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Posted Dec. 18, 2002

Another MAC team ready to shine
There was reason for optimism this season for the DeSales women, who were coming off a 21-win season and an ECAC championship. Not only would most of the starting lineup return, but the Antolick sisters, Teri and Alyssa, who toppled like dominoes suffering season-ending injuries in back to back games at the start of the 2001-2002 run, would both be almost fully healed.

The Bulldogs have been the big story in the MAC Freedom so far this season, scoring surprising wins over Messiah and King's on the way to a No. 8 ranking and a 7-0 mark heading into the winter break. This is a team that plays up to its nickname, going with a fullcourt pressure defense for 40 minutes, which has caused all sorts of problems for the opposition. DeSales has forced 155 turnovers in six games, including a season-high 29 in a 68-51 win against Messiah and 22 in the 61-58 triumph at Kings.

"That's our thing — it's no secret," said 13th year head coach Fred Richter, who has worked that system since his third season with the team. "Ball-pressure is a lost art. Teams that do it well tend to succeed. It's been working even better for us this year."

That may explain why Teri Antolick (left), a senior forward, is shooting 62% from the field and averaging 16.6 ppg, even as she concedes she isn't yet 100% recovered from the torn ACL suffered last season. Alyssa, a sophomore, who was out with torn tendons in her ankle, is right behind her at 13.4 ppg. and has twice led the team with 23-point efforts. Both stand 6-feet tall, two inches shorter than sister Sara, who is a high school junior at Allentown Central Catholic near their hometown of Bethelhem, Pa.The Antolick women can make for a pretty good basketball team. Mom, Dottie, played was a high school star in Pennsylvania in the days of the two-handed set shot and still competes at family picnics. She and her husband Ed both coached the Antolick girls in youth leagues until they reached high school.

They didn't play this kind of style though, one that Teri says makes them "a team to be reckoned with this season." Besides the Antolick sisters, the Bulldogs also have a pair of former league rookie of the year winners in sophomore point guard Jen Netwal and junior Amy Yencho. They also have the size to compete on a national level with a pair of reserves standing 6-foot-3, Jen Rautzhan and Dene Jennings.

"We knew that we had the potential to be unbeaten to this point," said Alyssa Antolick. "We feel that we have a lot to look forward to this season."

More than in years past, there is a sense that Richter can guide the team to its first NCAA Tournament win since he became head coach. The Bulldogs have qualified four times, having to win the MAC Freedom League on each occasion to do so, but have yet to win a tournament game.

"We've got more size and more offensive capability than we've had before," Richter said. "We're in an awfully good league though. We still have some work to do."

BLAST FROM THE PAST: The Grove City men, which play in the Presidents Athletic Conference, is off to a 6-0 start for the first time in 20 years. Coincidentally, head coach Steve Lamie was a reserve on that team, which opened 11-0, finished with the best record in program history at 21-4 and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament as an independent before losing to Widener.

"That was the best team we've ever had here, but I can't take credit for that," Lamie said with a laugh, remembering a squad that had three academic All-Americans and two of the top 11 all-time scorers in team history. "I think I can relate to our kids because I filled a variety of roles as a player. I was the 16th man on a 16-man team at one point. Then, as a senior, I was a part-time starter."

No one did this year's team any favors with scheduling. The Wolverines are next in action in two Christmas tournaments five days apart opening against defending national champ Otterbein and then last year's runner up, Elizabethtown. The Otterbein matchup comes one day shy of being the 20th anniversary for the 1982 team's win over Otterbein in that same tournament.

GCC returned four of its five starters, including co-captain junior forward Tanner Prosser who is averaging 9.5 ppg two seasons after tearing his ACL twice. Sophomore forward Nate Maurer leads the team in scoring at 18.0 ppg. Each of the teams top five scorers is shooting 50 percent or better from the field.

"We've had a lot of injuries already, and we're down to just 13 kids," Lamie said. "Our bench has stepped up too. They've been very consistent."

The Wolverines women's team could use some of that 20-year anniversary magic, considering that the women went 22-5 that season. Melissa Lamie's current squad has had six consecutive winning seasons, but is off to a 1-6 start this one.

NO MORE MAMMOTH HOME RUNS: In Division I play last weekend, Maryland had a remarkable non-conference home win streak come to an end at 87 consecutive games. On the Division III level last weekend, a similar run ended, as UW-Platteville lost to NAIA Division I No. 14 St. Xavier, 77-70. It snapped an 18-year, 63-game, non conference home win streak. St. Xavier entered the game at 9-2 and averaging 92 points per game, but the Pioneers hung tough.and trailed by only a point with 3:11 remaining.

HELP! One reader wrote wanting to see if we could put together a list of every time a Division III program beat a Division I team. Such compilations do not come easily, so we're requesting your assistance. Here, to start with, is a list of the past seven wins, which we believe are the only ones since we started doing this site in December 1997. They're all men's games:

Dec. 4, 2002: Johns Hopkins 66, Navy 61
Nov. 25, 2002: Fisk 69, Tennessee State 65
Dec. 29, 2001: Macalester 90, Yale 82
Dec. 18, 2000: Wartburg 72, Central Florida 61
Nov. 25, 2000: Augustana 76, Western Illinois 71
Nov. 18, 2000: Catholic 59, Albany 56
Nov. 24, 1998: McMurry 80, Texas-Arlington 76

We're looking for one other NCAA record. The Baldwin-Wallace women's team made a school record 15 3-pointers in 21 attempts in its one-point triumph against Wilmington. We're wondering if that 71.4% mark is the best ever on the women's side for teams that took more than 20 attempts in a game. (The NCAA record book goes as high as a 12-for-13 performance by Alma on Feb. 15, 2000.)

REMEMBER MAINE: Division III women's basketball in Maine is off to a great start with Bowdoin and Southern Maine ranked in the Top 25, but don't count out Colby, which has started 5-0 this season after going 11-14 last season. We'll get a good idea of just how good Colby, which has already beaten then-top 25 Emmanuel, is in the upcoming weeks. They'll close out 2002 in the Salem State Tournament, possibly facing the hosts in the finals. The 2003 schedule starts with three of the first four games coming against Southern Maine, Bates, and Bowdoin. Bates' (6-1) only loss so far was a 3-point loss to 7-1 Southern Maine, whose only defeat was by two points in overtime against No. 2 Bowdoin.

Senior Sarah Walsh leads Colby in scoring at 19.4 ppg to go along with 17 steals. Wendy Bonner ranks second at 16 ppg.

Notes for Around the Nation are compiled with the help of sports information directors across the country. If you have suggestions or information for this column, please send it to mark@d3hoops.com.

2008-09 columns
Feb. 20: York (Pa.), no cliche
Feb. 13: St. Thomas writing history
Feb. 6: George Fox on hunt
Jan. 30: Brother, brother
Jan. 23: Growing a program
Jan. 16: Dudek's rare feat
Jan. 9: Ravin' about Anderson
Dec. 18: Chicago marooned at 0-9
Dec. 12: De Luca back on track
Dec. 4: Ithaca surprises
Nov. 21: Augie gets some delp
Nov. 13: Is repeat possible?

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