They did it again. The Catholic University women pushed off among the best teams in the country to win the Landmark Conference tournament as well as an automatic bid towards the NCAA D3 basketball championship.
The Cardinals topped No. 12 Scranton for that second time this season 52-51 in Scranton Feb. 28. CU stopped two Royal layup attempts in the final 20 seconds to preserve the win. The contest saw seven ties and 22 lead changes.
CU now awaits information regarding their NCAA Championship Tournament bid. The area is expected to be announced March 2 at 2:30 p.m.
The Royals held the lead in excess of 13 minutes of second half. After Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax) place the Royals up 45-40 with a set of free throws, CU called break with 5:35 remaining. The Cardinals responded having a 10-0 run for any five-point lead.
Melissa Errico led them with 15 points and nine rebounds, including one with 4 seconds to experience. Michelle DeSantis added 13 points. Mesaris led all scorers with 18 points, Lindsay Fluehr had 13 points and five assists, and Sarah Payonk added 11 points and 12 caroms.
Mary Washington ended the Marymount women's season in the Capital Athletic Conference semifinal Feb. 26, 60-46 in Fredericksburg. The Saints finished the growing season 18-9 on the season.
Leah Hurst (St. Mary's Annapolis) paced the Marymount attack with 11 points; Samantha Kane chipped in nine to supplement her eight rebounds hypervenom pas cher. Claire Haeuptle led the Eagles with 16 points, while Caitlin Ciniero (Howard) 13 points and 10 rebounds. Erin Drumheller (Sherando) added 13. Brianne Comden (Massaponax) contributed 12 points.
They shot only 23 percent from the field. UMW dominated it's, 52-33.
Top-seeded Salisbury topped second-seed MWU 74-68 in double overtime to win the CAC tournament Feb. 28. Even though the Eastern Shore school keeps the trophy, they could not have done it without the DC-three. Including a 26-point effort from Anna Hackett (Clarksburg), Melanie Mocniak's (St. Mary's) 15 points and Sarah Seipp (Gaithersburg) chipped in 10 points. Haeuptle led the Eagles with 18 points.
MWU's only basket of the second overtime came six seconds in when Haeuptle hit a trey. The ocean Gulls knotted the score 20 seconds later on a Mocnick three. The Eagles then mercurial pas cher missed a set of layups while Salisbury sank three field goals on its next three trips on the floor. Neither team designed a shot within the final 2:47.