Well, the first round is in the books! It more than lived up to the hype, and we definitely saw some of the unique geographical matchups turn out to be some of the best games of the evening.
There are so many thoughts I have, too many to put into a write-up here, on last night’s action, and while chalk held in a number of pods, with the top seeds coming out on top, that wasn’t the case everywhere. In fact, our bid thieves of Trine, Puget Sound, Widener, and Ohio Northern all won their first round games, despite being the lower seeds. The momentum from their conference tournaments seemed to carry over in a big way! Throw UW-Stout into that mix as well. The Blue Devils defeated WashU in a great duel that came exactly week after Stout won the WIAC Tournament at UW-Oshkosh, clinching its spot in the national tournament.
15 of our 16 hosts are still alive, with the exception being Carroll, whose season came to an end earlier than I had expected it would, in a 74-65 loss to Puget Sound. That was a cool environment to be in I’m sure, at least looking at it on the livestream and talking to people who were there. Van Male Fieldhouse was at about 100% capacity, as the student section was packed behind both baskets, just feet away from the baselines. Those are awesome environments to be part of, and it would’ve been to have seen UW-Stout against Carroll tonight with that kind of crowd on hand. That said, a ton of credit goes to Puget Sound. In fact, the Loggers might be my team of the day, as the travel involved from Tacoma, Washington to Waukesha, Wisconsin is a real challenge, not to mention having to play the host and the champion out of one of the best leagues in the country (CCIW) in the opening round. But Puget wasn’t fazed by the large and vocal Carroll crowd, nor the Pioneers’ talent on the court. Puget’s 22-9 second quarter run certainly seemed to be the difference, as the Loggers went into halftime with plenty of confidence and a 33-27 lead. Also, to my earlier point, the reported attendance was 2,650!! Wow. There’s a good chance that was the biggest crowd of any first round game yesterday. Very cool for both teams involved there.
Trine is on par with Puget for the best performance of the first round, as the Thunder stunned heavily-favored Gustavus Adolphus in a 71-68 double overtime win. Played in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Trine slayed a giant for the second straight weekend, after taking down Hope in last Saturday’s MIAA title game. Sidney Wagner ended up scoring a layup with 53 seconds left in the second OT period, putting Trine up 59-56. As it turned out, after Sierra Hinds made a pair of free throws for Trine and Morgan Kelly converted on a jump-shot for Gustavus, the Gusties had two 3-point looks in the final 14 seconds to the tie the score but neither fell through the net. Interestingly enough, Gustavus had the advantage in just about every stat category including field goals made, rebounds (+11 margin), points off turnovers (+7), and second-chance points (+6). Both teams made just two 3-pointers apiece. So what was the difference? Trine went 13-of-17 at the FT line. Gustavus went 8-of-12. Those 5 free throws made a world of difference for Trine in such a back-and-forth first round duel. I tell you what, Trine is finding its rhythm at the right time, and while the Thunder may have needed the Pool A bid to get into the tournament, they proved that they very much belong in this tournament field last night.
As I’m thinking about these results, Ohio Northern’s big 62-38 win over Marymount keeps coming to mind. ONU was a team that struggled for a good portion of the year, but stepped things up in the OAC Tournament last week, and won the league’s AQ. Then last night, it seemed like ONU just picked up where it left off, dispatching one of the most experienced teams in the tournament. Marymount had two fifth-year seniors, plus five more true seniors, and seemed to be a team with the potential to make a run and even maybe upset Scranton in the second round. All that said, I did pick ONU to win in my bracket, and that was in large part to what I mentioned above with Trine and Puget. ONU has the hot hand, and when that momentum starts rolling heading into March, it is awfully tough to stop. ONU opened the game on a 24-6 run and had a similar 20-9 run in the third quarter, which really kept Marymount out of contention for the entirety of the contest. That’s not to say Marymount didn’t play hard, they did. But the deficit got to be significant very early on and mentally, it is tough to recover from a start like that in any game, much less an NCAA Tournament game.
What about our individual performances? Well, it’s not every day you see an NCAA D-III Tournament record broken! Washington & Lee’s Mary Schleusner continues to be one of the most impressive players I’ve seen at this level, and she put that on full display against a solid Vassar team last night. In W&L’s 68-61 win, Schleusner had 45 points and 29 rebounds. Yes, you read that right. She accounted for 66% of the Generals’ points and 54% of their rebounds. Wow. It sent a new tournament record for rebounds in an NCAA D-III women’s tournament game and even more impressive, it came in W&L’s first-ever tournament win in program history. That’s a memorable night there for both Schleusner and W&L. And for those who don’t know, this isn’t a senior putting up these numbers. This is a sophomore! We’ll see how Catholic approaches its matchup at Schleusner tonight, as the Cardinals will look to slow her down in the second round. This will be a game worth watching, as Catholic plays at W&L in what is expected to be a very competitive, closely-contested battle in Lexington, Virginia.
Schleusner wasn’t the only one with a big double-double, either. Bates’ sophomore Elsa Daulerio had a 20-point, 20-rebound performance, lifting Bates to a 66-51 over Brooklyn. The Bobcats, hosting a tournament game for the first time since 2005, never trailed in the win as Daulerio made play after play to keep Bates in control. It was an impressive overall performance from Bates, who now sets its sights on a Widener team that took down Springfield, 57-50, in the opening round. Widener is an outstanding team, and Bates is too. I’ll be interested to see how that one turns out.
Now, Widener got into the tournament by beating top-seeded Messiah in the MAC Commonwealth title game, and was a bid thief despite putting up a strong 21-4 record entering the conference tournament. This gave the league two teams in the NCAAs, and to see the MAC Commonwealth go 2-0 on the night, with Messiah’s 58-57 win over Shenandoah, is certainly something to note. Because that Messiah game came right down to the wire, decided in the final two seconds. With 19 seconds left, Shenandoah led 57-55, forcing Messiah to foul, as the Falcons tried to get the ball back. Shenandoah missed both free throws, and Messiah answered with a layup at the 13-second mark, tying the score. Then came the pivotal play, as Shenandoah’s Terese Greene was called for a charge as she drove to the basket with eight seconds left. That gave Messiah the ball, and Reese Harden, with just 2.8 seconds left, drew a foul as she put up a shot, sending her to the FT line. She made the first, and gave Messiah the advantage. The second was missed, and as it turned out, it took away any opportunity for a halfcourt desperation shot from Shenandoah. The ball was batted around near the baseline for the final 2.8, sealing Messiah’s victory. Those are the kinds of heartbreaking finishes alongside exceptional performances that we love about this tournament. So many games come down to the final couple of plays, and have you on the edge of your seat as it all plays out.
I thought St. John Fisher looked really good as well. The thing about SJF is that, while I had Gettysburg as the favorite to win, SJF has a lot of tournament experience on its roster. The Cardinals have made four straight NCAA Tournaments, and that past experience helps as you get into a situation where you’re facing a really strong Gettysburg team in the opening round. SJF’s poise stuck out in the 55-46 win, and while the Cardinals weren’t far and away better in any particular stat category, the execution down the stretch was exceptional. SJF went 7-of-10 at the FT line in the final minute, making clutch free throws when it countered, while holding Gettysburg to a single jumper over the last 60 seconds. I’m interested in SJF’s second round matchup against RIC tonight, as this could be a chance for an upset. RIC is undoubtedly very talented, and had little trouble winning against St. Joseph’s (Maine) last night. But this is a different opponent, and one that does a lot of things right. If SJF can clean up the turnover numbers (they had 18 against Gettysburg), the Cardinals should be able to hang with RIC.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Ohio Wesleyan’s 64-54 win over Emory, as OWU proved it was worthy of a Pool C bid, and came away with a big first round victory in Lexington, Kentucky. OWU has been a team I’ve thought could make a run in this year’s tournament since last year’s NCAC Tournament. But I can’t sit here and say I thought Emory would lose in this matchup, especially with Claire Brock, Daniella Aronsky, and the veteran leadership on the Eagles’ roster. As it turned out, thought, OWU outrebounded Emory by +16, and shot 43.1% compared to Emory’s 35.6%, as Kasey Schipfer scored 26 points for the Battling Bishops in the victory, and really led OWU’s charge as they earned their first tournament win since 2002! OWU faces Transylvania tonight in the second round.
I was in Abilene, Texas, for the first round matchups between Trinity (TX)/Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Hardin-Simmons/Occidental. Tell you what, that first game between Trinity and UMHB was really fun to watch, as both teams had points where they surged, and Trinity’s 3-point shooting caught fire on a couple of different occasions. The difference in Trinity’s 75-71 win was the Tigers’ full-court press, which they went to after falling behind by 13 midway through the third quarter. Trinity battled back and eventually reclaimed the lead with about seven minutes left. UMHB had just five points in the final 8:52, as Trinity’s defense stepped up in a big way. And Hardin-Simmons, whose student section was out in full force, took down a stingy Occidental team, 65-53, in the second game. I thought Occidental battled really well, but just couldn’t overcome a double-digit first quarter deficit, as much as the Tigers tried. HSU has a lot of talent on its roster, and that talent has meshed well, particularly with Colorado College transfer Anna Fanelli joining the program at the beginning of this season. I’m excited to watch tonight’s second round matchup, especially because the first meeting between Trinity and HSU ended up producing a thrilling 92-88 OT win back on Nov. 25.
These were just a handful of the great games we saw play out last night. There were countless others that really were impressive, and I’d recommend checking out D3hoops.com’s recap of the first round action. Great stuff as always from the D3hoops team, as it was a lot to cover and keep an eye on yesterday evening! Second round games start at 6:30 ET tonight, and I cannot wait. The hosting discussions for next weekend’s pods will be made much more clear once everything wraps up tonight and we see who advances to the third round. Enjoy today’s games, and if you want an easy way to track all the scores live, check out the NCAA.com bracket, where you’ll see the scores updated and get a look at the national picture of the tournament at the same time.
Have a great rest of your Saturday and best of luck to all the teams taking the floor tonight in the Round of 32!
Also: As I’m getting ready to publish this, Scott Peterson just put out hosting scenarios on X/Twitter, essentially laying out what would need to happen for different schools to host next weekend. And get this…there’s situations in which NYU, Transylvania, and Bowdoin all may not host (this is under the idea that flights need to be minimized. We do not know how many flights the committee has available). Check out that thread from Scott here:
https://twitter.com/scott_peterson4/status/1763984308233220260