Posted: Mar 01, 2018
Women’s Game Recaps #73 – 2/28/18
- The ECC had the spotlight on Wednesday with a pair of first round games on tap and they continued the post season trend of every home seed winning in each conference (a dozen in all thus far). Let’s start the recap in western New York…
- Roberts Wesleyan joined the 20-win club and advanced to the ECC semifinals with a 76-64 victory over Daemen, the latter playing in their first ECC tournament game. Emily Miller (17 points, 18 rebounds) and Taya Andrews (17 points) were at the helm for the #3 seed Redhawks, who will host the ECC Final Four this weekend. A 12-3 first period run staked RWC to an 18-12 edge after one frame and they didn’t let it slip. The lead grew to 32-16 late in the second period before the Redhawks settled for a 36-22 halftime edge. The #6 seed Wildcats stayed connected and slowly whittled the lead away, eventually putting together a 10-2 spell which cut the deficit to 65-60 with 1:24 left. Roberts Wesleyan put the hammer down with an 11-4 jag to end the game, including going 9-10 at the line down the stretch. Lucy Covely (11 points) and Necedah James (10 points) added double digits for RWC, who had a 48-37 rebound bulge and recorded a 13/9 assist/turnover ratio. Sarah Saba ended her sterling career at Daemen with a 22-point, 10-rebound outing, wrapping up with 1,774 points, good for #5 on the program’s all-time scoring list. Caroline White (15 points) and Sydney Jones (10 points) also notched double figures for the Wildcats. Roberts Wesleyan will face #2 seed St. Thomas Aquinas in the semifinals on Saturday.
- A 13-0 bomb to begin the fourth quarter put #4 seed NYIT ahead of #5 seed Queens to stay in their 69-57 ECC semifinal win in Old Westbury. The run flipped a 47-41 Knights lead after three periods into a 54-47 Bears advantage just 3:20 into the fourth quarter. NYIT kept the pressure on, building the run to 22-2 (63-49, 1:31), more than enough to settle the outcome. Up to that point, however, this was a tight game with five ties and five lead swaps. Queens led 13-7 after one period, only to see NYIT battle back to forge a 28-all halftime deadlock. QC put up a 7-2 run out of the locker room (35-30) and built their lead to 43-34 with 2:58 left in the third period but was unable to hold it. Jill Spagnuola had seven of her career-high-tying 14 points during the decisive 13-0 NYIT run, joining Nina Vukosavlejevic (18 points) in leading the Bears attack. Marina Ramon Lopez (16 points, 6 boards; 8-11 FG), Kaitlyn Mahon (13 points) and Beth Bonin (10 points) collected double digits for the Knights, who end their season a game shy of .500. Free throws (NYIT 19-22; QC 2-4 FT) and rebounding (NYIT, 36-27) were big plusses for the winners, who also out-scored Queens in points-off-turnovers, 21-9, despite forcing only two more miscues than they committed (18-16). The Bears will confront local rival LIU Post, the #1 seed, in the other ECC semifinal at RWC’s Voller Athletic Center on Saturday.
- The NCAA Division II East regional poll was released yesterday with Stonehill still atop the pile. Bentley (#2) has hopped above Sciences (#3) with St. Thomas Aquinas (#4), Caldwell (#5), LIU Post (#6) and Jefferson (#7) making up the top seven. Southern Connecticut is #8, ahead of #9 Roberts Wesleyan and #10 LeMoyne. This is the final regional ranking before the NCAA tournament field is revealed on Sunday night.