Women’s Notebook – Conference champions and NCAA field revealed
By Stephen Zerdelian
At last, the three regional conference tournaments are finished, and the NCAA tournament is here! There were some surprises around the region this weekend, which impacted the NCAA selections and seedings. With no further do delay, let’s get to it.
The major regional story had to be the surprising developments in the CACC, where Dominican scooted out of Philadelphia with the crown and the league’s NCAA bid. The outcome likely cost Holy Family an at-large bid and Jefferson a chance to possibly host the regional (both lost at the semifinal stage).
The Chargers upended Jefferson in the semifinals in overtime, 72-71, with Angelina DiMarsico hitting a game-winning three-pointer with four seconds left, capping a thrilling contest. The clash featured seven ties and ten lead changes, with DU forcing overtime thanks to a pair of Kristen Teklits free throws with 30 seconds left in regulation, 63-all. The Rams rode a 5-0 run to grab a 71-69 lead in OT with :13 left, a Morgan Robinson (22 points, 5 assists) hoop at 1:16 igniting the surge. Sam Yencha made a bucket (:23) and Emily Keehfuss hit a free throw (:13) to make it 71-69, Jefferson, before DiMarsico’s heroics. Alexis Suarez (19 points, 5 picks) led four double figure Charger scorers and they moved on to the final to face CACC North Division rival Post. The defeat was Jefferson’s first home setback of the campaign.
Just as stunning as Dominican’s win was, Post scored the last six points, culminated by a crazy three-point put-back from Kiara Eubanks (13 points, 11 boards) with three seconds to play, to beat Holy Family, 60-57. HFU led 57-54 with 3:07 to go in a back-and-forth game but Eubanks followed up a Sha’Raya Haines miss with her ‘and-one’ to put the Eagles ahead, 59-57. After a Tiger turnover, Tijanae Simmons (13 points) sank a free throw and HFU never got off a final shot. It turned out to be the Tigers death knell as far as getting an NCAA at-large bid despite solid games from Carolyn Prevost (17 points, 6 boards) and Skyler Searfoss (12 points, 8 boards, 6 helpers).
Cayla Howard (21 points, 8 rebounds) and tourney Most Outstanding Player Tanasha Mills (14 points, 7 dimes) led Dominican to a 63-54 win over Post in the title game to earn the flag, the automatic NCAA bid and their first non-COVID NCAA appearance since 2008. Haines tallied 24 points and racked up nine rebounds for Post, which trailed at the half, 33-26, and pulled within a pair twice in the last frame. Free throws iced it for the Chargers, who made nine of them after the Eagles closed the gap to 54-52 at the 2:30 mark.
Since joining the region in 2004, the CACC playoff champion has come from the North Division only four times (three in non-pandemic seasons), with this year’s Chargers added to a list that includes Nyack (2010), Bloomfield (2014) and the COVID-season Chargers (2021).
In the ECC, the first-round upsets which propelled Queens and the College of Staten Island into the semifinals didn’t continue, as they fell to St. Thomas Aquinas and Daemen, respectively, in the final four in western New York. But the underdogs made the favorites work to reach the title game.
Top seed and host Daemen fought off Staten Island, 64-52, snapping a 43-all deadlock after three periods to pull away. The Wildcats started the last stanza with an 8-2 run (51-45, 6:24) and never let go of the rope. Paige Emborsky (12 points), Alahna Paige and Kaytlyn Matz (11 points each) topped a balanced Daemen stat sheet as they made their way into the finals and a chance to defend their ECC crown.
STAC, meanwhile, found themselves facing a 43-all tie themselves with 4:48 left against Queens. The Spartans turned to the free throw line to make some headway, putting together a 9-0 spurt at the stripe to claim a 52-43 lead (:41) and expel the Knights. In fact, STAC went 13-18 at the line in the final stanza to make their poor field goal shooting (1-10 in the period) a footnote. Sarah Ericson (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Erin Leary (11 points, 11 boards) led the way for the winners while Brianna Davis (17 points) and Raven Pitt (13 points, 9 boards, 5 assists) kept QC afloat.
Daemen ended up with the crown a day later, beating STAC, 66-51, a strong third period at the heart of it all. The Wildcats led by a slim 34-33 halftime margin but crafted a 16-4 burst to kick off the second half (50-37, 2:07 of the third quarter) and were in control thereafter. Tournament MOP Gabby McDuffie (17 points) and Paige (10 points, 10 boards) sparked the Wildcats while Ericson (16 points, 7 caroms) led the Spartans. The result gave Daemen the ECC automatic bid and left St. Thomas Aquinas nervously on the NCAA tournament bubble for the remainder of the weekend.
Just as Daemen went back-to-back in the ECC, Bentley did the same in the NE10, turning back Pace on Thursday (57-52) and winning at Southern New Hampshire on Sunday (61-49), making it 22 league titles in all for the Falcons.
A hard-fought semifinal saw Bentley end Pace’s run in Waltham, as Julia Elie (career-high 16 points; 7-8 FG) and Amanda Kabantu (13 points, 7 boards, 5 assists) fueled the victory. Bentley took the lead at the break with a 16-8 second quarter (28-20) and, after the Setters rallied for their only lead of the second half (40-38), the Falcons rattled off an 11-1 spree which bridged the final two periods to go ahead for keeps (49-41). Tower Lorde (15 points) led the way for Pace.
SNHU travelled to Assumption for the other semifinal game and came home with a 67-60 win behind Adriana Timberlake (22 points), Julia Colby (16 points) and Jess Knight (14 points, 8 boards) to reach the NE10 title game for the first time. Monica Spain (20 points, 11 rebounds) was sharp for the Greyhounds, who faced a 43-34 deficit after three quarters and pulled within four points (64-60) in the final minute before succumbing. For regionally ranked #1 Assumption, their NCAA bid was already assured but at that point (Thursday night), they were uncertain whether they would remain atop the ladder once the weekend played out.
Bentley never trailed in the NE10 final, racing to an 8-0 lead against the Penmen and leading by as many as 14 points in the second half en route to a 61-49 triumph. SNHU was unable to get any closer than eight points in the fourth quarter and any potential NCAA hosting duties slipped away. Tournament MOP Maggie Whitmore (17 points, 10 rebounds), Ella Thompson (15 points) and Ciara Norman (12 points, 11 boards) carried the Bentley attack with Timberlake and Colby (12 points each) leading the Penmen.
As a result of the tournament outcomes, three teams nabbed automatic bids to the dance - Bentley, Daemen and Dominican. Four of the five at-large bids were sure to be populated by Assumption, SNHU, Jefferson and Le Moyne, based on their full body of work during the campaign; all that was in question was the seeding. The last at-large berth was a contest between St. Thomas Aquinas and Holy Family, with Southern Connecticut (ranked 8th in the region last week) all but ousted thanks to Dominican’s CACC victory. In the end, the committee opted for the Spartans, who had a 1-1 week (losing to a regionally ranked team) while the Tigers went 0-1 (losing to a non-ranked team). The major questions that never have to be answered are (1) would Daemen have received the at-large bid over Holy Family if they lost in the ECC tournament; (2) if Jefferson won at least one (and maybe two) games last weekend, would they be the host; and (3) if SNHU won the NE10 title in light of Jefferson’s defeat, would they be the host?
Once the dust settled this is how the seedings and match ups for Friday’s first round came out:
- Assumption (host) vs. (8) Dominican
- Southern New Hampshire vs. (7) St. Thomas Aquinas
- Jefferson vs. (6) Daemen
- Le Moyne vs. (5) Bentley
The committee opted to keep Assumption at the top thanks to Jefferson (and maybe SNHU) not winning their league titles but did swap the Rams and Penmen in the seedings. Bentley stayed #5 despite winning the NE10 with Le Moyne remaining 4th. Daemen was bumped up to #6 (from last week’s #8 spot), jumping Holy Family and STAC, with the latter avoiding the 8-spot thanks to unranked Dominican’s entry.
The first-round matchups provide a couple of rematches of games played earlier this season, as Assumption beat Dominican on November 26 (82-59) at the Laska Gym, SNHU defeated STAC in Sparkill on December 29 (71-65) and Le Moyne dropped Bentley in Syracuse on January 21 (53-38).
Bentley will be making its NCAA Division II record 37th appearance in the field this week with Jefferson next in line among this year’s group with their fourteenth trip. The Rams won a game for the first time since 1998 while the Falcons, 14-time reginal champions, will try to snap a regional title dry spell dating back to 2016. Assumption is making its eighth showing, and first since 2017; the Greyhounds are seeking their NCAA first victory since 2011. Le Moyne is making its fifth appearance, and fourth in a row. Daemen, St. Thomas Aquinas and Southern New Hampshire are in the field for the fourth time each while Dominican is making its’ third appearance (and seeking its first victory). Daemen will be trying to reach the regional title game for the third straight season, STAC made appearances in back-to-back seasons recently (2018 and 2019) and SNHU is making their first-ever back-to-back NCAA showings.
This space is not in the business of making predictions, so I will leave that to others. Keep in mind that last season the #7 (Pace) and #8 (Daemen) seeds advanced to the regional title game, so anything is possible. We will review the regional action once it’s all said and done and see what/who the 2023 East Regional champion faces at the Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Missouri.
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That’s it for now - until next time, enjoy the games!