Notables

WASHINGTON -- Catholic won for the 19th consecutive time and claimed its second Capital Athletic Conference championship, edging Goucher 74-73. The Cardinals (24-3) came into the game ranked No. 1 in the Middle Atlantic region, Goucher (20-7) was ranked No. 5.

Catholic led by as many as 13 points before the Gophers used an 11-3 run to get back in the game, but the Cardinals scored their final 16 points from the foul line to wrap up the win.

Freshman point guard Pat Maloney led Catholic for the second consecutive game with 21 points, while Bakari Ward led all scorers with 24 points, including a three at the buzzer to make the final margin one point.

ST. PETER, Minn. -- The Gustavus men's team earned its third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament with a 66-62 win against St. Thomas.

Junior guard Mark McDonnell hit two free throws with 15 seconds left to give the Gusties a 65-62 lead. A three-point attempt by St. Thomas junior guard Matt Arnold with five seconds remaining did not fall and Gustavus closed out the scoring when senior guard Aaron Grove hit one-of-two free throws with one second remaining.

Gustavus improves to 23-3 on the year, while St. Thomas finishes its season at 18-8.

Bob Southworth scored 20 points for Gustavus to lead all scorers. Other Gusties in double figures in cluded Luke Schmidt with 14 and Mark McDonnell with 12. St. Thomas was led by Tom Fritz with 17 followed by Kip Sparby with 14.

The Captains led 34-28 at the half and then pulled away at Christopher Newport's men beat Greensboro 77-60 for the Dixie Conference title, scoring the first 16 points of the second half. Matt Bryant led with 16 points, David Powell had 13 and Steve Butler had 11.

Lee Tucker paced the Pride with 15 and Ted Wewer had 10. Bryant was the MVP and also on the All-tournament team were Butler, Tucker, Michael Hunter of Ferrum and Marquis McDougald of N.C. Wesleyan.

In the women's title game, Christopher Newport beat Methodist 93-91 in overtime. Serita Jackson scored six points in the last 2:17 to lift CNU to the win. Misty Hart led the way with 28 while Tamara Pool had 15, Jackson 12, and Rasheka Barnes had 11 points with 15 rebounds.

Methodist's Jennifer Snead scored 30 points and had 13 rebounds, Triba Williams had 18 points, Veronica Sebolt 17 with 13 rebounds and Sissy Sink scored 13. Hart was named MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Barnes, Snead, Sink and Deanna Estes of Shenandoah.

Hunter earned a sweep of both the men's and women's CUNY Athletic Conference Championships held at York College Feb. 27. The Hunter men won their fifth CUNY Athletic Conference Championship in the last seven years and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 76-55 win over host York. Junior Braheen Cotton, the CUNYAC regular season Most Valuable Player, earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors after a 22-point, nine-rebound performance.

York (15-12) had handed the Hawks their only loss of the season on the same court in early December. Hunter (26-1, No. 1 Atlantic, No. 7 NABC) extended its school-record winning streak to 24 games and tied the school's single-season record for victories with 26.

The Hunter women rallied from a 13-point deficit to defeat favored Staten Island 63-52 for its first conference title since 1993. Like Cotton, senior Suzette Henry was selected as both regular season and conference tourney Most Valuable Player after scoring 23 points and pulling down nine boards in the championship game. Staten Island (23-4) had defeated Hunter (18-9) in both regular-season meetings.

Unlike the men, the CUNYAC women do not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

ANDERSON, Ind. -- Anderson set a school record with its 86-75 win over Franklin College in the opening round of the ICAC women's basketball tournament. The victory put the Ravens at 14-11 on the season to set the school's single-season record for wins. The Ravens eclipsed the 13-11 record earned by the 1981-82 Anderson squad. The 1981-82 season was also the last winning season for Anderson.

The Grizzlies (6-19) tied the game in the second half with 7:52 remaining at 66-66, but Anderson closed the game with a 20-9 run to put Franklin away.

Sophomore Amie Flowers scored 10 of the Ravens' 20 points in that stretch to lead Anderson to the ICAC semifinals for the second consecutive season. Flowers led the Ravens with 23 points, while junior point guard DeAnn Edge added 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds for the Ravens.

Anderson will face No. 1-seeded DePauw tomorrow night at DePauw in the tournament semifinals.

UW-Platteville and UW-Oshkosh shared the limelight Feb. 25 as both of the nation's new No. 1 teams were in action.

On the men's side, Platteville, who earned the No. 1 ranking in the NABC poll earlier in the day, won at Oshkosh 65-57 to remain undefeated at 24-0. Oshkosh, ranked third in the West Region and No. 18 in the NABC, fell to 20-4 overall.

Over in Platteville, the WBCA's newly elected top team from Oshkosh beat the Pioneers 67-36.

The Titans improved to 23-1 overall. Both the Platteville men and Oshkosh women have clinched Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles with 15-0 records and automatic bids to the Division III NCAA playoffs.

The Ohio Athletic Conference is in its semifinals and the top remaining men's seed is No. 5 Otterbein. Top-seeded John Carroll and No. 2 Ohio Northern hit the dust tonight, as did No. 3 Mount Union. So who's left? Just No. 5 Otterbein, No. 6 Baldwin-Wallace, No. 7 Capital and No. 8 Marietta.

Also, some conference finalists: Goucher at Catholic (men's Capital), York vs. Hunter (men's CUNYAC), Hunter vs. Staten Island (women's CUNYAC) and Muhlenberg at Johns Hopkins (men's and women's Centennial).

Illinois Wesleyan has lost only once on its home court since it opened, and they kept that streak alive, dropping No. 2 University of Chicago 88-76 at the Shirk Center.

The Titans opened the second half on a 10-3 run to open up a 50-35 lead en route to the win. Forward Matt Hoder scored 17 points for the Titans on 8-for-10 shooting, while teammate Brent Niebrugge led all scorers with 22 points.

Chicago is No. 2 in the latest NABC Top 20, while Illinois Wesleyan is No. 13. The two teams are ranked 1-2 in the Midwest Region.

After Washington and Jefferson defeated the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets 73-62 in Washington, Pa., the Presidents' Athletic Conference had a three-way tie for first place. Waynesburg, Thiel and W&J are each 6-3 in the conference.

PAC teams have had trouble beating each other on the road this season, as each of these teams have traded victories.

After Saturday, Feb. 21, the PAC may still have the same situation as the top three schools play home games. PAC officials have yet to announce a playoff site or any further details, reports the Greene County (Pa.) Messenger.

Grinnell guard Jeff Clement set the D-III scoring record with 77 points Feb. 18 in Grinnell's 149-144 win against Illinois College. Clement shot 26-for-68 from the floor and 19-for-52 from 3-point range, breaking his own record of 17 3-pointers in a game set earlier this season.

The previous record was 69 points by Steve Diekmann, also of Grinnell, in 1994.

Last Saturday, Grinnell had broken the record for most players making a 3-pointer when 13 players hit from downtown in a 104-73 win against Monmouth. The Pioneers broke the previous record, 11, set by St. Mary's (Md.) against Bard in 1994.