WINTER PARK, Fla. -- Fourth-ranked Nova Southeastern came back from a 17-point second-half deficit to force overtime, but fell on the road to No. 18 Rollins 74-71.
The Sharks (20-2, 10-2 SSC) trailed by 18 in the first half – the largest lead by an opponent thus far this season. It was still an 11-point Rollins (21-4, 10-3 SSC) advantage with 6:36 to go, 58-47. The Sharks forced the first tie of the game at 63-63 with 1:04 left. Rollins held on to win in the extra session.
Rollins was led by Jen Farrell with 19 points, including 5 of 5 from behind the arc. Sarah Taylor had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Emmalee Schill had 14 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocked shots. The Tars had 13 blocked shots as a team and outrebounded NSU 58-50. Taylor Buie and Jasmine Wilkins each had 18 points for NSU.
With the loss and Tampa's win at Lynn, the Sharks dropped to second place in the SSC standings for the first time this season. Those two squads and Rollins are only separated by one game: Tampa is 11-2, NSU 10-2 and Rollins is 10-3. The Sharks have four conference games to go, the other two have three.
No. 1 Bentley 84, St. Michael's 52
COLCHESTER, Vt. -- Senior All-America forward Lauren Battista scored 14 points, all in the first half, without missing a shot and All-Region grad student Courtney Finn netted a team-high 16 points as undefeated Bentley improved to 23-0 with a wire-to-wire 84-52 victory against St. Michael's in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Ross Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.
Bentley, the season-long No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports/WBCA coaches' poll, ran its conference record to 18-0 after maintaining a lead of at least 25 for the final 37-plus minutes.
Battista, Bentley's all-time leading scorer and now one point shy of 1,900 for her career, was 6 of 6 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers before exiting the game for good with about 12 minutes to play. She also had four rebounds and three steals in her 21 minutes of action.
Freshman forward Jen Gemma had 10 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double, junior guard Kelsey Mattice scored eight off the bench and senior point guard Christiana Bakolas filled the stat sheet with six assists, five steals and seven points.
Senior forward Alexa Long was the lone double-figure scorer for St. Michael's (3-19, 2-16 NE-10), with 11 of her 16 coming after intermission.
Bentley outshot the Purple Knights 46-29 percent, had an 8-3 edge in 3-pointers and more than doubled the home team on the boards, 51-25. That included 18-8 at the offensive end, resulting in a 22-7 advantage in second-chance points.
No. 2 Colorado Mesa 69, Western New Mexico 58
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Colorado Mesa managed to hold on to a 69-58 win aginast Western New Mexico on Saturday night in Brownson Arena. The win secured at least share of the RMAC Championship for the second consecutive season and moved their school record win total to 23.
The Mavericks led by as many as 31 points in the first half but saw that lead slip all the way down to six with just 4:43 left to play in the game. CMU closed out the game on a 6-1 run with Taylor Rock scoring four of the final six points.
Colorado Mesa shot 40 percent (22 of 55) for the game but only made six field goals in the second half and was outscored 32-26 in the final half. They managed to hold the Mustangs to just 32 percent (17 of 52) from the field and just 28 percent (7 of 25) in the first half.
Senior Sharaya Selsor led all scorers in the game with 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting from the field. She connected on all six of her free-throw opportunities and dished out five assists.
Colorado Mesa got a huge boost out of their bench, scoring 23 points to Western New Mexico's 13. Erin Reichle finished with 13 points off the bench and Hanna Bowden hauled in 10 rebounds.
Western New Mexico climbed back into the game by forcing 15 Colorado Mesa turnovers and scoring 15 points off of those turnovers.
The Mustangs were led by RaTanya Newsome's 17 points and five assists.
No. 3 Gannon 73, Indiana (Pa.) 64
INDIANA, Pa. -- Following its second loss of the season, Gannon bounced back with a 73-64 win against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Division opponent Indiana (Pa.) in front of a record crowd of 1,233 at the Kovalchick Complex on Saturday evening. In the win, the Lady Knights clinched a first-round bye and quarterfinal home game in the PSAC Tournament. The Lady Knights improved to 23-2 overall and 12-2 in the division, while the Crimson Hawks fell to 15-8 on the season and 6-7 in divisional play.
The Lady Knights captured their second consecutive regular-season series sweep of the Crimson Hawks. On Jan. 15, the Lady Knights defeated the Crimson Hawks 78-79 at the Hammermill Center.
For the fourth game this season, four Lady Knights reached double figures. Senior Jen Papich led the Lady Knights with 14 points, pulling in a game-high nine rebounds. Senior Kelley Sundberg tied a career game-high 13 points, shooting 4-for-4 from the field and 5-for-6 from the foul line. Junior Nettie Blake added 12 points followed by junior Mollie Sebald with 11 points. Sundberg and Sebald each collected five assists with the junior tying a career game-high.
The Lady Knights shot 55.3 percent from the field (26-for-47), shooting more than 50 percent in each half. After shooting 1-for-6 from behind the arc in the opening half, the Lady Knights buried 4-for-7 in the second half.
No. 5 West Texas A&M 83, Cameron 57
CANYON, Texas -- West Texas A&M clinched a share of the 2013-14 Lone Star Conference regular season championship with an 83-57 victory against visiting on Cameron Saturday afternoon at the First United Bank Center. With the win, the Lady Buffs won their 14th consecutive game and improved to 21-1 on the year and a perfect 12-0 in LSC play. Cameron fell to 11-12 on the year and 3-10 in league play.
The Lady Buffs were led by 20 points and nine rebounds from senior Devin Griffin who went 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 6 from the line with a game-high five steals. Junior Chontiquah White went 6 of 13 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line. Senior Sally Higgins had another double-digit performance of the bench with 12 points and four assists, while senior Lacee Logan chipped in 11 points.
Cameron was led by 13 points off the bench from Jade Herl leading four Aggies in double figures. Jazzmine Robinson, Chelsea Stamp and Christina Caddy each had 11 points.
The Lady Buffs shot 49.2 percent from the field on 30 of 61. They were 7 of 13 from beyond the arc and 16 of 26 from the line. WT pulled down 36 rebounds and 11 on the offensive end, while scoring 83 points for the 10th consecutive game of 80 points or more. The Lady Buffs had just seven turnovers and outscored CU 28-9 on points off turnovers and dominated inside to the tune of 42-20 in the paint.
Cameron shot 41.2 percent from the field on 21 of 51. It was 8 of 19 from range and 7 of 14 from the line. CU had 37 rebounds, but committed 20 turnovers.
No. 6 Harding 72, Ouachita Baptist 65
SEARCY, Ark. -- Harding defeated Ouachita Baptist 72-65 on Saturday in Great American Conference action. The Lady Bisons improved to 23-1 overall and 15-1 in the GAC. It is the most conference games Harding has won since joining the NCAA in 1997.
With the win, Harding will at least share the conference regular season title. Southwestern Oklahoma is in second place in the GAC standings with an 11-5 conference record.
Freshman guard A'ndrea Haney led the Lady Bisons with a season-high 17 points, making 11 of 12 from the free throw line. She also had six assists.
Junior forward Arielle Saunders had 12 points. Senior forward Kristen Celsor had 10 points and nine rebounds. Both Saunders and Celsor battled foul trouble throughout the game.
Ouachita Baptist (6-16, 4-12 GAC) was led by Erica Sharp who captured a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Harding turned the Lady Tigers' 19 turnovers into 20 points.
Harding made 25 of 34 free throws. It was the second most free throws the Lady Bisons have made this season. Harding made 27 against Henderson State on Jan. 9.
No. 7 Emporia State 66, Central Oklahoma 45
EDMOND, Okla. -- Laura Patrick and Merissa Quick both had double-doubles for the Emporia State as it punched its ticket to Kansas City with a 66-45 win at Central Oklahoma.
The Lady Hornets used a 14-0 run in the first half to turn a 9-9 tie into a 23-9 advantage with 5:13 left in the opening period. Kionna Kellogg ended the half with nine points while Merissa Quick had eight rebounds and six blocked shots as the Lady Hornets took a 29-15 lead to the locker room.
Emporia State got back to back 3-pointers from Laura Patrick and another three from Rheanna Egli to start the second half to cap a 13-0 run that spanned halftime and put the Lady Hornets up 38-15 with 18:16 left. The lead would hit 25 in the second half before Emporia State settled for the 66-45 win.
Patrick ended with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Quick finished with ten points, 11 rebounds, four assists and six blocked shots. Egli joined them in double figures with 11 points.
Minnesota State-Moorhead 61, No. 8 Wayne State (Neb.) 50
WAYNE, Neb. -- A difficult night offensively put Wayne State into a deficit it couldn't overcome, falling 61-50 to Minnesota State-Moorhead on Saturday night at Rice Auditorium. The Wildcats finished the night shooting just 35.4 percent from the floor, unable to overcome a 16-point second-half deficit. With the win, MSU Moorhead improves to 16-8 overall, 12-8 in Northern Sun play, while the Wildcats fall to 24-3, 17-3 in the conference.
Millie Niggeling led the Wildcats, finishing 7 of 11 from the floor for 19 total points. Jordan Spencer added 11, while Addy Roller and Ashton Yossi tossed in 9 and 8, respectively. For the Dragons, Megan Strese (19), Morgan Zabel (16) and Heather Strese (10) paced the offense in the win.
WSC shot 35.4 percent from the floor, finishing 17 of 48. The Wildcats nearly matched the percentage from beyond the arc, shooting 35.3 percent (6 of 17).
MSU-Moorhead held a 49-26 advantage on the boards, including pulling down a 20-4 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Dragons also won the battle in the paint and on second-chance points, holding a 32-14 edge in the paint and a 19-4 advantage in 2nd chance points.
No. 9 Drury 89, No. 15 Lewis 70
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- On Senior Day, senior Bethanie Funderburk led the way with 23 points to pace four Lady Panthers in double-figures as No. 9 Drury trounced No. 15 Lewis 89-70 in Great Lakes Valley Conference action Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Senior Amber Dvorak added 16 points in 16 minutes before fouling out, freshman Hannah Dressler had a career-high 13 points in 16 minutes and senior Kylie Williamson added 12 points and seven rebounds as the Lady Panthers (21-2, 13-2) strengthened their resume' for a potential host role in an NCAA-II Midwest Regional down the road by downing the East-leading Flyers (19-4, 13-2).
Coach Steve Huber's Lady Panthers put together one of their best halves of basketball this season in racing to a 46-26 halftime advantage, holding Lewis to 30 percent shooting (10 of 33) that actually got worse in the second half, as the Flyers finished at 29 percent (20 of 69) for the game.
Funderburk, the program's No. 2 all-time leading scorer, moved past the 1,600-mark for her career (1,612) by going 12-for-14 at the free-throw line and adding nine rebounds -- matching Sanayika Shields for the team high -- as Drury beat the Flyers 47-39 on the boards.
No. 10 Glenville State 70, Notre Dame (Ohio) 57
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Glenville State defeated Notre Dame (Ohio) on the road Saturday as it won 70-57. With the win, the Lady Pioneers captured the inaugural Mountain East Conference (MEC) regular-season title.
The Lady Pioneers scored 38 points in the paint to Notre Dame's 22. GSC also scored 20 second-chance points while Notre Dame scored 12.
The Lady Pioneers won the rebounding battle as they out-rebounded Notre Dame 45-41.
GSC had three players score in double figures with Kenyona Simmons leading the way with a game-high 21 points, she also grabbed seven rebounds. Keyanna Tate scored 11 points in the win while Kenyell Goodson chipped in with 10 points.
Jessica Parsons handed out four assists while Aesha Peters just missed a double-double as she scored eight points and had nine rebounds.
Notre Dame was led Martha Nagbe and Danielle Ledrich as they both scored 16 points.
