The Guru’s Small College Report: Haverford Wins Centennial; USciences Takes 19th Straight

(Guru note: For now, the smalls have earned their own report)

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Haverford rallied at home in Gooding ’84 Arena Saturday night to edge Gettysburg 49-46 and win a second straight Centennial Conference championship and third straight trip to the NCAA Division III tournament, joining Rowan, which won the New Jersey Athletic Conference title for the first time since 1999 on Friday night.

The field and pairings will be announced Monday afternoon at 2:30 on the Division III Selection Show on the NCAA.com website.

The Fords (23-4) used a strong second half to top Gettysburg (22-5), outscoring the Bullets 30-18 for the third conference title in the program’s history.

Anna-Sophia Capizzi scored 19 points for the home team and earned MVP honors.

Juliana Clark had 19 points and connected on a pair of late three-point shots to help bring the Fords to another piece of hardware for the display case.

Playing both ends, Haverford in the fourth quarter shot 50 percent from the field, while defensively, held the Bullets at bay.

Cortlyn Morris had two of her five blocks in the fourth quarter for the Fords, headed by longtime coach Bobbi Morgan. 

Gettysburg had led by as many as 14 points until the rally began with Clark helping the comeback with a three-pointer to bring the Fords within a point and the nailing another on their next possession to tie it up at 46-46.

Capizzi then hit two foul shots for the lead 48-46 with nine seconds left in regulation.

The Fords defense then denied two Bullets attempts to regain the advantage and Morris on the next possession grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled with 0.04 left on the clock.

She hit the first and then let the second fall intentionally as time ran out.

The visitors opened the game on a 14-0 run, but the home team was able to get to the halftime break down nine points.

Defensively, Haverford got 15 points out of 13 turnovers using its defensive pressure on the Bullets.

The Fords also held an 11-2 advantage on second-chance points.

Nyla Robinson had six rebounds, five on the offensive glass.

Cabrini Downed by Marymount in AEC Title Game

The Cavaliers found host Marymount too much to handle in the Division-III Atlantic East title game in Arlington, Va., near the nation’s capital, losing to the Saints 67-49.

The bulk of the damage by the top-seeded Saints (23-4, 11-1 AEC) against the second-seeded Cavaliers (19-8, 10-2) came in the second half.

Cabrini’s Meghan Matthews scored 17 points, while Lexi Edwards scored 15.

Marymount owned the boards, 51-31, and was paced by Symantha Shackelford’s 26 points, while Katie McShea had a double double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cavaliers’ defense did force 28 turnovers and grabbed 16 steals.

The visitors got within a point in the last minute of the first half, though went to the break trailing 24-21.

Cabrini will be watching Monday’s selection show to see if they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.

CACC: Regular Season Ends and Tournament Pairings Set

Jefferson kept the momentum going into this week’s Division-II Central Atlantic Collegiate Tournament, finishing the season on a nine-game win streak capped Saturday  beating Holy Family 72-59 at home in the Gallagher Center in East Falls.

The Rams (17-11, 13-6 CACC) struggled early in the season due to some injuries in the summer that limited the roster but after the midway point, they found some consistency.

Holy Family (16-10, 14-5) became a factor this season again under first-year coach Bernadette Laukaitis, an alum and former associate head coach at Penn to Mike McLaughlin.

Jefferson will open tournament play as the South third seed, visiting Dominican of the North Division in a quarterfinal game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

Alynna Williams had 32 points for Jefferson, the fourth time this season to score 30 or more points. Haley Meinel scored 18 with seven steals and five assists.

Defensively, Ayoola Oguntuase, Sabria Lytes, and Maddie Haney each grabbed nine rebounds.

Williams is now second in program history with 233 three-pointers, within six of all-time leader Rachel Day’s 239.

Veteran coach Tom Shirley, in his 31^st season with the Rams, gained his 794^th career victory, of which 645 have been at Jefferson.

Holy Family, who began the CACC season with a home upset of league power USciences in Campus Cener in Northeast Philadelphia, trailed Jefferson the entire game.

Mia Ehling and Anjelai Hayes each scored 12 points for the Tigers and Moe Moore grabbed 10 rebounds.

Holy Family is the second seed from the South and will open quarterfinal play Tuesday at 6 at Campus Center Gymnasium hosting Caldwell from the North.

Meanwhile, USciences, which hasn’t lost since the setback to the Tigers, won a program record 19^th straight, beating host Chestnut Hill 61-53 in the regular season finale in Sorgenti Arena. They also tied a program record with 18 conference wins on a 19-game CACC schedule.

The Devils (25-3, 18-1), ranked 19^th, will be the top seed out of the South in the CACC tourney, while Chestnut Hill (11-17, 10-9) is the fourth. 

USciences will open conference quarterfinal play Tuesday hosting Nyack, the fourth seed from the North, at Bobby Morgan Arena at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Southwest Philadelphia near The Palestra.

In the win over the Griffins, Irisa Ye had a game-high 28 points, moving into 10^th on the all-time program list with 1,298 career points. She also hit the program Top 10 on season scoring with 520 points, and hr 199 field goals are fourth all-time.

Ye had a career-best five three-pointers in Saturday’s game.

On a day when both teams struggled to score, the Devils only made six turnovers to the Griffins’ 21 thus gaining a 28-6 advantage in points off the miscues.

Taylor Hamm had 13 points, while Jordan Vitelli scored 12.

The Griffins’ Laurin Crim had 14 points, reserve Bri Hewlitt had 11 points and nine rebounds, while Leah Miller scored 10.

Chestnut Hill, the fourth seed out of the South, will played North top seed Post on Tuesday st 5:30 p.m. on the road.

USciences is the host school for the semifinals Saturday at 12 p.m. and championship Sunday at noon.

In the semifinals, the Post-Chestnut Hill winner will meet the Holy Family-Caldwell winner, while the USciences-Nyack winner will meet the Jefferson-Dominican winner.

And that is the Guru’s small college report.