Women's recap: Spoiler alert

More news about: La Verne | Stevens | Wartburg
Jan 18, 2023
Stevens athletics photo
 

Stevens spoiled No. 6 DeSales’ hopes for a perfect regular season while Wartburg showed it's still very much a factor in the ARC with a 12-point win at home over No. 21 Loras in Wednesday night’s Division III women’s basketball action. Elswhere, La Verne rallied to keep its Division III record spotless and UW-Eau Claire emphatically claimed first place in the WIAC.

Stevens hit a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half and another three in the waning seconds of third quarter, and that plus stellar defense helped the Ducks knock off No. 6 DeSales, 49-48.

Leyla Castro’s three-pointer allowed Stevens to go into the locker room down just one, 27-26. At the end of the third period, Castro found Lucy Alberici who hit a three with four seconds left to again keep the Ducks within striking distance entering the final period. In that period, Jess Broad’s jumper gave Stevens a 49-48 lead with under a minute to play. DeSales had two shots on their next possession and missed both. Broad grabbed the defensive rebound, got fouled and missed both free throws. But DeSales couldn’t get a good look on its final possession and the Ducks’ celebrated the victory.

Broad led Stevens (15-2, 8-0 MAC Freedom) with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Abigail Rafferty tallied 14 points and 18 rebounds for DeSales (15-1, 7-1 MAC Freedom), which will host Stevens on Valentine’s Day.

Warburg upped its conference record to 8-0 and denied No. 21 Loras a share of first place in the A-R-C with a 63-51 over the Duhawks. The Knights took a 15-point advantage into the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach with a 6-0 run to start the final period. Sara Faber netted 23 points with five 3-pointers for Wartburg (13-4, 8-0 ARC). Loras now sits two games back in the conference standings with a 13-4, 6-2 mark.

No. 5 Smith cleared its first major hurdle in its quest for the NEWMAC crown by edging WPI 67-64 in overtime. The Engineers erased a seven-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation and forced overtime on Lisa Cristiano’s layup with 19 seconds remaining. The Pioneers didn’t have a field goal in the extra period, but they went 7 for 8 from the foul line, and that was the difference. Jessie Ruffner paced Smith (15-1, 2-0 NEWMAC) with 20 points in 38 minutes.

Fresh off a home victory over No. 9 Hope, Albion had a tougher time on the road at No. 13 Trine. The Thunder held the Britons to four first-quarter points and cruised to a 68-41 win. Trine (14-3, 8-0 MIAA) converted 18 Albion turnovers into 14 points and got most of the offense they needed from Sidney Wagner (19 points) and Makayla Ardis (18 points).

No. 16 UW-Eau Claire emphatically claimed first place in the WIAC for itself with an 85-59 win over UW-Stout. The Blugolds shot 54 percent from the field (30 for 56) and had five players score double figures, led by All-American Jessie Ruden (18 points). UW-Eau Claire (15-3, 6-1 WIAC) will play three of its next four games on the road after playing three of its previous four games in Zorn Arena. No. 19 UW-Whitewater fell behind UW-Platteville 23-9 after one quarter and ultimately fell to the Pioneers at home, 65-49. Ella Mackiewicz filled the stat sheet for UW-Platteville (9-9, 2-5 WIAC) with 31 points and nine rebounds in just 24 minutes.
Outside the Top 25, Elizabethtown bounced back from its loss to Scranton with a 64-58 win at Catholic. DaniRae Renno led the Blue Jays (14-1, 4-1 Landmark) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

La Verne stayed perfect against Division III foes with a 59-57 win over Occidental. The Leopards fell behind Occidental 54-44 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, but outscored the Tigers 15-3 the rest of the way. After Dawson Bell's jumper with 22 seconds remaining pulled La Verne even at 57, Dejanee Gill's layup with one second remaining won the game. Gill posted 14 points, 15 rebounds and five assists for La Verne (16-1, 8-0 SCIAC) whose lone loss came to Division I Utah Tech. La Verne has only played 10 of its 17 games against Division III opponents.

Shannon McCoy scored a career-high 41 points with 10 three-pointers and Kean defeated William Paterson, 85-70. McCoy's output gives her 1,701 points in her career, third most among active players behind Anderson's Lexi Dellinger and Calvin's Gabby Timmer.

King's topped Wilkes 64-43 in one of the final conference meetings between long-time Northeast Pennsylvania rivals. Lauren Casey scored 13 points for the Monarchs, which will remain in the MAC Freedom after Wilkes departs for the Landmark Conference this season. The teams will meet again in their regular season finale.