WBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[NCAC4Life]

DC,  You called it.    OWU  takes down Capital 71-61 in Delaware.

[David Collinge]

Well, I didn't exactly call it, but I'm very pleased and only a little surprised with the result!   

Another game I didn't exactly call is Kenyon's double OT loss at #6 Wash U., 78-75.  It looks like the Ladies really step it up against nationally ranked opponents.  Good thing, since they have another one tomorrow in #12 Luther, upset losers to Carleton in the other McWilliams Classic semifinal.

Denison upended NJCU 80-56 away down south in Marietta and will face Thiel tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Mt. Union flattened Allegheny, 77-55, Mt. St. Joseph dropped Earlham, 89-69, and Hiram lost to Carlow 73-71.

[David Collinge]

Today's scores:
Denison 76, Thiel 58 (Denison, 3-2, wins the Marietta College Turkey Shoot)
Ursuline 65, Hiram 48 (Hiram falls to 0-3)
#12 Luther 66, Kenyon 45 (Luther's first win of the season, Kenyon falls to 2-3)
Wooster 72, Lake Erie 68 (Wooster's first win, Kym Wenz with 26 points and 10 boards)

[David Collinge]

Congratulations go out to this week's NCAC Player of the Week, Denison junior center Carolyn Simpson.  Carolyn scored 35 points and grabbed 15 rebounds against New Jersey City and Thiel, for which she was also named MVP of the Turkey Shoot Tournament at Marietta College.  Congratulations, Carolyn!

In the new D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll, Ohio Wesleyan is the lone NCAC team to receive votes, garnering 11 votes, enough for the would-be placement of #38.  OWU's 10-point victory over then-#20 Capital helped push the Crusaders out of the top 25.  Denison, which had 6 votes in the preseason poll, failed to receive any notice in this week's voting.

[David Collinge]

I know that the Witt women were originally scheduled for a tournament this weekend at Johns Hopkins.  Any word on why the Tigers are no longer in it?  I'm assuming it has to do with the adjustment period after losing Pam, but I was just wondering if you had heard anything about that.

I'm starting to wonder how widespread these sorts of last-minute changes are.  According to my records, Ohio Wesleyan was originally scheduled to play at Thomas More this evening, but that game has vanished from both schedules.  OWU now has a 24-game schedule, but TMU's schedule has the full 25-game slate.  I don't know what happened; perhaps TMU overscheduled, or maybe they just were able to replace this game, I don't know. 

[I'm not complaining, since the Bishops already ran into the Saints (at the Wilmington tournament) and came up a whopping 30 points short.]

[jscwittfan]

I know that the Witt women were originally scheduled for a tournament this weekend at Johns Hopkins.  Any word on why the Tigers are no longer in it?  I'm assuming it has to do with the adjustment period after losing Pam, but I was just wondering if you had heard anything about that.

I'm starting to wonder how widespread these sorts of last-minute changes are.  According to my records, Ohio Wesleyan was originally scheduled to play at Thomas More this evening, but that game has vanished from both schedules.  OWU now has a 24-game schedule, but TMU's schedule has the full 25-game slate.  I don't know what happened; perhaps TMU overscheduled, or maybe they just were able to replace this game, I don't know. 

[I'm not complaining, since the Bishops already ran into the Saints (at the Wilmington tournament) and came up a whopping 30 points short.]

That does make you wonder.  I mean, I know there were plenty of times during my 4 years at Witt that starting times were changed, but I rarely remember games simply disappearing from the schedule.  Now we're seeing it on a (somewhat) consistent basis in basketball, and I know it happened for the final few games of Witt's volleyball season as well.  A recent trend in overscheduling, or a trend that has always been there, but just now getting noticed?

[David Collinge]

With that OWU/Thomas More game no longer a reality, the only NCAC game tonight was in Oberlin, where the Yeowomen were casually tossed aside by Baldwin-Wallace, 87-37.  B-WC scored the game's first 8 points, and had opened up a 21-point lead before 12 minutes had elapsed.  Oberlin was led by Alyssa Clark with 13 points and 6 rebounds; B-WC got 14 points and 11 boards from Selena Eskinazi-Budge and 14 more points from Amanda Mondrach.  Oberlin falls to 1-3, with their next game at Wooster next Wednesday.

[David Collinge]

Tonight's scores:
Earlham 74, St. Mary-of-the-Woods 61...the lone NCAC bright spot tonight
Muskingum 56, Kenyon 49
Thiel 63, Hiram 54
Wilmington 82, Wittenberg 60
Westminster 64, Wooster 54

I was at New Concord, where I witnessed a game that made me physically ill (the cheesburger on the drive down may have been a factor, too.)  Maybe it's the fact that Kenyon has yet to play a home game, or maybe it's the tough schedule they have played so far, or maybe my dashing good looks make them swoon so much that they can't concentrate (that's probably not it), but for the life of me I can't visualize how this team beat Brandeis and took Wash U. to 2 OTs on their home courts.  Tonight, the Ladies rebounded as if they were literally afraid to touch (or be touched by) the ball, and on offense they committed more turnovers than Pillsbury.  The saving grace was their defense, and as we know, defense wins championships.  Their defense was smothering, but in all other regards Kenyon played miserably for about 25 minutes (they were on a point-a-minute pace for the first 31 minutes); and yet they were never down by more than 15 points, and Anne Dugan actually had an open look at a three-pointer that would have given Kenyon the lead with 0:37 left.  Justice, however, would not allow the shot to fall and give Kenyon an ill-gotten win. 

At the 14:52 mark of the 2nd period, Muskingum's Jessica McKenzie (14 pts, 13 boards) sank a layup to give the Fish a 39-24 lead.  At that point in the game, Musky had outrebounded the Ladies by a stomach-upsetting 31-17 margin and, despite having been forced into 16 turnovers, had taken 3 more FG attempts and made 5 more baskets than Kenyon.  It was Kenyon's defense that had kept the game even this close, and then they really turned on the jets.  Between the Kenyon timeout at 14:49 and Dugan's missed jumper at 0:37, Kenyon outrebounded their opponents 13-12 (6 of them on the offensive glass) and forced 15 Muskingum turnovers, including 5 steals.  Kenyon got off 21 shots in that period to just 15 for the Fish, and made 9 of them, including 3 in a row starting at 2:26, cutting a 9-point lead to 4.  But in the end, 25 minutes of throwing the ball away and admiring rebounds from a distance led to a hole too deep to dig out of.

Perhaps the only bright spot for Kenyon was the play of first-year Kathleen Williams, who was forced into the post when senior Eva George committed two fouls in the first 71 seconds of the game.  She grabbed 6 of the 17 rebounds prior to the Kenyon wake-up call.  Williams gave Kenyon its only presence in the paint--that is, until the magical 15-minute mark, when it seemed that something told senior Anne Dugan that it was time to wake up and show these folks how to play this here game.  Down the stretch, Dugan grabbed 5 of her 7 rebounds, scored all 7 of her points, had 3 steals, 1 block, and 1 assist, and was the principle source of inspiration for the team.  But her comparative absence in the first 25 minutes, especially when considering that George was on the bench most of that time, was a key factor in creating the insurmountable deficit.

Oh well.  Kenyon finally gets their home opener a week from tomorrow, but the competition doesn't get any easier.  The Ladies will take on Mt. Vernon Nazarene, the local NAIA D2 which is out to a 5-1 start to their season.

[David Collinge]

In the opening game of the Salisbury tournament this afternoon, Allegheny gave third-ranked Messiah all it could handle, but fell by a 71-57 score.  The final 14-point margin was the largest of the game, and the Gators trailed by just two at the half.  Emilie Simone led the Gators (1-4) with 20 points, capably assisted by Stephanie Wolf's 11 points, 11 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks.  Allegheny will face Shenandoah in the consolation game tomorrow afternoon.  Recap and box score.

[David Collinge]

I think the players at perennial power and ninth-ranked Wash U. are believers in NCAC hoops.  A week after being taken to double OT by Kenyon, today they got all they could handle from Denison before pulling out an 87-76 victory.  Both teams shot the ball well, with the Bears canning 50% of their attempts and the Big Red nailing 56.3% of theirs.  Both teams were also on fire from the arc, hitting a matching 45.5% (WashU 5/1, Denison 10/22.)  The difference was found in the turnover column, where the Big Red committed 18, resulting in 19 Bear points, versus just 7 TOs from WUSTL leading to 4 Denison points, none of them after the half.  As a result of the turnover margin, Wash U. got 14 more field goal attempts, and even hot shooting can't overcome a disadvantage like that.  Denison was led by Haley Dahlgard with 17 points,  Carolyn Simpson with 13 points and 6 boards, and Ellen O'Brien with a career-high 12 assists.  Overall, Denison recorded 21 assists on 27 made baskets, an astounding 77.8% that indicates that the offense was performing effectively, when they weren't turning it over, that is.

Elsewhere in the NCAC,
Hiram 73, Ursuline 63...First win for the Terriers, who were led by Ashely Drum with 24
Allegheny 87, Shenandoah 54...Gators expand a 10-point halftime lead into a blowout at Salisbury U.
Case Western Reserve 74, Ohio Wesleyan 61...Spartans led by 14 at the half.  Bishops got to within 3 at 9:18 but Case scored the next seven points and OWU never again got closer than 9.

[David Collinge]

Hiram 73, Ursuline 63...First win for the Terriers, who were led by Ashely Drum with 24

Congratulations to Hiram's sophomore forward Ashley Drum, the NCAC Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 2.  Ashley had a 30-point week in the Terriers' loss to Thiel and subsequent win over Ursuline.  Congratulations, Ashley! 

[David Collinge]

The conference season opened this evening at three sites, and all three hosts left the gym winners, two of them in nailbiting fashion.

Ohio Wesleyan (1-0, 4-2) 63, Earlham (0-1, 1-5) 61...Stacy Aaron nails a game-winning three with 0:02.9 left.  Recap and box score.
Wooster (1-0, 2-3) 72, Oberlin (0-1, 1-4) 69...Scots bench outscores Yeowomen 37-2.  Recap and box score.
Allegheny (1-0, 3-4) 61, Hiram (0-1, 1-5) 39...Terriers 0/11 from the arc.  Recap and box score.

Kenyon hosts Mt. Vernon Nazarene in non-conference play tomorrow, then a full slate of games is on tap for Saturday:
Allegheny (1-0) at Kenyon (0-0)
Wittenberg (0-0) at Denison (0-0)
Oberlin (0-1) at Earlham (0-1)
OWU (1-0) at Hiram (0-1)
Wooster at Case Western Reserve (non-conference)

[David Collinge]

Another day, another heartbreak.  I'm just back from Kenyon, where the Ladies played very well but still fell to Mt. Vernon Nazarene, 78-75.  MVNU, an NAIA school that plays in the tough American Mideast Conf., moves to 9-1 while Kenyon falls to 2-5.  However, it's worth noting that Kenyon's opponents so far this season have a composite record of 34-12 (pending tonight's results.)

I don't have much to complain about.  MVNU abused Kenyon's interior defense all night, especially in the second half when the Cougars shot 60.7%, but otherwise the Ladies played pretty well.  They shot well (45.8%), passed well (16 assists on 27 made baskets), rebounded reasonably well (the Ladies were outrebounded by 8, but considering that MVNU shot a high percentage, that's not too bad) and didn't make too many mistakes handling the ball (they committed 21 turnovers, but 13 of these were steals).  Generally, they went toe to toe with what seemed to me a superior team and came out bloodied but unbowed.  They actually could have pulled it out were it not for two absolutely horrendous calls that went against them in the final minutes.  But poor, or at least unpredictable, officiating is just one of the hazards you have to work around, so I refuse to blame the refs.

Kenyon had five players, all seniors, reach double figures, led by Alisha Moreno (18 pts., 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 6 turnovers), who hit her first four threes (all in the first half, two of them from well beyond the arc), but then went cold from the field; the same story can be told for the whole team, which hit 8/15 from the arc in the first, but just 2/8 in the second.  Anne Dugan, Eva George, and Brittany Clair each tossed in 13 points, with Dugan grabbing a team-leading 7 boards.  Hillary Gowins added 11, and had a chance at a game-tying three from the corner but released it a split-second too late (it missed anyway).   Box score.

[David Collinge]

Today in the NCAC:

Kenyon (1-0) 55, Allegheny (1-1) 52 at Gambier
Wittenberg (1-0) 81, Denison (0-1) 73 at Granville
Earlham (1-1) 76, Oberlin (0-2) 54 at Richmond
OWU (2-0) 62, Hiram (0-2) 44 at Hiram
Case Western Reserve 64, Wooster (1-0) 51 at Cleveland (non-conference)

The women take a break from conference play until Jan. 4.

[jscwittfan]

Wittenberg (1-0) 81, Denison (0-1) 73 at Granville

Definitely a pleasant surprise from the Tiger women today, as not only do they pull off the upset over Denison, but they do it IN GRANVILLE.  That is a huge momentum and confidence booster for this team, and hopefully it is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the season.  4 Tigers in double digit scoring (Leali, Boardman, Gregorevich, Rohlfs), plus the return to the lineup (albeit limited) of Kristin Donawerth, are all excellent for Wittenberg.