The Rivalry was played in front of the emptiest house imaginable, at Calvin. Hope athletics photo

Three of Division III's biggest rivalries got a chance to hoop it up on Saturday, while the number of teams playing this season continued to grow. Hope and Calvin squared off in both men's and women's basketball, while Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon got on the floor as well, and Wabash and DePauw, better known as football rivals, got a men's basketball game in. 

• Saturday's scoreboard: Men | Women
• More men's news releases | Women's news releases
• Friday night: Big rallies, big performances

Through Saturday's action, 131 men's teams have played at least one game, as have 136 women's teams.

The Hope men ended a five-game losing streak to their rival, as Preston Granger hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left and the Flying Dutchmen survived a half-court attempt at the buzzer to beat Calvin 79-77. Granger was in perfect position to grab a rebound of a missed shot in the closing seconds, collected his ninth rebound and was fouled in the process. Granger finished 11-for-12 from the line. Thad Shymanski finished with 23 points and 10 assists, while teammate Brandon Paul had 23 points and 14 boards for the Knights (3-3). Granger had 25 to help Hope even its record at 1-1. It was Hope's first win against Calvin since Feb. 3, 2018.

Hope leads the rivalry, 104 wins to 100. The teams are separated by 62 points across those 204 meetings.

Randolph-Macon got just eight points from Buzz Anthony and he turned the ball over seven times, but Ian Robertson went off for a game-high 30 points, including 8-for-13 3-point shooting as Randolph-Macon defeated its archrival Hampden-Sydney by a 79-65 score. The Yellowjackets were the third opponent scheduled for H-SC on Saturday, after two previous opponents were unavailable because of COVID-19. Miles Mallory added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Randolph-Macon outrebounded its rival 37-21.

"We were in the film room yesterday finishing the film for Lynchburg and putting the finishing touches to take the practice floor at about 2:20 and Jeff called me in and said Lynchburg canceled," R-MC coach Josh Merkel told Marty Wilson on the school's broadcast, "and so we said 'OK, let's try to find a game', so we sent the guys onto the practice floor ... the whole time I'm on the phone just texting and making a couple calls to see if someone else had canceled on anyone to see if we could get a game and then, 6:30, Jeff called and Randolph I guess had canceled with Sydney, and so here it was."

"I love that our guys made no excuses about the sudden opponent change and went out and executed the game plan," Hampden-Sydney second-year coach Caleb Kimbrough said. "With that said, rebounds really hurt us tonight and is something we are going to have to commit to if we want to be on the winning side of things moving forward."

Mount Union got back on the floor after its weekend series with John Carroll was swapped for a game with Ohio Northern and the Purple Raiders improved to 3-0 with a 94-72 win. Collen Gurley scored a game-high 24 points, including 5-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Braedon Poole added a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards, to go with five blocked shots. Ohio Northern (2-1) got 19 points and 10 rebounds from C.J. Napier.

Wabash got on the floor for the first time, with just six players thanks to contact tracing and none of them Jack Davidson. But despite being short-handed, the Little Giants hung in with their archrival before falling, 86-75. Nolan Ginther went off for 34 points for the Tigers (3-0), shooting 13-for-16 from the floor and 4-for-5 from 3-point range, while Nick Felke canned six 3-pointers in eight attempts en route to 20 points. Kellen Schreiber played all 40 minutes and scored 29 for Wabash (0-1).

Trinity (Texas) held the lead for just one second in the entire game, but it was the right second as Abdullah Roberts' short jumper with 1.02 seconds to play lifted the Tigers to a 51-50 road victory over Texas Lutheran. Roberts' shot capped the Tigers' comeback from a 13-point, second-half deficit, giving Trinity a sweep in the weekend series against the Bulldogs. Trinity improved to 5-1, with all of its games in the SCAC. TLU (1-3, 1-3) received 15 points off the bench from freshman guard Xavier Phillips.

Dubuque improved to 6-0, as Sam Kilburg scored 23 points and Peter Ragen added 14 points and 15 rebounds in a 72-55 win against Wartburg. Originally slated to play Nebraska Wesleyan, Dubuque was rescheduled to play Wartburg. Nebraska Wesleyan has yet to be able to play a game after five games were postponed or canceled. The Spartans held Wartburg (2-4, 0-2 ARC) to 19-for-63 shooting, 30.2%.

Orry Clements-Owens hit two key 3-pointers in overtime and Piedmont handed Covenant its first Division III loss of the season, defeating the Scots 69-62. Zack Allen scored 22 of his career-high 24 points in regulation for Covenant (7-4, 3-1 USA South), including a 3-pointer with 2:59 left to give the Scots a 55-52 lead. But Ryan Jolly answered with a 3 with a minute left to tie the game and send it to the extra session. Clements-Owens led Piedmont (6-6, 3-3) with 17 points.

Carrington Young hit a layup with 2:00 left to give Ferrum a 63-62 lead and the Panthers held on to defeat Bridgewater 65-62. The Eagles (2-2, 2-1 ODAC) went 0-for-2 from the floor and turned the ball over three times in the final minutes. Kajuan Madden-McAfee hit two free throws with two seconds left to secure the win as Ferrum improved to 2-3, 1-2.

Saturday women's action

In the latest version of the Rivalry, Hope used a strong fourth quarter to beat Calvin, 74-58. The Knights (0-3) kept it close and entered the fourth quarter down just four, but Hope (4-0) scored on four of its first five possessions in the final period to open up a double-digit advantage. Olivia Voskuil had seven points in that game-deciding run and Kenedy Schoonveld finished with 19 for the Flying Dutch. Hope cut Calvin's lead in the series to 71-55. The ninth win in a row against Calvin continued the Flying Dutch's longest winning streak since The Rivalry's first game in the 1965-66 season.

"It's special this year, given the circumstances with COVID, that we got a chance to play in The Rivalry game," Voskuil said. "It was fun."

Trine, which travels to Hope on Wednesday night, took care of Adrian, 61-44. The Thunder (5-0) were able to use their starters sparingly in the second half since they led 37-17 at the break.

After giving up a 15-point lead and losing at Wheaton on Thursday night, Millikin made sure that didn't happen again on Saturday. The Big Blue (2-1) jumped out to a 21-point halftime lead at home and cruised to a 85-60 victory. Millikin held the Thunder offense to four assists vs. 24 turnovers. Elyce Knudson had 17 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals for Millikin while Hannah Williams scored 17 for Wheaton (2-1).

Oglethorpe surged past Rhodes, 67-59, to extend its conference winning streak to 20 games and remain undefeated. Oglethorpe trailed 50-49 early in the fourth quarter when Nikki Reed's three pointer gave the Stormy Petrels the lead. Oglethorpe coach Alex Richey called timeout to set up his full court press and whatever he called worked. On Rhodes' ensuing inbounds play, Sarah Plemons stole the ball and laid the ball in for two. Then Amy Vazquez stole the inbounds pass on the next play and found Reed for two more, extending the Stormy Petrels' lead to six.

Kiera Downey scored five straight to keep the Lynx close but Oglethorpe pulled away on a Carly Henderson 3-pointer and another basket for Reed. She finished the game with 11 points before leaving late with an apparent injury. Downey scored 14 for Rhodes (4-1), which plays Oglethorpe again tomorrow.

North Park only scored 26 points through the first three quarters of its game at Carthage, but the Vikings scored 21 in the final period and rallied to victory, 47-40. The teams combined for nearly twice as many fouls (49) as made field goals (27), but North Park (3-0) had five threes while Carthage (0-2) went 1 for 19 from three.

Jade Shipley hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half and Anderson pulled ahead of Transylvania for good en route to a 60-52 win against the Pioneers. It was Anderson's first win against Transylvania since Dec. 3, 2011. Shipley finished with a game-high 18 points, while Hannah Hawkins added 10 points, 16 rebounds and five steals.

Kelly Wehrich's layup with six seconds left lifted Elmhurst over Carroll, 65-64, and earned the Bluejays a split in their two games with the Pioneers.

Hardin-Simmons beat Mary Hardin-Baylor for the second time in three games, this time winning on the road, 71-64. Four of the Cowgirls starters scored double digits and the fifth just missed with nine points. Samantha Tatum led the way for HSU (9-3, 4-2 ASC) with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.