Season's busiest day sees 14 games

More news about: Concordia (Wis.) | East Texas Baptist | Hanover | Hanover | Hardin-Simmons
Jan 09, 2021
Manchester athletics photo
 

Teams such as Hanover, Franklin, Concordia (Wis.) and Loras took the floor for the first time this season, while the Hardin-Simmons men improved to 7-2 and the East Texas Baptist women improved to 10-0 in Division III basketball action on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021.

A small number of teams competed in Division III basketball before the new year, competing in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, but as the calendar has turned to January, more programs are beginning to get their teams on the floor. That includes Hanover, where the men and women each got their seasons going in a victorious fashion, with the women defeating Manchester and the men edging Franklin. The women led practically wire-to-wire, holding off a late charge to defeat Manchester 69-65. It was Manchester's sixth loss in six games. Savannah Courtney scored a team-high 15 for Hanover, with Addie Gardner adding 11 off the bench for the Panthers. Meanwhile, Isaac Hibbard scored a game-high 22 points for the Hanover men's team, including the game-winning bucket as he stole an inbounds pass and took it the length of the floor for a layup with 2.7 seconds left for a 76-74 win.

The East Texas Baptist women improved to 10-0, using a 13-3 run in the second quarter to blow the game open and cruise to a 77-50 win against Hardin-Simmons. The Tigers forced 22 Cowgirl turnovers and converted them into 26 points. Bridget Upton led a balanced Tiger attack with 17 points, while Brittany Schnabel had 11 points to pace the Cowgirls and Hallie Edmondson added 10. Keilee Burke hauled in 17 rebounds for HSU. But the Hardin-Simmons men got a measure of revenge as Chase Cobb tipped in a rebound with three seconds left to give Hardin-Simmons the 84-83 win at ETBU. ETBU had taken the lead with 8.3 seconds on a steal and layup by Logan Blow. Steven Quinn's shot for the win rimmed out but Cobb was right there for the putback. Aaron Gregg's desperation attempt fell off the rim for ETBU. Quinn tied his career-high with 30 points to lead four Cowboys in double figures, while Aaron Gregg had 22 points and 10 assists for ETBU.

Concordia (Wis.) got 22 points from Emily Hafemann, including 11-for-14 shooting from the foul line as the Falcons defeated Loras 64-58 in the season opener for both teams. CUW held Loras to 1-for-17 shooting in the third quarter (5.9%) in rallying from a halftime deficit.

With Louisiana College down ten in the second half, senior Kae'ron Baker put his team on his back, scoring 24 points in the second half alone to will the Wildcats to a 79-73 win over Sul Ross State. The tale of the match-up with the Lobos was slow starts and big recoveries by the Wildcats as Sul Ross started both halves with big runs, only to see LC pull it back to lead at the buzzer. Baker's 35 point outburst tied his career high. Louisiana College improved to 2-0.