| New York University punched its ticket to the national semifinals with a win over Scranton and celebrated on its home court on Saturday night. Photo by Vincent Dusovic, New York University athletics |
Transylvania and Smith advanced to their second consecutive national semifinals with road wins while Wartburg completed an impressive road trip through Rhode Island and New York University rolled past Scranton at home in Saturday’s sectional finals.
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No. 1 New York University used its smothering defense to shut down No. 6 Scranton and defeat the Lady Royals in Manhattan, 68-46.
The Violets held Scranton to 23 percent shooting in the first half (7 for 30) as the Lady Royals struggled to score over the length of NYU All-American forwards Natalie Bruns and Morgan Morrison. Belle Pellecchia got the Violets offense started with nine quick points, and NYU led 38-22 at the break. Scranton had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits in the second quarter when Morrison and Bruns both sat with three fouls, but the Lady Royals could not get their offense on track.
In the second half, NYU point guard Megan Bauman helped the Violets break the Scranton press and Caroline Peper hit a couple of threes, one of them taking the Violets’ lead to 60-41 with 6:10 left and effectively putting the game away.
New York University (29-0) finished with 20 assists against just 10 turnovers and held Scranton to 25 percent shooting. Pellecchia led five Violets in double figure scoring with 15 points and Bauman finished with 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Kaci Kranson scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Scranton (28-3).
No. 2 Transylvania completed its own undefeated run to the national semifinals, as the Pioneers topped No. 9 UW-Whitewater, 62-48, for their 64th consecutive victory and the 400th of head coach Juli Fulks’ career.
After a close, low-scoring first half, both teams got their offenses going in the third quarter. Transylvania shot 56 percent from the field andoutscored the Warhawks, 22-16, giving the Pioneers a 55-49 lead entering the fourth quarter. Transylvania broke open the game with 13-3 run to start the final period, with the last five of those 13 points coming on free throws. The Warhawks whittled the Pioneers’ lead down to nine points, but Transylvania shut UW-Whitewater out for the final 68 seconds and wrapped up the win.
Dasia Thornton dazzled with 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Transylvania (31-0), which got all 62 points from its starters. Aleah Grundahl posted 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting for UW-Whitewater (26-5).
No. 14 Smith booked a return trip to the national semifinals by knocking off No. 8 Bowdoin in Maine, 52-47.
The Pioneers and Polar Bears battled back and forth throughout the fourth quarter, with Bowdoin taking a 44-43 lead on Abby Quinn’s free throws and then Smith taking it back on Sofia Rosa’s layup. Jessie Ruffner followed Rosa’s score with a three-point play and then she added two free throws, giving Smith a five-point lead in the final minute.
Ruffner had a tremendous night for Smith (29-3), scoring 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in 37 minutes. Megan Tan paced Bowdoin (28-3) with 12 points.
No. 7 Wartburg finished a very successful road trip to Rhode Island by defeating No. 17 Washington and Lee, 68-58, and securing the program’s second final four appearance.
Wartburg hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and broke out to a 37-25 halftime lead over the Generals. The Knights still led by 12 in the closing minutes of the third period when Washington and Lee mounted a comeback.
The Generals scored the final seven points of that period and then pulled within one point at 48-47 on two free throws by Quinn McGuinness. Wartburg responded with four straight points and then, later in the period, Jaedon Murphy had her own 4-0 spurt to push the Knights’ lead back to 10. Wartburg made enough free throws down the stretch to hold onto the victory and went 15 for 19 from the charity stripe overall.
Murphy led Wartburg (29-2) with 23 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Mary Schleusner’s incredible tournament run for Washington and Lee (29-2) ended with another double-double, as she racked up 22 points and 18 rebounds, giving her 104 for the Tournament, a new record.
The national semifinals will take place at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio on Thursday with Wartburg facing Smith and a rematch of last season’s Elite 8 matchup between NYU and Transylvania. That game will be the 13th meeting ever between the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in D3hoops.com Top 25.