• Chalk held in the first round of the ECC tournament on Wednesday as LIU Post kept its last season alive and neighbor NYIT also advanced…
• LIU Post, the #4 seed, held off #5 seed Roberts Wesleyan by a 74-70 count, securing their place in the ECC semifinals against top seed St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday in Bridgeport. This game didn’t feature a lead of more than seven points either way with the Redhawks pulling into the half on top, 33-27. The Pioneers flipped the script with an 11-2 start to the second half but didn’t take the lead for good until back-to-back three-pointers from Dominique Williams and Asia Turner gave them a 51-48 edge after three periods. RWC stayed right with the Pioneers and came within a single point on a number of occasions in the fourth quarter yet never got level. The last time it was a one-point game was after a Taryn Wilson (12 points) basket at the 1:40 mark, 66-65. Robyn Francis answered that with a trey with 43 seconds left to make it 69-65 but again Roberts Wesleyan hung in it and had a chance to tie in the final seconds but Tashayla Sutorius (13 points, 6 rebounds) missed a triple with :08 left and the score at 73-70. Ja’Lyn Armstrong closed out the scoring for LIU Post with a free throw and booked her teams’ spot in the next round. Mikaiya Moore (20 points; 8-12 FG, 4-6 3FG), Sasha Patterson (12 points, 8 caroms) and Taylah Hudson (12 points) topped the Pioneers scoring list while Emily Miller (22 points, 9 boards; 8-10 FG, 2-3 3FG, 4-6 FT) and Taylor Bynoe (15 points) supplied the most pop for RWC. The Redhawks were the superior shooting team overall (47%-41% FG) but the Pioneers made more three-pointers, and at a better clip (LIU Post 10-24; RWC 3-11 3FG).
• NYIT, the #3 seed, pulled away from #6 seed Bridgeport late in the game to nail down a 70-57 victory and take their place in the ECC semifinals against #2 seed Daemen on Saturday. The Purple Knights led after one period (18-11) but the Bears used 9-2 and 13-2 runs to bookend the second quarter and take a 33-24 lead into the half, which they never relinquished. The gap was single digits for most of the second half and UB was within 58-54 with 2:41 left after a Samnell Vonleh (13 points, 8 rebounds) basket but that’s when NYIT sprinted away. A 12-3 spurt to end the contest led by Meg Knollmeyer (22 points, 11 boards; four in the run), Shalie Frierson (14 points; five in the run) and Taylor Tripptree (10 points and a key trey in the run) was enough for NYIT to breathe easy and lock up their semifinal spot. Ketsia Athias added 8 points and 13 boards for the Bears, who shot better (47%-37% FG), got to the line more often (15-22; UB 2-6 FT) and dominated the paint (42-22). Briana Stoddart (13 points, 14 rebounds) and NK Ilang (11 points) gave Vonleh solid support but it wasn’t enough to catch NYIT and thus Bridgeport ends their season on a four-game slide.
• The final NCAA Division II East Regional rankings prior to the announcement of the tournament field were released yesterday and saw Sciences, Bentley, Jefferson and Le Moyne as the top four teams. St. Thomas Aquinas, Stonehill, St. Anselm and Merrimack made up #4-#8 while Daemen and NYIT claimed the last two spots. The NCAA Division II tournament brackets will officially be announced on Sunday night.