Top 10 takedowns

More news about: Carthage | Rhodes | Smith | St. Thomas
Mar 01, 2013
Jenna Dockter's 3-pointer lifted St. Thomas past Calvin in the first round.
d3photography.com file photo by Ryan Coleman

Three teams lost ranked in the Top 10 lost in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, including St. Thomas' dramatic 64-62 win over No. 4 Calvin.

In a rematch from last year's Elite 8, fourth-ranked Calvin built a 62-55 lead with two minutes to play. The Tommies shut out the Knights the rest of the way and Jenna Dockter drained a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to give St. Thomas the victory.

St. Thomas also eliminated Calvin from the NCAA tournament last season. Calvin's Carissa Verkaik finished her great career with another great performance, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. The Tommies will play No. 14 Cornell which took care of St. Scholastica 76-54.

The most surprising score of the night came from Maine where Smith rolled over No. 8 Southern Maine 80-58. The Pioneers, who entered the tournament with no Top 25 votes after losing by 12 in the NEWMAC semifinals, shot 50 percent from the field (34-for-68) with four starters reaching double figures.

Smith will play No. 25 Ithaca tomorrow night on a neutral court. The Bombers dropped Colby-Sawyer 56-43.

No. 23 Carthage bounced No. 7 Thomas More from the tournament, 72-55. The Lady Reds' reserves outscored the Saints' bench 30-8. Stephanie Kuzmanic had 24 points for Carthage.

No. 21 Washington U. kept Texas-Dallas scoreless for the game's final 6:40 and the Bears got past the Comets 45-40. "I told the team after the game that one of the toughest games to win in the tournament is the first one," said Bears' coach Nancy Fahey. "I thought the kids did a great job defensively, and I'll give credit to the defense that UT-Dallas put on us."

The ASC's other tournament participant lost in similar fashion. Rhodes held Louisiana College scoreless for the game's final four minutes and rallied to beat the Wildcats 59-58. The Lynx led 52-39 until they went scoreless for seven minutes and Louisiana College pulled in front. But Jessica Avant scored the last six points for Rhodes, including the game-winning free throw with 22 seconds left.

Photo by Jenna Germano, University of Rochester

Keeping with that theme, No. 19 Lebanon Valley shut out No. 24 Baruch for the final 2:07 and made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Bearcats, 59-53. Caitlin Bach had 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting for the Flying Dutch. They host No. 5 Montclair State which dominated Regis (Mass.) 87-47.

Widener overcame FDU-Florham 56-52 in a tight first round battle. Jennifer Egee came off the Pride bench to score 13 points. Widener's bench outscored FDU-Florham's 22-0.

Loren Wagner scored a career high 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the University of Rochester to a 70-66 victory over Emmanuel. 

"This was two very good teams battling tonight," said Rochester head coach Jim Scheible. "They had players who were tough matchups for us."

Emmanuel counterpart Andy Yosinoff agreed. "It was a closely hard-fought game," he said. "Both teams went at each other. It's probably the best NCAA game I've ever been involved with."

Rochester will play Williams, which defeated Scranton 79-59. The Ephs went on a 23-7 run to close the first half and cruised from there.