32 left in the half. St. Mary's led by nine at the half.
The Cardinals started the second half on an 11-4 run to keep Bethel at bay, and led by as many as 17 after a Brooklyn Paulson 3 with 6:04 left in the third quarter. But the Royals began to chip away, and got as close as 68-64 after Hayley Parker's 3-pointer with 2:24 to play. But Shayley Vesel answered with a 3 of her own after a Bethel time out and St. Mary's made all six of its free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure the victory.
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ICYMI - Headlines from this week |
The loss means Tufts and Hope are the only two remaining undefeated teams in Division III women's basketball. Tufts cruised to a 78-59 win vs. Connecticut College thanks to 27 points from Erica DeCandido, while Hope made it look even easier, obliterating Adrian in a 96-28 victory. All 15 Hope players who appeared in the game scored, with nobody playing more than 18 minutes.
No. 14 Trinity (Texas) defeated No. 22 Austin, sweeping the Kangaroos and all-but-clinching first in the SCAC. The Tigers (18-3, 13-1 SCAC) got 75 points from their starters, with Abby Holland (28 points) and Emily Daniel (22 points) leading the charge. Trinity scored 28 points off Austin turnovers and now effectively has a three-game lead over the 'Roos with only four games to play.
No. 4 DePauw survived on the road for the second day in a row, following up Friday's overtime win at Allegheny with a three-point win at Hiram. Sydney Kopp scored a game-high 26 points and added 12 rebounds in the win. It's the 17th consecutive win for the Tigers. Mya Shannon hit a jumper with 1:34 left to help the Tigers retake the lead and added two free throws with 11 seconds left to secure the 65-62 victory.
For the second Saturday in a row, No. 17 Scranton avenged an earlier loss in conference, this time beating Catholic, 65-52. Makenzie Mason led the Lady Royals with 21 points and Emily Sheehan added a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds). Scranton (18-3, 8-2 Landmark) is tied for first with the Cardinals with four games remaining.
Haverford snapped Gettysburg's 19-game winning streak and knocked off the 19th-ranked Bullets, 54-51. Gettysburg (19-2, 15-1 Centennial Conference) tied up the back-and-forth game when Carly Rice hit a three-pointer with 1:42 remaining. After the teams traded scoreless possessions, Anna-Sophia Capizzi gave Haverford (18-3, 15-1) a second-chance bucket with 42 seconds left. Julianna Clark's free throws made it a four-point game and the Fords were able to hold on from there. Capizzi scored a game high 20 points while Rice led Gettysburgh with 14.
No. 25 Texas-Dallas seized control of the ASC East and hosting rights for the conference tournament with a 70-52 victory over East Texas Baptist. Raenett Hughes gave the Comets the lead with an 8-1 run on her own in the first period and Texas-Dallas didn't trail again. She finished with 18 points. Texas-Dallas (17-4, 11-1 ASC) has a one-game lead on the Tigers with four to play. Each team has one game left with the ASC West's top teams with Texas-Dallas playing Hardin-Simmons and East Texas Baptist playing No. 18 Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Hannah Fox scored a game-high 16 points and added seven rebounds as No. 9-ranked Amherst followed up its Friday night win against No. 3 Bowdoin with a 53-36 win vs. Colby. The Mammoths made just three of their first 12 shots, but took a 30-18 lead into halftime, holding Colby (7-14, 2-7) to 1-for-9 shooting in the second quarter. Amherst improved to 19-3, 6-2 in NESCAC play.
Macy Hatlestad scored 14 points to lead five Tommies scoring in double figures in Saturday afternoon's 79-53 victory over visiting Concordia-Moorhead. No. 20-ranked St. Thomas (17-4, 13-3 MIAC) has won 10 of its past 11 games. Allie Spaulding added 13 points for the Tommies.
The WIAC race is basically down to two teams after Saturday's results. No. 6 UW-Whitewater handled UW-River Falls, 71-45, behind 16-point games from Becky Raeder and Rebekah Schumacher. The Warhawks (19-2, 9-1 WIAC) have at least a three-game lead on everyone in the conference except UW-Eau Claire, which won at UW-Stevens Point, 72-69.
No. 23 UW-La Crosse dropped out of the race with an 85-76 loss to UW-Oshkosh. Nikki Arneson scored 33 points, 24 of them in the first half, in helping the Titans to the win. Arneson shot 9-for-11 from the floor, 5-for-6 from 3-point range and 10-for-11 from the line. The Eagles (15-6, 6-4 WIAC) led as late as 3:34 in the game and were tied with 2:43 left before Karsyn Rueth hit a 3. The Titans (12-9, 5-5) were a perfect 12-for-12 from the line the rest of the way to pull away.
Outside the Top 25, Nicole Mallard's layup with one second left lifted Rowan over Montclair State, 67-65, and gave the Profs first place in the NJAC. The Red Hawks took a 62-56 lead with 4:37 to play on Kayla Bush's jump shot but Montclair State then went cold for four minutes. Rowan (19-3, 13-2 NJAC) regained the lead on four free throws from Eliana Santana in the closing minute. The game looked like it was headed to overtime when Nickie Carter hit a three for Montclair State with five seconds left, tying the game at 62. Rowan called timeout to advance the ball, and then Santana found Mallard for the game-winner.
The future of the CAC is in flux but the present looks very much like the past, with Christopher Newport in control again. The Captains won at York (Pa.) 68-49 and maintain at least a two-game lead on the rest of the conference. Christopher Newport hit nine 3-pointers, three of them coming from Sandra Fan who had 13 points and five rebounds.
Lexie Hamilton notched her second triple-double in seven days in Colby-Sawyer's 81-51 win at Lasell. Hamilton had 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds for the Chargers (14-4, 4-4 GNAC). Shyla Osmond of Albertus Magnus leads Division III women's basketball with three triple-doubles.
For more from Saturday's Division III women's basketball action, check out the list of headlines from game stories posted to D3hoops.com by Division III schools.