Posted: Mar 11, 2018
Women’s Game Recaps #78 – 3/10/18
- The 2018 NCAA Division II East Regional championship game is set for Monday night with top seed Stonehill facing #3 seed University of the Sciences after a thrilling pair of semifinal games on Saturday evening in North Easton. Once again, the report runs chronologically…
- Sarah Abbonizio (20 points, 7 rebounds) and Alex Thomas (16 points, 5 boards) led the University of the Sciences to a 61-54 regional semifinal win over #2 seed Bentley in a game that had a number of twists and turns but was finally settled by a late Devils burst. The Falcons sped to a fast 8-0 lead but Sciences managed to reel them in via the three-pointer (6-11 in the first period; 9-23 overall) and secured a 22-19 lead by the end of the quarter. The game stayed tight through the second frame but an 8-1 jaunt to end the half sent the Devils into the break on top, 40-34. A low-scoring third period (7-6, Bentley) belied the momentum shift; the Devils led 46-36 with 5:03 left in the stanza but Meghan Lewis (10 points) scored the last five points, allowing the Falcons to trim the deficit to 46-41 by the end of it. Bentley kept on coming once the fourth period began and a Becca Musgrove (11 points, including the 1,000th of her college career combining both Brown and Bentley) three-pointer at the 5:04 mark capped what was a 13-2 run and gave the Falcons a 49-48 edge. Irisa Ye gave the Devils the lead back with a leaner in the paint followed by a Thomas trey and an Abbonizio basket and suddenly the tide was back in Sciences court, 55-49, with 2:51 to play. Victoria Lux (8 points, 7 rebounds) scored at the other end and Macchi Smith (10 points) split a pair at the line for Bentley to make it a 55-52 game with 1:06 on the clock. Sciences answered with a Thomas layin to push the gap to 57-52 and the Falcons never had the ball back within one score the rest of the way. Jordan Vitelli (9 points) and Thomas each made two at the line sandwiching a Lewis basket in the final minute to complete the scoring and send the Devils to the Sweet 16 for the first time. Colleen Walsh added 9 points (3-6 3FG) for the Devils, who reached the 30-win level for the first time in program history. Sciences out-shot Bentley, 41-33% and held the Falcons to their lowest scoring output of the campaign in the process. Bentley had the upper hand in bench scoring (21-4) and forced more turnovers (12-7), leading to a 16-8 plus in points-off-miscues, but it wasn’t enough. The Falcons, who have been eliminated two straight years by the Devils in the NCAA tournament, end their season at 28-4, but it is Sciences who will advance to the regional final and will attempt to become the first CACC team to crash the Elite Eight party.
- Top seed Stonehill made their way into Monday night’s title game with a hard-earned 63-52 win over St. Thomas Aquinas with the backcourt duo of Courtney Walsh (22 points, 6-13 FG, 4-11 3FG, 6-7 FT) and Kelly Martin (17 points, 5 boards) doing the bulk of the damage. The Skyhawks led for much of the first half with a 23-14 lead as their apex but the Spartans fought back and ended the half with an 11-3 spell to draw within 26-25 at the interval. Alex Bertolino’s (16 points) triple gave STAC an early 28-26 lead after the restart but it proved to be their last as Stonehill scored the next seven points (five by Walsh) to assume a 33-28 lead. The home team extended the margin to 44-35 with the last seven points of the third quarter and kept the run going into the last frame, where they potted eight of the first ten points to craft a 52-37 bulge (7:19). Walsh (8) and Martin (7) supplied all the points in the carryover 15-2 spree and Stonehill was in control. The Spartans did have one more push in store as they put together a 9-1 jag to slice the arrears to 53-46 at the 2:57 mark. Martin’s three-point play and a basket from Elizabeth Grip (10 points) stopped the Spartans in the tracks and made it a 57-46 game with 1:11 to play, enough to ice the win. Stonehill shot better than STAC (42%-32%) and fared better from three-point range (6-19; STAC 2-14 3FG) to claim their spot in the regional final for the first time since 2015. Adiya Henderson (12 points, 11 boards) and Emily Preston (11 points, 10 caroms) double-doubled for St. Thomas Aquinas while Jenna Erickson added 9 points, who did have the edge at the line (16-24; Stonehill 11-15 FT) but still fell short. STAC ends their best season in program history at 27-5 and a first NCAA tournament victory but Stonehill is the combine that moves on and will try to claim their first regional crown since back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.
- A few tidbits from the regional… Historically the semifinal results were not a surprise in this eight-team East Regional format (this is the 16th year of it). A #4 seed (such as STAC) has never beaten a #1 seed (such as Stonehill) during that span and the #4 seed has only reached the title game once (2015 when Stonehill did so, ironically). That season, however, the #1 seed was stunned by the #8 seed (for the only time in regional history) as Holy Family beat Adelphi, so the #4 never had to beat the #1 to gain the regional final…. The #2 vs. #3 seed matchup is another with some surprising background. This matchup has occurred ten times with the #3 seed coming out on top seven times (including this year). In fact, Sciences’ win this season makes it four wins in a row by the #3 seed in this particular matchup… Sciences and Stonehill have crossed paths this season already with the Devils handing the Skyhawks a 71-58 defeat on December 28 in Philadelphia. Sarah Abbonizio led the way for the Devils with 26 points (at that time tying her career-high) but the game was close for more than three periods. Stonehill, was topped by Samantha Hyslip (13 points) and led 47-46 with just over nine minutes left but the Devils went on a 13-2 binge to take a 59-49 lead and never looked back… That game was the only time that Stonehll has played a CACC team this season but Sciences sports a 6-1 mark against NE10 teams, having only lost to AIC… Stonehill’s inclusion in the championship game means that the NE10 has had at least one team play for the regional crown 35 times in the 37 seasons that there has been a Division II tournament while the Devils are just the second CACC team to reach this stage after Holy Family’s showings in ’08, ’10 and ’12… This will be the seventh time in the current format that the #1 and #3 seeds meet for the title with the series even at three wins each… Around the nation there have been two #1 seeds dumped out of the tournament thus far, Virginia Union (Atlantic) and Asuza Pacific (West). The powers this season, undefeated Ashland (Midwest) and Lubbock Christian (South Central) are still alive along with other #1 seeds Union, TN (South), Carson-Newman (Southeast) and Augustana, SD (Central). All eight regional finals will be on Monday night and the eight survivors will be re-seeded in advance of the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which begins on Monday, March 18.