Welcome back to this Wednesday edition of The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops! Hard to believe I’ve been writing this blog for a week now. Very honored and excited to see so many people supporting and reading this each day. Now for the Game of the Day…
Game of the Day: Illinois Wesleyan @ #4 UW-Whitewater, 8 pm EST
These are two NCAA Tournament contenders, who haven’t been afraid to face some of the nation’s best right out of the gate. IWU played at the Hope Tip-Off Tournament last weekend, and UW-Whitewater hosted a tournament that included #14 Millikin on its home floor. Facing high-quality competition has only made these two teams better in this early part of the season, and both know a major non-conference win is on the line in this one. The perimeter shooting of IWU will clash with the post play of Whitewater in what should be a game decided in the final quarter.
Keep an eye on…
- #16 Springfield @ Endicott, 7 pm EST
- Salisbury @ Catholic, 6 pm EST
- Cornell @ Wartburg, 8 pm EST
- St. Norbert @ UW-Stevens Point, 8 pm EST
Other Notes…
- As far as last night’s games go, there were certainly some entertaining ones. I titled yesterday’s post, “Can RWU stop Tufts and Maggie Russell?” Well…RWU did a fantastic job against Russell, holding the dynamic forward to just eight points in 28 minutes. But the focus on Russell opened up opportunities for Sarah Crossett and Sophia Gonzalez, who each scored in double figures in Tufts’ 57-48 win. RWU was good inside, scoring 40 of its 48 points in the paint, but Tufts’ defense was impressive, forcing 22 turnovers. The defensive battle between Tufts and Amherst later this season will probably be one of those games where neither team scores 60, and yet is exciting for all 40 minutes.
- I saw a few minutes of UW-Oshkosh’s battle against Edgewood. Maybe Edgewood was just having a good day, but I think the Eagles could be an outside contender in the NACC. It’s a pretty wide-open conference, though Wisconsin Lutheran seems to be pretty strong at this point. Edgewood has had a tough start to the year, facing Wartburg and UWO in consecutive games, but I was impressed by how well they found scoring opportunities from short-range. Paige Banks is a stellar forward, and had 23 points in that one. Looking at UWO, it’s still a learning process for that young group, but they turned it over just eight times and came up with a couple of key 3-pointers when it counted. Sarah Hardwick continues to be my pick for WIAC Freshman of the Year (not that I have any say in that!). Had a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds last night.
- I got the chance to listen to an excellent interview on Hoopsville with Hope’s Brian Morehouse. Lots of great topics covered there, including the record-breaking season opener, enjoying the 2022 national title, and the MIAA as a whole. I thought Morehouse made some great points about how competitive the MIAA is going to be this season, with Calvin and Trine as real contenders (though it’s hard for anyone in the country to compete with Hope), and he also mentioned they will be going to NYC next year. I know nothing about this, but I feel like a Hope-NYU matchup might be the works…maybe? That’d be a must-see for sure. He also said that he had recently talked with Randolph-Macon MBB HC Josh Merkel over Zoom, which had to be an incredible conversation considering those two are some of the best minds in D3 hoops. It’s always cool to see the support between the coaches of MBB and WBB teams in D3. That’s a special part of this division. There’s way too much to cover here, so don’t just read my thoughts. Go listen to the interview!
- Take a look at this stat line from Anderson’s Lexi Dellinger this past weekend: 29.5 PPG, 4.5 Steals/Game, 5.5 RPG…wow! Well-deserved selection to the D3hoops.com Team of the Work for her.
This has been a long post…so if you’ve read this far, thank you. Be sure to try to get out and support your local D3 schools if you aren’t doing so already. It is always disappointing to see box scores with attendance numbers of 100 or below listed. It means a lot to players and coaches alike when there are fans in the stands, and people believing in what they’re doing. And have a great rest of your day!
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