The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: The Final Four is SET!

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March 12, 2023

By Riley Zayas

Here we are! The Final Four is set. After starting the tournament with 64 teams two weeks ago, just four are still standing. Yesterday’s Elite Eight matchups were all very competitive, though some ended up being decided by larger margins than I’d anticipated. It was a great second weekend overall, and Saturday’s national semifinal contests are set. As a reminder, this year the national championship game will be in Dallas, Texas, as part of a combined NCAA women’s basketball championship event, featuring the D1, D2, and D3 championship games all in one place. I will be there in person and can’t wait to see what two teams will emerge out of Saturday’s duels in Hartford, CT. Trinity (CT) is hosting those semifinal contests, and here are the game times, per the NCAA, which were announced this morning:

Christopher Newport vs. Rhode Island College, 5 pm EST

Smith vs. Transylvania, 7:30 pm EST

Now for a look at yesterday’s action…

Transylvania put on a showcase against NYU and absolutely controlled the game from start to finish, winning 67-43. It was not at all the game I expected we would see…I envisioned more of a contest decided in the final minute or on the last shot. But Transy was incredible, and if I’ve gained one major takeaway from this tournament it is that they are definitely as good as their 31-0 record shows. Very impressed by the performance tonight. The contest against Smith is going to be fun to watch!

3 starters scored at least 20 points for the Pioneers, with Kennedi Stacy leading the way with 23. Dasia Thornton had 22 points, 17 rebounds, in the win. Transy outrebounded NYU by +12, and it just didn’t seem like NYU had its rhythm in this one. For a stretch in the 2nd quarter, NYU kept putting up 3-pointer after 3-pointer, with very few actually going in. It contributed to a 21-9 run from Transy that gave the hosts a double-digit lead.

CNU and Tufts were locked in a competitive battle for much of the contest inside historic Cousens Gymnasium, but the top-ranked Captains pulled away late, clinching their long-awaited trip to the Final Four. That was an incredible tough quadrant to get through and the Captains handled it very well. 72-56 was the final score last night, as CNU closed the game on an 11-2, holding a double-digit lead for much of the final five minutes. 30-0 is the record CNU takes to Hartford for the Final Four…pretty impressive!

Gabbi San Diego came through big-time for CNU, putting 32 points on the board, making 12-of-13 from the free throw line and 9-of-16 from the field. Not to mention, she dished out six assists. And Sondra Fan added 18 points to go along with three steals. The Captains definitely have some playmakers.

Also noticed this number postgame when it came to points off turnovers: CNU, 22, Tufts, 5. That’s key.

Rhode Island College is the shocker of this year’s tournament. The Anchorwomen stunned Babson on Babson’s home court to become the first unranked team in a long time to advance to the Final Four. This is a team that had its struggles in the LEC Tournament, but has performed incredibly well in these “win-or-go home” situations.

Madison Medbury’s 3-pointer at the end of the first half left the game tied as the third began, but then Medbury and RIC began pulling away. They outscored Babson 20-11 in the third, and then 19-15 in the fourth, with the final score ending up at 60-47. Not the result I expected!

Babson was 0-for-7 from beyond the 3-point arc, RIC had 20 points off turnovers, and a +4 rebounding margin to go along with that. Medbury had 20 points in the win and Izabelle Booth tallied an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The more I watch Smith, the more impressed I am with the Pioneers’ talent level and overall discipline on both ends of the floor. Up against Trinity (CT), a top-quality opponent in the minds of most, Smith outscored the Bantams 22-11 in the second quarter, and clinched a Final Four spot in a 63-46 victory. To do it on their home court was even cooler, as the Pioneers joined Transylvania as the two teams in this year’s tournament to book their tickets to Hartford on their home court. That’s a memory both the team and the fan base will have for a long time.

Smith did a nice job of taking away Trinity’s offensive weapons, as Emma Wax had 10 points and Reilly Campbell tallied 12 (both numbers below each player’s respective average). The Pioneers limited the Bantams to a shooting percentage of 30%, while converting on 45% of their own shots from the field and 41% from 3-point range. Morgan Morrison had yet another double-double for Smith (17 pts, 10 reb) and the Pioneers saw 23 points come off the bench.

All-Elite 8 Team (based on my personal opinion)

G-Gabbi San Diego, SR, CNU: 32 pts, 6 assists, 3 reb

G-Madison Medbury, SO, RIC: 20 pts, 7 reb, 7 assists

G-Callie O’Brien, SR, Tufts: 19 pts, 4 reb, 4 assists

F-Dasia Thornton, SR, Transylvania: 22 pts, 17 reb, 2 steals, 1 block

F-Morgan Morrison, SR, Smith: 17 pts, 10 reb

Thank you to everyone who has followed along throughout this tournament. And thank you to so many coaches for your kind words towards my coverage of D3 WBB. It truly means more than you know. Looking forward to Saturday’s games! I’ll check back in soon.

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The Scoop on D3 Women’s Hoops: The Elite Eight field is set!

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March 11, 2023

By Riley Zayas

Well, our Elite Eight field is set for today! Here is who is still playing after what was a great Round of 16 last night…

#1 Christopher Newport vs #21 Tufts, 7 pm EST

#6 NYU vs #2 Transylvania, 6:30 pm EST

#20 Trinity CT vs #4 Smith, 8 pm EST

Rhode Island College vs #13 Babson, 7:30 pm EST

As you can see, our final eight teams are almost 100% located in the northeast with the exception of CNU and Transylvania. Rhode Island College is also the only non-Top 25 team still alive in this tournament, which is pretty notable. All the way around, I think we will see some incredible basketball tonight. Lots to like about the way these sectional have shaken out.

Now to take a look at last night’s Round of 16 matchups…

I think you have to start with your buzzer beater alert. And of all teams, it was Smith who needed a 3-pointer at the end of overtime in order to break the 75-75 tie against Mary Washington, and win 78-75. It was wild! Smith dribbled around for close to 12 seconds before the ball found its way into the hands of Ally Yamada, who fired an off-balance 3 that hit nothing but net. Those are the moments you live, and Smith is now one win away from the Final Four because of it.

The game appeared close to over entering the fourth, as Smith led by 15. Then Mary Washington flipped the switch. The Eagles mounted a 20-5 run to close the game, and I was very impressed by how efficient UMW was under pressure. They didn’t seem to rush their offensive possessions, even though they were down by double digits with about six minutes left, and they stayed aggressive, which did not make it easy on Smith.

Of course in OT, it was just as tight, with Smith outscoring UMW 11-8. Smith controlled the boards in this game BIG-TIME, outrebounding UMW 46-29. That is huge.

Chicago hadn’t played great in either the first or second round, but still, I did not expect Rhode Island College to end the Maroons’ season last night. RIC played a very complete game, and came out with a 64-56 victory, leading by as many as 17 points. RIC jumped out to a 20-13 lead and never looked back, shooting 8-of-15 from 3-point range and 42.3% from the field. Chicago never could catch up, and had some good 3-point looks in the final minutes that were missed, sending RIC to the Elite Eight. RIC feels like a wild card. They were one of my deep dive picks on Hoopsville a while back, but even in the LEC Tournament, didn’t impress me all that much. Whatever they’re doing must be working. A win over Babson today, and they’re into the Final Four.

Trinity TX vs Tufts was the big one for me, as I anticipated it would be competitive and feature some emotion with the “controversy” when it came to who hosted this sectional pod. As it turned out, the hosts did prevail, as Tufts came alive in the second half, winning 65-52. It was closer than the final score, but the Jumbos certainly kept their foot on the accelerator and never let up. Trinity was outscored 32-18 in the second half.

Maggie Russell was fantastic for Tufts, with 32 points and 21 rebounds. That might be the most dominant performance of this entire tournament. She literally took over the game, and carried the Jumbos to victory. I’m interested to see how CNU approaches Russell today, especially with Anaya Simmons out.

In a game that began pretty close, NYU raced away from Trine, and won convincingly, 66-49. Can’t wait to watch NYU battle Transylvania this afternoon. Big stats that jumped out to me…

  • NYU was +12 on the boards (41 rebounds to Trine’s 33)
  • NYU had 12 more points in the paint
  • NYU had 15 2nd-chance points, Trine had 6
  • NYU grabbed 10 of the game’s first 11 offensive rebounds

Natalie Bruns had a double-double for the Violets, with 16 points, and 13 rebounds, while Belle Pellecchia went toe-to-toe with Trine’s guards, scoring 15 points.

Top-ranked CNU ended Wartburg’s magical run with a 60-51 win early in the evening. CNU went up 21-9 early, and Wartburg, despite a valient effort down the stretch, never caught back up. CNU shot just 22% from 3-point range and had 10 fewer assists, but tallied 18 points off turnovers and scored 14 2nd-chance points. CNU had just 1 2nd-chance point. As I mentioned above, it will take that sort of defensive effort once again today if CNU wants to reach the Final Four. The Captains need to contain Russell and limit Tufts’ offense as a whole.

Babson did one thing incredibly well in the 73-59 win over Marietta: the Beavers got to the FT line, and were automatic there. That’s right…Babson was a perfect 20-for-20 from the charity stripe. I can’t think if many situations where you don’t win a game doing that. Not to mention, the Beavers shot 42% compared to Marietta’s 32%, and though Marietta won the rebounding battle by six, it didn’t make up for Babson’s exceptional free throw shooting.

Trinity CT is now one win away from playing in the Final Four on its home court. How cool is that? The Bantams took down UW-Whitewater, 63-56, ending the season for the last team standing that is located west of the Mississippi. It’s an all-eastern Elite Eight now, as Trinity got out to a 17-9 lead and stayed there. We’ve been talking about how much Trinity needed to establish a scoring presence outside of Reilly Campbell in some of these games, and that’s what they did against the Warhawks. 3 starters scored in double figures. Aleah Grundahl did not play for Whitewater due to an injury, and that definitely challenged the Warhawks in the post.

Transylvania punched its ticket to the Elite Eight once again, now 30-0! The Pioneers sent Ohio Northern home after jumping out to a 23-11 advantage and outscoring ONU in all four quarters. As usual, I thought Transy’s defensive intensity was incredible; ONU shot just 29.8% from the field and just 20% from 3-point. 25 points off turnovers helped too and I think Transy HC Juli Fulks put almost her entire bench into the game when the final buzzer sounded. 15 different players saw action for the Pioneers in the victory. NYU-Transy might be the game of the day in the Elite Eight round.

Enjoy today’s action! I’ll check back in tonight or tomorrow with some thoughts as our Final Four field gets set. Such an exciting day in D3 hoops! Looking forward to it.

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March 9, 2023: Breaking news this morning

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Within the last hour, we’ve had three breaking news reports come out in the D3 world, all of which are related to women’s basketball in some way or another. So I thought I’d put out something on all of this news, in addition to my look at the Sweet 16, which should be out this evening (and probably hit your inbox tomorrow morning).

This first one is combined because, well, the move itself is combined. Both Trinity (TX) and Southwestern are on the move, announcing they will join the Southern Athletic Association by the fall of 2025. This move was reported over a month ago by D3VBWest, a Region 10 volleyball website, but we were unsure when that move would be announced, and how committed both universities were to moving all sports to a league based heavily in the southeast U.S. and headquartered in Atlanta.

Apparently, this move was closer than many of us expected, and with Southwestern moving its football program from ASC affiliation to SAA affiliation next year, neither school’s football program will see any changes made. The other sports will now be playing Rhodes, Berry, Centre in others, replacing short treks to north Texas and Louisiana with regular season road trips involving flights and such.

My first reaction is what the SCAC is losing. D3football.com will probably cover the football aspect of this extensively in a story, and I know I’m a WBB blog. But football often drives conference realignment (especially when it comes to Texas) and with all the question marks surrounding the ASC (with the league dropping to four teams by 2026 if there are no new additions), the SCAC now has only six football schools as well. As a reminder, the min. number of teams for an AQ is 6, so both the SCAC and ASC are on thin ice right now. With Southwestern and Trinity gone, the SCAC is in danger of losing its AQ before it even restarts football if another school in the league leaves or drops its football program for whatever the reason.

How does it relate to WBB? Trinity will be the top team in their league in the SAA, just as they were in the SCAC. But the basement of the SAA in WBB isn’t as deep as the SCAC’s is. Scott Peterson, the D3 WBB numbers guru, quickly ran a few calculations. If you replace all of Trinity’s SCAC games this year with SAA games (sam number of conference games too), the Tigers’ SOS goes from .522 to .579. Southwestern would likely see a similar jump in SOS, though the competition level is also a bit higher in the SAA. There are no juggernaut programs in the SAA currently, but Rhodes, Centre, and others have frequently been competitive within Region 6.

The SCAC, meanwhile, has lost its “top dog” in terms of WBB. Colorado College probably fills that void and is a program on the rise, but the SCAC will become a more-wide open league without Trinity.

Full release from Trinity (Southwestern has not put anything out publicly in regards to this move): https://www.trinity.edu/news/trinity-university-athletics-moving-southern-athletic-association

The third piece of breaking news that came out a little while ago was that Justin Heinzen will be stepping down as Loras’ head coach after 15 seasons at the helm. Dave McHugh of Hoopsville was the first to report that coaching change. Loras was nationally prominent this past season and hosted a first weekend pod a few days ago that included Trine and WashU.

But according to McHugh’s tweet, Heinzen was operating without an assistant for much of the year, and has decided to take a break from coaching. Personally, he has been a huge supporter of my coverage of D3 WBB and I greatly appreciate that. I enjoyed watching Loras play numerous times this season, and wish him the best of luck in the future. Coaching at the D3 level is not easy, and doing it without an assistant makes the job that much more difficult.

Heinzen has Loras in a good spot within the ARC right now, and I expect the Duhawks will remain competitive in the years to come with the foundation he has built.

As always, if you have tips/thoughts/feedback/questions, shoot me an email at rileyzayas@gmail.com or a DM on Twitter (@ZayasRiley). Always happy to respond and talk about D3 WBB and D3 sports as a whole. Have a great day. More to come on tomorrow’s games!

Where grace meets celebration

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On Saturday night, I attended the NCAA Tournament second round game at Messiah University between the 11th ranked Falcons and No. 6 New York University. While our national rankings do not influence Tournament seeding, this is a case where NYU really was the higher seed and should’ve hosted.

The game should’ve been played in Greenwich Village in NYU’s sparking new Paulson Center. The University was scheduled to open its state-of-the-art facility midway through this season. But over the holidays, mother nature intervened and a “bomb cyclone” caused a pipe to burst. Water leaked enough to damage the floor, and the Violets had to play their “home” games at an offsite facility in Brooklyn the rest of the season.

So, NYU headed off to Central Pennsylvania and took care of business over the weekend, first against Greensboro on Friday night and then on Saturday night against the Falcons. Messiah scored the first four points and then NYU scored next 14 and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way. NYU won handily, 62-41.

As the clock wound down on Messiah’s season, there were all the familiar but powerful moments that I love about this time of year. The last time a player comes off the floor in her college career. The tears and embraces with teammates. The longer embrace between a player and her coach.

Messiah’s talented forward Megan Zimmerman waived to the crowd of Messiah supporters to thank them. The fans behind me, including one little boy wearing a carton of milk costume for some reason, cheered back.

And then I saw something that you don’t usually see at the end of the first weekend of Tournament games.

Someone from NYU approached the scorer’s table and asked if the players could cut down the nets. I read the face of the Messiah Administrator as he quickly progressed from disappointment in his team’s defeat, to a little bit of confusion, to trying to figure out how to make it happen. Instead of being annoyed or curt, he said, “Um, yeah, sure we can do that.”

And, so they did.

NYU celebrates its victory, with a little assist from Falcon Nation.

Messiah brought out a ladder and scissors and allowed the NYU fans and players to stream onto the floor and celebrate this moment. They queued up the video screen so it would show the players and coaches as they took their snip of the nets. All the while, Messiah players were being consoled by family members and fans who had hoped for a different outcome to the game. It’s the sharp contrast between jubilation and devastation that never fails to shock me in place, no matter how many times I see it.

As NYU cut down the net and celebrated, I saw the confusion in the eyes of an onlooker.

Why were they celebrating like this? Weren’t they the favorites? Didn’t they just win their conference?

Yes, but the UAA doesn’t have a conference tournament. The NYU women clinched the UAA title by blowing out Brandeis in the regular season finale. And while the players jumped and cheered and enjoyed the moment, there wasn’t time or space for a net cutting. The NYU men took the floor for their regular season finale and needed a win to bolster that resume for an at-large bid. NYU wasn’t even playing their home game at home.

Maybe this won’t be the only net cutting ceremony that NYU gets to enjoy this year. They could do it again this weekend if they win both games at Transylvania. They could do it again in the national championship, if they go that far.

But maybe this will be the only chance that this team can celebrate its special season in this manner, with their family and friends. If that’s the case, they will always have the snippets of nylon net and the photos to cherish the rest of their lives.

And, while it was not planned, convenient or particularly fun for them to watch, Messiah’s staff extended a gracious hand and made it happen.

For the administrators and staff at Messiah, I just wanted you to know that your act of kindness and sportsmanship did not go unnoticed.

February 23, 2023: Conference tournaments in full swing

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Here we are, already to Thursday, with some tournaments tipping off today, while others are already through the semifinal rounds and looking towards the championship game this week. You have to love postseason basketball, and all the excitement that it brings. There were certainly some notable results last night…including in the PAC, where a top seed fell. Here are my initial thoughts following last night’s results, along with some games to look forward to this evening!

The biggest surprise of the night (in my opinion) was fourth-seeded Chatham’s massive upset of top-seed (and the #24 team in the nation) Washington & Jefferson in the PAC Tournament semifinals. It was such a well-executed game by Chatham, and probably the worst shooting performance for W&J this season. You always hope those cold shooting days don’t come in a tournament game because…well…this can happen.

Chatham didn’t just slip past W&J, the Cougars dominated defensively, holding W&J 0-for-23 from 3-point range in a 57-40 victory. 0-for-23! That’s a big stat right there.

W&J just couldn’t get into a rhythm, and the result of playing such a weak schedule is that the loss, despite the Presidents’ near-perfect 24-3 record, will probably keep them out of the NCAA Tournament. Without the Pool A, there isn’t really a path to the national tournament for them. That is postseason basketball for you.

St. Vincent will play Chatham for the PAC title on Saturday at 4 pm.

In an NJAC classic, TCNJ and NJCU went into OT, with Damaris Rodriguez spearheading the NJCU offensive attack. With a spot in the NJAC title game on the line, Rodriguez scored 33 points, as the Gothic Knights prevailed, 78-74, in a game that came down to the wire.

It was such a fun game to watch, and you wouldn’t have known it was a #1 seed vs #4 seed matchup. TCNJ looked especially sharp for most of the contest, even leading 61-54 with 4:15 left in the 4th quarter. But they then went ice cold offensively, and did not score for the remainder of regulation, as NJCU mounted a 7-0 run. That’s a situation where TCNJ (rightfully so) would feel like they let victory slip away. NJCU hadn’t been great shooting the ball, and one or two more layups from TCNJ probably would have won the game.

But you’ve got to credit NJCU. They’re aiming at a three-peat in the NJAC in Saturday’s championship game against Rowan (who beat Kean 78-68), and yesterday night was the reason why. They are very tough, battle-tested, and somehow seem to always find a way, even at times when chances of victory are doubtful.

Speaking of Rowan, the third-seed in the NJAC Tourney played an exceptional game at second-seeded Kean, winning by 10. This improves Rowan’s Pool C chances, though I still think they’ll need the auto qualifier to make the NCAA Tournament, which means the Profs will have plenty to play for Saturday night. Grace Marshall scored 12 of her 16 points in the 4th quarter for Rowan.

I thought Elizabethtown also looked very strong in its Landmark semifinal game against Catholic, winning 81-64. It seemed like maybe the frustration of being slotted behind Gettysburg and Marymount in this week’s regional rankings came out on the court, because ETown left no doubt against a competitive Catholic squad.

The Blue Jays shot 44% rom the field, 56% from 3-point range, with Cyleigh Wilson connecting on 7-of-9 3-point shots. She had an exceptional game, scoring a team-high 23 points!

Four ETown starters ended up scoring in double figures, and if they manage to get that sort of offensive production in Saturday’s championship game against Scranton, we could see ETown finally pick up that much-needed victory over the Lady Royals. They do have a legitimate Pool C shot, but winning the Pool A would make things a whole lot easier for the Blue Jays come Monday.

Landmark Championship Game: ETown vs Scranton, 2 pm EST, Saturday

All 4 Top 25 teams won pretty convincingly last night…

#3 Scranton def. Moravian, 58-31

#9 DeSales def. Arcadia, 64-54

#13 Messiah def. Widener, 66-39

#17 Babson def. Wheaton (Mass.), 79-41

Some games you should be tracking tonight…

#12 Baldwin Wallace at Marietta (OAC semis), 7 pm EST

Luther at Wartburg (ARC semis), 8 pm EST

Simpson at #Loras (ARC semis), 8 pm EST

Concordia (Wis.) at Wisconsin Lutheran (NACC semis), 8 pm EST

St. Joseph’s (L.I.) at Merchant Marine (Skyline semis), 7 pm EST

Randolph at Guilford (ODAC quarterfinals, Neutral site), 3 pm EST

UMass Dartmouth at Rhode Island College (LEC semis), 5:30 pm EST

Lots to look forward to on the schedule today! Can’t wait to watch all this great basketball!