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| Gianna Gotti led Brooklyn to its fourth CUNYAC title in five season on Friday night. File photo by Damion Reid, Brooklyn College athletics |
The first two automatic bids to the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament were clinched within a few miles of each other on Friday night when New York University and Brooklyn wrapped up the UAA and CUNYAC titles. Elsewhere, Pacific popped someone’s bubble, UW-Eau Claire rallied past UW-Stout in the WIAC semifinals, and both ASC semifinals had buzzer beaters.
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The Violets hit eight 3-pointers in the first half and led 51-33 at the break. A strong third period in which NYU outscored the Judges by seven put the game out of reach. Jenny Walker led four Violets in double figures with 20 points and seven rebounds. New York University wins the UAA’s automatic bid for the second consecutive season. The UAA is the only one in Division III that awards its AQ to the regular season champion.
About an hour later, Brooklyn punched its ticket to the Tournament with a 64-58 win over John Jay in the CUNYAC championship. The Bulldogs took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter after Erika James hit a three and Gianna Gotti converted three free throws. John Jay battled all the way back within four points when Ayanna Edwards’ jumper cut the deficit to 62-58. Brooklyn shut out John Jay the rest of the way and sealed its third consecutive CUNYAC title.
CUNYAC MVP Gotti finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals in 36 minutes for Brooklyn (19-7).
In semifinal action, No. 13 Trine jumped out to a big lead and then held off No. 22 Calvin 66-61 to advance to the MIAA title game.
The Thunder grabbed an 18-7 lead after one period and maintained that 11-point advantage into halftime. In the third quarter, Sydney Cleary caught fire for Calvin and scored 12 points with perfect shooting from the field (3 for 3), three-point line (2 for 2) and foul line (4 for 4). The Knights briefly took the lead twice in the fourth quarter, but Makayla Ardis immediately answered with a three for Trine and then added she added a three-point play two possessions later that put Trine in front 63-58.
Ardis finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Trine (21-5). Gabby Timmer added one more double-double to her career, posting 19 points and 13 rebounds for Calvin (21-6).
Pacific busted a bubble for someone when the Boxers eliminated No. 20 Puget Sound from the NWC tournament, 64-49. Brilie Kovaloff scored 13 points in the first 14 minutes of the game and staked Pacific to a 29-16 lead midway through the second period. The Loggers used a 6-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to halve the 12-point deficit to six. Kovaloff’s final bucket of the night pushed the Boxers’ lead back to eight and Pacific wasn’t threatened the rest of the way.
Kovaloff tallied 20 points for Pacific (18-7), which will face Whitman in the NWC title game on Saturday. Puget Sound (21-5) were third in this week’s Region 10 rankings and could be the first team to be considered for an at-large bid from that region.
UW-Eau Claire came all the way back from a 19-point deficit and beat UW-Stout in the closing seconds of their WIAC semifinal game, 68-67.
The Blue Devils opened the second half with a Raegan Sorensen jumper that put them ahead, 46-25. The Blugolds dominated the rest of that period and trimmed UW-Stout's lead to seven entering the fourth quarter.
The Blue Devils still had an eight-point lead with 2:21 to play when UW-Eau Claire ripped off seven straight, capped by Kylie Morgen's three-pointer. UW-Stout missed two free throws and the Blugolds eventually forced a jump ball that gave them the possession. Tyra Boettcher drove into the lane in the closing seconds, waited for the UW-Stout defender to jump past her, and then laid in the game-winning basket. The Blue Devils had one more chance to win the game but their inbounds pass was tipped away.
Jessie Ruden led UW-Eau Claire (19-7) with 14 points and nine rebounds. Sorensen poured in 24 points for UW-Stout (18-8), which appeared at the bottom of the Region 9 rankings this week.
In the ASC tournament, East Texas Baptist erased an 11-point second-half deficit and eliminated Mary Hardin-Baylor in overtime, 68-64. After falling behind 46-35 late in the third period, the Tigers came all the way back to tie the game at 55 on Jade Goynes’ three pointer with 1:10 left in regulation. Mary Hardin-Baylor went back in front on Lauren Baker’s layup with three seconds left. The Tigers called time out to advance the ball and got a shot off that missed, but Mollie Dittmar scored off the miss at the buzzer to tie the game.
After five lead changes, Goynes’ three-point play gave East Texas Baptist the lead for good with 61 seconds left in overtime. The teams traded turnovers, then Goynes grabbed a rebound off the Crusaders’ missed shot and was fouled. She dropped in two more throws and Mary Hardin-Baylor missed its final three-point attempt.
Goynes finished with 16 points for East Texas Baptist (20-6), which swept all three games from Mary Hardin-Baylor this season.
The other half of the ASC bracket also produced a thriller as Texas-Dallas upset No. 8 Hardin-Simmons, 73-71.
Texas-Dallas pulled even with the Cowgirls on Blythe Williams' layup midway through the fourth quarter and the teams traded leads the rest of the way. The lead changed hands five times in a 57-second span with Hardin-Simmons going in front 70-69 on Paris Kiser's layup. Trystan Clark put the Comets back in front with two free throws with 1:59 to play and then Hardin-Simmons split a pair of free throws to retie the game at 71.
Texas-Dallas regained possession with four seconds left by forcing a jump ball and called time out. After the Comets inbounded the ball, Hardin-Simmons briefly knocked it away. But Jordan Maxwell scooped it up, spun in the lane and floated home the game-winning shot as time expired.
Hardin-Simmons (23-3) will take one of the 20 at-large bids to the NCAA tournament while Texas-Dallas (18-9) will face East Texas Baptist for the ASC title on the Cowgirls' floor tomorrow night.
One of Division III's longest postseason streaks came to an end on Friday night when Ohio Wesleyan defeated DePauw, 79-66, in the NCAC tournament semifinals. That loss ends the Tigers' run of 18 consecutive NCAA Tournaments dating back to 2003. Ohio Wesleyan will face Oberlin for the NCAC's automatic bid since the Yeowomen topped NCAC top seed Wittenberg, 63-57.