Posted: Feb 25, 2016
- The action on Wednesday was in the ECC, including a huge game in the Nutmeg State…
- St. Thomas Aquinas clinched an ECC playoff spot with a hard-fought 70-65 win at Bridgeport, in turn eliminating the Purple Knights from tournament contention. As expected this was a close one all the way, featuring five ties and a dozen lead changes. UB started out quickly, grabbing a 9-1 lead, which proved to the game’s largest lead either way. The Spartans held a 27-25 halftime edge but UB jumped back on top after three frames, 45-44, setting the stage for the final quarter. Jenna Erickson (20 points, 4-6 3FG) potted the first five points of the period for STAC (49-45) and they never trailed again. Evelyn Ovner’s (14 points, 12 boards) basket drew Bridgeport within 61-60 at the 1:23 mark but an Erickson trey at 1:02 ignited a 7-2 flurry, giving STAC some elbow room at 68-62. Briana Stoddart (17 points, 5 boards) gave UB some hope with a triple (:03) but Alex Bertolino (16 points) put the finishing touches on with two foul shots soon after. Kaitlyn McCue (11 points, 12 boards) and Alyson Brennan (10 points) added depth for STAC, which won the turnover battle (21-10; 19-7 in points-off-TO’s) and sank 8-11 at the line in the fourth period (15-22 overall). Kadijah Dickson (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Nicole Johnson (12 points) lent quality to the UB attack, one which dominated the glass (46-34) and shot better than their guests (43%-36%).
- Dowling scored the last ten points over a two-plus minute span to knock off Mercy, 57-52, and put the brakes on a sixteen-game slide. The Mavericks started (10-0) and ended (8-0) the first half with gusto but in between the Golden Lions had the upper hand, so Mercy only had a 29-22 halftime lead. The teams traded the lead for the majority of the second half with the Mavericks claiming a 52-47 edge with 2:27 to go after a Deasia Goodson (11 points, 19 boards; her 15th double-double of the season). That’s when DC locked down and took over. Kaelen Ward’s three-point play with 48 seconds to play put Dowling ahead to stay, 53-52, and after a Mercy turnover Kamille Ejerta (13 points) scored to make it 55-52. Jasmine Sapp put the final nail in with two foul shots at the :02 mark and Dowling had the spoils. Tanna Mohammed (15 points) led the scoring for DC, which forced nine more turnovers (23-14) and made more three-pointers (9-5) to aid their cause. Chi-La Bady (12 points) gave Mercy depth and as a team they were outstanding on the glass (58-34) and got to the line more often than DC (17-29; DC 8-10 FT) but still lost their tenth straight outing.
- The NCAA Division II regional rankings came out yesterday with the top two teams in the East region once again Bentley and AIC. Philadelphia, NYIT and St. Anselm complete the top five teams with Holy Family, UDC, Bloomfield, Queens and Roberts Wesleyan finishing out the top ten.