Women’s Notebook – Conference races heat up
By Stephen Zerdelian
In less than a month we will know the identity of the three conference tournament champions and the eight teams headed for the NCAA regional tournament. Hard to believe it’s that close, isn’t it? But that’s what the calendar says. Some league races are easy/easier to predict, but others are a massive jumble, which makes the last month of the regular season so compelling. This when the rubber meets the road and with so many games compressed into the next few weeks, there are sure to be some eye-opening results that inevitably change the complexion of the standings. More on that later.
As a big-picture person, I like to think ahead to the regional tournaments – which includes the men’s regional. For the first time in more than a decade, there is a chance that one institution could host both regionals. For those following both genders, you know I mean Bentley.
The Falcons have experience here, as the only program to simultaneously host regionals, back in 2011. That season the women played on Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday while the men played on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday. That made for a great Sunday, when both the women and men played regional semifinal games. Everyone took a well-deserved breather on Monday and geared up for a regional title double-header on Tuesday. In 2011, both Falcon teams reached the last day of play (the women defeated Pace while the men fell to Bloomfield), which helped attendance, but overall, the whole event was exceptional. If Bentley gets the chance to reprise this format, the region would be very lucky, indeed.
Normality?
Saturday felt a little bit like a pre-pandemic weekend. Not completely, since the Daemen at Bridgeport game was postponed, but almost. For the first time since 2020, we enjoyed 15 conference games on the same day and had a plethora of storylines to review.
In the NE10, Stonehill beat Saint Anselm thanks to a buzzer-beater from Kayla Raymond, 61-59. Raymond (26 points) took an inbound lob pass and scored from about six feet away in the lane to decide it, on the same day she scored her 1,000th point. This came a few days after Raymond netted 24 points and sent the game to overtime at Bentley with her career-best seventh triple of the day. The Skyhawks won in the extra session, 76-73, in yet another memorable game to add to the first 113 in that incredible series. The latest victory over the Hawks propelled Stonehill into 3rd place in the Northeast Division.
I digress. Back to Saturday in the NE10… Pace rallied to win at the College of Saint Rose, 70-62, as Lauren Schetter scored a career-best 33 points, including a sensational 18 in the final frame. In a game with eight ties and 16 lead swaps, Schetter (13-26 FG, 6 boards, 4 steals) was again the catalyst for the Setters who stayed even with Le Moyne atop the Southwest Division… Southern New Hampshire also mounted a notable comeback to dump Assumption in Worcester, 73-68, fighting back from a 56-40 deficit in the third quarter. SNHU’s Gyanna Russell reached the 1,000-point plateau in this one as the Penmen remained a half-game behind Bentley in the division… Speaking of Bentley, they bounced back from the Stonehill defeat to rub out St. Michael’s, 75-54, behind Ella Thompson’s 19 points… Le Moyne also got back onto the winning trail as they beat New Haven in Charger Gym, 69-53, while AIC won their third in a row, a 70-59 victory at Southern Connecticut. Does this paragraph have a theme? Yup, five of the six NE10 games on the day ended with road winners, only Stonehill holding serve (and that, just barely).
The CACC had six divisional cross-over games on Saturday with South prevailing in four of them. Predictably, Chestnut Hill was one of the winners, waxing Bloomfield, 81-42, in Philadelphia. The Griffins extended their program-best winning streak to 13 games and, aside of an overtime loss at Kutztown on December 8, haven’t lost since before Thanksgiving… The University of the Sciences rode Jess Huber (25 points, 10 boards, 5-10 3FG) to a 67-52 win over Nyack to stay in second place in the South, while Jefferson beat Post, 70-63, to remain third. Both the Devils and Rams have won five in a row to bolster their NCAA resumes… The other South team to come out on top was Georgian Court, an 82-78 winner over Dominican. The Lions are trying to catch Holy Family for the fourth playoff spot in the division and wins like this, where they shot 53% and came up with a timely 10-0 fourth quarter run, will do them no harm… Caldwell rolled past Wilmington, 71-56, to stay in the muddy race in the CACC North, and they also celebrated Shanice Graves’ 1,000th career point in the win… Felician pushed past Goldey-Beacom, 66-59, and pulled even with Post atop the North standings.
It was a quieter Saturday in the ECC but there were three games with impact. D’Youville’s win against Roberts Wesleyan may have the most impressive, as they received a great game from Sophie Fuglsong (23 points, 5 triples) and ended the game on an 11-2 burst to nail down probably their best win as an ECC outfit. The win also snapped a seven-game downturn for D’Youville… Molloy’s ascension continued with a 64-39 decision over Staten Island. Balance (five players notched between 10-12 points) and a suffocating fourth period (16-2, holding the Dolphins to 1-11 from the floor) did the job for the Lions… Finally, UDC got the better of Queens on the road, 58-44, to snap a two-game slide and stay in the chase for a home playoff game.
Conference focus
Playoff qualification and positioning is on every coach’s mind as we enter the middle of February and some of the races are a joy to behold across the region.
Can anyone make heads or tails of the CACC North for me? Five of the six teams (Bloomfield is out of it) are chasing the four playoff spots and it seems to change every day. Post looked to have a grip on the top spot but have dropped their last two games and have been jumped by Felician. Caldwell, which ended a five-game slide over the weekend, and Nyack are still in it along with the streakiest team in the region, Dominican. The Chargers have put up a five and four-game win streaks surrounding a 2-10 run before losing over the weekend, so who knows what to make of them. There are plenty of key games ahead (Caldwell plays Felician twice, for example) so expect this division to twist and turn on a nightly basis.
The CACC South has the league powers all rolling along, with the four Philadelphia-based teams holding the cards for playoff spots. Division leader Chestnut Hill already has wins over Sciences and Jefferson but will have to travel to each later this month, and along with trips to Caldwell and Dominican, CHC has work left to do. Sciences and Jefferson have another meeting on the horizon as well as games against Holy Family, so there could be some shuffling there. HFU seems in good shape for the last playoff slot, but Georgian Court is dangerous, so the Tigers must be vigilant.
Daemen has a vice grip on the ECC, as they have a four-game lead in the loss column and seem certain to be the top seed in the tournament. That’s good news, since the ECC decided their playoff format will be that the higher seed hosts the first round (#6 @ #3; and #5 @ #4) and the final four will be held at the highest remaining semfinal seed, which seems likely to Daemen, who rarely loses an ECC game in their gym.
After that? Well, nobody seems to want to take second place and with it the first-round playoff bye and potential semifinal home game. Mercy was rolling a few weeks ago (seven straight wins) but they’ve lost four in a row. Roberts Wesleyan also rode a hot streak (six games) but they’ve hit the rocks and have dropped three in succession. Molloy is the current riser, having won four in a row and six of their last seven games, while St. Thomas Aquinas and UDC both have their noses in the picture. That’s almost certainly your #2-#6 ECC seeds; D’Youville and Staten Island are tournament ineligible while Bridgeport has lost their momentum (two straight postponements after winning three in a row) and Queens is buried.
In the NE10 Northeast Division, Bentley and Southern New Hampshire are mainly in lockstep. Both have difficult stretches coming up (Bentley plays six games in 13 days while the Penmen have a sevn-game-in-15-days period) which includes a meeting in Waltham next Saturday. SNHU won their earlier game between the teams this season so a sweep would put them in a great position to earn the top seed. Stonehill has surged to 3rd place, but the Skyhawks are batting Saint Anselm, Franklin Pierce, and Assumption for spots #3-#6. There are numerous meetings between these teams in the next few weeks, so those places – remember, seeds #2-#4 get first round playoff home games – are very much up for grabs. St. Michael’s seems locked into last place and a trip to either Pace or Le Moyne in the first round, but they have some good news to look forward to, as Nicole Anderson is only ten points away from career marker #1,000.
Le Moyne and Pace face each other in Pleasantville on February 22 in a game that may well decide the NE10 top seed in the Southwest Division. The Dolphins won their earlier meeting this season and have some testers left (at Adelphi, for example) while the Setters tougher games left include a visit to Saint Anselm and a home game against Stonehill. After that, Adelphi, AIC, and Southern Connecticut are set to contest seeds #3-#5. Adelphi had won six in row with game-winning shot specialist Ty Hawkins playing well, but the Panthers have dropped their last two games. AIC is in good form, having won three in a row, and jumped SCSU for 4th place and what would be the last first round/home game place in the loop. Saint Rose (in search of their first win since December 4) and New Haven look destined for road trips in the playoffs.
Notes
How about wrapping up with some of the best performances and moments of recent days?...
ECC - Katie Titus’s 31-point, 9-rebound, 5-steal stat line in Daemen’s win over Staten Island and Tiara Filbert’s 22-point, 9-carom, 7-assist effort against Roberts Wesleyan stood out for the Wildcats…A pair of double-doubles for UDC (Tori Williams with 19 points and 13 boards; Aiyanna Ellis with 11 points and 16 caroms) led the Firebirds to a win at D’Youville… Bridgeport’s win over Mercy came courtesy of their five starters all scoring between 10-15 points, and a timely 7-0 run late helped the Purple Knights prevail, 67-61… Alexa Huertas (29 points in 40 minutes) and Sarah Ericson (12 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 8 turnovers) filled the stat sheet for St. Thomas Aquinas in their win over Mercy… Staten Island beat Queens, 76-67, recently, but the story was sensational games by players on each side. CSI’s Jenalyse Alarcon (25 points, 19 boards) and Knight Jennah DeGout (32 points, 18 rebounds) each played the full 40 minutes and sparkled.
CACC – Maeve McCann (23 points) was terrific for Jefferson in their comeback win at Bloomfield. The Rams trailed 57-40 after three frames but rallied with a 31-11 fourth period to deny the Bears a significant upset… Last night the Rams rode 26 points from Cassie Murphy (11-12 FG, 4-6 FT) to grab a win at Nyack… Cassie Sebold (22 points, 10 assists) was the driving force for Chestnut Hill in their win at Goldey-Beacom… Post’s shooting (15-39 2FG; 16-31 3FG. 2-6 FT) in their victory over Nyack caught the eye. They also ruled the glass to a 44-30 tune… Holy Family totally suffocated Wilmington in their recent win, as they held the Wildcats to six (6!) first half points. The Tigers led 15-6 after on frame and shut WU out in the second (25-0), forcing the Wildcats to miss 18 of 21 first half shots… A nice duel between Briana Lee (22 points, 19 boards) and Carly Bolivar (17 points, 8 rebounds, 7 steals, 6 assists) was a feature of Felician’s win recently, as Lee’s Golden Falcons beat Bolivar’s Warriors on the boards, 56-28, and in the game (78-74).
NE10 – AIC tightened the defense against St. Michael’s in their 58-43 win, keeping the visiting Purple Knights to 1-14 fourth period shooting and scoring the frame’s first 14 points… Emma Brinker racked up 28 points and 10 rebounds in Le Moyne’s win over Assumption. In that game the host Dolphins went 19-23 at the line while the visiting Greyhounds were only 0-2… Lisa Sulejmani went off for 22 points, 13 boards and 6 assists in helping Franklin Pierce beat St. Michael’s, 63-58… SNHU scored 56 second half points to repel Franklin Pierce, 81-68, negating a great game from Raven Emma Carter (29 points)… Stonehill’s first half against Bentley (19-34 from the floor, 12-20 from three-point land) helped them garner a 48-24 lead late in the first half but the Falcons rallied to eventually take the lead (62-61 with 4:15 left in regulation) before losing in overtime, 76-73. Bentley’s last 13 points came at the line (they didn’t make a field goal in the final 5:46 of regulation or in overtime) yet they still had a chance to keep the game alive, only to see a Kari Brekke three-pointer come up short at the end of the overtime session… Southern Connecticut set program records for field goal percentage (65.6%) and assists (34) in their 105-69 rout of Saint Anselm on Sunday. Jessica Fressle’s career-high 33 points, along with solid games from Delaney Haines (personal-best 17 points) and Delaney Connors (11 assists) led the way for the Owls. The only time in SCSU annals they scored more points was on December 3, 2007, in a 106-40 blowout of Felician, topped by current head coach Kate Lynch’s 27-point effort.