| No. 4 Quentin Shields had a big night again for No. 4 UW-Platteville. Wisconsin-Platteville athletics file photo |
The top five teams in the first regular season poll won on Wednesday night, headlined by wins for UW-Platteville and Randolph-Macon. On the women's side, No. 1 Hope dominated its arch rival, but No. 4 Bowdoin and No. 5 Wheaton (Ill.) fell to their foes.
- Wednesday men's scoreboard
- Wednesday women's scoreboard
- Around the Nation: Back for an extra year
- First Top 25 released: Men | Women
- More headlines: Men | Women
No. 4 UW-Platteville opened WIAC play with a road win over No. 7 UW-La Crosse in a battle between two 7-0 teams. After Henry Noone's three-pointer put UW-La Crosse in front 51-47 midway through the second half, the Pioneers responded with an 11-0 run bookended by Kyle Tuma scores. Seth Anderson's three-point play broke the Eagles' scoring drought with five minutes elft, but Quentin Shields followed with a jumper and Platteville held onto a two-possession lead the rest of the game.
Shields and Tuma combined for 41 points and a near-perfect 15-for-16 showing from the foul line. The Pioneers (8-0, 1-0 WIAC) outrebouned La Crosse 38-25 and took 13 more free throws. Anderson scored 23 points for UW-La Crosse (7-1, 0-1 WIAC) whose next two games come against No. 10 UW-Oshkosh and No. 14 Trine.
Newly-minted No. 1 Yeshiva kept rolling through the Skyline with an 80-66 win over Farmingdale State. Eitan Halpert scored 22 points and Ryan Turrell added 21 more for the Maccabees who are already 9-0, 6-0 in conference.
No. 3 Randolph-Macon bounced back from Sunday's loss at Christopher Newport with a 65-53 victory over Virginia Wesleyan in the ODAC opener for both teams. The Yellow Jackets (7-1, 1-0 ODAC) only scored 19 points in the first half, but they errupted for 46 in the second, shooting 78 percent (18 for 23) in that period. Buzz Anthony scored 23 points and Miles Mallory had a double-double for Randolph-Macon.
Slotted in around those two teams, No. 2 Illinois Wesleyan roughed up Chicago 83-50 and No. 5 Wheaton (Ill.) tipped Carthage 65-64 in Kenosha, Wis. In that latter game, the Firebirds had the ball down one with 7 seconds left but turned it over on an attempted entry pass to the post. Wheaton missed the first free throw by accident and the second on purpose, leaving Carthage without enough time to get a meaningful shot off. Nyameye Adom posted 24 points and seven rebounds for the Thunder (7-0, 1-0 CCIW).
Calvin got 22 points apiece from Luke Morrison and Thad Shymanski, and the Knights crowned No. 7 Elmhurst, 75-54. Morrison hit four 3-pointers and Shymanski went 10 for 13 from the field for Calvin (5-2).
Four starters reached double figures and Levi Borchert had a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds) for No. 10 Oshkosh, as the Titans beat UW-Eau Claire, 69-60. UW-Whitewater and UW-Stout also won their WIAC openers over UW-Stevens Point and UW-River Falls respectively.
No. 25 DeSales shook off a slow start and shut down Wilkes to beat the Colonels, 65-61, as the MAC Freedom began conference action. The teams combined for only four points in the final five minutes, and DeSales (7-0, 1-0 MAC Freedom) had all of them, snapping the 61-all tie.
Women: Bates drops Bowdoin, Carthage clips Wheaton
| Meghan Graff led Bates to its first win over Bowdoin in a long time. File photo by Anna Gouveia, Bates College |
The CBB rivalry got off to a surprising start as Bates beat No. 4 Bowdoin, 74-70, in Brunswick, Maine. The Bobcats led from start to finish, going out in front 21-8 at the end of the first quarter. Meghan Graff scored 30 points for Bates (5-1) which had not beaten Bowdoin since January 12, 2013. This game was part of the CBB rivalry that also includes Colby, but does not count in the NESCAC standings. The teams will meet again on Bates' home court on January 29, 2022.
Carthage held No. 5 Wheaton (Ill.) to more turnovers (20) than field goals (16), and the Firebirds burned the Thunder, 50-39. Hannah Swider and Annie Tate reached double figures for Wheaton (7-1, 0-1 CCIW) but the rest of the Thunder shot 6 for 30. Lauren Hermann scored 14 points and hit two 3-pointers for Carthage (4-2, 1-0 CCIW).
No. 1 Hope fared better against its arch rival, as the Flying Dutch blasted Calvin 91-42 behind a career-high 19 points for Olivia Voskuil and a 49-9 reserves scoring advantage. Hope extended its winning streak to 51 games, the seventh longest in Division III history, and ran its winning streak against Calvin to 12 games.
After jumping from no votes in the preseason poll to No. 11 in the country, UW-Eau Claire showed its hot start is a not a fluke.
The Blugolds bested No. 20 UW-Oshkosh 70-57 and picked up a key early win in what will likely be a tight WIAC race. UW-Eau Claire (7-0, 1-0) held the Titans to five points in a low-scoring first quarter. Oshkosh settled in and pulled even at 20 before the Blugolds hit three consecutive three-pointers and retook the lead for good. Jessie Ruden had 21 points and six field goals, all of them from three. The Blugolds as a team went 12 for 19 from the behind the arc.
St. Benedict got a three-pointer from Sophia Jonas and a couple of late free throws, and the Blazers held off St. Mary's (Minn.), 59-56. The St. Benedict starting backcourt combined for 37 points and Jonas added 11 off the bench.
Washington and Jefferson edged Westminster (Pa.), 60-59, when freshman guard Meghan Dryburgh drained a free throw with 0.5 second left. Fellow first year Adalynn Cherry led the Presidents with 16 points.