How can you not love conference games?! Don’t get us wrong, the non-conference matchups are fun too, but conference games just are different. Teams know each other. They know your tendencies, they know your weaknesses, they know your strengths. Conference games are just tougher to win! This entire week, we get more and more conferences opening up league play and it’s just a great time of year!
Top Headlines
Women
No.11 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 13 Sterling, No. 20 Rio Grande all go down on the women’s side.
Oakland City goes on road and gets a big win over RV Midway in River States Conference opener.
Men
Brescia goes on road and defeats IU Southeast in River States Conference opener.
Reinhart struggles continue in Appalachian Athletic Conference play.
Columbia (MO) bounces back from a tough start to season to knock off Central Methodist.
Southern Oregon rolls Simpson 111-83.
Game of the Day Recaps
Women
No. 9 Central Methodist 75 – No. 13 Sterling 64
- Got to hand it to Sterling, they got punched in the mouth early. But, they took their hit and then were able to use a big third period to get them right back in this one! Unfortunately, for them, they weren’t able to hold on in the 4th as CMU just showed too much firepower on their way to the big Top 15 win!
No. 24 Indiana Tech 71 – No. 11 Indiana Wesleyan 68
- This is such a big win for Indiana Tech. Indiana Wesleyan was playing as good as anyone in the country. To go on the road and pull out the win, is big! The toughest part, with rankings coming out tomorrow, is that most raters will have already turned in their Top 25 sheets, so this game won’t have much of an impact on where we see these teams in today’s rankings.
Men
No. 4 William Penn 118 – Bethel (IN) 98
- Our biggest question marks for the Statesmen, headed into the season, was who steps into the void of the nine seniors they lost last season. We knew transfer, James Pennington, was a former All-American at Trinity Christian, but turns out, that William Penn also has a trio of Sophomores who are all very good as well. BUT, it’s the return of Eddie Dailey, who sat out last season, that may be the x-factor for them this season. The 6’11 big man went bonkers last night, scoring 29pts to go with 10 rebounds. He was also 4-7 from the 3pt line and had some nice dunks along the way as well. Bethel had been rolling coming into this one. They were 5-0 and have two Top 25 wins coming into this one. This game most likely won’t be reflected in today’s rankings, so you could see Bethel sneak into the Top 25 later today.
No. 11 Faulkner 72 – RV Stillman 61
- The previous 4 meetings between these two had been decided by a combined 8pts. Faulkner, in this game, was able to find some separation in the 2nd half and then rode that big run to the victory. All-American CJ Hines continues to look good for Faulkner. As does Trace Hill. This was a typical game between the two. Just a slow, physical bout that almost makes you, as a fan, need to take an ice bath just from watching the physical battles. Got to love conference season!
Top Performers
There were some absolute big-time performances last night:
Markell Turner (Union) – 35pts
Elijah Malone (Grace) – 29pts, 8rebs, 4blks
Eddie Dailey (William Penn) – 29pts, 10rebs and 4-7 from 3pt range.
Tay Smith (Brescia) – 38pts on 6-9 from 3pt range.
Anthony Eddy (Clarke) – 38pts on 8-13 from 3pt range
Josh Meyer (Southern Oregon) – 12pts, 7rebs, 6assts, 2stls.
Drew Lutz (Bethel) – 22pts, 7assts, 4rebs.
Jason Hubbard (Taylor) – 14pts, 12rebs, 4assts, 4stls.
Kyle Kegley (MVNU) – 35pts, 7rebs on 5-6 from 3pt range.
Spence Piercefield (Indiana Wesleyan) – 25pts, 5assts.
Women
Taya Wilson (Sterling) 15pts,15rebs,3assts.
Karsen Schultz (Sterling) 24pts, 6rebs, 4stls.
Isabell West (Iowa Wesleyan) 23pts, 14rebs.
Angela Roshak (MVNU) 27pts, 15rebs, 4assts.
Mariya Williams (Montreat) 23pts, 10rebs.
Angel McRae (Brewton-Parker) 12pts, 16rebs.
Lauren Longmire (Milligan) 26pts, 5rebs, 4assts.
