The Bowdoin and University of New England men’s hockey teams will be on the road for the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament on Saturday evening.
Bowdoin will travel to Milton, Massachusetts, to face Curry College at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Polar Bears earned their spot in the tournament by winning the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament with a 3-2 win over Williams on Sunday. Bowdoin (15-9-3) is making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014. Curry (21-5-1), meanwhile, earned an at-large bid after losing in the Commonwealth Coast Conference final.
UNE also earned an at-large bid and will play at Plymouth State University at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Nor’easters (19-6-2) lost to Curry in the semifinals of the CCC tournament. This is UNE’s fourth trip to the NCAA tournament, reaching the semifinals last season. Plymouth State (23-3-1) beat Worcester State in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference.
Also, the Colby women’s hockey team earned at an-large bid and will make its second straight tournament appearance. The Mules (17-7) lost in the NESCAC semifinals. The Mules will host Norwich, the New England Hockey Conference tournament champion at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
WISCONSIN: The school fired Tony Granato as men’s hockey coach after a second straight losing season.
Granato posted a 105-129-16 overall mark and 65-87-2 Big Ten record during his seven seasons. Wisconsin ended a 13-23 season Saturday, losing to Michigan in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
Granato played at Wisconsin from 1983-87 before spending 13 seasons as an NHL player and 13 more as either an NHL head or assistant coach. He still ranks third in school history in career goals (100) and fourth in points (220).
BASEBALL
ST. JOHN’S FISHER 5, ST. JOSEPH’S 4: Noah Campanelli hit an RBI single in the sixth inning and the Cardinals (2-3) beat the Monks (0-2) in Auburndale, Florida.
Matt Thibault hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning for St. Joseph’s, which was held to four hits. St. Joseph’s starting pitcher Samuel Jalbert allowed four runs, on four hits in 3 1/3 innings. Dylan Brander took the loss, allowing a run on two hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Ben Lavery had two hits, and Jake Meeker had a two-run double for St. John’s Fisher.
SOFTBALL
ST. JOSEPH’S SPLITS WITH ILLINOIS COLLEGE: Lydia Goodnough hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning to give the Monks (2-2) the lead, but Mackenzy Payne and Claudia Adams drove in runs in the bottom of the inning to give the Lady Blues (2-4) a 3-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader in Kissimmee, Florida.
In the second game, Sylvia Foley had two hits and two RBI as the Monks won 2-1. Meredith Pence pitched a complete game to earn the win, allowing one run on five hits, while striking out seven and walking three.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
TOP 25: UCLA is surging, both toward the postseason and in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
While Houston was No. 1 for a third straight week in Monday’s poll, the Bruins rose two spots to No. 2 for their highest ranking of the season. UCLA (27-4) has won its last 10 games, including a showdown with highly ranked Arizona in the regular-season finale behind star Jamie Jaquez Jr. to complete a perfect home record.
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars remained firmly entrenched at the top in their third stint at No. 1 this season, earning 58 first-place votes with the other three going to UCLA.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
TOP 25: South Carolina stands alone with the second-longest streak atop The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll as the Gamecocks remained No. 1 for a 37th consecutive week.
The Gamecocks (32-0) won the Southeastern Conference Tournament over the weekend to remain undefeated heading into the NCAA tourney. South Carolina, which received all 28 first-place votes from a national media panel Monday, broke a tie with Louisiana Tech for most consecutive weeks at No. 1. The defending national champions trail only UConn’s run of 51 straight weeks atop the Top 25.
With the final poll of the season set to come out next week, the Gamecocks are poised to go wire-to-wire at No. 1 this year ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa moved up five spots to No. 2 after running through the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes routed Ohio State by 33 points in the title game Sunday behind another strong effort from Caitlin Clark, who had the third triple-double in conference tournament history.
It is the Hawkeyes’ best ranking since they had an eight-week run at No. 2 in 1994.
Indiana, featuring Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes, dropped one place to third with Virginia Tech moving up four places to No. 4. The Hokies, who won the ACC Tournament for the first time, have their highest ranking ever.
(7) UCONN 67, (10) VILLANOVA 56: Aaliyah Edwards had 19 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Huskies (29-5) to their 10th consecutive conference tournament title with a victory over the Wildcats (28-6) in the Big East Tournament title game in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Dorka Juhasz added 16 points and Lou Lopez Senechal scored 14 for the top-seeded Huskies, who earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UConn has now won 21 Big East Tournament crowns, including the last three since re-entering the conference in 2020.
Trailing 22-21 in the second quarter, UConn turned up its defense and outscored Villanova 13-2 over the final 6:09 of the half to go up 34-24 at the break. Edwards, the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament, had 12 points, making all six of her shots, and nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
(16) GONZAGA 79, BYU 64: Yvonne Ejim had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for her ninth career double-double, Brynna Maxwell made four 3-pointers and scored 18 and the Bulldogs (28-3) beat the Cougars (16-16) in Las Vegas to advance to the championship game of the West Coast Conference Tournament.
Gonzaga was coming off a 58-51 win over BYU on Feb. 25 — led by Ejim’s 19 points and 10 rebounds — to win its 18th WCC regular-season title. The Bulldogs have now won four straight in the series.
(21) UNLV 84, NEVADA 47: Justice Ethridge and Essence Booker scored 16 points apiece and the Lady Rebels (29-2) rolled to their 20th straight victory by beating the Wolf Pack (10-21) in the quarterfinal round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.
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