Second round: Finish strong, move on

More news about: Baldwin Wallace | Christopher Newport | Hope | Smith | Whitman | Williams
Mar 07, 2020
 

Riley Schill scored 12 points, grabbed six boards and dished five assists in Baldwin Wallace's 60-58 win over Chicago.
 Baldwin Wallace athletics fil photo

Baldwin Wallace hit two late 3-pointers, Christopher Newport wore down Endicott, Whitman got a late stop and Smith finished on a 10-0 run to advance to the sectional round of the 2020 Tournament. Elsewhere No. 1 Hope saved its season and the NESCAC went 4-0 on Saturday night.

No. 1 Hope erased a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter and then executed a perfect inbounds play late to defeat Illinois Wesleyan, 72-69. The Titans looked poised for a major upset when Brooke Lansford's layup gave them a 67-58 lead with 4:30 to play. Olivia Voskuil split a pair of free throws on Hope's next possession, and then the Flying Dutch ripped off eight points in less than a minute. Lauren Newsome hit a three from the wing, the Titans turned the ball over, Kenedy Schoonveld splashed home a three, the Titans turned the ball over again and Voskuil scored a layup to tie the game and send the DeVos Fieldhouse crowd into a frenzy.

With the game tied at 69 and 30 seconds left, Hope drew up an inbounds play where Arika Tolbert hit Schoonveld from the baseline for an open layup. After an empty Illinois Wesleyan possession, Voskuil split two free throws and Schoonveld blocked the Titans' desperation three.

Schoonveld scored 20 points for Hope (29-0) while Kendall Sosa scored 32 points for Illinois Wesleyan. Hope entered the game giving up 41 points per game total.

No. 9 Baldwin Wallace used a big performance from its reserves and timely three-point shooting to beat No. 18 Chicago, 60-58. With Chicago on top 55-54, Taylor Lake hit a three to extend the Maroons' lead to four with 1:42 to play. Hannah Fecht immediately responded with a three for Baldwin Wallace and then Sydney Diedrich drilled another on the Yellow Jackets' next possession, putting BW in front 60-58. Chicago called timeout and got a good look with six seconds left, but missed the shot.

The Yellow Jackets' reserves outscored Chicago's 34-7, including a double-double for Lilly Edwards (14 points, 10 rebounds). Baldwin Wallace (28-2) also outrebounded Chicago 48-36. 

No. 10 Whitman battled past No. 5 Wartburg, through Iowa and into the sectional round, 67-63. Trailing by four with three minutes to play, Whitman got a three from Mady Burdett that pulled the Blues within one at 60-59. Neither team did much offensively until Kaylie McCracken sank two free throws that put the Blues ahead, 61-60, with 1:22 to play. Wartburg briefly regained the lead on a Tori Hazard layup and Whitman responded with four free throws to go back in front, 65-62.

Down three, Wartburg called timeout and drew up a play for two points where Hazard drove to the rim. She was fouled, made the first shot and intentionally missed the second. Emma Gerdes got the offensive rebound for the Knights but missed the potential game-tying shot. McCracken grabbed the rebound, sank two free throws and sealed the Blues' victory.

The Blues outscored the Knights 30-6 from behind the arc. Burdett hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 for Whitman (26-3).

No. 24 Christopher Newport used its depth and pressing defense to wear down Endicott and eventually eliminated the Gulls, 74-71. The Captains Chaos defense didn't produce many baskets early, but CNU used 12 players and none more than 25 minutes against Endicott. Natalie Terwilliger scored 24 points on a mix of deep threes and low post baskets and Anaya Simmons kept the Captains (25-4) going when Terwilliger sat with foul trouble. Emily Pratt scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Endicott (19-11).

Saturday brought the end of the other Cinderella stories from Friday night's first round. No. 23 Trine shut down Redlands in the third quarter and cruised past the Bulldogs, 69-49. The Thunder (23-6) outscored Redlands 19-5 in the third. Despite trailing by 10 with a minute left in the third quarter, UW-Oshkosh rallied past Bethany Lutheran, 67-60.

Smith finished its game at SUNY New Paltz on a 10-0 run with the last shot coming from Amelia Clairmont on a runner with 1 second left, and the Pioneers edged the Hawks, 62-60. Clermont finished with 20 points on 6 for 13 shooting with four 3-pointers. Smith advances to the sectional round for first time in program history.

George Fox outscored Marymount 20-2 in the fourth quarter and the Bruins rallied past the Saints, 57-48. George Fox entered the final period down 48-37 but the Bruins held Marymount to one made field goal against 12 turnovers. George Fox (23-6) was just 6 for 30 from three, but the Saints struggled even more, going 2 for 13.

In a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament first round game, No. 13 Loras advanced through the regional round for the first time in four tries by beating No.4 DePauw, 71-60. Loras seized control with a 14-3 run midway through the second quarter and pushed the lead to double-digits in the third quarter, where it remained for all but 14 seconds of the final period. The Duhawks (25-4) got a balanced scoring performance with four starters reaching double figures and Riley Eckhart just missing with nine points. All-American Sydney Kopp was held to 10 points in her final game for DePauw (28-2).

The fourway showdown between ranked Texas teams came to an anticlimatic end as No. 14 Mary Hardin-Baylor handled No. 21 Texas-Dallas, 64-48. The Crusaders held Texas-Dallas to 28 points through three quarters and rode Madison McCoy's 18-point night to a relatively easy win over its ASC rival. The teams shot a combined 28 percent (35 for 127).

The NESCAC won all four of its games with Williams joining Amherst, Bowdoin and Tufts in the next round by knocking off Ithaca, 69-61. After a close first half, Williams shot 71 percent in the third quarter (10-for-14) and seized a 52-48 lead on the Bombers. The Ephs only made four field goals in the fourth quarter, but they went 9 for 12 from the foul line. Maggie Meehan paced Williams with 18 points and Maddy Mandyck notched a double-double (10 points, 13 rebounds). 
 
Williams earned a third shot at No. 2 Tufts since the Jumbos handled Cortland, 79-53. Erica DeCandido and Emily Briggs combined for 47 points and 20 rebounds for Tufts (28-1). Tufts beat Williams in the two previous matchups this season, both of which happened on the Jumbos' home court. Tufts is likely to host next weekend, though the official announcement of next weekend's sites will occur on Sunday.
 
No. 7 Amherst shut down Rowan in the second half and pulled away from the Profs for a 60-40 win at home. Rowan hung close, down three at 36-33 midway through the third quarter, before the Mammoths went on a 15-1 run. Kate Sullivan put the game out of reach by scoring six straight points midway through the fourth quarter and pushing Amherst's lead to 57-36. Courtney Resch finished with an unusual double-double by blocking 12 shots and grabbing 10 rebounds. The NCAA does not report a record for blocked shots in a game during the NCAA Tournament.
 
No. 3 Bowdoin gave the NESCAC a clean sweep of the regional round with an 86-67 win over New York University. Maddie Hasson tallied 27 points and five rebounds while Samantha Roy notched 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Polar Bears (27-2). 
 
No. 19 Messiah scored 16 consecutive points at the most crucial time -- during a five-plus minute stretch of the fourth quarter -- and the Falcons pulled away to defeat Eastern Connecticut 60-50. Lizzy Cretella hit a jumper with 6:25 left in the game to give the Warriors (24-5) a 47-42 lead, and Eastern Connecticut did not score for the next five and a half minutes, during which Leah Springer scored seven of the Falcons' 16 points. Eleana Eckley scored a game-high 21 points for the Falcons (25-4), while Springer and Jayneisha Davis added 14 apiece. Anna Barry led Eastern Connecticut with 20 points on 10-for-17 shooting, adding 10 rebounds and eight blocked shot.
 
Nikkie Reed did a lot of scoring and a little bit of everything else, and No. 11 Oglethorpe topped Randolph-Macon, 71-63. Reed finished with 22 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals, and Savannah LeGate added a double-double for the Stormy Petrels (29-1). Kelly Williams finished her career with 29 points and 15 rebounds for Randolph-Macon (19-10).