Three local teams were all in action Friday night in first round games of the NCAA Division III basketball tournament. The Husson Eagles women’s team was at SUNY New Paltz, the Colby men were in Hoboken, New Jersey to battle Christopher Newport University, while the Bowdoin College women hosted Brooklyn College.
In New York at SUNY New Paltz, Marion Dietz scored a game high 15 points and Husson committed 22 turnovers that led to being outscored 24-1 off those errors as the New Paltz Hawks women’s basketball team ended the season for the Eagles 69-50.
The Hawks opened with a 7-0 run and opened up as much as a 14 point first half lead, and held a 12 point advantage at the half 34-22. SUNY New Paltz opened the lead to 17 in the third quarter, before Sydney Allen hit a three-pointer to get Husson within 10 late in the period. The Hawks though increased it back to 14 headed to the fourth quarter. The Eagles could only cut the lead to 11 in the final quarter, as the Hawks would take their biggest margin of 24 points. Emma Alley, Allen, and Bailey Donovan had eight points each in the loss for Husson. Allen added five rebounds and Donovan added seven, as the Eagles finish their season at 19-9. Maddie Gillis added 11 points and Maddie Van Pelt contributed 10 in the SUNY New Paltz win as they improve to 25-3.
In Brunswick, Maine Samantha Roy scored a game high 20 points as the Bowdoin College women’s basketball team rolled to a first round win on their home court 90-51 over Brookyln College.
After an early seesaw battle, the Polar Bears used a 7-0 run to take an 11-4 lead and led 19-8 after the opening 10 minutes. Annie Maher capped off a 10-0 Bowdoin run early in the second to make it 26-8. The hosts held a very comfortable 43-19 lead at the break, with 14 of the 20 scored by Roy coming in the first half. Bowdoin (26-2) continued to roll in the second half and the 39 point margin was the biggest lead of the evening. Roy added five rebounds and eight assists in the win. Sela Kay added 13 points and six rebounds. Maher came off the bench to score 12 points and grab seven rebounds. Chanel Jermott led Brooklyn College (NY) in the loss with 17 points. The Bulldogs finish their season at 21-7. Bowdoin hosts a second round game Saturday night against New York University (21-5) at 7 p.m.
At Hoboken, New Jersey the Christopher Newport University Captains built a 15 point halftime lead, and then held off a strong rally by Colby College for a 74-64 men’s Division III Tournament win.
It was a back and forth first half early as their were six lead changes over the first 5:34 of action. Luther Gibbs made a jumpshot to make it 9-8 Captains, and they never gave the lead back. Christopher Newport finished the first half on a 15-3 run capped off by a Gibbs layup to make it 32-17 at the break. After trailing by 17 early in the second half, Noah Tyson cut the deficit to 39-30 with over 16 minutes still to play. The White Mules would get a three point play from Wallace Tucker with 1:49 to go cutting it 61-57, but Colby couldn’t quite come all the way back. A made free throw and a layup pushed it back to seven, and then two more free throws with 1:03 remaining made it 68-59 and Colby never got closer than six after that. Tucker led the White Mules in the loss with 13 points and five rebounds. Noah Tyson and Alex Dorion each added 12 points, while Dean Weiner scored eight points and had seven rebounds off the bench. Gibbs and Adrian Beasley both had 13 points and seven rebounds for Christopher Newport (22-6) in the win. Dalon McHugh II scored 11 points, and Liam Harrington added 10. Colby ends the season 24-4, a huge turnaround for the seniors who didn’t win one conference game in their freshman season. It was the White Mules first appearance in an NCAA Tournament game since 1997.
