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Notebook

Greg Chandler's
Great Lakes Notebook
Posted March 2, 2000

Women's Champs Upset in Tourneys
By Greg Chandler
D3hoops.com

The dust has settled from the conference tournaments, and while results held true to form in the men's conference tournaments, some surprising results in the women's tournaments left two regular season conference champions on the outside looking in when NCAA bids were handed out Sunday.

In the men's tournaments, the top seeds in the three major conferences all held serve, winning their conference tournaments on their home courts Saturday.

In the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, No. 2 Calvin had to overcome a 10-point deficit with 16 minutes remaining to defeat Defiance, 95-82. Trailing 60-50, the Knights went on a 34-13 tear to finish off the Yellow Jackets, who had upset Calvin in last year's MIAA semifinals and ended up claiming the conference tournament.

Aaron Winkle, who will likely repeat as the MIAA's most valuable player, led the Knights (25-2) with 26 points and 11 rebounds, his 27th career double-double. Freshman Bryan Foltice added 17 points, while Chad Kahle closed out his outstanding career at Defiance (18-9) with 29 points.

The Knights drew a first-round bye in the NCAA tournament and now await the winner of the matchup between Webster and Franklin on Saturday in Grand Rapids.

Also earning a first-round bye in the big dance was the College of Wooster. The No. 3 Fighting Scots put on a fabulous offensive showing in the North Coast Athletic Conference finals, blowing away Wabash 114-91.

Wooster (25-2) broke the game open with five 3-point baskets during a 21-6 run late in the first half, and eventually led by as many as 33 points in its domination of the Little Giants (20-7). Senior John Ellenwood led five Fighting Scots in double figures with 27 points, while freshman Bryan Nelson added 22 points and 14 rebounds. Wabash's Josh Estelle closed out his storied career with 36 points, including a tournament record nine 3-point baskets in 14 attempts. Estelle finished with 2,065 points for his career, the most in Wabash history.

Wooster, which has now won 34 straight against NCAC opponents, will host a second-round game on Saturday against the winner of Thursday's contest between OAC tournament champion Ohio Northern and Benedictine (Ill.). Warning to Wooster's opponent: The Fighting Scots have won 32 straight at Timken Gymnasium, one of the longest active home winning streaks in Division III.

Meanwhile, Ohio Northern capped off its second-half surge with a 78-69 victory over Otterbein in the OAC tournament finals. The Polar Bears, who were 10-8 at one point this season, rallied from an 11-point deficit with 17 minutes to play to win their eighth straight contest.

Thompson led Ohio Northern (18-8) with 25 points, while Kris Oberdick added 18. Jason Dutcher led Otterbein (18-9), who shared the OAC regular-season title with the Polar Bears, with 21 points, while Jeff Gibbs, the top rebounder in Division III this season, pulled down 16 boards. Dutcher finished his career with 1,485 points.

In the big dance for the first time are the Lions of Penn State-Behrend, despite a loss Saturday to Pitt-Greensburg 49-43 in the finals of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament. PSU-Behrend, which has won a school-record 23 games against just three losses, host Alvernia (18-9) in a first-round game Thursday. The Lions are led by senior center Chris Hughes, a finalist for the Jostens Trophy, who averages 19 points and seven boards a game.

In women's action, Baldwin-Wallace continued its domination of Capital, but had to do it in dramatic fashion. Trailing 63-55 with 4:34 remaining, the No. 3 Yellow Jackets outscored the No. 6 Crusaders 15-3 the rest of the way to claim a 70-66 victory in the finals of the OAC tournament Saturday.

Baldwin-Wallace, now 26-1 for the season, was led by Anjee Beard with 21 points, while Capital (23-4) got 18 points from Amy Strine. It was B-W's third win this season over the Crusaders and their fifth in a row dating back to last season.

Both B-W and Capital drew first-round byes in the Division III women's tournament. Baldwin-Wallace will meet the winner of Wednesday's game between NCAC tournament champ Kenyon and Heartland Conference tournament champion Wilmington, while Capital awaits the winner of the game between MIAA tournament champ Calvin and Lake Forest (20-3).

Ohio Wesleyan and Hope won the regular season championships in the NCAC and MIAA, respectively, but tournament losses left both schools out of the NCAA picture. No. 11 Ohio Wesleyan had its season come to an abrupt end on Saturday, falling to Kenyon 57-51 in the NCAC tournament finals. The Battling Bishops finished the year at 23-3, tying a school record for most wins in a season, but two of those losses were to the Ladies (21-6).

Meanwhile, Hope (21-5) found itself on the outside looking in after being upset at home in the semifinals of the MIAA tournament. Alma freshman Janell Twietmyer hit a tournament record six 3-pointers in scoring 22 points as the Lady Scots stunned the Flying Dutch, 71-59, on Thursday.

However, Alma's bid for the big dance was stopped on Saturday by Calvin. Mindi Andringa hit a clutch 3-pointer and four foul shots in the game's final 36 seconds as the Lady Knights (21-6) defeated Alma (15-11) 51-44 to claim the MIAA tournament title. Andringa scored 13 of her 15 points in the game's final 10 minutes. Robyn Fennema added a game-high 19 points for Calvin.

In the HCAC, Wilmington pulled out a thrilling 81-79 win over Franklin to claim its first NCAA bid in school history. Tournament MVP Megan Woodruff scored 26 points and dished out six assists for the Quakers (20-6), while Heather Meranda added 22 points and MacKenzie Hammond grabbed 18 rebounds. Sara Sheets led the Grizzlies (17-10) with 26 points.

News and notes: Baldwin-Wallace freshman guard Shawn McCormick had his streak of 25 straight double-figure scoring games snapped in last Friday's OAC men's semifinal loss to Ohio Northern. McCormick led B-W in scoring with a 17.6 point per game average this season. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets weren't able to figure out Ohio Northern's Mike Kluse, either. The Polar Bears' center was huge with a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds in ONU's 79-66 win.

Hope's Ryan Klingler had a spectacular second-half effort in a losing cause in the Flying Dutchmen's MIAA tournament semifinal loss to Defiance. Klingler scored 27 of his 29 points in the second half as Hope cut a 21-point deficit down to three in the final minute before the Yellow Jackets hung on, 98-91.

Adrian's Mike Riley went over the 1,000-point mark for his career in the Bulldogs' first round MIAA tournament loss to Defiance. Riley, the son of Bulldogs' coach Buck Riley, needed only 66 games to reach the milestone after transferring from Oakland University, then a Division II program, midway through his sophomore year. He finished with 1,007 career points

Mount Union sophomore center Todd Richards set a school record for single-season field-goal percentage this year, shooting 70.1 percent from the field (103-147). Richards, who broke the NCAA record for consecutive field goals without a miss with 24, broke the field goal percentage record held by his brother Neal of 65 percent in 1996-97.

Otterbein sharpshooter Pat Noles tied an OAC tournament record with seven 3-pointers in an 82-77 semifinal win against John Carroll. Noles finished the game with 25 points.

Kalamazoo guard Mary Jane Valade went over the 1,000-point mark for her career in her final game, a 62-50 loss to Calvin in the MIAA women's semifinals. Valade fired in 25 points as the Hornets wrapped up their finest season in school history at 18-8.

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