• The NE10 is down to its final four with the quarterfinal round yielding two upsets. Meanwhile, the ECC completed its regular season, so it’s all playoffs from here. The Sunday wrap-up starts with NE10 tourney action...
• #3 Southwest Division seed New Haven upended #2 Northeast Division seed Stonehill in overtime in North Easton, 58-52, to clinch a spot in the NE10 semifinals. This was a tight game all the way with neither team able to take control for any substantial length of time. The Skyhawks led at the half, 28-26, but the Chargers held a 39-36 edge after three periods. A 5-0 run gave Stonehill a 40-39 lead out of the gate in the fourth quarter but UNH matched that to go up, 44-40, with 1:27 left. Jennifer Worden’s (11 points) trey brought Stonehill within 48-47 with 22 seconds left but a pair of Micah Womack (12 points) foul shots put UNH ahead, 50-47, with :18 to go. Kayla Raymond (12 points) evened it at 50 with a three-pointer and when UNH’s Brie Pergola (12 points) missed at the buzzer, OT was required. Alexandria Kerr (19 points, 8 boards) and Raymond swapped baskets to start the extra session but Stonehill, which went 1-8 from the floor in overtime (0-7 from 3FG range), didn’t score again. Womack made two FT’s with 45 seconds to play to put New Haven ahead for good and Kerr (:30) and Camryn DeBose (:19) did the same to create the final tally. UNH shot better (39%-30% FG) and was more efficient from long distance (UNH 4-12 3FG; Stonehill 8-34 3FG), so they move on to face Le Moyne in the NE10 semifinals on Thursday. Stonehill, meanwhile, awaits a possible NCAA tournament at-large bid a week from today.
• St. Anselm, the #3 seed in the Northeast Division, knocked off #2 Southwest Division seed Adelphi in Garden City, 85-81, holding off a frantic Panther rally in the fourth quarter. The Hawks started the game on a 15-2 burst and ended the first half with an identical run (15-2) and led by a 39-16 halftime count. They were still solidly ahead after three periods (55-37) and while AU made a move, St. A’s remained on top by a 68-51 score early in the last quarter. That’s when the home team got in gear, with Niajah Morgan (23 points, 6 boards) scoring ten straight points to make it 68-61 with 2:40 left. Morgan, incidentally, passed the 1,000-point barrier during the contest. The Hawks nursed the gap back to 80-68 with 54 seconds on the clock but the Panthers pushed back with a 13-4 spree to pull within 84-81 with :19 to play. Grace Guachione (18 points and a career-high 9 boards; 10-12 FT) sank a free throw with 16 ticks left and Adelphi was unable to score again, their comeback falling agonizingly short. Shannon Ryan (29 points; career-best 21 rebounds; 12-23 FG), Sara Messler (13 points) and Ashley Briggs (10 points, 7 caroms) joined Guachione in double digits for the Hawks, who shot 45% overall and posted a +17 (50-33) on the glass. Fallyn Stephens (17 points), Leonie Edringer (14 points, 8 boards) and Katie Murphy (11 points) supported Morgan nicely for the Panthers but they shot only 37% and dug too deep a hole to get out of. Free throws were plentiful in this one (St. A’s 24-33; AU 23-27) which, amazingly, featured 74 fourth quarter points (44 by Adelphi). The Hawks move on and will visit Bentley in the NE10 semifinals on Thursday.
• The overall top seed in the NE10 tournament, Le Moyne, collected a 74-63 win over Merrimack in Syracuse, fending off a late Warriors rally to claim their semifinal spot. McKayla Roberts (29 points, 8 assists; 9-12 FG, 4-7 3FG) was the Dolphins ringleader but Jenna Zimmerman (17 points) and Liz Millea (16 points) also filled key roles. LC, which led all the way, built a 41-24 halftime lead and widened it to a 63-37 bulge with 9:17 left when the Warriors got hot. A 20-2 explosion from the visitors cut the deficit to 65-57 (2:39) but Roberts netted the next seven points (four free throws and a trey) to snuff out the rally (72-57, 1:00) and ensure the Dolphins advanced. Alyssa Casey (17 points), Denia Davis-Stewart (14 points, 15 boards, 5 blocks) and Mayson Kimball (14 points) notched twin figures for MC but they were out-shot (47%-39%) and beaten in the paint (36-20) by Le Moyne. The Dolphins host New Haven in their Thursday night NE10 semifinal while Merrimack awaits a possible NCAA tourney at-large bid next weekend.
• Bentley led from start-to-finish in Waltham to eliminate AIC, 68-55, as the Falcons look to defend their NE10 title. The Falcons flew to a 17-5 lead after the first 5:33 and never looked back, although the Yellow Jackets hung in it and were within 36-27 at the half. After AIC cut the margin to seven points, a 7-0 Bentley surge doubled their lead (46-32, 3:39 of the third quarter) and they led by at least nine points the rest of the way. Katie Meriggioli (21 points, 13 boards), Monica Viapiano (12 points, 8 rebounds) and Victoria Lux (12 points) racked up the stats for the Falcons, which shot better (45%-32% FG) and ruled the window (48-28) on the way to their fourteenth straight victory. The bright spot for AIC was Dana Watts (22 points, 10 rebounds), who passed Juana Garcia for the all-time scoring lead in program history (2,202) points and ended #2 on the rebounding list to Garcia (1,175 for Watts). She was joined in double digits by Alyssa Guyon (15) and AIC did force ten more turnovers as a team (21-11) but didn’t profit enough from them. The Falcons will host St. Anselm in their NE10 semifinal game on Thursday.... More on Dana Watts and her 2,202 points; she ends her career as the 11th highest scorer in recorded regional history and #6 among regional players in Division II points alone (others in the pre-Division II era scored more points than Watts but those did not all come as Division II players). The only player (in the Division II points category) ahead of Watts in NE10 history is Johannah Leedham (Franklin Pierce, '09) with 3,050 points.
• Daemen used a big second period to establish a lead and kept Bridgeport on their heels the rest of the way to claim a 68-49 ECC win to put a bow on the regular season. Erin Egan (17 points; career-high 18 rebounds), Katie Titus (13 points) and Caroline White (12 points) topped the ticket for the Wildcats, who put up a 20-8 second stanza to take a 35-22 lead into the break. The Purple Knights played Daemen even after that but never got the lead under double digits despite solid work from Samnell Vonleh (14 points, 7 boards, 6 blocks) and Briana Stoddart (10 points). The Wildcats, who won each period, dominated the glass (59-33) and made eight of the game’s ten three-pointers on the way to success. Daemen gets almost a week off before the ECC semifinals at Bridgeport next Saturday while UB travels to NYIT for a first round clash on Wednesday… Roberts Wesleyan reached the .500 mark in advance of their ECC playoff game at LIU Post on Wednesday, slipping by Mercy, 66-62. The Mavericks held the upper hand at the half (31-25) and after three frames (48-44) but the Redhawks went on a 12-2 binge to start the last quarter (56-50, 6:38) and never lost the lead. Mercy chipped it down to two points on a few occasions, the last at 63-61 with 45 ticks left, but Jessie Cooke went 3-4 at the line to extend the gap to 66-61 (:10) and that was that. Emily Miller (20 points, 16 boards), Tashayla Sutorius (14 points, 7 boards, 5 assists) and Taryn Wilson (11 points) led the RWC effort while Taysha Bender (16 points, 8 rebounds) and Amber Brown (16 points, 6 boards) topped the Mavericks attack.