| Christopher Newport and coach Carolyn Hunter
retired Chelsie Schweers' number Saturday on Senior Day. She scored
21 points to lift her career total to 2,630, 26 behind Gallaudet's
Ronda Jo Miller for third in Division III history. Christopher Newport athletics photo |
Just wait for the rematch, right? In most conferences a team gets two chances at each opponent, one at home and one on the road. For No. 15 St. Vincent, a second chance at top-ranked Thomas More didn't deliver a different result, but for No. 13 Christopher Newport, getting No. 10 Greensboro in its own gym resulted in a season split.
The Captains handed Greensboro its first loss of the season, as Chelsie Schweers scored 21 points and CNU overcame its own 1-for-8 shooting from 3-point range in a 61-48 win.
Having missed its chance to beat Thomas More at home, St. Vincent had the unenviable task of trying to do so on the road and could not, as the top-ranked Saints improved to 25-0 with the 73-48 victory. Thomas More sprinted out to a 20-3 lead on Senior Day and did not look back.
Denison became the first NCAC women's basketball team to go 25-0, finishing its run by defeating Oberlin 86-62. Babson remained unbeaten as well, improving to 25-0 and running the table in the NEWMAC for the second consecutive year with a 95-51 thrashing of Mount Holyoke.
Saturday was the end to the conference regular season for most schools, with the exception of the UAA, which doesn't have a conference tournament, as well as a handful of conferences where tournaments got underway.
Archrivals Calvin and Hope will have to share the MIAA regular season championship. No. 23 Calvin beat Trine 64-35 and sophomore Carissa Verkaik scored her 1,000th career point. No. 3 Hope took care of visiting Albion 66-48. The Knights will be the top seed in the tournament by virtue of winning a coin flip.
Jessica Pitts scored 16 of La Roche's final 21 points and the Redhawks beat No. 20 Medaille 61-58. La Roche and Medaille will split the regular season AMCC title but the Redhawks will host the conference semifinals.
Salve Regina won its 17th consecutive game, beating Gordon 67-29 and finishing unbeaten in the Commonwealth Coast Conference behind seven seniors. Stevens topped Ithaca 51-46 to snap the Bombers' 33-game regular season conference winning streak and snag a home game in the Empire 8 tournament. St. Lawrence beat Union 53-44 to earn the right to host the Liberty League playoffs.
All-American Kathryn Stockbower scored a season high 22 points for Swarthmore and led the Garnet past rival Haverford 65-60. Unfortunately that will be Stockbower's last game since Swarthmore loses the tiebreaker to Franklin and Marshall for the final spot in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
Manhattanville beat Misericordia 75-55 to grab home court throughout the MAC Freedom playoffs. The Valiants shot 52 percent from the field (28 for 54).
Eastern Connecticut State beat Southern Maine 60-53 in overtime to finish tied for second behind Western Connecticut in the Little East, giving coach Denise Bierly her 333rd career win, the most in program history.
Six NESCAC teams were ranked in the NCAA's most recent Northeast regional rankings, but only four are still in contention for the conference title after today. Top-seeded Amherst had little trouble with Trinity (Conn.) in a 57-32 quarterfinal win, while Williams outlasted Tufts 69-64 in overtime in the 4-5 game. Second-seeded Colby edged seventh-seeded Middlebury 67-64 and third-seeded Bowdoin beat sixth-seeded Bates 69-51.
The top seeds all advanced in the CUNYAC tournament as well, with top-seeded Baruch set to square off against fourth-seeded John Jay and No. 2 Brooklyn against No. 3 Lehman on Tuesday night at CCNY.